Dodoma

Image from mwananchi.co,.tz

Apart from being the city where I was born, I visited Dodoma because it was also known for things like the wineries, Mirembe hospital, the University of Dodoma, as well as the Parliament. 

I don’t think Dodoma has received as much promo as Arusha, Dar es Salaam and other cities or regions that have touristic attractions. 
If you plan to visit Dodoma, you can fly there thanks to the availability of an airport and domestic flights. You can easily find accommodation in Dodoma as most of the budget hotels in Dodoma are available online either through directory.co.tz or having their own websites. 

1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments are easily available in most regions in Tanzania especially those that receive a good number of people because of school, work or tourism, and Dodoma has all these reasons and more. Houses for rent are available if you plan to visit as an exchange student, work  transfer and so forth. 

Dodoma real estate is fairing well with home owners and companies being more aware of modernizing the houses for lease and/or selling purposes. You have the option to get a house or apartments for rent in Dodoma with modern home appliances. 

You stand to learn a lot by interacting with the locals than from fully relying on search engines. Try being adventurous and visit Dodoma while you are in Tanzania. 

If anything, Dodoma should get more promo for being the capital of our nation and having good weather.

The popularity of the Toyota IST [in Tanzania]

Image from Wikiwand

You might have noted a few of them on the road around Dar. Actually, make that "lots" of them. I have counted. About three in every ten cars is a Toyota IST. And that's just in town center. They have become so popular that a prominent politician recently criticized men driving the particular model to stop doing so because it looks like they have been bribed (not good for the "ego").

The popularity of the Toyota IST in Tanzania has seen a steep climb in the recent year and a bit compared to a few years back. This can be attributed to several factors including the economical nature of the vehicle, both in maintenance and fuel consumption. These two factors has made the model a favorite for drivers for ride sharing services like Uber. I think we can all agree that the current economical environment makes sense to drive more economically. That said, if you can generate revenue while driving makes even more sense.

The sheer number of these cars driving around makes spareparts dealers smile. Especially suspension parts dealers. Why them? Look around, the roads (yes, most are being laid with tarmac) coupled with overloading will kill your suspension in an instant. If you live in areas where you drive 10 kilometers on "barabara ya vumbi" everyday, you should expect to have a suspension change every six months or so. Otherwise, avoid giving free rides to your neighbors.

Do you remember how popular the Peugeot 504, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Land Cruiser hardtop were? So! It's a good thing to have a particular car model in numbers as it makes finding spareparts for it much easier. However, it also makes it easier for the car to "disapear" into the crowd when stolen. The used spareparts market makes it a huge risk to own a popular car model. Just something to think about.

How you can become an effective leader

Image from https://knowledge.insead.edu

Hey y'all, 

I read an article from Harvard Business Review published in January 2004 and it talked about qualities of an effective leader, and these were self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy and social skills. These qualities are known as components of Emotional Intelligence (read more here) I am one among the many  people used to look at qualities such as being very confident or being skilled in a certain field as the core reasons for someone being in leadership position. While reading the explanations as well as the hallmarks of each quality, I was able to gauge myself on areas that I am weak or strong, and it kind of gave me an understanding of what I need to work on. 

I think leadership is something that we all need to learn about in school. There should be a class on leadership that will help students know what it takes to be effective in leadership. The funny thing about leadership is that, we have seen so many examples of people in leadership positions yet they were not as effective as others who were perhaps not in a leadership positions. There have also been times when people approach a colleague more than they would approach their supervisor, only because that colleague has leadership qualities that make people drawn to him / her. The good news though, is that leadership skills can be learned, so if you are not one of those people that was born with certain qualities like empathy, or life experiences made you lose some of those qualities, you can always learn them and become more aware of your environment. 

And when it comes to leadership, don't limit yourself to being a boss or supervisor in a firm or company. You might be an entrepreneur with one or two people working under or with you and you need to be the kind of person that people can approach as well as rely on, and know they are doing the right thing being involved in your business. Imagine this, you've just taken a loan for your business thanks to mkopo kwa wajasiriamali, then few months down the line, your business starts failing because you are losing your best employees, or suppliers. You ask around and people that are actually nice enough tell you that you are a horrible person to deal with. Now, do you see how leadership qualities apply even in your small business? 

It costs nothing to learn something new, to learn how to better yourself and do things differently and effective. The one thing I can say is that, anything that is going to make us better versions of ourselves requires change and change is not easy. You may have to come in terms with change being inevitable and make friendship with change so that when time comes to transform your life for the better, you won't go about it being bitter and spiteful. 

Mamatembo.

Exploring Zimbabwe - Bulawayo

Hey y'all, here's more from our trip to Zimbabwe in May 2019.

Burke's Backpackers Paradise in Bulawayo

After visiting Harare, my partner in adventure and I headed off to Bulawayo. Unlike the usual backpackers relying on the lonely planet for bus advice, we had my cousin who took us to a nice bus (C.A.G Galaxy) which left at 2pm sharp and arrived in Bulawayo at 7:30pm as they promised. Kaka was so sure we will get a chicken bus but God was so good to me, and we didn’t get on a chicken bus throughout our entire trip. This luxury bus didn’t stop along the way to pick up passengers, that was impressive especially since we expected that to be a trend. And Kaka had paid more on his way to Harare from Bulawayo and the bus he was on was practically like a daladala, so this particular bus exceeded out expectations. 

We arrived in Bulawayo and our host who was half stoned came with his friend and picked us up and took us to his place. His house however, was very peaceful. We lazied around the next day, and the only reason we went to town was to get food. 

Bulawayo is as calm as Harare, but I did notice the city was not in it’s best shape cleanliness wise compared to the city center area in Harare. Their park which is by the town hall is somewhat okay and could use some TLC. The one thing that’s been a common theme in Harare and Bulawayo are the wide roads and the one-way roads which I believe are a good idea when it comes to preventing traffic jam. The architecture is more than I had expected since it’s not Harare, so I was impressed at the mix of Western and Eastern influence on the architecture. 

The Honda Fit shared taxis are beyond memorable to me. If you are trying to figure out how 7 to 8 people can fit in such a tiny vehicle, think no more...just visit Bulawayo and you will experience that firsthand. 

A flower we saw in Matobo National Park

We went to Matobo National Park on Saturday. The day started off well, and somehow our host decided to give us a taste of Bulawayo, not something I cared for, nor did Kaka. I think we would have gotten more wonderful pictures of Matobo if it wasn’t for the practical joke that was played on us. While exiting Matobo we saw two giraffes right by the road, but I was in no shape nor mood to document anything at the time. 

We spent the night at a Backpackers hostel before leaving for Masvingo the next day. My African dream, my African safari.

Invest in Agriculture

Image from businesstoday.in

Hey y'all,

Am I the only one who thinks financial literacy should go hand in hand with knowledge on right investments (where and how to invest). I am becoming even more interested in financial literacy and how to go about making money, right spending and investing. Gone should be the days when we live paycheck to paycheck with no savings and investments that generate backup funds.

Agriculture is one of those investments that eventually pay back and with the right market it can be a long term successful business because we highly depend on agricultural produce for a great deal of our daily intake.

I would be interested in investing into something that would work itself out as I wait to collect my profit, so I want to expand to new territories.

But the question is, what options are out there, agriculture related. Should one rent a farm? buy tractors? hire help? get farm equipment? And get into farming from scratch?

As I am new to this, and I don't know if what I have mentioned is the only option, but I would think having the option to invest in a company that, or a person who already does farming is better than having yourself - an individual that has a day job, to fully emerge into the farming process. And I say that because getting into business requires time, money and a good research. 

A person that works 8-5 would have no idea where to find the right seed to get good crops, where to find tractors for sale or better yet, the difference between a Massey Ferguson tractor and it's competitors. Don't get me wrong, all this information can be obtained through research, but where is the time? Would it be easy for someone with a 7 days 8-5 job, a family and other responsibilities to fully get into farming without losing other aspects of their lives?

I am eager to know how to go about investing in agriculture, so I will do a little research on where we can get these companies or entities to invest in in Tanzania and get back to you.