Survey identifies corruption, epileptic power supply, crime as Nigeria’s biggest challenges

Latest survey by Research and Marketing Services (RMS) International has identified corruption, epileptic power supply, escalating crime rate and poor education as Nigeria’s biggest challenges। Other details of the research conducted between June and July, this year, shows a thump down for government in terms of infrastructural development. The Nigerian government was rated low by respondents on dam construction, employment creation; poverty eradication, management of resources, economic development and fight against corruption.

The research firm had surveyed 5,000 adult Nigerians in 37 states and FCT through a quantitative research technique via face-to-face personal interviews using a fully structured questionnaire in respondents’ homes। Asked about key development areas the president should focus on during his short tenure, 69 percent of the respondents said he should put adequate arsenal in place to fight corruption, 55 percent wants him to focus on amenities such as electricity and water, while 52 percent said his government should revamp the education sector.

The respondents were asked about the responsiveness of the government to their needs, 19 percent said the government was responsive to their needs, 35 percent said it was somewhat responsive, while 46 percent said it was not responsive to their needs।

According to the research, the respondents were asked to give their feelings about the president’s performance since he took office। It revealed that 52 percent of Nigerians said his performance to date was satisfactory, 20 percent said his performance was static, while 3 percent said his performance was going down.

On the support for President Goodluck Jonathan’s candidacy for next year’s elections, 81 percent of Nigerians said the president should contest the 2011 polls, 4 percent were opposed to his candidacy, while 15 percent of respondents were undecided। The research noted that the president’s approval to contest cuts across region, age, gender and socio-economic class. The respondents in support of his candidature (81 percent) were asked to give supporting reasons for their stance. 47 percent said the president had performed above expectations since he came into office, 29 percent said he had the ability to transform Nigeria into a prosperous nation, while 25 percent said he was transparent and incorruptible.

The 4 percent against his candidature were also asked to back up their stance। 22 percent said the president was not from their party, 15 percent said he should give others opportunity, while 10 percent said he was not from the North. These respondents were mainly from the Northern states of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and Bauchi, the research document revealed.

Asked about what they looked for in a presidential candidate before deciding to vote for him, 63 percent said they considered the candidate’s caliber, 33 percent mentioned the candidate’s political affiliation (party), 31 percent first considered the candidate/party’s political ideology, while 27 percent said they considered the party’s manifesto।

Respondents were asked to profile their expectations from the new government coming to power in 2011। 77 percent of respondents said the government should focus on creating employment, 68 percent said they should focus on stabilising the power sector, 57 percent wants to see definitive effort in eradicating poverty, while 51 percent wants to see the government providing free qualitative education in the country. The respondents were asked to air their feelings about the appointment of Namadi Sambo as the vice president. 43 percent of respondents said he was the right candidate for the job, 5 percent said he was not the right candidate, while 51 percent of respondents refused to give their feelings on the issue.

In the 43 percent that endorsed the vice president as the right candidate, 31 percent said he had done a sterling job while governor of Kaduna State, while 27 percent said he was honest and transparent। Those opposed to his appointment were asked to give supporting reasons for their stance. Thirty-one percent said he was a political novice, while 26 percent said there was no meaningful development in Kaduna while he was the governor.

On participation in the next year’s election, 81 percent of respondents said they were going to register to participate in the forthcoming general elections in 2011, 10 percent said they were not going to register, while 9 percent is undecided. Asked if they would vote in 2011, 55 percent of respondents said they would definitely vote, 28 percent said they would probably vote, while 8 percent said they would definitely not vote, these respondents were mainly from urban areas in Lagos, Abuja and Kano.

Research conference highlights mobile, Africa's marvel

Research conference highlights mobile, Africa's marvel By: Oresti PatriciosSocial media, the opportunities in mobile networks and mobile internet were the dominant themes at the 2010 PAMRO Conference held in Botswana recently. As the economic recession continues, with talk of a double-dip for the US, emerging economies are finding renewed favour from both investors and brands looking for growth, and Africa is no exception.The potential of Africa was an over-riding sentiment that studded all the presentations at the 2010 Pan African Media Research Organisation (PAMRO) and All Africa Media Research Conference held in Botswana that drew delegates from across the continent.

Speakers at the conference came from Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa and included thought leaders from AGBNielsen, Yahoo Africa, InterMedia UK, TNS Media Research, Nepad, Synovate as well as telecommunications companies and leading regional research houses.

African mobile technology

Standard Bank's Janet Proudfoot, the senior manager of the group's media strategy, focused on pioneering mobile payment solutions that are showcasing African mobile technology solutions to the world. Mobile payment systems like M-PESA have had huge uptake, particularly in regions like Kenya where access to credit is limited.

Proudfoot noted that Africa is becoming a less risky region for investment after the global economic crisis, adding that the rate of return on foreign direct investment is higher in Africa than many other developing regions. One of the fastest growing regions in the world since 2008, Proudfoot says Africa is achieving an average growth of 5.6% per annum. Globally, she says growth is set at some 4%. Five countries account for 60% of Africa's GDP, according to Proudfoot and these are Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa.
Online habits of Nigerians

Josiah Kimanzi of Research & Marketing Services (RMS) Nigeria looked at the online habits of Nigerians. A strong player on the African market, RMS has offices in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire as well as Congo and recently partnered with TNS Global, part of the Kantar Group.
Kimanzi highlighted the fragmentation of the media in Africa, saying that social networks and the rise of mobile had delivered more touch points than ever before, with the effect of decreasing client control as people gravitated to consumer-generated media.

The big issue for research and understanding consumer behaviour online was the need for tracking the complex and varied environment with multiple devices and touch points. Kimanzi says that the challenge going forward was to measure the brand experience in a more holistic and unified manner.
Nigeria, largest internet population

Focusing on Nigeria, Kimanzi says 43.9 million Nigerians have access to the internet, which is staggering given that the figure falls just four million short of the entire South African population. This makes Nigeria the country with the largest internet population in Africa, dwarfing the likes of South Africa, Egypt, Morocco and Kenya combined.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and agency of the United Nation states that 40% of all internet traffic from Africa originates from Nigeria, and that some 30% of the total population of that country enjoy access to the internet. Research has shown a direct link between telecommunications infrastructure and economic growth, and Nigeria's high access rate delivers big opportunities for brands, marketers, advertisers, media agencies and research companies.

Mobiles vs PCs

Kimanzi cited interesting face-to-face research done in the market with some 1000 respondents between 20 July and 7 August 2010. Questions asked of the survey respondents related to internet behaviour and usage over four weeks. The result was that Nigerians spent more time on mobile devices than on personal computers or laptops. The most popular places online for Nigerians, according to the survey, were social media sites. Of those 1000 people, 84% had posted a personal message on a social site per week, 82% had chatted on line, and 50% had uploaded a photo onto a social site.

James Edwards, commercial director for Yahoo Africa says that there are 100 million internet users in Africa, and that the continent had 11% percent penetration which had grown by 2400% in the last ten years. Edwards says the internet in Africa had grown six times faster than anywhere else in the world, despite the fact that there is only 25% electricity penetration in the continent. He added that about 400 million Africans use mobile phones which he says represents some 45% of the continent's population.

Growth in Africa

Edwards maintained that there was huge growth in the telecommunications and internet markets in Africa, and a demographic analysis showed some interesting results. Connectivity in Africa is predominantly masculine, and according to Yahoo Africa 70% of males are connected to the internet. 55% of these users are between the ages of 25 and 40 years, 24% have a credit card, and 90% connect to the internet at least once a week. According to Edwards this offered significant opportunity for advertisers, but also for online research studies so that brands could better understand consumer behaviour, have better insights and use the mobile internet more effectively in their marketing

Jonathan gets nod of 81 % Nigerian voters – RMS survey

About 81 per cent of eligible voters in Nigeria have given nod to President Goodluck Jonathan’s quest to contest in next year’s presidential elections . The voters cited his respect for the rule of law, confidence and trust in the composition of his cabinet to deliver set targets, and an overall faith in his ability to turn the fortunes of the economy around for the better, as some of the core reasons for lending their support to him

According to an RMS opinion poll released on Wednesday, 19 per cent of respondents drawn from a poll of eligible, however, faulted the decision of the incumbent president to contest in the 2011 presidential race, insisting that he should respect the existing zoning arrangement of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and should give other candidates a chance. The bulk of those who disagreed with the president were non-members of the PDP, the survey by Research and Marketing Services (RMS) noted.

Chief Executive Officer of RMS, Mr. Ademola Tejumola while commenting on the findings of the survey explained that unlike previous elections, where the electorate was not eager to cast their votes, 83 per cent of Nigerians said they would exercise their constitutional rights by voting during the upcoming elections.

“The survey revealed that 81 per cent of Nigerian’s eligible voters are of the opinion that President Jonathan should contest in the forth-coming elections next year; majority of Nigerians (90 per cent) have confidence in Jonathan’s ministerial cabinet with only 10 per cent of respondents saying they are not convinced the present cabinet will deliver on democratic dividends and good governance,” the RMS survey stated.

“Seventy per cent believe there is respect for the rule of law, while 30 per cent differ; 54 per cent believe the Federal Government is responsive to their needs, while 46 per cent perceive the government to be unresponsive; overall 60 per cent said Jonathan’s performance has been satisfactory, 26 per cent said he did not raise the bar compared to prior government, while the rest of respondents are of the opinion that his performance is unsatisfactory,” the survey further revealed.

How culture influences marketing in Kenya

It is said, you will never know where you're going until you know where you've come from. This is a common saying reiterating the importance of origin and culture in an individual's life. Culture is defined as a shared, learned, symbolic system of values, beliefs and attitudes that shape and influence perception and behaviour. It's most visible in a society in the form of art, music, language, dressing among other overt practices.

In order to mount a successful marketing campaign, the first thing you must do is have a thorough understanding of your target market and all the dynamics around it. This goes without saying, but it's amazing how many products are launched into the Kenyan market without proper market research. What I'm talking about goes beyond superficial figures and general buying trends. I'm talking about data that takes into account qualitative factors like cultural practices that may negatively impact your brand. A consumer's culture influences their behaviour. Therefore it is in your best interest as a marketer to understand why your consumers act in the way that they do.

Creating perceptions
When you think of Africa, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Your answer to this is largely dependent on whom you interacted with first: international news media or tourism marketers.

If it was the latter, then pictureresque images of sun and sand, rich culture, wildlife and nature at its purest form, come to mind. Tourism agents brand country destinations based on their culture all the time. This worldwide phenomenon is more aggressively practised in African countries. It's not surprising since the cultural experience is a key selling point. And our local Kenya Tourist Board has not been left behind either. A brief look at CNN adverts is a testament to this.

Unfortunately, if your first encounter with Africa was on international news, chances are grim pictures of starving children, strife and ravaged villages first crop into your to mind. To help counter this negative perception, several African countries have set up national brand boards. According to its website, the Brand Kenya Board is tasked with the responsibility of identifying and refining key attributes about Kenya that contribute positively to the image and reputation of the nation.

No blanket solution

Now that we have seen that culture does play a pivotal role in the success of a marketing campaign. How does a marketer use a consumer's culture to her advantage instead of viewing it as an obstacle? One pitfall that one must always avoid is giving a blanket solution. Multinationals often fall into this trap by having the same product offering across different countries.

Case in point: the introduction of Malta Guinness in Kenya. After its run-away success in Nigeria, Diageo was quick to launch Malta Guinness, a non-alcoholic malt drink, into the Kenyan market but with appalling results. On the bright side, this paved way for a non-alcoholic drinks market dominated by EABL's Alvaro and Coca-Cola's Novida.

Narrowing down on cultural information that is relevant to a brand can be a daunting task. The trick is to localise the data and make it very specific. This is even more important on a continent like Africa with a multiplicity of cultures. In Kenya alone, we have more than 40 ethnic communities all with different norms, languages and practices.

Blend into culture

Culture is a factor that one must consider when crafting a marketing communication strategy. This reminds me of the stiff resistance Trust condoms faced when they first advertised their products in Kenya. Being an 80% "Christian" nation, the thought of openly promoting a product that allegedly encouraged promiscuity was unheard of. Nevertheless, Trust won the battle by focusing on the endemic number of people who were contracting HIV/AIDS.

It is said that brilliant advertising is so in sync with the target market that the brand slogan immediately becomes part of popular culture. Among brands that have accomplished this feat, the following immediately come to mind: Dura Coat paints with Marangi, Zain with Vuka, Equity Bank with Mimi ni Member and more recently, Pesa Pap by Family Bank.

Another effect of culture is the ever increasing number of vernacular radio stations in the country. With its proliferation, vernacular radio is a cost-effective way to reach the large number of consumers in rural areas.

As much as developing economies such as Kenya are quickly adopting technology, consumers are not in a hurry to abandon their customs. How else can one explain Mpesa (Safaricom's mobile money transfer service) being used to pay bride price? Or the immense popularity of vernacular mobile phone ring tones and ring back tones? The lesson here is to blend your product attributes with the consumers' cultural needs.

360 degree perspective

From market research and product development to channel distribution, a marketer must always keep cultural influences in mind. Maybe that might be the reason why sanitary towels are packed like some form of illicit drug upon purchase in Kenyan supermarkets.

As with all other environmental factors, culture does change with time and one must keep up with the trends to remain competitive. One way of doing this is to enrich your market research by adding an anthropology approach to it. On the flip side, if you face cultural opposition against your brand, even after carrying out adequate research, first understand the root of the resistance. In this way, you will approach the situation with a 360 degree perspective and resolve the issue much faster.

Nigeria has the highest number of children out of school’

In ranking Nigeria amongst the worst place for a child to be in 2010, a report by the
Global Campaign for Education (GCE) has stated that Nigeria has more
children out of education than any other country in the world.

The report claims that an astounding 8.2 million children are not provided with adequate
education in Africa’s most populous country. Comparing the nation’s
wealth with the apparent low standard of education, the report claims
that “the report is made all the more appalling by the fact that
Nigeria is far from poor, by African standards. On paper at least it is
among the continent’s richest countries, the world’s sixth largest
producer of crude oil. But decades of failure to invest in education
have left the basic school system hardly functioning, especially in the
country’s impoverished north.”

For Primary education, the report claims many students drop out of the school in
their first year of education due to ‘unequal provision of education’
and this it argued, is caused by the lack of political will to address
and arrest the issue. “A lack of political will is a major factor in
the country having the highest number of children out of school in the
world. Gross inequality in the provision of education has led to 8.2
million children out of primary school with many more dropping out
within the first year.”

Poor attendance, imbalanced education

The report particularly criticised the northern region of the country for an
abysmal amount of children denied good education. “Over half of these
children are in the north of the country, with girls suffering the most
with many receiving just six months of education in their lives. In the
largely Muslim north of Nigeria……….attendance rates are below 50%
at primary school and of those only one in every three pupils is female
(nationwide, the proportion is five boys to four girls)” it noted.

The GCE report is coming just as the National Education Council of Nigeria (NECO) on
Monday released the 2010 results and over 79% of the students that sat
for the examination failed in English language; the nation’s official
language. While over 80% of the students failed the entire exam last year.

Nigeria was however not listed in the list of the bottom 10 countries that are worst for a
child. The countries which are predominantly African nations include
Somalia, Eritrea, Comoros, Ethiopia, Chad, Burkina Faso, Central
African Republic, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Liberia and Haiti. Tanzania and
Mozambique were however commended for halving the number of children
out of school, while Rwanda is said to have made strong efforts to
ensure that there are enough professionally trained teachers.

The report noted that delivering education for all is highly achievable and brings other
poverty dividends such as reducing HIV deaths by seven million and
doubling child survival by 50% if mothers are educated.

The President of the Global Campaign for Education Kailash Satyarthi in a statement to
political leaders warned “if scientists can genetically modify food and
NASA can send missions to Mars, politicians must be able to find the
resources to get millions of children into school and change the
prospects of a generation of children.”

GCE called on leaders meeting at the United Nations in New York this week, to make
funding for education a priority in order to meet the target of
universal access to basic schooling by 2015.

It argues that “poor countries should spend 20% of their national budget on education,
abolishing school fees and be supported to hire an additional 1.9
million teachers so that every child can have access to education.” It
called on rich countries to “direct their aid budgets at the poorest
countries or where inequalities of education are most extreme, rather
using their aid budgets to underwrite the University systems.

CBN tasks FG over project management

As Nigeria intensifies efforts towards becoming one of the 20 most advanced economies by the year 2020, the Central Bank of Nigeria has stressed the need for the Federal Government and the private sector to adopt best practice in project management

The Deputy Director/ Group Head, Enterprise Programme Management, Mr. Oluwatoyin Jokosenumi, stated this during the ProMaCom 2010 conference in Abuja, on Tuesday.

Jokosenumi noted that non-adherence to the principles and best practice in project management was the bane of infrastructural development across the country.

He blamed the high incidence of project failure in Nigeria on corruption, poor planning, implementation and monitoring of projects.

According to him, ”Most of the infrastructural projects in Nigeria suffer set back due to corruption, poor planning, implementation and monitoring.

In fact, we have it on record that more than half of our projects failed due to these factors.

”More than half of the projects in the country have failed for lack of cost management framework. The ideal thing to do in project management is first of all, to estimate appropriately what needs to be done on a project. The next thing is providing the relevant budget, that is the money to do it, while the third is ensuring that proper control mechanisms are put in place to ensure that the work is actually done. Also, we must allow the professionals that understand what all the project is about to advise us.

”Another critical factor that needs to be addressed is the risks that are associated with projects. Most often, the risks are not identified. Our risks must be planned, identified, properly analysed qualitatively and quantitatively and properly monitored.

”In Nigeria, we don‘t do these things. We just go into the project because we are in a hurry, because the money must be spent to satisfy the political equation. In most cases, we are not interested in the value that come to our people. We must address these issues for us to be able to achieve Vision 20:2020”

Also speaking during the event, the Programme Director, National Project Management Conference, Mr. Taopheek Babayeju, said, ”The theme of ProMacom 2010 Conference, Project Management: The Key to National Development”, is predicated on the need to employ project management approach in project and programme delivery, most especially in government policies and projects”

”The annual National Project Management Conference is a non-profit, private sector initiative aimed at institutionalising project management best practices in Nigeria. It is a knowledge building and capacity enhancing event that exposes participants to the global trends and best practices in the management of projects and programmes.

He added, ”The conference is a professional development event that provides a unique forum for professionals across all industries to exchange ideas on today‘s project challenges and emerging trends. It features expert presentations and training workshops delivered by experienced project management professionals and gives attendees a variety of topics that suit their interest and career needs.

”Project management is no where within our constitution but what we are trying to do as project management professionals is to build an advocacy group that will sensitise the government. We are looking at how to use project management to better the lots of Nigerians, before too long, the institute is going to come up with a private bill to ensure that the project management is institutionalised and employed for all tiers of government”

Innovative Research: 5 Things People Sacrifice for Love

Innovative Research: 5 Things People Sacrifice for Love: "Love isn’t love if you’re not willing to sacrifice something for it. It may be as big as giving up all of those you own like wealth and mate..."

Upholding Family Values

Speaking from the Nigerian context, I must say that in the past three or four decades things have completely changed - but I am not sure whether it is for the better or for the worse! Times have indeed changed, but how?

I remember my childhood and my own interaction with my parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. There was a lot of closeness, but at the same time there was an unspoken division between the elder members and the younger members of the family. We were never encouraged to oppose anything that my grand parents said–their words were the unwritten law and were to be strictly followed, right or wrong! It was the same with the other elder members of the family. The younger generation never had the right to question them or put their own points of view across, and, even if they did, most of the time their voices were subdued and discouraged. One could not make any decisions without consulting the family elders and be allowed to have one’s own personal views; one had to bow down to a joint decision taken in on behalf of one by the entire family, which made the more independent-minded unhappy, and many times led to clashes and disagreements. I felt that there was constant interference from other family members, especially the elders, regarding all my private matters, be it making friends or dressing in a certain manner or coming home at a certain time of the day.

On the positive side, family values were strictly adhered to, and this unified the family. Decisions were taken jointly and when difficulties arose, it was the same. All the members pooled in and helped out those who were in difficulty. Even marriages were decided by the entire family sitting together and discussing the merits and demerits of the groom or bride and their family background It was more a case of a marriage between families and not the two individuals. But, again when one takes a look at the statistics, there were hardly any divorces or broken marriages during those times. When the couple had some disagreement, the family stepped in and quickly things were restored. The couple had very little time for each other and seldom had the chance to enjoy time together. For better or worse, happy or unhappy, they stayed together because they could never disobey or go against the elders in the family.

Now when we see a modern day family–it is a typical urban family is nuclear and independent with both the parents working or at least the father working and the mother managing the home and the children. In many cases the elderly parents do live with their children and the children do have love and respect for their grandparents and other elders of the extended family. But since the interactions and the influence of the elders is limited, there is no stress on them. There is not so much pressure on the family by the elder members. They may give advice when asked, but refrain from taking any major decisions or imposing them on the youngsters. The children go through life making their choices in education and marriage. Most urbanite marriages are a combination of arranged and love marriages. The parents introduce the likely candidates to their children, and the boys and the girls get to know each other with the approval of the elders from both the sides and decide to get married with their blessings. Things do go wrong when these arrangements do not work and the children decide to look around for partners elsewhere other than within their communities.

Once a member of the family makes his own decision to get married to a girl of his choice, he is left on his own with the family members opting not to interfere; and if and when there are misunderstandings between the couple, there are not many family members willing to help out. This can work both ways–the couple may sort things out and may be ready to compromise a little more, knowing that there will be no help coming forth. On the other hand, a smaller misunderstanding that could have been set right with the right kind of advice by the wise and experienced elders, may escalate and lead to a major issue and a complete breakdown of the relationship. One can see that the number of divorces and broken marriages have sharply increased in the past 3 decades.

The major disadvantage is the manner in which the older members of the family have lost their importance, and find that not enough value is given to their advice, even when it is sound. They are also lonely after the children grow up and move out to make their own homes. On the other hand, no system is perfect and it is important to find a balance between the old and the new lifestyles to see that the family values are maintained. After all, we need to care for people and their feelings, and family values ultimately lie with relationships between individuals. One has to take responsibilities in life, especially regarding our own parents and grandparents

How to Make Him Yours Forever

Just yesterday, I was chatting with a friend on facebook. We discussed various issues among which were issues affecting women in matters of interpersonal relationships. I told her that a lot of women lacked the heart required to sustain their relationships. She replied, “All have it, but they don’t show it”.

I gained new insight from the discussion. The real problem with many women is not about what they lack, it’s about what they have but don’t know they have. Women are powerful. They are essentially creatures of influence. Inside them lies the power to attract and sustain the kind of relationships they desire. However, it is vital for them to know the powers they have and then learn how to use those powers. And that’s what I’ll be sharing with you briefly.
Listen to him attentively

Men love attention too. They love to be listened to. Don’t settle for the opinion that only ladies talk and they demand being listened to. Many relationships have grounded because the ladies involved refuse to listen to their men. One of the ways to permanently unlock a man’s heart and keep him glued to you is to always listen to him.

Listening is much more difficult than hearing. That’s why a lot of ladies refuse to practice listening. Hearing has to do with sounds but listening entails much more than hearing sounds. It involves all your senses. You must learn to listen to your man even when he’s not speaking. Listening to a man is being in tune with him with your senses. It’s intentionally channeling all your senses to capture and decode every signal the man is broadcasting. It’s the art of “sensing his senses”. You need to train yourself to be a sensual decoder. Do more than hearing his words. Understand his body languages. Watch his facial expressions. Interpret his moods and understand his silence.

Talk to him actively.

Don’t just be a talkative. Talk actively. There’s a widespread notion that ladies don’t think. The truth is that the quality of your words is a reflection of your thoughts. Think before you talk. Men are moved by words too. The best way to piss a man off is to talk without thinking. Men find ladies who think before they talk as confident, competent and capable.

Furthermore, learn to express your feelings in words. Learn to make your words consistent with your feelings. Tell him how you feel. Be passionate. Stop sending conflicting signals. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
Be slow to speak. Learn to speak softly. Stop talking to your man like his mother or his boss. Let the woman in you connect with the man in him. Treat him like a man. Speak to the Man in him.

Touch him responsibly

Men love to be touched and ladies must learn to take the initiative too. You don’t have to give the erotic approach; that would only arouse his sexual desire. Make him feel good and happy by touching him casually. Hold his hands. Touch his shoulders. Put your arms around his neck. Give him a peck. Hug him. All these actions create a lasting impression in men’s memories. They make him think of you. That‘s the secret to been on a man’s mind all the time.

Learn to look straight into his eyes.

Eye contact is an essential ingredient of good communication. You must learn to maintain eye contact with him while speaking with him and sometimes while no talking is going on. Establish a connection with his heart through his eyes.

Always make him feel comfortable around you.

Never make a man feel uncomfortable around you. Men have ego and they love been respected and appreciated. Don’t capitalize on his flaws or inadequacies. Don’t talk him down among your friends especially in his presence.

5 Things People Sacrifice for Love

Love isn’t love if you’re not willing to sacrifice something for it. It may be as big as giving up all of those you own like wealth and material things in exchange for a simple life with the one that you love, or something as small as giving 5 minutes of your time even if you’re very busy just to talk to your special someone.
There are countless things that we sacrifice for love but among the most popular ones are the following:

1. Career
There are some career that’s so demanding of your time and energy. You’ll end up coming home late at night and exhausted. All you wanted to do once you get home is to sleep, and the following day to wake up early for work. It’s normal for your significant other to understand the situation, but will sooner or later get tired of that set up. Some people sacrifice a change of career or settle for a job that doesn’t require so much of their time so that the remaining time they have left can be given to their significant other.

There are some women who sacrifice by giving up their career to be a housewife when they decide to get married. They give all their time and energy for their family most especially to their children. Some men do, but the percentage tilt more on the women than men.

2. Living Situation

If you live in Town A and your significant other lives in Town F, you will be asked by the other if you can live with him in Town F once you settle down because his place of work is there. In this situation people sacrifice by agreeing to relocate just to be with their significant other. You may not be particularly thrilled about moving there, but you are willing to do it if it’s the only thing that would allow you to be together. You relocate and adjust to the new environment, and soon enough you’ll also learn to love that place since the love of your life is there with you.

3. Religion

In most relationships giving up one’s religion and converting to his or her significant other’s religion is one of the greatest sacrifices to do. If you were raised a catholic for example, and was brought up with great devotion to your religion, it’s hard to just throw away something that you have and believed in all your life. But because of love you will be willing to change your faith and beliefs to that of your significant other. It would be an advantage because fighting over different faith and beliefs would totally ruin and even break the relationship. But there are relationships that do work out even if the couples belong to different faith. The sacrifice in this situation is to give a great deal respect to each other’s faith and beliefs; that would avoid any misunderstandings and quarrels in the relationship.

4. The Single Life

Once you’ve found the right person you can sacrifice anything that you enjoyed doing before when you were still single. All that you would want to do is to spend all of your time with the person you love. Some people would even cut someone or several others out of their life if these people are not supportive of the relationship they have with their significant other. It’s a great sacrifice but you are willing to do it for love.

5. Habits and Vices

Both men and women have their own way to enjoy life like hanging out with friends, parties, drinking, smoking, etc. Once someone gets into a serious relationship, little by little they would stop and avoid those things that their significant other doesn’t like in them. We hear stories of couples saying “he changed me” or “she changed me.” Actually, your significant other is just there to support you change those bad habits and vices, but the will to change is done by you. You changed because you wanted to, and you did it out of love.

It’s our nature to sacrifice something for love. Love is a journey that two people go through, and in each journey are difficulties and risks that require sacrifices. Once you have found the right kind of love you will be willing to sacrifice anything for your special someone and for the happiness that both of you will share.

Teaching a Child to be Generous

Parents are powerful models to their children during their developing years. A such, their impact should transmit lessons which their children can assimilate into their value system.

Generosity is a positive trait that parents should consider teaching their children, for it would enhance the discovery of other traits that would help them to succeed in their future careers.

Educators believe that to teach generosity or to cultivate the trait of willingness to give and to share, children must first learn to be contented with what they have. In other words, teach children to minimize their wants and make do with whatever resources are available to them.

Often, parents are guilty of lavishing their children with everything they want which is, more often than not, not what they need. They get the feeling of inadequacy if they fail to accede to their children’s demands. Parents should know that generosity is effectively imparted when their children are not engrossed with their various wants. Children must know what contentment is, for generosity is motivated by it.

It is mistakenly perceived that generosity is the consequence of one’s abundance of material possessions. This is the reason why we find many persons are unwilling to part with a piece of fruit for the benefit of the poor unless they first have a basketful of fruits.

Sometimes ago, I visited a family friend, after all the discussions and laugher, we set out to go. Then their 4-year old boy went inside, took a piece of chocolate and said “take, give this Esther” amazed by the action, I raised a question to the mother, is this a coincidence or a regular occurrence. The mother replied, ‘regular, he learnt that from his father’.

Children are easily impressed by what they see in their parents. If they see them offering help and showing kindness to others, children emulate these kindly acts. If parents are mindful of the welfare of their fellow men, their offspring will catch the same spirit towards others, too. Of significant note is the time frame when parents are still the focus of the child’s vision and ideals, for psychologists believe that at a certain period of the growing child, specifically within the adolescent-to-adulthood years, he is inclined to secure for himself an adult identity that is distinctly different from his parents. Beyond this period, the formation of the value system in the child is difficult to achieve because the children no longer look up to their parents as their models. The transmission of values must, therefore, take place within the children’s formative years while parents are still idolized by them.

In the long run, it is the child’s character that his parents have molded in him that has a more telling effect on the kind of person he will be than his accumulation of information and acquisition of skills in his development. Ellen G. White, the author of the book, Education, wrote, “Character building is the most important work ever entrusted to human beings; and never before was its diligent study so important as now. Never was any previous generation called to meet issues so momentous; never before were young men and young women confronted by perils so great as those confronting them today.”

STARCOMMS LEADS CDMA INNOVATION IN THE WORLD, LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL ROAMING

Starcomms Plc has once again demonstrated its determination to render superior and world-class service to its teeming customers. For the first time in the world, a CDMA telecommunication operator is providing its customers the opportunity to enjoy international roaming. As a result of this development Starcomms customers do not need to change their numbers whenever they travel out of Nigeria.

This new development is sequel to an agreement signed on March 23, 2010 by Starcomms with MACH, the leading provider of hub-based mobile applications exchange solutions and Accuris Network, the leading provider of Inter-standard and converged solutions.

Consequently, the over 3.2 million and still growing customers of Starcomms now have the rare opportunity of seamless access to international mobile roaming on all wireless technology networks. This will greatly expand Starcomms network coverage outside Nigeria and simplify the roaming experience of the customer who may have cause to travel outside the country. Already Starcomms has coverage in 31 major Cities covering 175 towns in Nigeria.

With this development, Starcomms now gives its customers the global advantage as they are connected to about 600 networks in over 100 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, America and the Middle East.

Commenting on the new deal that will boost the Starcomms network, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Maher Qubain said “The commitment of Starcomms to providing innovative products and services that simplify lives and enhance living for our customers is a tradition we hold dear.We know that many customers yearn for the high quality services of Starcomms everywhere they go. So, the pioneering step of adding inter-standard roaming capabilities to our portfolio as a CDMA network in this country is just more evidence of our practice of always being the first to give the customer the best.”

The ISR solutions from MACH and Accuris Networks is delivered through a proven services infrastructure and offers turnkey inter-operability between wireless technologies, including CDMA, 1xEVDO, GSM, GPRS/UMTS, WIFI, WiMax and soon, LTE. The solution, which can be implemented using existing connections, offers end-users all of the services that are available on their home network, even when they are travelling. With end-to-end one-number interoperability, operators can provide complete voice and messaging services easily.

The seamless interoperability roaming access that MACH provides for over 600 networks all over the world is in line with the high quality services that Starcomms has been providing its customers in Nigeria. Tushar Maheshwari, the Chief Commercial Officer of Starcomms, while speaking about the new possibilities said, “Starcomms will never trade high standard for any thing. Our focus in providing international roaming opportunities for our customers is not just about the service but about the quality of their experience while roaming with the Starcomms service.“We have continued to make sure that our customers who have cause to travel outside Nigeria feel at home anywhere with all their contacts having access to them seamlessly.”

THE KEY TO THE WORLD

An entrepreneur from Bath has been selected to safeguard the future of the Internet in the event of a terrorist attack or other catastrophic event.

Paul Kane, chief executive of Internet management company CommunityDNS, is one of seven people who were given a ‘key’ to restart the Web if it is knocked offline.

Mr Kane is the key holder for Western Europe while the other six individuals will share responsibility for the rest of the world.

In the event of a security breach, six of the seven individuals will be required to travel to a secure location in the United States where they can collectively recover the master signing key.

The keyholders would be able to reboot secure systems that underpin some of the Internet to ensure Web users are directed only to genuine websites.

Mr Kane said: “I’m honoured and excited to be recognised for past achievements and current contributions to global Internet security.

“We are very pleased to be part of stimulating innovation in the Bath area and see the University of Bath becoming a global centre of excellence for enabling Internet technologies.”

Mr Kane’s company is made up of a team of specialists that created a security system, known as DNSSEC, that companies can use to make their websites more secure.

Kane has dismissed suggestions that a single key could be created to reboot the entire Web. “Such a key would trigger the Balkanisation of the Internet,”

DIGITAL DIVIDE

As our world increasingly surfs the technology wave, some still struggle on the other side of the Digital Divide. Some interesting, inspiring- and troubling- questions for the researcher emerge...

How can research give a voice to the voiceless- in society, government or economy? How can we initiate a dialogue or co-create participative solutions for this audience?

As marketers search for the Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, how do we ensure that research tools are equipped for - and customised to - access and properly understand consumers on the other side of The Divide?

How can one develop markets or initiate new behaviours from a social welfare or economic perspective? How do we better understand these individuals, build a relationship or educate?

Relevant solutions could include developing ingenious and customised offerings to encourage dialogue with a traditionally hard to reach audience. These could include technology or infrastructural tools used individually or as a socially collaborative medium. On the other hand, proposed solutions could equally well be simple, cost effective and robust "back to the roots" options.

Whatever the route, the end result should be a deep understanding- and an inspirational example- of what it takes to cross over to the scary side - of a world without technology.
From Esomar