Message from Maputo

It is a few mins to midnight, a few mins to 22nd Sept 2009. I have just completed an epic journey hat took me form Nairobi through Pemba to Maputo. A journey that would have lasted me about 3 hours took me 7 hours to complete. It was a different journey though.

At first I though that the only Pemba I know is a small archipelago off the coast of mainland Dar es salaam. I have however come to realise that there is a better and more serene Pemba whihc is an island to the north of Mozambique. This is a very picturesque island and I have promised myself to return.

My Journey into Leadership

Today is October 1 2010. Today marks my first 30 days as the General Manager for Nokia in East & Southern Africa as well as exactly 3years in Nokia. thats significant for me.

Day Zero Minus Fourteen

I am in the process of counting down my last two weeks before my move to start on a new role in London. I have mixed feelings about it. On one side is the apprehension and implication of what it means to uproot yourself from a place you have called home for a long time and going to a new city. On the other hand is the excitement of living a lifetime dream of living and working in a first world capital, and to boot, my favourite city long before I made up my mind about this move.


There are lot of the things that I had underestimated that are now coming back hard and fast at me. I have been reluctant to let go of some things that I will not need in a long while like my car, some household fixtures, friends that i will not see in a long while et al. One that is very devastating is letting go of Bishop and Knight to the kennel where I go them from. Regarding this I am holding on to the hope that the relationship i have built with my german sheperds is strong enough to last my time away which at present is undetermined. I am also holding onto the hope that dogs, unlike cats are more faithful and we will be able to pick it up at some point in our lives.

That aside, a lot of further adjustment has to be made. Three hours might seem little but that adjustment in timezone requires a lot of work. I already realise that I will have to take lunch 3 hours later! and dinner 3 hours later! yaaaawn...but that's the reality. The bit I am looking forward to is waking up 3 hours later:-) ...that my body will relish, but only for so long.


The biggest one for me for now is recalibrating my world view. For a while I have had Africa and my local regional and national statistics at my fingertips...populations, GDPs, mobile penetration, mortality rates, exchange rates, current affairs, name it. On this pedestal I stood and ruled the roost. The scientist in me has been very factual and kept abreast of everything that matters in this microcosm is now being challenged to spread my wings and fly, and fly I will.


Now I have started getting the feeling like I am in the movie "Who shrunk the Kids". All of a sudden, my known world has become global. I have to think about China, Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, India...Oh boy and aren't the numbers staggering? Changing from managing a large team looking after a region to a smaller team of specialists looking after a global business is a different cup of tea that calls for a different skill set and gets me out of my comfort zone. I am in the process of evaluating if there is any additional help I need to make sure my "gun" does not get jammed and is always "smoking"


I am in the process of recalibrating my world view and I know that this is going to be exciting. I look forward to sharing every step of this journey for whilst i know nothing is new under the sun but peradventure it would help others coming along in the journey so that they may not have to reinvent the wheel.


So, London, here I come, a proud son of Africa with lots to offer and lots more to learn.

The Man In the Glass

The Man In The GlassPeter Dale Wimbrow Sr.

When you get what you want in your struggle for self
And the world makes you king for a day
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what that man has to say.
For it isn’t your father, or mother, or wife Whose judgment upon you must pass
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.
He’s the fellow to please – never mind all the rest
For he’s with you, clear to the end
And you’ve passed your most difficult, dangerous test
If the man in the glass is your friend.

You may fool the whole world down the pathway of years
And get pats on the back as you pass
But your final reward will be heartache and tears
If you’ve cheated the man in the glass.

This poem was first published in 1934 and is still very popular today. Thank you very much to the family of Dale Wimbrow for allowing us to publish it and to our friend Marie Ornstein for recommending it!
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Magnificient Malaysia

Magnificient Malaysia

The journey to this part of the world was not an easy one. I have opted to stick to Emirates after my recent decision to dump Kenya Airways. For 10 years I have been loyal to death and the best I got from Kenya Airways were my hard earned miles, never a gesture of acknowledging me for my loyalty. Besides this, the experience of flying Kenya Airways, apart from being convenient especially in Africa has been far from my expectations. I have hence made a resolution that wherever route I have an option ceteris paribus, I will exercise my freedom hence my flight to Malaysia using Emirates.



On Emirates the service is unmatched and the connection is smooth. My maiden flight took me through Dubai where after a 4 hours lay over I connected at 3am for Kuala Lumpur or KL as I have come to foldly learn it is called. The flight to KL takes 6 hrs and lands at the International airport. It is quite pleasant to learn that this far away from home Kenyans do not require visas to enter Malaysia. I just hope that no silly Kenyans do something dumb that would change this anytime soon. I have posted a quote on twitter reflecting on the fact that "Najivunia Kuwa Mkenya" (Proud to be Kenya)


Apart from my experience on landing when my luggage took 3hrs to come through after which I discover it was on adifferent carousel, all has been well so far. One other incident that came to mind was how I was picked out form a big multitude to scan my bags. I do not understand this but i'd want to believe this was NOT due to some racial stereotyping, but who am I to complain? I suppose I am here at the mercy of the people of Malaysia. this makes me remember how important those words in the first page of your passport mean when you are in a foreign country. Just in case you forgot they go something like this:

These are to request and require in teh Name of the President of hte Republic of KEnya all those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hinderance, and to afford him or her every assistance and protection which he or she may stand in need.

Powerful, isnt it? and sounds regal too...it transports me back to the times of hte Roman Empire where this would look great written on a scroll or parchment to boot. anyway, back to magnificient Malaysia...



The time differnece from the time at home is 5hrs. This means that if i wake up at 6am at home, in Malaysia I have been waking up at 1am and running through a straight day. My mind is physically present here and considering I am an insomniac this is not a big deal.



It is still the early days in KL and I have not had time to go into the city. I am looking forwad to Thursday afternoon when i will be able to go into the city and savor the best of the land.

Helping Haiti

My tradition at the beginning of each year has been to take some time off, specifically 21days to exercise a couple of things .Foremost has been to cut off my supply line of food. This makes so much sense as Christmas is always a season of plenty and this part Christmas wasn't different; more important for me this has always been the time to snuff out the "voices in the land" and to listen to the voice within. Its amazing what focus fasting puts on the mind and the voices that are often ignored which now scream when the body is forced to do what it doesn't want to do. Most important, many of the achievements in my life have been crafted during this time of meditation, prayer and fasting. This time enables me to lay down the priorities in my life: spiritual, financial, material and emotional.

I have come to learn that the busy lives we lead never allow us the time for meditation and we, being the microwave generation, never say no to the desires of the flesh. Today is day 8 and the experience has been rewarding. My body is coming to learn that it cant have everything it wants. My mind is also coming to learn that it cant think its own thoughts and get away with it. It has been amazing how easy it has been to detect the body and mind wanting to go off on a tangent and the effort it has taken to rein them in. The exercise of reining in my body and thoughts has been very rewarding and it has amazed me how normally I (the flesh) would have got off with "murder" but now, i am not letting myself to be conformed to the pattern of this world, rather I am being transformed by the daily and deliberate renewal of my mind an I am becoming more discerning in mind and spirit.

I have set clear milestones of the things i hope to achieve this year. very clear in my mind is that this year, the year 2010 is the year of the Extraordinary in my Life and in the things that concern me. tough choices will have to be made, nothing ever came easily!

This year this time has coincided with one of the worst natural tragedies in my lifetime...he Haiti Earthquake. My heart has been so moved by the tragedy and my days have been filled with literal weeping and fervent prayer every time i sit in front of the TV screen getting an update. I have got such a burden to pray and give towards helping those who stand in need of great help in Haiti. It has been amazing that whilst before i was glued to my screen helpless but i have come to a place of being able to connect and pray and stand in the breach for the quake victims. I know that in my giving and prayer I am reaching out to someone and in putting myself in the shoes of the Haitians i am planting a seed and praying that one day in my day and hour of need that He will send help my way.

Today is 20th September 2009. Glad that it is a holiday in Kenya, Id ul Fitr, courtesy of our Muslim brothers and sisters across the world. First congratulations to you all who have successfully been able to deny the flesh and discipline it during the past 30 days!

This weekend has been a blessing as i have been able to completely rest.This is significant for me as over the past 8 weeks i have been shuttling across different cities and for that i owe it to myself to update my blogs and journeys through these cities in Africa. It is also significant as tomorrow i embark on another burst of travel that will take me to Maputo, Johannesburg and Kampala. At the end of this round of travel i will have earned myself a good vacation and rest from travel for all the month of October!

It was quite an experience to team up with Janet and Flora to go visit Pastor Andrew (my brother) in Kiserian. Part of the experience came from driving my sisters little Vits! (a pink one at that) through the long journey to Kiserian. it went on really well and we were able to test the mettle of the car through the Ngong hills and the final steep descent in to Pastors residence.

Visiting Pastor was also significant as two days ago he had some "unwelcome visitors" who struck at midnight and in frustration of not being able to take away anything they extensively damaged Pastors car. Our mission was to encourage Pastor's family to stick to their resolve to stay put in the land they have set foot on to possess and dwell in.

I heard an interesting story from one of the neighbours who has learnt how to stay put in the face of the frequent attacks from the hooligans..apparently to discourage the new arrivals, the Masai developed a habit of stealing diary cows from this particular neighbour. this stealing was not for any economic gain as the dairy cow is not adaptable as the Masai cow is so the Masai would slaughter it not very far from where they stole the cow. this practise went on one homestead a week. the Masai raiders did the mistake of visiting the same homestead after 3weeks. by this time the owner of this homestead was fed up and had wired up his compound with TNT (the same stuff used in quarries to blast ballast...and when the raiders ventured in they were blasted off to kingdom come. Of course there was no chance not to repeat the same mistake again and ever since they have lived peacefully. i gather this happened 3 years ago.

Travelling with Flo meant leaving my nephews Malcolm and Jerry with Keith and Kyle. this worked very well as when we got back the kids had had their fair share of play and were so exhausted and ready for bed time.

The bible says in Psm 133:1-6 that how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity...it is like the oil that was poured upon Aaron's head, that flowed down his beards...it is like the dew upon mount Hermon.....for there the Lord commands a blessing, even life forevermore.
I claim that blessing today

So tomorrow the packing starts again as i head to Maputo for a series of meetings with customers and operators. That however will be the subject of another blog.