Pearls Of Wisdom From My 'Aunt'

A few friends of mine and I were involved in an informal business during the later part of last year before an opportunity which was too good to let pass presented itself.Of course we could have been complete idiots if we had let this go.

Pearls Of Wisdom From My 'Aunt'

The better part of the month of December was spent at the Deeds Office in Harare pursuant to registering a company.The first person we approached promised to speedily bring the idea to fruition for a small fee,he claimed to know the inner workings of the office ,having worked there before being led to pasture.I digress this is a tale for another post.We submitted the names we preferred as the company name,gave the required amount for the name search and got the good news that the desired name was available.The amount to secure the name was duly paid and the company memos typed and printed.Soon after our 'consultant' became very reluctant to do anything else without any payment.Being no push-overs,we refused to release any payment until the whole process was finalised.After the fall-out,we decided to take the matter into our own hands and went to the Director of the department who was more than willing to help ua after first admonishing us for having used an unregistered consultant.To cut a long story short, we finally completed the registration exercise a full month later although the documents showed that the company had been registered a good two weeks after first submission.

Our second order of business was the task of knocking on doors to try and get into partnerships with various stakeholders who met the profile of the high-traffic destinations for our business.During one of these cold canvas visits at a very big multinational organisation we met Ms Maroodza,a receptionist.Her words of wisdom ring in our ears to this day.'When you start operating and things start turning rosy,do not forget those you started out with.If you promise someone a hundred dollars as payment for services rendered,be sure to pay that person.Guard against the tendency to buy flashy cars or suits that are very expensive instead of reinvesting in the business, this was said in between answering calls .We waited and listened carefully because we could see that it came from the heart and she meant well.

Very often ventures started with very good intentions fail to come to fruition because of lack of focus or selfishness on the part of leaders of these organisations.

Friendship

This past week has been emotionally taxing.I learnt of the passing on of two people I regarded very highly.

Friendship

The first person whose death I learnt about was Stanford,we went to school together and were joined by our common bond; the cruel teasing that we got from our colleagues  at high school.I was the tall ungainly boy from the rural Manicaland who did not know his way around town, whilst my friend was an Albino.Naturally we gravitated towards each other and found comfort in each others company.Most weekends ,if we did not have some chores to do at home we would visit and hung-out.All throughout high school the friendship grew and when we went our separate ways to pursue different careers,it survived.We were to meet later after we both married and were able to introduce our young families to each other,only to lose track again when I migrated.When I came back I looked for my friend without any success until last weekend when I went to his parents home where I met his brother's son who was very surprised that I was looking for his late uncle.The news floored me,never in my wildest dream did I envisage that my friend was late.

I knew Mrs Lebesa during my time in Lesotho and she was able to help me immensely on two different occassions, imagine my surprise then when I learnt that she had also passed on,this from the Whatsapp status of her granddaughter.To make matters worse was the fact that I had been thinking about calling her and had even cropped one photo in which she was celebrating her granddaughters graduation from college.

The lessons learnt therefore is that life is too short and one should communicate with their friends and relatives as often as possible lest one is left rowing the missed opportunity.

Sexual Harassment In The Workplace

The supervisor[name supplied but withheld] of one very prominent Harare based cleaning company which has contracts to clean a lot of business premises and embassies is a perpetual sexual harasser.

Sexual Harassement In The Workplace

Reliable sources paint a grime picture of a married man who cannot keep it in his pants,He is reportedly related to one of the top managers and has been carrying out his nefarious deeds with impunity for a long time as most of his victims cannot report him for fear of victimisation.The sources claim that he has bedded most of the female employees under his supervision,should one turn down his advances then they get shifted from place to place and made to do the worst jobs.In a country where the economy is reeling from high unemployment,most ladies choose to resign than be made play-things of the serial sexual predator.

Sources say matters came to a head at one institution,a lady who has continuously turned down the unwanted attention of the abuser was dressed down before all and sundry for failing to do an imagined task well.What really irked the lady was not the dressing down , but for it to be done in public was very stressful to say the least.As I write she is contemplating resigning her job.

My appeal is for someone with the right legal background to start a programme of empowering our daughters,sisters and wives on how they can sue the harassers and the companies that turn a blind eye to sexual harassment in the work-place