Jonny Harrison is sailing to Australia from the UK via the Panama Canal before he starts work in Sydney on a secondment at his firm PricewaterhouseCoopers »
Andrew Hebden is Assistant Editor (Business) of The Journal »
Katie Pringle has started her own business, Rock, Paper, Scissors »
Andrew Mernin is the Digital Journalist for nebusiness »
Matthew Rippon is an IP lawyer for BHP Law »
Formerly editor of a national business lifestyle magazine, Jez Davison is a business writer for the Evening Gazette in Teesside »
Ross Smith, Head of Policy and Research at the North-East Chamber of Commerce »
Julian Christopher from Footprint Public Relations, on media and marketing »
Norma Foster from the North East Regional Portal writes about e-business »
Ian Brown, Northumberland farmer and businessman writes about the agricultural industry »
Accessibilty Champion Steve Wilkinson on the importance of inclusion »
Andrea Wilkinson of Shared Interest is visiting Swaziland to deliver business training »
Jonathan Wheatley from Stokesley-based MC Ware writes about IT matters »
Mark Lisgo is a Northeasterner who works for law firm Eversheds in Abu Dhabi, UAE »
Adam Lopardo is director of the Sponsors Club for Arts & Business, bringing business and art together »
Curator Danielle Pender shares the peaks and pitfalls of working with 21 designers on a month-long exhibition »
Paul Williamson is from Deloitte »I was very excited to visit a reforestation project yesterday that is funded by Shared Interest through our Carbon Offsetting Project. Last year we donated money to REDO (Rwandan Environment and Development Organisation) and here I am getting to see the 500 trees they planted on our behalf - contributing to Rwanda’s overall aim of replanting a million!
One thing that strikes me about Rwanda as I go out to visit the project is that it is one of the cleanest countries I’ve ever seen. There is no rubbish on the streets; roundabouts are beautifully maintained, filled with well-watered grass, plants and sometimes even a water fountain! In its mission to fight pollution the country has even gone as far as banning plastic carrier bags; a problem which haunts many other African countries.
I was surprised by this until I heard about Umuganda, a ‘community day’ on the last Saturday of every month. This means that between 7am and noon all households must participate in activities for the good of the community.
Examples include planting trees, cleaning up streets and creating new dirt roads. Businesses must close (can you imagine that back home?!) and everyone reports to their community leader. Even the President and foreign visitors must join in! In return you get a stamp in your book, which is required to access health care and education services.
Ok so that’s the more serious message. Now for my more surreal experience at Millies Collines. Joan and I were checking out their training rooms with their event manager Dieudonne (his name translates as God’s Gift!) As we were leaving the hotel, a huge black limo pulled up. Out came two guys, who I was informed - as people pushed past me to take photos – were ‘P-Square’, Nigeria’s hottest new rap artists!
The event manager said that he could get us two VIP tickets to the Kwita Izini Concert tonight, which is part of next week’s gorilla naming ceremony. This is an annual event where 40 new baby gorillas will be named. Intrigued? I’ll tell you all about it in my next blog.
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