<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">By Courtney Connley</a> 



Going after a promotion is never easy. It can take months, or maybe even years, before it actually happens.



But bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch says there are two things you can do now to fast-track your climb to the next level.



“Surprise! Neither is easy,” she warns. “But they work.”



Below, Welch tells <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a> about two essential moves that can help you make the leap.



1. Always over-deliver



When you’re eyeing a promotion, you have to be sure to always over-deliver, Welch says, “with the emphasis being on&nbsp;over. ”



“To get promoted, it’s not enough to do what’s asked of you,” she says. “That’s just delivering. To over-deliver, you have to look at every assignment as an opportunity to expand your team’s impact or understanding of things.”



For example, she says, if your boss asks you to “go analyze competitor X,” then you should “give them an analysis of X’s entire industry, with acquisition candidates included.”



But while you’re going above and beyond, you have to be sure that you’re doing it with the intent to help your entire team and not just you. “Don’t mix up over-delivering with being ambitious,” she says. “Overzealous ladder-climbing is about you. Over-delivering results is about making your company and colleagues more successful.”



2. Don’t use up your boss’s political capital



Second, you need to be keenly aware of how your actions impact your boss and their political capital. While this is a bit more subtle than over-delivering, says Welch, it’s of equal importance.



“You boss has a certain amount of goodwill in the organization,” she says. “Every time you don’t play well with others and your boss has to apologize for you, explain your behavior, or advocate for you, you are depleting it.”



Even if you’re a star employee with a boss who’s willing to protect you, “you will become a burden. And burdens — they tend to move up very slowly.”



“I don’t want to oversimplify what it takes to get promoted. Hundreds of books have been written on this topic, probably more. And there are always mitigating factors to complicate careers.”



The simple takeaway: “Over-deliver on results and under-deliver on office drama.” Doing this, Welch says, is “a one-two career punch that’s hard to beat.”



Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the&nbsp;<a href="http://jwmi.com/?mcv=jdg469" class="">Jack Welch Management Institute</a>and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.



 1. Always over-deliver



When you’re eyeing a promotion, you have to be sure to always over-deliver, Welch says, “with the emphasis being on&nbsp;over. ”



“To get promoted, it’s not enough to do what’s asked of you,” she says. “That’s just delivering. To over-deliver, you have to look at every assignment as an opportunity to expand your team’s impact or understanding of things.”



For example, she says, if your boss asks you to “go analyze competitor X,” then you should “give them an analysis of X’s entire industry, with acquisition candidates included.”



But while you’re going above and beyond, you have to be sure that you’re doing it with the intent to help your entire team and not just you. “Don’t mix up over-delivering with being ambitious,” she says. “Overzealous ladder-climbing is about you. Over-delivering results is about making your company and colleagues more successful.”2. Don’t use up your boss’s political capital



Second, you need to be keenly aware of how your actions impact your boss and their political capital. While this is a bit more subtle than over-delivering, says Welch, it’s of equal importance.



“You boss has a certain amount of goodwill in the organization,” she says. “Every time you don’t play well with others and your boss has to apologize for you, explain your behavior, or advocate for you, you are depleting it.”



Even if you’re a star employee with a boss who’s willing to protect you, “you will become a burden. And burdens — they tend to move up very slowly.”



“I don’t want to oversimplify what it takes to get promoted. Hundreds of books have been written on this topic, probably more. And there are always mitigating factors to complicate careers.”



The simple takeaway: “Over-deliver on results and under-deliver on office drama.” Doing this, Welch says, is “a one-two career punch that’s hard to beat.”



Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the <a class="" href="http://jwmi.com/?mcv=jdg469">Jack Welch Management Institute</a>and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.



This article was first published by CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/01/suzy-welch-these-are-the-2-fastest-ways-to-get-promoted.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/01/suzy-welch-these-are-the-2-fastest-ways-to-get-promoted.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Suzy Welch: These are the 2 fastest ways to get promoted

ALGIERS (Reuters) &#8211; Algeria’s ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned on Tuesday, succumbing to six weeks of largely peaceful mass protests driven by youth and pressure from the powerful army against his 20-year rule. 



Hundreds took to the streets of the capital after state media announced the 82-year-old’s departure, capping a wave of protests demanding the removal of an aging elite seen by many as out of touch with ordinary people and presiding over an economy riven by cronyism.



Bouteflika’s supporters had sought to stop the dissent by telling Algerians not to return to the dark days in the 90s when some 200,000 were killed in civil war, warning even of a scenario like in Syria, embroiled in an eight-year-long conflict.



The protests stand in stark contrast to Algeria’s neighbour Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed uprising that took much of 2011 and sent the country into chaos.



Only one person was confirmed to have died during the protests, a man around 60 years old who suffered a heart attack, with most rallies peaceful and with protesters cleaning up the streets before going home.



Bouteflika announced he was standing down in a one-sentence statement carried by state news agency APS, followed by a letter &#8211; his primary means of communication since suffering a stroke in 2013 and disappearing from public view.



“I have taken this step because I am keen to put an end to the current bickering,” Bouteflika said in the letter. “I have taken the suitable measures needed for the continuity of the nation’s institutions during the interim period.”



His departure came after the army chief of staff had dramatically ratcheted up the pressure, demanding immediate action to declare him unfit for office under the constitution.



The military had stayed in their barracks during the protests but step by step increased pressure on Bouteflika’s camp, first only indirectly in an army magazine saying the military shared the same vision as the people. Then chief of staff Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaed Salah proposed last week to invoke a constitutional clause to remove him.



Bouteflika on Monday had said he would quit before the end of his term on April 28 without giving a date. He had also vowed to undertake unspecified measures for the sake of stability, triggering new protests by students demanding a new political system.



Salah eventually said it was time to go for the only leader many Algerians have known, some 70 percent of whom are under 30 years old.



“There is no more room to waste time &#8230; We decided clearly &#8230; to stand with the people so all their demands get fulfilled,” Salah said after a meeting with senior officers, APS said.



Hundreds took to the streets in the evening, waving Algerian flags or driving in convoys through the city centre, where on Feb. 22 mass protests broke out.



“The army and the people are one” and “Game over”, banners read.



Pressure had been building during the day with opposition groups demanding Bouteflika go immediately, while hundreds of students marched through the capital Algiers to demand the replacement of a political system widely seen as incapable of significant reform.



“Bouteflika’s decision (to resign by the end of his term) will change nothing,” Mustapha Bouchachi, a lawyer and protest leader, told Reuters earlier on Tuesday.



Bouteflika’s resignation will put Abdelkader Bensalah, chairman of the upper house of parliament, in charge as caretaker president for 90 days until elections are held.



Bouchachi had suggested Bouteflika’s nomination of a caretaker government was a move to perpetuate the current political system.



“What is important to us is that we do not accept the (new caretaker) government. Peaceful protests will continue.”



A veteran of Algeria’s war for independence, Bouteflika was first elected president in 1999 and established himself by ending a civil war with Islamist militants that killed an estimated 200,000 people.



But the country remains mired in corruption and, in a sign that the end for Bouteflika’s rule had been approaching, several oligarchs close to his camp were banned from travelling abroad in the past few days, part of a crackdown against his allies.



“The gang has made big money illegally taking advantage of its closeness with decision-makers,” Salah said, according to APS.



The protests have been driven by the country’s youth and lawyers demanding the removal of a ruling elite seen by many as out of touch with ordinary Algerians.



Additional reporting by Mohamed Elsherif and Dalia Nehme; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by John Stonestreet and James Dalgleish.

Algerian leader Bouteflika resigns after mass protests against his 20-year rule

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; Steinhoff said on Tuesday investors who were suing the company have agreed to extend the suspension of litigation by six weeks, allowing the crisis-hit retailer time to proceed with its investigations and restructuring.



Steinhoff said the legal proceedings, which were suspended in October last year, would be further suspended until May 15, 2019.



The lawsuit, brought in the Netherlands, was aimed at compensating investors for the more than 14 billion euros ($16 billion) wiped off Steinhoff’s market value ever since the retailer uncovered accounting irregularities last year.



The lawsuit was brought by a collective group known as VEB/European Investors, Steinhoff. It claimed that certain financial statements, prospectus and press releases issued by the company were incorrect and misleading, the company said.



Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Uttaresh.V

Why Steinhoff investors agreed to extend suspension of legal battle

By Francois Conradie, Head of Research, NKC African Economics. 



Details
of the shape of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s departure from office and the
coming transition are arriving in dribs and drabs, and the situation remains
uncertain. 



On Monday, April 1, the president’s office announced that he would resign by April 28 when his current term in office ends. The announcement also said that the head of state was about to implement “measures to ensure the continuity of the functioning of the institutions of state during the transition period.”



On
Sunday, March 31, the presidency announced the nomination of a new cabinet with
Noureddine Bedoui as prime minister. 



Army
Chief of Staff Ahmed Gaid Salah remains deputy defence minister (the president
is ex officio the defence minister), but Ramtane Lamamra, a successful career
diplomat, was replaced as foreign minister. 



The
reshuffle has done little to calm the national mood, which we expect to remain
volatile until there is more clarity on the transition.



Constitutionally,
if there is a vacancy in the office of the president, then the president of the
Council of the Nation (the Senate) takes over as interim head of state. At the
moment, Algerian media are carrying reports that the current holder of that
office, Abdelkader Bensalah, is about to be replaced. 



Mr
Bensalah, a founding member of the National Democratic Rally (RND), has been in
his current position for 17 years and has always served Mr Bouteflika
faithfully; he was an early supporter of the president’s run for a fifth term
which was the main grievance of the protesters who have been marching in their
hundreds of thousands since mid-February. 



Meanwhile,
the president of the Constitutional Council, the body with which the
responsibility lies to declare a vacancy of the office, is Tayeb Belaiz who is
also a member of the ‘Bouteflika clan’ around the ageing president which is
currently doing what it can to slow down the transition and preserve its
members’ interests. 



This
means that it is possible for the clan to block the process.



But
the change in the national mood is making it harder for members of the clan to
steer Algeria through this changeable moment in a way that suits them. 



They
will have been distressed by the fate of Ali Haddad, formerly the head of the
influential employers’ federation, the Heads of Enterprises Forum (FCE) and a
billionaire thanks to lucrative public works tenders: Mr Haddad was arrested on
the Tunisian border on Sunday, March 31, as he was trying to leave Algeria in
violation of an order prohibiting him and some other big businessmen from
leaving the territory. 



The
order is an attempt by bureaucrats to limit capital flight as connected
businessmen move their ill-gotten fortunes offshore, but we think most of that
capital has already flown.



After
Mr Gaid Salah’s call for the implementation of Article 102 we had expected the
process to begin very soon, but the week since has shown the Bouteflika clan’s
determination to play for time. 



Friday
marches are expected to keep happening and some sort of national conference
should be announced in due course. 



If this conference looks insufficiently inclusive, or if it is too obvious that those around the president are trying to manipulate the process, Algerians will reject it.

Op-Ed: There’s slightly more clarity on Algeria’s shape of transition, but not much

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/justice-tankebe-579992">Justice Tankebe</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cambridge-1283">University of Cambridge</a>

The US <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/us-to-help-ghana-on-political-vigilantism-us-ambassador.html">has announced</a> it is ready to support Ghana to deal with the issue of political vigilantism – a growing threat to peace and security in the country. The Conversation Africa’s Moina Spooner spoke to Justice Tankebe about the phenomenon and what can be done to address it.

What’s meant by political vigilantism and how long has it been an issue in Ghana?

Vigilantism is when people “take the law into their own hands” in order to protect or advance their interests. In this way, all vigilantism is political because it always involves the use of (illegal) power against others who are perceived to be a threat to those interests. However, when we speak of “political vigilantism” we mean specifically the use of vigilantes in the name of partisan politics. 

In Ghana, political parties – whether in government or the opposition – are known to form and use vigilante groups who then act on their behalf. This has been highlighted in various reports, such as <a href="https://issafrica.org/iss-today/political-vigilantism-threatens-stability-in-ghana">one</a> put together by the Institute for Security Studies as well as academic research papers. These vigilante groups are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322231667_Political_Vigilantism_and_Democratic_Governance_in_Ghana's_Fourth_Republic">often</a> violent, target opposition groups and <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/gba-condems-attack-on-kumasi-court-by-delta-force.html">public officials</a>, and seize property or assets. 

But vigilantes aren’t just thugs who operate at the street level. Based on my research of over ten years into vigilantism in Ghana, I have started to focus on what I call “vigilantes-in-suits”. I use the term to refer to people in positions of authority – for example, policy makers, lawmakers and various political appointees – who will pursue their party’s interests by any means. 

Political vigilantism isn’t a new feature of Ghanaian politics. Some researchers <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322231667_Political_Vigilantism_and_Democratic_Governance_in_Ghana's_Fourth_Republic">say that</a> it has its roots in the country’s independence movement from British colonial rule. The Convention People’s Party, led by Kwame Nkrumah – Ghana’s independence leader and first president – and the National Liberation Movement were engaged in fierce political struggles over whether Ghana should be a federal or unitary state. The struggle involved violent vigilante activity by elements on both sides. 

Today, Ghana’s two main political parties – the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party – have vigilante groups who wear T-shirts branded with their group’s logo. These include the “<a href="https://www.pulse.com.gh/news/talensi-by-election-npp-bolga-bull-dogs-clash-with-ndc-azorka-boys/0s08c4t">Azorka Boys</a>” and the “<a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/NDC-outdoors-Dragons-Lions-Hawks-militias-for-2020-polls-682487">Hawks</a>” for the National Democratic Congress and the “<a href="https://www.modernghana.com/news/919396/invincible-forces-are-individual-groups-npp-gen-secreta.html">Invincible Forces</a>” and “<a href="https://www.myjoyonline.com/politics/2018/October-9th/2-delta-force-suspects-arrested-over-tafo-chaos.php">Delta Forces</a>” for the New Patriotic Party. 

How does it manifest itself?

Political vigilantism often involves violence, both physical and psychological. 

Vigilantes <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324943734_Political_party_youth_wings_and_political_violence_in_sub-Sahara_Africa_A_case_of_Ghana">engage</a> in riots, violent protests and property destruction. They’re also known to <a href="https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ghana/11294.pdf">target elections</a>, intimidating voters or <a href="https://library.fes.de/pdf-files/bueros/ghana/11294.pdf">mounting</a> roadblocks to prevent “outsiders” from observing polls. 

Vigilantes have also been <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/223196424_Vigilante_Homicides_in_Contemporary_Ghana">known to</a> harass, threaten, assault, and <a href="https://citinewsroom.com/2019/02/18/kumasi-one-feared-dead-after-shooting-at-ndc-headquarters/">assassinate opponents</a>. 

Who perpetuates it?

Ghana’s two main political parties recruit, train and fund vigilantes. 

These are young people who <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324943734_Political_party_youth_wings_and_political_violence_in_sub-Sahara_Africa_A_case_of_Ghana">feel</a> that the state doesn’t represent their interests. They also feel powerless because they don’t have many opportunities to improve their situation or are poor. These frustrations make them vulnerable to indoctrination by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1540-5893.2009.00372.x">older generations</a> – largely politicians – who give the young recruits ideological direction and justification for their actions.

Vigilantism has also flourished because of a lack of deterrence. Criminal justice agencies – particularly the police – are <a href="https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/1810/260171/Tankebe_et_al-2016-International_Journal_of_Comparative_and_Applied_Criminal_Justice-AM.pdf?sequence=1">highly ineffective</a> against vigilantes. Based on the insights I’ve gained from my research, I believe this is because of significant partisan interference in police work which has left them powerless. They either don’t make arrests or, if arrests are made, suspects are released because a politician intervened through the back door. 

What can be done to put a stop to it?

Tackling political vigilantism won’t be easy because young people may feel that being a member of a vigilante group defines and gives meaning to their life. It might give them power, esteem, <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/can.2004.19.3.429">prestige</a> and a sense of belonging.

It, therefore, won’t be enough to just disband the groups and give them moral lessons on the perils of vigilantism. They must be given enough support to find alternative livelihoods. Ghana could draw lessons from <a href="https://www.unicef.org/wcaro/WCARO_SL_Pub_LesLearntChildSoldiers.pdf">Sierra Leone</a> who successfully demobilised and re-settled ex-combatants after conflict. 

Longer-term strategies must address the issues of unemployment and Ghana’s deeply unequal society. Unless government policies create a more equal society, for example, through better employment opportunities for young people, vigilantism will remain a stable feature of Ghanaian politics. 

Tackling inequality also means more decisive action against corruption, which is widespread and vicious. Corruption allows the rich to get richer and prevents people from being held accountable for their actions. This creates conditions for vigilante activity. 

Lastly, the police service must be independent, well-resourced and insulated from partisan politics. To do this, there must be an overhaul. The police service must be decentralised to improve community-police relations and the current political appointment of police chiefs should be replaced by a competitive recruitment process. A new governance structure made up of people with expertise in police work, like academics and practitioners, should be created to oversee police work.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114216/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/justice-tankebe-579992">Justice Tankebe</a>, Lecturer in Criminology, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-cambridge-1283">University of Cambridge</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-has-a-serious-political-vigilante-problem-heres-why-114216">original article</a>.

Ghana has a political vigilante problem, what the country can do to tackle this issue

NAIROBI, April 2 (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya’s biggest telecoms operator Safaricom lost a further percentage point of subscriber market share in the period to the end of December, its fifth straight quarterly fall, data from the sector regulator showed on Tuesday.



The firm, part-owned by South Africa’s Vodacom and Britain’s Vodafone, shed 0.9 percentage points of subscriber market share to 63.3 percent, compared with 71.9 percent in September 2017 when the losing streak started.



Safaricom, which is in a closed period ahead of full year results on May 2, did not comment on the latest figures.



The company began to lose market share after opposition leader Raila Odinga called for consumers to boycott Safaricom, accusing it of playing a role in an August 2017 presidential vote whose outcome he successfully challenged in court.



The losses have been sustained by an aggressive hunt for subscribers by the local unit of India’s Bharti Airtel , which is the second biggest operator in the country.



Airtel Kenya’s subscriber market share jumped to 23.4 percent at the end of December, from 14.9 percent in September 2017.



Airtel said in February it had agreed to merge with number three operator Telkom Kenya, adding to the pressure on Safaricom.



Investors have shrugged off the developments however, with Safaricom’s shares rising 22 percent this year to trade at 28.25 shillings ($0.2804).



According to regulator data in 2015, Safaricom had enjoyed the lion’s share of revenue, with more than 90 percent in key categories such as voice calls. The latest revenue data was not available.



Both Safaricom and Airtel have been increasing their quarterly user numbers but Airtel has reported faster growth in subscribers. ($1 = 100.7500 Kenyan shillings) 



(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

What you need to know about Kenya’s Safaricom losing market share for 5th straight quarter

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/sarah-berger/">By Sarah Berger</a>



Oprah Winfrey is worth <a class="" href="https://www.forbes.com/profile/oprah-winfrey/#f0f649f5745f">$2.5 billion</a> and has seen much success: She leveraged “The Oprah Winfrey Show” into a booming media and entertainment empire, she has written best-selling books and now she’s even <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/25/apple-spring-tv-and-news-event-live-coverage.html">creating original content</a> for Apple.



But when she was first starting out, Winfrey toiled away at a job she disliked and even got demoted. In Winfrey’s new book “The Path Made Clear: Discovering Your Life’s Direction and Purpose,” she shares a defining moment in her early career that helped shape the rest of her life.



In the late ’70s, Winfrey had been working as a news anchor and reporter at Baltimore’s WJZ station. But at that job, she never felt like her authentic self.



“And my bosses certainly made no secret of their feelings,” Winfrey writes. “They told me I was the wrong color, the wrong size, and that I showed too much emotion.”



Winfrey writes that she felt she was misplaced and never truly felt comfortable with her seat on the 6 p.m. news.



“It wasn’t until I was unceremoniously ‘demoted’ to cohost of ‘People are Talking’ that I experienced the first spark of what it means to become fully alive,” Winfrey writes.



Winfrey’s defining moment happened on Aug. 14, 1978, her first day working on WJZ talk show “People are Talking.”



Her job as a talk show co-host, Winfrey recalls, felt different than her job as a news reporter. As a reporter, she remembers feeling exhausted and having to drag herself to work. The talk show, however, sparked something within her. During that first show, she interviewed Tom Carvel (the inventor of soft serve ice cream) and remembers feeling “lit up” from the inside.



“When the hour ended, there was a sense of knowing resonating within my heart and radiating to the hairs on the back of my neck,” Winfrey writes. “My entire body told me this is what I was supposed to do.”



“There was no doubt that the seeds of what was to give my life meaning and purpose had been planted,” Winfrey writes. “That day, my ‘job’ ended and my calling began.”



Winfrey shares the story in “The Seeds,” the first chapter of her new book. The book is meant to be a guide to creating a life of significance, with each chapter (like “The Whispers” and “The Road”) representing a milestone “along the road to self-discovery.”



Winfrey says there were other times in her life she felt something new being seeded. For example, years later, at the peak of her success with “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” she felt there was something else out there. So Winfrey ended her show in 2011 and went on to build up OWN, her cable network, among other ventures.



“This is the lesson I hope you take away,” Winfrey writes. “Your life is not static. Every decision, every setback, or triumph is an opportunity to identify the seeds of truth that make you the wondrous human being that you are.



“I’m not talking just about what you do for a living,” she adds. “When you pay attention to what feeds your energy, you move in the direction of the life for which you were intended. Trust that the Universe has a bigger, wider, deeper dream for you than you could ever imagine for yourself.”



This article was first published by CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/01/how-oprah-winfrey-found-her-calling.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/01/how-oprah-winfrey-found-her-calling.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Oprah Winfrey: This is the moment my ‘job ended’ and my ‘calling began’

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/benjamin-spall/">By Benjamin Spall</a>



There are hundreds of thousands of daily habits you can adopt to stay inspired and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/20/stanford-study-longer-hours-doesnt-make-you-more-productive-heres-how-to-get-more-done-by-doing-less.html" class="">boost your productivity</a>, but how do you decide on which ones to focus on?



Over the past five years, I’ve interviewed and studied more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/24/warren-buffett-and-bill-gates-agree-giving-up-this-one-thing-will-make-you-more-successful.html" class="">300 highly accomplished people</a>, from business leaders and university presidents to Olympians and artists, about their daily routines.



Here’s what some of the most successful people do on weekends to make their weekdays <a class="" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/26/5-powerful-daily-routines-of-insanely-happy-and-productive-people.html">easier and more productive</a>:



1. They catch up on sleep



Your body (and brain) won’t perform at its best if you don’t give it proper rest. Of the several hundred people I interviewed, their sleep times&nbsp;<a href="https://mymorningroutine.com/statistics/" class="">average out</a>&nbsp;at seven hours and 29 minutes per night. Tim Cook, Bill Gates, Jack Dorsey and Jeff Bezos all say they get at least&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/wellness/news/a35114/sleep-habits-of-highly-successful-people/" class="">seven hours of sleep per night</a>, as well.



But it can be hard to get in seven and a half hours, especially if you have a demanding job that often requires you to stay at the office late. If you find yourself falling behind during the week, use the weekend to catch up.



Don’t take this as an excuse to sleep five hours per night during the week, followed by 12 per night over the weekend, though. Just know that catching up on a few more hours over the weekend is better than nothing.



2. They spend time with their loved ones



If you feel guilty about how little time you’re able to spend with your family and friends Monday through Friday, you’re not alone. Whether you choose to work out with your spouse or take your kids to the park, doing it during the weekend will save you from feeling any guilt during the weekdays.



“On the weekends we have [a nanny] in the morning, so [my wife] Tiff and I go work out Saturday mornings. Then the rest of the weekend it’s just us,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-mark-cuban-teaches-his-kids-2014-3" class="">Mark Cuban</a>&nbsp;said at South by Southwest in 2014. “It’s us putting them to bed. It’s us at dinner. We try to be as normal as possible.”



Keep in mind, however, that if you need to get some work done over the weekend, aim to do it Saturday morning so you’re not thinking about it during the rest of the weekend.



3. They strategize on the week ahead



Successful people always strategize on their week ahead so they can get a head start on Monday. This can mean anything from blocking off a whole half-day on the weekend to spending 10 minutes on Sunday evening looking at next week’s calendar and taking notes on what you have coming up. Once Monday morning hits, you’ll be 110 percent ready.



“Saturday I take off. I hike. And then Sunday is reflections, feedback, strategy and getting ready for the rest of the week,” Jack Dorsey tells Brooke Potter, author of <a class="" href="https://www.amazon.com/Becoming-More-Productive-Successful-Revealed-ebook/dp/B00QT2VPC0">“Becoming More Productive: The Secrets of Successful People Revealed.”</a>



4. They make time for what energizes them



While successful people make plans to ensure they don’t waste their days, they also make a point to relax — and there are plenty of hours in the weekend to do that. Many will eat breakfast at a more leisurely pace than weekdays allow, curl up on the couch with some books, meditate or work out.



Richard Branson’s Saturday evenings consist of more partying (to each their own, right?). On Sundays, he engages in more physical activities like rock jumping, paddle boarding and boat races,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/my-perfect-weekend/8636955/My-perfect-weekend-Richard-Branson.html" class="">Branson tells the Telegraph</a>.



In a <a class="" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1xj56q/hello_reddit_im_bill_gates_cochair_of_the_bill/">Reddit AMA session in 2014</a>, Gates said he prefers to keep his time off as mellow as possible. “Playing Bridge is a pretty old-fashioned thing in a way that I really like,” he said. “I was watching my daughter ride horses this weekend and that is also a bit old fashioned but fun. I do the dishes every night — other people volunteer but I like the way I do it.”



5. They take care of chores



Chores are important and if you don’t get to them, they’ll pile up and turn into a cloud of anxiety that lingers over your head. Successful people make time to take care of their chores, whether it’s shopping for groceries, doing laundry or taking care of bills, but they don’t let it take over their weekends completely. (If they did, there’d be no time to do any relaxing or reflecting.)



To properly space out your chores, you’ll have to prioritize getting some of them done during the weekdays. It can be as simple as setting aside 15 minutes before bedtime each night to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Then, when the weekend hits, schedule at least an hour or two to complete the chores that require more time and attention. You’ll feel much better and in control once you’ve finished them.



6. They set aside alone time and reflect



Reflection and alone time is healthy for your mind and body. It will also help you to better reach your goals. Successful people use the weekend to reflect or meditate on things that are important to them (how can they make more time for those things?), things that have been bothering them (what are some good solutions?) and their career (how can they improve their skills and performance?).



A&nbsp;<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2414478" class="">Harvard study</a>&nbsp;found that people who spent 15 minutes at the end of the day reflecting about lessons they learned performed 23 percent better compared to those who didn’t. Other&nbsp;<a href="http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/16-077_0aae29b7-b67e-402a-9bc9-c06dd477e8da.pdf" class="">studies</a>&nbsp;have found that self-reflection can help you become a happier, more productive and less burned out person. Even if you struggle with the idea of self-reflection, at least try doing it on the weekends. It won’t be long before you start to see some of the benefits.



<a class="" href="https://benjaminspall.com/">Benjamin Spall</a>is the co-author of <a class="" href="https://www.amazon.com/My-Morning-Routine-Successful-Inspired/dp/0735220271/?tag=mmr-support-20">“My Morning Routine,”</a> which was named as one of Amazon’s best business books of 2018 and a Financial Times book of the month. He has written for the New York Times, New York Observer, Quartz, Entrepreneur, Business Insider and more.



This article was first published by CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/29/what-successful-people-like-bill-gates-and-jeff-bezos-do-on-weekends.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/29/what-successful-people-like-bill-gates-and-jeff-bezos-do-on-weekends.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

6 things successful people like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos do on weekends to make their Mondays more productive

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenya’s inflation rose to 4.35 percent year-on-year in March from to 4.14 percent a month earlier, due to rising food prices, the statistics office said on Friday.



On a month-on-month basis, inflation was 1.60 percent. The food and non-alcoholic index rose 3.30 percent month-on-month, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.



Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Omar Mohammed

COVID-19: South Africa eases lockdown to revive battered economy

The inflation in this East African country rises to 4.35 % yr/yr in March

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; The development bank of the BRICS group of emerging economies has approved funding of $790 million for three South African projects, the bank’s president said on Monday.



“We plan to end the year with total loan approvals of about $2.3 billion in South Africa,” New Development Bank president K.V. Kamath told the bank’s annual meeting in Cape Town.



A bank source told Reuters that $480 million of the approved funding was for struggling South African state power firm’s Medupi coal-fired power plant.



Reporting by Wendell Roelf; Editing by Alexander Winning

BRICS development bank approves $790 million funding for this African country’s projects

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s rand firmed against the dollar early on Monday as ratings downgrade fears eased after Moody’s said late on Friday it would not publish a review of the sovereign debt rating as indicatively scheduled.



The currency was further supported by a broader boost to investors’ risk appetite following positive Chinese factory gauges and signs of progress in Sino-U.S. trade talks.



At 0615 GMT, the rand traded at 14.3275 per dollar, 1.26 percent firmer than its New York close on Friday.



“The rand is demonstrating some of the market’s relief following no action by Moody’s last week, with it clawing back some ground during the overnight trade on Sunday,” said Bianca Botes, a corporate treasury manager at Peregrine Treasury Solutions.



South African markets on Friday were on edge over the impending review, with some economists concerned that a power crisis will cost the country its last investment-grade rating and lead to the outflow of billions of dollars.



Moody’s rates South Africa’s foreign and local currency debt on their lowest level of investment grade at ‘Baa3’, with a stable outlook.



In fixed income, the yield on the benchmark instrument due in 2026 dipped 6 basis points to 8.55 percent in early trade.



Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo, editing by Louise Heavens

South Africa’s rand firms as Moody’s delays credit rating review, what you need to know…

By Gary Van Staden, Senior Political Analyst at NKC African Economics



The Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) deadline for Lesotho to implement a series of critical constitutional and security reforms expires in May, with what little progress made since 2017 now under threat due to coalition party infighting that suggests another government is about to fall.



In
June 2017 the then opposition All Basuto Convention (ABC) led by Tom Thabane
emerged as the major party in the country’s third election in some five years,
but once again without the majority necessary to govern – forcing yet another
coalition in a country with a history of failed coalitions. 



This
time Mr Thabane joined forces with the Alliance of Democrats (AD), the Basotho
National Party (BNP) and the Reformed Congress of Lesotho (RCL). The ABC
started on the right foot by taking all the key posts, including the prime
minister and the majority of ministers. 



We
thought at the time that it was extremely unlikely that the coalition would see
out its five-year term and predicted yet another early election. 



The
reasoning was that while Lesotho politics continued to be dominated by the
parties of old men who seemed to play ruling musical chairs, there was no
prospect for any political stability in the country with or without Sadc’s
intervention. 



In
a repeat of history, it did not take long for the ABC and Prime Minister
Thabane to marginalise their coalition partners and create fresh tensions.



There
were clashes over ministerial positions and allegations that the ABC was
side-lining districts that had delivered no fewer than 11 of its members of
Parliament (MP) in the directly elected vote. 



Internal
power struggles quickly gathered around those for and against the autocratic
rule of Mr Thabane with his ambitions to remain party leader and prime minister
for as long as his body held breath. 



The
tensions came to a head at the ABC congress in early February when factions
clearly defined by support or opposition to Mr Thabane slugged it out on the
congress floor and in the courts where the one faction attempted to overturn
the election of Professor Nqosa Mahao and former Law, Constitutional Affairs
and Human Rights Minister Lebohang Hlaele into key positions in the party. 



Party
sources told local media that the old ABC’s national executive committee (NEC),
which was ousted at the party’s elective conference, had demanded that the pair
step down before it handed over the reins to the new NEC. 



This
demand, a blatant attempt to undermine democratic processes, was rejected
outright.



But
amid dire warnings of ‘chaos and bloodshed’, certain ministers who had lost
positions at the elective conference went to court to reverse congress
decisions. 



The
ministers Habofanoe Lehana (trade and industry) and Keketso Sello (mining), who
both lost elections, asked the courts to nullify the outcome of the party’s
elective conference and order fresh polls – failing which they warned of
“serious bloodshed” when warring factions try to gain control of the ruling
party. 



The
outcome of the infighting and clamour for power is not as relevant as the fact
that the coalition is tearing itself apart from within. Relevant too is the
African Union Peace and Security Council (PSC) group’s latest report on
Lesotho, which found the infighting in the ABC and the wider coalition could
“scupper efforts to implement the multi-sector reforms that were recommended by
the Southern African Development Community”. 



Sadc
gave Lesotho until May 2019 to fully implement the constitutional and security
sector reforms required to foster permanent peace and stability, but most local
commentators and people involved at Sadc believe the prospect of implementing a
significant portion of the reforms is effectively zero.



The
ongoing infighting and court battles surrounding the ABC elective congress that
exposed inevitable cleavages in both the party and its already shaky coalition
arrangement are par for the Lesotho course and come as no surprise at all. 



Mr
Thabane is no democrat, as clearly demonstrated by his tactic of proroguing
Parliament to avoid a vote of no confidence back in 2014 (a move that plunged
the country into uncertainty and instability amid unproven rumours of a coup
attempt). 



He
lost subsequent elections in 2015 after Sadc forced a new poll but regained
power in another bout of musical chairs in 2017 with his ABC-led coalition. 



Now,
he is under threat once again with a faltering coalition and rampant infighting
in the ABC, but Mr Thabane’s future is unimportant in the context of stability
and peace in the country. 



The
Sadc-imposed reforms did not meet universal approval, but they did promise some
return to normality in the mountain kingdom. 



Mr
Thabane, however, was not as interested in them as he was in holding onto power
– despite the apparent objections in his own party. 



The
recent history of instability and conflict in Lesotho has thrown up several
names but only one constant – Tom Thabane.



Gary
Van Staden – Senior Political Analyst

Op-Ed: Sadc reform deadline looms as infighting continues in Lesotho

<figure>
 <img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/265281/original/file-20190322-36264-2pjycb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&#038;q=45&#038;auto=format&#038;w=754&#038;fit=clip" alt="File 20190322 36264 2pjycb.jpg?ixlib=rb 1.1" />
 <figcaption>
 Sports science needs to race towards a different approach.
 kentoh/Shutterstock
 </figcaption>
 </figure>

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/francois-cleophas-424785">Francois Cleophas</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/stellenbosch-university-1439">Stellenbosch University</a>

In the four years since the decolonisation debate took <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&amp;pid=S2221-40702018000200001">centre stage</a> at South African universities, much of the focus has been on what decolonisation might look like in the humanities.

But science subjects, too, need to be taught differently at African universities in the 21st century. This is true of my discipline, sport science. The content of the sports science curriculum needs to change. So does the focus of sports science departments. Increasingly, such departments at public universities rely on <a href="https://journals.assaf.org.za/sajsm/article/view/365">private funding</a> to operate. This means they are driven by corporate and donors’ interests, doing less for the public good and not necessarily producing social and political critical thinkers.

Both the curriculum and the structure of sports science departments needs to be overhauled. This is necessary, because nothing in the ideological content of sport science curricula has changed over the past 25 years. 

In fact, it can be argued that the sport science curriculum, driven more and more by semi-private institutions at public spaces of higher learning, is more committed to a neo-liberal capitalist project today than what it was 25 years ago. 

<h2>The field’s history</h2>

The history of modern day century sports science, as an academic discipline, dates back to the early 20th century when the medical fraternity and physicians became interested in athletic contests. One such doctor, R. Tait McKenzie, published one of the field’s <a href="https://archive.org/details/exerciseineducat01mcke/page/n4">earliest scholarly texts</a>, Exercise and Education in Medicine. 

This book reflected and enforced the cultural hold that the western (Hellenistic) presentation of the human body exerted in the emerging field of sport science. The Greek body – white, muscular, masculine and middle class –dominated as an ideal type. This dominance continues today. What wasn’t discussed was that ancient Greece was a slave-owning society that exploited inequalities based on race, gender and class. 

As scholars like Ina Zweiniger-Bargielowska have <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199280520.001.0001/acprof-9780199280520">highlighted</a>, physical culture around the turn of the 20th century existed against the backdrop of competing conceptions of masculinity and a wider debate about the fitness of the British “race”. The scientifically trained sport body, sculpted by the sport scientist, became modern society’s idea of the perfect body. 

The untrained body – that is, not trained by a sport scientist – is often presented as the “other” type. These “untrained” bodies are often developed in community sports in local communities without the high costs that accompany sport science interventions. These forms of exercise are looked down on and sports science students are taught that these matter less. Ordinary people in these communities are made to believe that their exercise regimes, and ultimately their physical bodies, are not valid and are unimportant.

There have also been few strides in addressing gender discrimination in sports science. White male bodies are the focus. Students are not taught about alternatives or given space to criticise traditional approaches.

The field of sports science, then, has neglected the development of a thorough, critical analysis of how gender, race and class inequalities play out in sports science and exercise.

<h2>Commodifying knowledge</h2>

But altering what we teach is just one part of the challenge for South African sports scientists. 

As higher education has become <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2014.849449">more commodified</a>, so have public universities’ sports sciences departments.

As sport scientists, we no longer focus primarily on generating and dispensing intellectual knowledge about sport to local communities. Instead, we accumulate knowledge primarily for performance appraisals in accredited publications for distribution in academic circles. This means it’s shared with fewer people. 

In this way, sports science’s intellectual property has been captured by what scholar Lesley le Grange <a href="http://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/101900">refers to</a> as the knowledge economy in the ascendancy of the neo-liberal university.

<h2>What does all this mean, in practise?</h2>

Simply put, if sport science wants to be relevant to ordinary people, the curriculum needs to be taught and thought about differently. There must be a commitment to a decolonised way of doing things. This means teaching students about different bodies, about different fitness regimes and approaches, drawing from indigenous knowledge systems about what builds a strong body.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113930/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/francois-cleophas-424785">Francois Cleophas</a>, Senior Lecturer in Sport History, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/stellenbosch-university-1439">Stellenbosch University</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="http://theconversation.com/how-sports-science-in-africa-can-be-taught-and-thought-about-differently-113930">original article</a>.

How can sports science be thought of and taught differently on the African continent ?

By <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sean-mfundza-muller-298216">Seán Mfundza Muller</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-johannesburg-1275">University of Johannesburg</a>

Recent <a href="http://www.eskom.co.za/news/Pages/2019Mar16.aspx">power cuts</a> and the <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2019-02-21-eskom-bailout-to-reach-r150bn-in-10-years/">announcement</a> that South Africa’s power utility Eskom will be receiving R23billion (about USD$1.5billion) a year in government support for the foreseeable future are symptomatic of operational and financial crises at the utility. 

The conventional wisdom is that a major restructuring will address the crisis. But this is misleading. Defensible justifications for the restructuring are mostly about Eskom’s future problems, not its current ones. And there’s a risk that restructuring could exacerbate some of the underlying causes of the crisis.

The crisis itself is a function of a <a href="https://www.gtac.gov.za/Publications/160-casestudy_eskom_300413.pdf">complex set of factors</a>. These include an inappropriate tariff regime in the 1980s and 1990s, policy indecision in the post-apartheid era, bad infrastructure planning and poor project and human resource management. There’s also been large-scale corruption and a failure in government’s implementation of the oversight model for state-owned entities – as well as problems with the model itself. 

Two basic cases are being made for restructuring the 96-year old utility. The first is that, by formally splitting Eskom into managerially and financially autonomous components, it will be possible to improve management, better understand the source of existing problems, attract private investors and address corruption.

The second is that restructuring would facilitate a greater role for renewal energy generation driven by privately-funded generation projects. Eskom’s roles as generator, buyer and distributor of electricity would be separated to stop the utility’s generation interests from distorting its purchase and distribution decisions. 

Both cases are flawed. Eskom’s management and financial problems won’t necessarily go away simply by splitting it into three components. Any managerial benefits of separation can be overshadowed by difficulties in getting autonomous components to interact in a way that promotes the public interest, while private investors will not take on the unattractively debt-ridden components. 

And the case based on renewables has more to do with the need for South Africa to have a more appropriate energy mix that doesn’t rely so heavily on coal. It has little to do with Eskom’s underlying malaise. Renewables are on the table because of technological change and mass deployment of renewable energy internationally that has decreased costs, along with the need to meet climate change commitments. 

<h2>The proposal and its risks</h2>

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Finance Minister Tito Mboweni have set out two main proposals to fix the utility. 

The first is a major injection of funds. Mboweni announced that the National Treasury will provide Eskom with R23billion in cash a year for between three and ten years. This is in addition to financial support in 2015 that exceeded R150billion in costs to the state. The financial support will largely be funded by reducing other government expenditure as well as an increase in borrowing. 

The second major announcement was that the power utility will be split into three components: generation, transmission and distribution. 

Financial support, although highly undesirable, has become unavoidable. The necessity of the restructuring, however, is questionable and it carries large risks.

Breaking Eskom up into three parts is touted as a way to improve information about operations and finances, and to reduce inefficiencies. In addition, some argue that it would help attract direct private sector financing. 

These claims are dubious. For instance, the claim about private sector financing rests on the assumption that private investors will get a guarantee of future tariffs or revenues. But a guarantee would also facilitate Eskom borrowing from financial markets itself. And the obstacle to such a provision is partly regulatory and partly that it would create a large contingent liability for the state. 

Similarly, private investors will only get involved where Eskom is expected to be profitable in the future. That means that the cost and debt overhangs from the country’s two biggest coal-powered fire stations, Medupi and Kusile, will remain the problem of government and citizens.

A great deal has been written about the restructuring of state-owned enterprises. There have been both successes and failures. International experience across many industries shows that while separation can have a positive effect, it can also lead to breakdown of communication and information flows, distortion of incentives relative to the public interest, decline in operational indicators and excessive profits for private participants. 

A prominent example is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/nationalising-britains-railways-is-the-only-way-to-fix-chronic-problems-heres-why-88591">privatisation of passenger rail in the UK</a>. What followed was a deterioration in services and subsequent, large government bailouts. 

The nature and extent of the risks in the case of Eskom’s unbundling require a detailed analysis. The current narrative gives them too little attention.

<h2>Overselling renewables</h2>

Those pushing renewable energy as the panacea are, in my view, downplaying the downsides and playing up the benefits – suggesting, for example, that it’s a costless solution. But it’s not. 

Decentralised renewable power generation by firms and households is rarely entirely “off grid”. When the sun doesn’t shine, electricity is drawn from the grid. But revenues from the sale of this electricity aren’t enough to fund the costs of the underlying generation and transmission infrastructure. 

Other countries have got round the problem by introducing a high “grid connection fee”. This hasn’t been given much attention in South African commentary. 

And while some have led the public to believe renewable energy will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.co.za/6-quick-fixes-that-can-save-south-africa-from-more-load-shedding-2019-3">ameliorate</a> Eskom’s operational crisis, they fail to mention that it could exacerbate the utility’s financial crisis. Adding renewable capacity does not remove the costs already incurred for new coal-fired power stations. And decentralised generation reduces Eskom’s revenues. 

There are other reasons to gradually expand South Africa’s renewable energy capacity. That is certainly <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-power-utility-wants-to-finance-nuclear-this-is-a-bad-idea-67939">better than pursuing a nuclear power option</a>. But obscuring its downsides will lead to dangerously inaccurate beliefs about what is actually a very limited role for renewables in addressing the current crisis.

It would have been preferable if the dangers of restructuring Eskom had been properly considered before the the president and finance minister made their statements. But given that the path appears to be set, it is paramount that policymakers and the public be awake to its complexities and risks.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114333/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/sean-mfundza-muller-298216">Seán Mfundza Muller</a>, Senior Lecturer in Economics and Research Associate at the Public and Environmental Economics Research Centre (PEERC), <a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-johannesburg-1275">University of Johannesburg</a>

This article is republished from <a href="http://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-restructuring-south-africas-power-utility-wont-end-the-blackouts-114333">original article</a>.

#LoadShedding: Restructuring South Africa’s Eskom won’t end power cuts in the country, here’s why…

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/cat-clifford/">By Cat Clifford</a>



Billionaire &#8220;Shark Tank&#8221; star&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/mark-cuban/">Mark Cuban</a>&nbsp;was once in a band, the Not So Human Beings.



&#8220;There&#8217;s a reason why you never heard of it,&#8221; Cuban says, laughing, in a Amazon developer blog&nbsp;<a href="https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/0902e3c5-9649-47e5-b705-984666b85125/mark-cuban-voice-ambient-computing-are-the-future-and-why-developers-should-get-in-now">video</a>&nbsp;published Monday. &#8220;It it was a great name. But, um, there was a time to quit.&#8221;



The same holds true in business, says the tech entrepreneur. So how do you know when your business isn&#8217;t working?



&#8220;When you don&#8217;t have any customers? That&#8217;s your answer,&#8221; Cuban says. That&#8217;s when you know what you are making is not going to become a successful business.



&#8220;One of the challenges of being an entrepreneur is that we all lie to ourselves. We are the best. We are the fastest. The greatest. The this-er, the that-est,&#8221; Cuban&nbsp;<a href="https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/0902e3c5-9649-47e5-b705-984666b85125/mark-cuban-voice-ambient-computing-are-the-future-and-why-developers-should-get-in-now">says in the video</a>. &#8220;If you find yourself always describing your company and how you are different in terms of &#8216;er-s&#8217; and &#8216;est-s,&#8217; you have got issues and you are probably lying to yourself.



&#8220;You have to be brutally honest. You have to ask yourself: If it wasn&#8217;t me, if I was on the outside looking in, what would I say about this company? And if you are not able to do that, that&#8217;s a bigger problem.&#8221;



Having customers is the difference between being an inventor or maker and a successful business owner.



&#8220;The reality is there are a lot of great products and services that are undiscovered&#8230;. Because it&#8217;s one thing to do something great. It is a whole other thing to &#8230; be able to market and sell it,&#8221; Cuban says.



But just because what you are working on is not going to be a successful business does not mean it is not worthwhile, Cuban says.



&#8220;Everybody defines success differently. I have always told people that if you can wake up in the morning with a smile on your face, excited about your day, knowing it is going to be a good day, you&#8217;re successful. And so in terms of your business, you have got to live at some level right, but if you love what you are doing&#8230; it is not work,&#8221; Cuban says.



For example, before Cuban co-founded his first company, AudioNet (which became Broadcast.net and sold to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/09/mark-cuban-reveals-3-secrets-for-growing-a-successful-business.html">Yahoo for $5.7 billion in April 2000)</a>, he learned how to code.



&#8220;Early on, I had to teach myself how to program&#8230;and I would start writing these applications for customers. And I would start working on it&#8230;and I would look up and I had been sitting there for 24 to 26 hours not realizing that you know, I hadn&#8217;t moved this whole time. I loved what i was doing&#8221; Cuban says.



&#8220;I was sleeping six guys, living six guys in a three-bedroom apartment &#8230;&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/05/how-mark-cuban-became-a-billionaire.html">I had a hole in the floorboard of my car</a>. But I knew that there was a light at the end of the tunnel as long as I just kept on getting better at what I did. But had I not had the financial success, I still would have loved it.&#8221;



Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to &#8220;Shark Tank.&#8221;



This article was first published by CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/27/shark-tanks-mark-cuban-how-to-tell-if-a-business-will-be-a-success.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/27/shark-tanks-mark-cuban-how-to-tell-if-a-business-will-be-a-success.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Billionaire ‘Shark Tank’ star Mark Cuban: This is how to know if a business will be successful

Press Release



Two innovative products &#8211; Digital Investment Platform, Tracker, announced 



Abidjan, Cote
d’Ivoire, 25 March 2019 &#8211; The African Development Bank, heads of 34 leading financial institutions covering Africa and other partners of the Africa Investment Forum reaffirmed
their commitment to “scale up, speed up, and synergize” efforts to deliver
transformative projects across the continent.



The meeting was also
attended by lead partners of the Africa Investment Forum: African Export-Import Bank, Africa50, Trade Development Bank,
Development Bank of South Africa, Africa Finance Corporation, European
Investment Bank, and Islamic Development Bank.



Chief Executive Officer,
Development Bank of Southern Africa, Patrick Dlamini, said: “The time has come
for us to demonstrate leadership to the rest of the world that a lot is
possible in Africa. The Africa Investment Forum provides the right platform to
achieve this. To see that the inaugural Forum last year was able to raise the
kind deals it did is mind-blowing. ”



Ahead of the November
2019 event, the Bank announced two innovative products &#8211; an open digital
marketplace known as ‘<a href="https://platform.africainvestmentforum.com/">The Platform</a>,’ to connect funders to projects and investment opportunities across
Africa, and an Investment Tracker to
ensure that investment commitments made on the Africa Investment Forum platform
are closely monitored. 



<a href="https://platform.africainvestmentforum.com">The Platform</a> is developed in
partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank’s <a href="https://connectamericas.com/">ConnectAmericas</a> &#8211; a global digital community with 200,000 registered business users, consolidating
its lead role in encouraging private sector investment in Africa.



&nbsp;“We need to make the Africa
Investment Forum the accelerator of projects. Last year’s event was great and
we want to build on that momentum,” Africa 50 Chief Executive Officer Alain Ebobissé said, stressing the need to
collectively commit additional financial resources for project preparation, and
legal support for African governments to better negotiate public private
partnerships. 



Akinwumi Adesina, President of the African
Development Bank, said the maiden edition of the Forum held in November 2018
exceeded expectations. “The 2018 Africa Investment
Forum ended with 49 deals that secured investor interest worth US$ 38.7 billion—in
just three days.” Adesina thanked the
core partners for their strong support in making the inaugural forum a success,
and that “working together as one remains the core principle of our
partnership.”



Partners unanimously
affirmed their commitment to the Forum and to driving investments in Africa.



Mamadou Barro, Head Africa, Islamic
Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector – Member of the Islamic
Development Bank (IsDB) Group, said: “We
must find a way to collectively attract the kind of funds the continent needs
to close its infrastructure gap.”



Participants welcomed the
innovative Platform, which offers investors, project sponsors and transaction
facilitators a live database of private/public private partnership (PPP)
projects and investment opportunities in Africa. It connects providers of
capital with opportunities for deals, improves the quality of project
information and reduces intermediation costs.&nbsp;
Features also include deal flow analytics and investment support
services, and access to training in the ConnectAmericas Academy.



Director
Project and Export Development Finance, African Export Import Bank, Kofi Adomakoh, called attention to the
importance of the co-guarantee component of the Forum, “We must pull our
strengths together to identify projects and synergies under the Africa
Investment Forum. The African Investment Forum that happened last year was long
overdue, but was important to put us back on track,” he noted. 



The 2018 Africa
Investment Forum attracted 1,943 participants representing 87 countries, and
brought together 400 investors from 52 countries;



According to Jane Feehan, Head of
Regional Representation for West Africa, European Investment Bank: “We are delighted
to underline and repeat our commitment to the Africa Investment Forum. The
success of the first edition has given it a huge convening power. We are also
excited about the focus on transactions.”

#AfricaInvestmentForum: Partners reaffirm commitment to close Africa’s infrastructure gap

<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/courtney-connley/">By Courtney Connley</a> 



Leaving your job is a huge decision. But staying in a job that&#8217;s getting you nowhere can have a lasting negative impact on your career.



Bestselling management author and CNBC contributor Suzy Welch agrees: &#8220;Of all the debates in our head, deciding if it&#8217;s time to quit is one of the hardest.&#8221;



She tells&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/">CNBC Make It</a>&nbsp;there are four &#8220;surefire signs&#8221; that will let you know it&#8217;s time to look for the exits:



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">1. There&#8217;s no room for growth</h4>



Are you finding there&#8217;s no way to move up in your current company? Welch says this is one of the top signs that it&#8217;s time to move on.



Maybe you&#8217;re at a company, for example, where, &#8220;there&#8217;s someone above you who&#8217;s never going to leave the organization. Maybe it&#8217;s the boss&#8217;s daughter or son. Maybe it&#8217;s the superstar employee. It doesn&#8217;t matter.



&#8220;The facts are, you can&#8217;t move up, or maybe even sideways, because no one is moving out.&#8221;



If you don&#8217;t leave, she says, &#8220;you&#8217;ll never grow.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">2. You have an embedded reputation</h4>



Another good reason to leave is what Welch calls an &#8220;embedded reputation.&#8221;



&#8220;Say you started out as an assistant. Some people will never see you as anything but. Or maybe you were part of a project that tanked. Failure can cling to you, even when it&#8217;s not your fault.&#8221;



Regardless, she says, factors like these can leave you with an &#8220;un-promotable&#8221; or &#8220;damaged goods&#8221; vibe. And when that happens, she says, &#8220;you must go find a place to start again.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">3. You&#8217;re not excited about your work</h4>



If you feel &#8220;meh&#8221; about your company&#8217;s product or service, Welch says that&#8217;s a clear sign that it&#8217;s time to quit.



&#8220;Life is short and precious,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Don&#8217;t spend 40 or 50 hours a week working to advance something you don&#8217;t believe in.&#8221;



Instead, she says, &#8220;find a company that makes you proud to say, &#8216;I work here.'&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">4. You feel called to start your own business</h4>



&#8220;If you&#8217;re being called morning, noon and night to do your own thing,&#8221; then chances are it may be time for you to quit your job. But, she says, before putting in your two weeks, you have to be certain that you&#8217;re ready for entrepreneurship.



&#8220;Just remember this,&#8221; she says, &#8220;wanting to be your own boss doesn&#8217;t cut it unless you have an amazing idea. If you do, go build it! If not, maybe wait to leave until you do, OK?&#8221;



Welch emphasizes that &#8220;no job is perfect, and we all have times when we think about leaving.&#8221; But, she says, &#8220;don&#8217;t leap without looking for these signs and knowing at least one of them is looking back at you.&#8221;



Suzy Welch is the co-founder of the&nbsp;<a href="http://jwmi.com/?mcv=jdg469">Jack Welch Management Institute</a>and a noted business journalist, TV commentator and public speaker. Think you need Suzy to fix your career? Email her at gettowork@cnbc.com.



This article was first published by CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/25/suzy-welch-4-signs-its-definitely-time-to-quit-your-job.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/25/suzy-welch-4-signs-its-definitely-time-to-quit-your-job.html</a> <a href="http://cnbc.africa/news/special-report/2019/03/25/3-questions-to-ask-immediately-after-youre-denied-a-pay-raise/"> </a>and is republished with its permission.

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