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Welcome
to AFRICABIZ, 
Welcome
to Africabiz Online Synopsis
RSS Feed edition. Previous issue available atthis
link
Click
here for PART I
Click
here for PART II
TO MANAGE A PROJECT, AND NOT JUST TO SUPERVISE. - PART III: MANAGING PEOPLE. THAT IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS
In Part I of this series, it had been asserted that if the concept, the basic idea of a project is biased from the start, flawed by misleading assumptions and doctrines, the wall of disaster is just half way down.
In said delivery several definitions of a project had been outlined - with the following proposed by the author of this article: "A project is the conceptualization of an idea, translated into a set of actions, with guidelines for a successful implementation. It is a scheme, a plan, a strategy to reverse a trend; to improve a situation - politically, socially and economically."
The above definition clearly showed several people, apart from the principal manager of the project are involved to implementing the venture. Those are people for whom set of actions are defined and guidelines laid out, to follow suit and implement. Therefore, it is obvious that if the contribution of people involved is not "perfect", the project' success is in jeopardy.
Consequently, the choice, the selection and the management of all people involved is paramount to driving the venture to success. And that is the job of the principal manager.
A managing paradox had also been revealed in Part I, considering (among others) the arising failure of the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq. That is: The management skills of the project's manager is not the prerequisite for the potential success of a project.
Indeed, whatever maybe the outstanding managing-skills of the person in charge of implementing a project, and the abundance of financing means made available, he would not succeed driving the scheme to a successful final stage if the project is badly conceived and bundled, non realistically planned from the start.
Now, one has a global picture. First, the venture should have a perfect (strategic) plan, designed with sound assumptions based on real facts, and not based on opinions expressed by some people (whatever may be their hierarchical rank and previous accomplishments) or doctrines. Second, staffing should be carried out taking into account the skills of people and not their kinship to big-bosses or big-oils. Third, the principal manager should have skills and experience to a) supervise the project strategic plan and b) manage people involved.
Good planning alone would not accomplish anything. Staff and personnel with the outstanding skills would not accomplish anything. The top performance and hard work of the principal manager would not accomplish anything. Only the blending of a good strategic planning, top performing staff (and secondary managers) and a dedicated and skillful principal manager would do everything to driving the project to success. But, at the end of the business, people do matter more. They represent the central point between the principal manager and the strategic plan.
We would not elaborate on this last statement as thousands of management books had already extensively developed the subject.
"CONTRIBUTOR'S GUIDELINES" are
available here. We invite
you to contribute to AFRICABIZ ONLINE MONTHLY ISSUE - with articles related
to "How Africa Could Bridge The Developing Gap".
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Many
thanks for subscribing to Africabiz. See you here on November 15, 2006.
Dr. B.M. Quenum
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| Business
Opportunities BIOMASS ENERGY - PART II: - BIOGAS AS A STRATEGIC SOURCE OF ENERGY TO DEVELOPING AFRICAN COUNTRIES
The several business opportunities / projects outlined on the top of the following URL page need energy - from gas, wood, or electricity - to be implemented. Without the availability of cheap and sustainable energy, projects cannot be successfully carried out.
Biomass helps generate renewable energy. A simple definition of Biomass reads as follows: Plant material, vegetation, agricultural or animal wastes used as fuel or energy source.
That definition gives a broad idea of the great potential that biomass represents to producing "on-the-spot" energy. A global introduction to Biomass Applied To Developing African Countries is here to review
Electricity is the most used energy, which could be generated from several systems such as, atomic reactors, dam, oil, coal or gas powered electricity generators. Oil could be vegetable oil or fossil oil (petroleum). The same for gas.
Renewable energy is "reconstituted" year after year, while natural resources such as oil and coal are finite and nonrenewable. Renewable energy encompasses production of ethanol, biogas, biodiesel, biomass power and industrial process energy. And the utilization of sunshine and wind's power to producing electricity.
Currently, most of the time, in African countries, industrial concerns are located in the vicinity of big cities leaving the countryside bared of industrial plants (to transform crops and livestock into valued added products) because it is too costly to establish thousands of kilometers of landlines to distribute electricity (generated by "classic" sources such as oil, hydropower, and coal) to rural areas.
- BIOGAS: THE PERFECT CHOICE TO DEVELOPING RURAL AREAS
The quantities of agricultural wastes left unexploited in African rural areas is huge. That is most unfortunate as these wastes are raw material to producing renewable energy - click here for more
Indeed, millions of cubic metres of methane, in the form of swamp gas or biogas, are produced every year by the decomposition of organic matter, both animal and vegetable. Biogas is almost identical to the natural gas pumped out of the ground by the oil companies and used for heating (Northern countries) and cooking worldwide.
On a small-scale basis, farm wastes put into a warmed, dampened and dark tank [that is anaerobic conditions] would produce: (1) methane / biogas; and (2) a good fertilizer. The owner / producer gets three products from agricultural wastes: a gas to heat and light the home and a fuel to generate electricity and power equipments and machines [27, 28, 85, 86, 87]!
| MORE ON BIOGAS ENERGY |
1- 21st Century Essential Guide to Methane and Biogas
Landfill Methane and Manure for Energy, AgStar Program, Recovery and Mitigation, Greenhouse Gas Emissions
by World Spaceflight News (CD-ROM - Mar 5, 2005)
2- Running a Biogas Program
by David Fulford
3- Making A Reality of Biogas Potential
by Jerome Goldstein (Digital - Dec 31, 2004) - HTML
4- A Chinese Biogas Manual: Popularising Technology in the Countryside
by Ariane van Buren
5- The biogas handbook
by David House
6- Biogas: What It Is, How It Is Made, How to Use It
by Food and Agriculture Organization of the (Paperback - Jan 1985) |
7- Biogas systems: Principles and applications
by K. M Mittal
8- Biogas:
The Indian NGOs' Experience
9- Landfilling of Waste: Biogas
by T. Christensen, T. H. Christensen, R. Cossu, and R. Stegmann (Hardcover - Jan 15, 1996)
10- Building a Better Biogas Unit
(Better Framing Series, No 32/F3028)
by Food and Agriculture Organization of the (Paperback - Jun 1987)
11- Biogas Replaces Natural Gas For Vehicles
by Anonymous (Digital - Oct 31, 2005) - HTML
12- China, azolla propagation and small-scale biogas technology
Report on an FAO/UNDP study tour to the People's Republic of China
by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Paperback - 1978) |
Control Your Desktop
SO, YOU LOST YOUR VOLUME CONTROL? HERE IS WHAT TO DO TO GET IT BACK!
One day, I just noticed that the Volume Control had disappeared from the TaskBar ( computer running Windows XP PRO). [Volume Control is normally reached through the following sequence: START / SETTINGS/ CONTROL PANEL/ SOUNDS & AUDIO DEVICES. When you reach that final interface you have a field to tick To Place The Volume Control in the taskbar.]
That was annoying because I just need it to configure the external USB sound system attached to the computer that had derailed for unknown causes. I don't know why the volume Control had altogether disappeared from my system. After making some search on the Internet, I noticed that many others had also experienced the problem. I suspect that an audio application that I recently installed was the culprit.
The problem now is how to reinstall Volume Control. Click here for more.
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