The Covid19 crisis needs to be a wake up call for the financial sector — The Covid19 crisis is a visceral reminder that “we cannot live only for ourselves”, that the bonds of family, friendship and community are what make life possible, and meaningful. Around the world people have come together in support of one another. In the UK for example, a recently created mutual…

Memoir Few things are less reassuring than a Soviet plane run by a Sudanese airline. My mind, now feverish for lack of sleep, imagines the Russian lettering across the entrance to the plane as a warning that I step aboard at my own risk. Stooping to enter I find myself…

Memoir Dolman Kabashi is a black man, five foot six, with a smile full of teeth and a cackle for a laugh, heavy and rasping with years of cigarette smoke. He wears big dark glasses, the kind that were common in the 1970s, that age of large square frames and…

Memoir Orange days, a haze of dust and heat. …

Memoir Abyei, Sudan — 2009 The rains are sudden, hard and fast, as if the Gods, in a moment of panic, have decided to release all that they have from the skies above Agok. The Tukul is barely holding, water streams through the straw, so that only a small island…

Carnegie, Dale -Publishers — Simon and Schuster, New York, copy right 1936 How to Win Friends and Influence People is a phenomenon of the self help genre. Study its lessons if you want to influence people, the damn stuff works — but in God’s name, please don’t use it as…

Seven Lessons from the private beta of Moja, a mobile app that enables family and friends to pool money simply, affordably and transparently. Tarig Hilal, Gerard Mc Hugh, Will Gurney Coronavirus has dealt a blow to businesses around the world and thousands of startups have been pummelled by a triple…

Business plans are unfashionable these days but writing one can help you turn your ideas into reality — Business plans are unfashionable these days. Investors want to be sold on your company quickly and business plans lack the brevity and simplicity and, visual panache of a Pitch-Deck. They are hard to write, and time consuming to read. None the less there is a case to be made for…

12 Lessons from our experience as non technical founders of a tech company By Tarig Hilal and Gerard McHugh Leading a technology company as non technical founders presents particular challenges. Chief among these is how to deliver a product. The answer to this is simple enough, acquire the right…