Pay attention to the vital few and ignore the trivial many. | Steward Not Owner
Afrika
Joined December 2009
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Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
So if the year is ending and you feeling frustrated and behind please remember, not everyone getting rejected is unqualified.
Life is genuinely a matter of time and chance. 🙏
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
I think you get to understand how the mind of a real nation builder operates when you listen to people like Lee break it down at length.
All of his goals had timeframes and a clear, step-by-step path to achievement.
When Singapore created the Public Housing Authority and began resettling its citizens, it had a timeframe that included setting up and operationalizing the financial infrastructure to make that happen. It did that in just about a decade.
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
Just to remind you that you’re the previous regime, don’t start bringing up what happened in the last government.
We want to see what you are doing pa ground not only on paper.
Congratulating btw oh and please sometimes go through your social media and read what people are saying, not what you’re being told.
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
this is insane. i genuinely don't understand why ambitious people aren't shown this lecture before their careers start consuming their entire lives.
clayton christensen spent his career studying why successful companies collapse. in his final class, he asked students to apply the theory to themselves: if you keep allocating your time the same way, what life are you actually building?
he had already seen the answer in his own harvard mba class. everyone looked successful at the fifth reunion; by the 10th, 15th, 20th, and 25th, many were unhappy, divorced, and living far from their children.
work shows you the score immediately. close a sale, ship a product, finish a presentation, earn a promotion, get paid.
an hour with your child may produce nothing you can measure today; it may take 20 years to understand what that hour built. so the next free hour goes back to work, one rational decision at a time.
this is how people build lives they never planned: through hundreds of right decisions that lead in the wrong direction, day after day.
money, titles, and headcount are easy to count. christensen believed a life should be measured by the people who became better because you were there.
he died in 2020.
one question remains: if someone saw only where your time, energy, and attention went this year, what would they think actually mattered to you?
the full 19-minute lecture is in the video below.
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
Omunene, unfortunately we have a lot of people who go into farming looking for quick money because they heard a bag of soya beans is making 60% margin not realising that farming is a full time business and needs 100% presence and commitment, add weather unpredictability.
I like that you want to venture into farming and I do recommend a sit down at some point and we review and analysis the whole venture.
What most white commercial farmers do is farming for business and hedge key risks of weather with irrigation , price volatility with pre contracts, disease pressure with preventative pesticides and full understanding of crops from start. Farming demands midnight calls for broken down pipes and others and your presence or professional manager is needed.
This alone is a game changer and sets you apart.
Let me share more in my upcoming series omunene.
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
Political affiliations give a man access to significant opportunities and resources.
Man goes on spending spree, regularly racking up K50, 000 bills at pubs and clubs
Man decides having one woman at home is too boring and restrictive. Gets girlfriends, buys them cars, houses🧵
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
It’s easy to take for granted that people are remarkable when they are familiar to you. The first time I realized my Father was brilliant was some time in university. He told me a story about how he taught himself to write code when he was an economics lecturer—so he could automate his marking and grading of student work. That was in the 80s. Automating the grading of students the likes of Mukwandi Chibesakunda, Savior Chibiya and others.
His idea of fun is reading Stephen Hawking and working through the math. He wanted to be a physicist or architect, ended up being an Economist. Writes his Journals in German. Pretty sure he could have been whatever he wanted and have done well at it. Chooses the thankless work of Public Service because he actually believes in the possibility of social flourishing.
Keep doing what you love, old boy.
Zambia’s former finance minister named Africa’s Finance Minister of the Year - mwebantu.com/?p=66772
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
Some pipo arrive prepared enough to redefine the standards
This boy here is studying Actuarial Scs at UNZA.Look at his work
To all young pipo
You're not less thans
Great stuff hapn at 1st attempt.
Industry. Doesn't like pipo who have no clue about what they want/who they are?
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
The story of Zambia’s public universities is a long one, defined less by a lack of understanding than by a lack of action.
In 1997, President Chiluba appointed Bobby Bwalya, a retired High Court judge, to chair a Commission of Inquiry into the problems of UNZA and CBU, tracing back to 1982.
The Commission’s findings, which were handed over to government in 1998, were clear:
👉Poor funding
👉 Deteriorating infrastructure
👉Overcrowding
👉Poor sanitation
👉Inadequate accommodation for students and staff, etc.
It made detailed recommendations. Government accepted some, rejected others. But even those that it accepted were not actioned.
What is striking, nearly three decades later, is how little has changed.
In 2007, government convened a consultative forum in Siavonga to address the same issues the Bwalya Commission had dealt with. Problems were (re)identified, solutions restated.
In 2016, Minister of Higher Education Michael Kaingu issued a ministerial statement that triggered extensive parliamentary debate on the same challenges.
Over the years, the Parliamentary Committee on Education has dealt with the issue of public universities repeatedly. Its reports are available on Parliament’s website.
Most recently, on 25 April 2024, the Higher Education Authority held a national conference on the transformation of university education in Zambia. Once again, the problems were carefully diagnosed. Once again, solutions were proposed.
The difficulties facing public universities have been studied repeatedly, across decades, administrations and platforms.
The recommendations are not new; they are there in the Bwalya Commission Report and reinforced by years of policy dialogue and parliamentary reports.
What is missing is not insight. It is implementation.
Zambia currently has ten public universities. Last month on Youth Day, government announced plans to set up six more.
Those that are questioning the idea of building more when the current ones are facing serious challenges cannot simply be wished away as detractors, especially in light of the evidence.
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
Denver Water manages a vast, 4,000-square-mile Rocky Mountain watershed, with supply sources extending over 200 kilometers from the city. I was proud to learn that this sophisticated operation is led by Zambian engineer Swirvine Nyirenda (a University of Zambia product), supported by a fellow Zambian female professional, Thandi Fletcher (dark dress, front row standing, third from right). Swirvine is a seasoned engineering leader with over 20 years of expertise in planning, design, and construction of municipal utility infrastructure. He currently serves as the Manager of Project Delivery
Services for Aurora Water’s Planning and Engineering Division, overseeing utility infrastructure projects valued at approximately $300 million annually. Given President Hichilema’s urgency regarding national water security, I am engaging with these two professionals to explore advanced drainage and water harvesting strategies for Zambia.
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
This is the Karim family, proprietors of Mopane Safaris Limited in Zambia. They are exhibiting at the Safari Club International (SCI) Convention in Nashville. They were excited to see me, recalling how my Business Review Televation program on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation I produced and presented in the 1990s inspired them to save money. Mr. Sarge Abdul Karim (middle, first photo) reminisced about the moments when they motivated one another to maintain financial discipline. He said, “If anyone in the family was careless about financial management, we threatened to report him or her to Chibamba Kanyama.”
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
We’re attending #MiningIndaba2026 .
Powering Africa’s mining future means cross-border energy, strong partnerships, and infrastructure that scales. Come, meet with us, and let’s talk energy solutions.
📷 Visit our stand, 1S28
📷 Future-ready electricity unleashed!
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
I was in a Yango today and had a very distressing conversation. My driver is Bemba and his wife is Tonga, his daughter in grade 9 who has a first Tonga name and second Bemba name opted to swap them and started putting her Tonga name as an initial. Because she is being bullied by
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
🚨NEW: Jon Stewart:
"I’ve got people in my family that are to the right of Attila the Hun. And when people tell me, like, 'How can you platform that person on your show?' I go, 'I platform my uncle every f*cking Thanksgiving.'"
"And by the way, I love him. He’s a three-dimensional human being who has qualities that I really admire — things about him."
"And we’ve lost that. We’ve lost the ability to love people because we litmus test at every point, in every single moment."
@DailyCaller
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
Meet uncle Banda from Ndola cheerful, hardworking but terrible with loans. At one point, he borrowed from everyone even the church treasurer who said, "God will provide". Until 2019 when he defaulted.
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
After years of back & forths/draft prints/dinners ❤️!some (re)publications/Special Editions are ready:
The focus is on #Zambian #economic, #soical & #politicalhistory publications that will allow current and future generations to have informed debate and interest on Zambia 1/3
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
People carry scars a lot of us wouldn't survive. I sat in a meeting where we had to share a personal detail so we could get to know each other better. This usually jovial older man stood up and said his son committed suicide. I...even now I just can't imagine carrying that. 😖
Alinani Ntawa Mugala retweeted
Perception; where is the line?
My cousin just posted something on Meta celebrating a sobriety milestone. This is a big thing for him cos he struggled with alcohol for a while. Naturally, I went to the comments. Not a single a congratulatory or encouraging one on page one.