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ALL FOR AFRICA

Dr. Desta Meghoo
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“Ethiopia is one of the richest countries in the world…music, dance, culture” Dr. Mulatu Astatke

“Ethiopia is one of the richest countries in the world…music, dance, culture…from our 4th century music… the movement of the makwamia, tenetsil and kebero used in church before European symphonies. We also had great tribes that play diminished scales, like what is used by Charlie Parker…used for improvisation. That is just one of our contributions to jazz,” said Father of Ethio-Jazz, Dr. Mulatu Astatke. “The French analyze music. That is how I got this prize. Harmony, melody, rhythm…they analyze the science of what I have put together. I am thankful for the support of the Ethiopian people, my son, my wife and my daughter, Ethiopian PM Dr. Abiyi, Mayor of Addis, Minister of Culture and People of Ethiopia and France.” This was part of the acceptance speech by Dr. Mualtu Astake at the French Embassy, September 19 in receipt of the French National Order of Arts and Letters from visiting French Minister of Culture, Mr. Franck Riester. “Few artists are to embody in the eyes of the world a musical genre so strongly rooted in a national culture. Mulatu Astatke is one of them” Riester tweeted.
So what is the French National Order of Arts and Letters? It’s an award established by the Ministry of France in May 1957 recognizing significant contributions and/or propagation of the arts and literature. My research couldn’t find other African born and based artists, besides the jazz genius to receive the honor; a rank known as chavalier or knight, sealed when the recipient is pinned with an eight point green enameled asterisk attached to a vertical striped green ribbon. Factoid: Only 200 people in the world per year are considered for the honor. Other popular juggernauts in music to receive the award include Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Ringo Star and composer Quincy Jones. Congratulations Dr. Mulatu! But before moving on I must emphasize the significance of this honor recalling the words Gesh Mulatu shared with me the day before the ceremony. “They should understand what Africa is all about…scientists in sound. My music unifies Ethiopia culturally through four modes…north, south, east and west; all using these modes.” Ethio-Jazz is a musical kwankwa, a language listened to and enjoyed by fans from Addis Abeba to Amsterdam, Lagos to Laos, Cairo to California and beyond, whose ages range from 19 to 90. Some listen for nostalgia, tizita while a new generation, including Nas and Damian Marley to WuTang Clan, sample dope melodies. It’s all about Africa for Mulatu, at the end of the day, and he is thrilled that France has recognized the contributions from his beloved country, Ethiopia.
Across the pond in the UK, Aida Muluneh, dubbed the “powerful afrofuturist” by creativeboom.com’s Katy Cowan, shares her passion of using art to challenge commonly held notions about African life. Aida says, “My main goal in building this collection is to address the issues caused by a lack of access to clean water, and the impact that has not only on a society as a whole, but on women, particularly in rural regions. My focus in this project was to address these topics without the cliché that we see in mainstream media. In a sense, to advocate through art.” The show runs September 24 to October 20 at Somerset House in London. As a fan and friend of Aida’s and having even co-curated with this extremely talented and focused futurist photographer, I can say her identity as an Africa woman is the basis of much of her work.
Several other shows opening here in Addis include QALBII IRREECHAA by Daniel Asfaw on Thursday September 26th at Guramayne Art Center. While this weekend Addis Fine Art Gallery opens a solo exhibition for veteran painter Lulseged Retta. The Ethiopian Academy of Sciences presents Ziget-ism by Tesfahun Kibru, curated by Asni founder and artist in her own right, Konjit Seyoum. The show runs until November 21st and is a perfect title, rust-ism in English, conjuring notions and use of iron oxidation in Tesfahun’s original creations in metal, leather, wood and cloth etc. Through this concept he is said to “…investigate(s) form, color, and sound to enable him to make sense of his environment…and the role of the artist.” I previewed of some of the work and it’s incredible; depicting musicians, animals, and abstracts that would be at home in a futuristic world. It’s a must see for the entire family.
Finally, a secret space I call the Office Gallery, operated within the Ethiopian Tire & Rubber Economic Plant Head Office by artist and art philanthropist Gossa Oda, is a cool space to view something completely different. Experimental art amongst other new creations can be experienced in the character filled aged building located up the road from Ministry of Culture and Tourism and across from the Ministry of Health. Enjoy!

Dr. Desta Meghoo is a Jamaican born
Creative Consultant, Curator and cultural promoter based in Ethiopia since 2005. She also serves as Liaison to the AU for the Ghana based, Diaspora African Forum.

Dealing with mediocrity 2

Ton Haverkort
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Last week we saw that individual performance depends on the combination of individual attributes of the worker, work effort of the individual and the support the company gives to the worker to carry out the tasks. Individual attributes relate to capacity to perform and include three broad categories, namely demographic characteristics (e.g. gender, age, ethnicity), competency characteristics (aptitude or ability) and personality characteristics (what a person is like). From a performance management point of view the individual attributes must match task requirements to facilitate job performance. Today we will look a bit deeper into some of the individual attributes that influence performance.
Demographic characteristics are the background variables that help shape what a person has become. Examples of demographic characteristics are gender, age, race and ethnicity. Although these characteristics are often detailed in a worker’s personal file, care must be taken not to stereotype and thus denying individual differences and assessing performance inaccurately.
Contrary to what many people believe, there are very few differences for instance between men and women that would affect job performance. There are in fact no consistent differences between men and women in the ability to solve problems, analyse, compete, motivate, learn or socialise. Yet women face a hard time proving that they are able to perform just as well or sometimes better than their male counterparts. This is also the case in Ethiopia, where the men often cannot accept having to deal with a woman manager for example.
A common stereotype, when it comes to age is that many people don’t think elderly people are still able to learn and be flexible. However, the truth is that this depends on the individual. Many elderly show themselves to be quite flexible indeed, while age and performance have been found to be unrelated in research. Older people are no more likely to be unproductive than younger people.
Aptitude represents a person’s capability to learn something. Ability reflects a person’s existing capacity to perform the tasks needed for a certain job and includes both knowledge and skills. These are both important consideration when initially hiring someone. for a job.
Personality represents the overall profile or combination of characteristics that capture the unique nature of a person. It reflects how a person looks, thinks, acts and feels. Understanding personalities helps the manager predict what somebody can do and what that somebody will do. Cultural values and norms play a substantial role in the development of an individual’s personality and behaviour. Compare for example the individualism of some western cultures with the collectivism of some African cultures. Social factors reflect such things as family life, religion, and the many kinds of formal and informal groups in which people participate throughout their lives. Finally, situational factors can influence personality. Personality may develop over time, for example from immaturity to maturity, from passivity to activity, from dependence to independence, from shallow behaviour to deep interests, from short-term to long-term perspective, from little self-awareness to much self-awareness.
Management expert Argyris believes that the nature of the mature adult personality may sometimes be inconsistent with work opportunities. Management may neglect the adult side of people. They may use close supervision and control which is more typically needed by younger workers. In other words, personalities develop in predictable ways over time and these developments require quite different managerial responses. Thus, an individual’s needs and other personality aspects of a person entering the company for the first time can be expected to change as he or she further develops in personality.
In conclusion, there are quite a number of attributes that determine the individual, his or her personality, who somebody is, that a good manager must be aware of. Not being aware of these factors, which also influence individual performance, will lead managers into using blanket management instruments, not necessarily the most effective. In Ethiopia, management does not normally take all these factors into account. Workers are often stereotyped and treated accordingly, leading to frustration and under performance instead of recognition of individual capacity and unleashing potential.

ton.haverkort@gmail.com

AHIF delegates will run for charity with Haile Gebrselassie

Michael Samson
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AHIF delegates will run for charity with Haile Gebrselassie

Delegates at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) will have the chance to go running with the Ethiopian Olympic gold medallist and four-time World Championship title holder, Haile Gebrselassie, to raise money for charity.
On the morning of September 25th, Haile will lead the way around a loop inside the grounds of the Sheraton Addis. AHIF’s charity sponsor, Derba MIDROC Cement and AHIF’s organiser, Bench Events, have each pledged to make a donation, on behalf of each participating runner, to AHOPE Ethiopia, a charity that provides specialized care and support to HIV positive orphans. Sidisse Buli Negassa, Executive Director of AHOPE Ethiopia, said: “AHOPE Ethiopia is delighted to have been selected as the designated charity for AHIF 2019. We are working hard to provide better futures for HIV positive children in Ethiopia and the funds raised at the AHIF Charity Run will contribute to our family preservation and economic empowerment programmes, as well as the educational sponsorship of children within the community. We are very grateful to Bench Events and Derba MIDROC Cement for their support and look forward to sharing our story with delegates at the event.”
AHIF is also supporting another local charity, Our Father’s Kitchen (OFK), a community kitchen that feeds underprivileged children. It is a non-profit project initiated by The Lime Tree which runs two restaurants in Addis Ababa. AHIF has pledged that each delegate bag distributed will provide 3 meals to school children living in severe poverty. Once Bench Events has distributed all 400 bags it has produced ahead of AHIF, a total of 1,200 meals will be provided. Sacha Serikoff-Dunford, Leader of Bench Events’ Charitable Committee, concluded: “No child can concentrate on an empty stomach. We are pleased to contribute to OFK’s efforts to fight malnutrition and ensure that children don’t go to school hungry.”

Great Ethiopian Run named “Best International Race”

Michael Samson
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Great Ethiopian Run named “Best International Race”

The Great Ethiopian Run 10km has been nominated as one of the top 20 best international road races in The Challenge Awards, a prize-giving process which is being talked about as ‘the Oscars of the endurance running industry’. The awards are being given by Let’s Do This, one of the world’s biggest online entry platforms with over 18,000 race events currently listed on its site and over 1 million monthly website visits.
The international race category for which Great Ethiopian Run has been nominated is one of 13 award categories which also include cycling and multi-sport events. Ex-Premiership soccer star and now TV pundit Rio Ferdinand is among the sporting celebrities who will attend the award ceremony in London on 18th October 2019 when the winners will be announced.
Other race events in the international race category include the famous New York City Marathon and the Boston Marathon, the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town and the City2Surk 14km road race in Sydney. Category winners will be decided by the number of votes received from members of the public who participate in the races.
The last event was staged on 18th November 2018 with 44,000 participants, which makes it the biggest 10km road race in Africa. The 19th edition of TOTAL Great Ethiopian Run 10km will be on 17 November this year. The Great Ethiopian Run International 10km is our flagship event held every year since 2001.
With 45,000 participants, the race has become the biggest road race in Africa. It’s been referred to as ‘the most exciting race in the world’; it is almost certainly one of the world’s noisiest races; and it attracts participants from all over the world. The run is held at 2400m above sea level, Addis Ababa is the third highest capital in the world.19th edition of TOTAL Great Ethiopian Run International 10km will be on 17 November 2019.

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