Thank you, sir. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's my pleasure to deliver the keynote address this morning, and I thank the forum for the invitation. I'm with my very exciting, interested listening to Yannick and also AC's message just delivered minutes ago. We are at a critical moment in time as we observe the convergence of the facts that if ignored would prevent us from the end of the global hunger and the malnutrition in all forms. The number of hunger people in the world have increased during the last six years in a row. So that's even before the pandemic. They already increased by 10 million in 2019 and nearly 60 million in the five years before that. It is estimated that by the end of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic added another 132 million to the number of the hunger people in the world. The child's studying remains accepted high and overweight and obesity continued to increase in rich and poor countries alike, especially in the city. More than three billion people in the world cannot afford even the cheapest health debt. The current consumption pattern and agro-food systems are contributing to disturbing high rates of the food waste and loss. Air pollution, green house, gas emissions and the loss of biodiversity constitute a growing source of inequality. This is generating severe human economic environment costs that are lying into the trailings of dollars. To get to the where we needed to be by 2030 and beyond 2050, we urgently need to do something different and holistically to transform our agro-food systems. We need to recognize the internet connected and compound the economic, social and environmental impacts of our agro-food systems. There is a range of solution packages that would address hunger for the insecurity and the monetization while ensuring affordable health debts for all. Solutions that can also reduce the carbon footprint and ensure environmental sustainability. Policy solutions can be designed to be an engine of economic recovery, create available jobs and a sustainable livelihood, importantly addressing inequality. Holistic agro-food system solutions should be context-specific and much needed to be done to identify these, but it is critical that we begin to do this and to do it at scale. Ladies and gentlemen, the 2030 agenda has highlighted awareness of the key role that future agro-food systems were playing in facing the global challenges of malnutrition, poverty, the use of biodiversity and ecosystem service and climate change. The agenda is there to guide us, but historically consensus is strong, its adoption must be matched by a political determination and commitment to deliver it. With many SDGs off track, the need to engage all factors at all levels with the systematic approach to become more pressing. To achieve the ambitious transformative change required, we need a new dimension of cooperation not only across the border, but also within the whole of society. We need to change our policies, mindset, behaviors and a business model. That's four areas I said it's innovation. I fully agree with the chairman. Innovation is not only technology innovation. We need policy innovation, mindset, change, behavior, change and the business model change. The renewed, inclusive and agile FL lead by example, taking advantage of digital technology and building bridges across the region and the continent with our members, we have 194 members and partners. Within European Union, our member organization for 30 years, we are continuing to strengthen collaboration on the transforming agri-food systems. Private sector is key earlier in the fighting against hunger, providing innovative tools, resources, knowledge and technologies to achieve transformative change on the ground. This is why FL is spearheading a modern approach in our work with the private sector. We do so with our newly endorsed strategic for private sector engagement. This is fully aligned with FL commitment to support the members to achieve the SDGs by 2030. Dear colleagues, FL's strategic framework 2022 to 2031.6 to support the 2030 agenda through the transformation to more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable agri-food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, a better life, leaving no one behind. These four factors represent the guiding principle and innovative business model for how FL intends to contribute to SDG1, no poverty, SDG2, zero hunger and SDG3, reducing inequities, as well as to supporting the achievement of the broad SDG agenda. The four factors reflect the interconnected economic, social and environment dimensions of agri-food systems to accelerate progress and maximizing our efforts in meeting the SDGs and to realize our aspiration, FL will apply four cross-sectional accelerators in all our programmatic interventions. These accelerators are technology, innovation, data and compliments, which is governance, human capital and institutions. Imagine technologies are already changing the food and culture sector, yet most governments or agri-food systems actors have yet to harness their powerful potential. Having farmers take full advantage of new technologies such as digital agriculture, biotechnology, process agriculture, innovation in agroecology, 5G, artificial intelligence to increase food production and also to increase food diversity while respecting the environment is of paramount importance. Innovation in general, and particularly in agriculture, is a central driving force for achieving the world free from hunger and malnutrition, because we will have 10 billion population by 2050. Innovation and science increase social innovations, policy innovation, institutional innovation, financial innovations, technology innovations are important drivers that affect the food and economic production and the distribution processing and the consumption pattern. On data, FL Geospatial Platform and Data Lab for Statistical Innovation exemplify how big data on food and cultural socioeconomics and the natural resources can come together to have a strength and evidence-based decision making in the food and cultural sectors. This is exactly what we are doing in our HANI HANI initiative to transform agri-food systems of the least developed landlocked countries, least developed small island states and food crisis countries so that no one is left behind. Compliments refer to the needed governance, human capital institutions to ensure an inclusive agri-food systems transformation. Transformative processes require strong transparent accountable institutions and governance including adaptive and effective regulatory governance. As technologists revolutionize the risk of unequal access, exclusion room, investment in human capital buildings, as well as policy and regulations to minimize such risks are indispensable. To work together towards the inclusive, safe and trust-first digital technology in food and cultural, we are building the international platform for digital food and cultural, which will be at the heart of efforts to digitalize agricultural for achieving SDGs. Through dialogue, the platform will promote the coordination and consensus among all stakeholders in HANI's awareness on issues specifically to the digitalization of food and cultural, provide guidance and support decision making. Momentum is building towards the United Nations Food Summit to catalyze in global efforts for inclusive health agri-food systems. Our new strategy framework is well aligned with the process towards the summit, and we continue to provide force support for its preparatory process. Members that are conveying national-level dialogue are relying on FAO technical advice and assistance, and we look forward to co-hosting the U.N. Food Summit, Pre-Summit, Science Day 2020, Science Day, and Assistant Pre-Summit in July at FAO headquarters in Rome. Ladies and gentlemen, the COVID-19 pandemic is a historic wake-up call on the fragility of our agri-food system and the resulting vulnerabilities, but it also provides us the opportunity to re-evaluate how we address the root causes of hunger and build resilience against similar threats in the future. We are doing this through FAO's comprehensive COVID-19 response and recovery program. This program has enabled partners to leverage FAO's conveying power, real-time data, early warning systems, and technical expertise to tackle the problems behind the trend and the inequality in access to the foods. Launching July 2020 with a cooperative budget target of 1.32 billion US dollars, the program has received about 238 million pledges and a confirmed contribution as of the middle of February 2021. Ladies and gentlemen, challenge we face is enormous. We must transform agri-food system to provide a growing population with health affordable and diversified food doubts. We need to do so in a way that is economically profitable and environmentally friendly. We know that is achievable with innovation. We at FAO are ready to design big and take concrete action together with all our members and partners. Together we can make our common vision of a hungry free world a reality. Let's be a dreamers and do us at some time. And the work, the talk. Thank you.


And back here in Lagos, a spot of measures to address the problem of flooding, the state government has marked a popular Jankara and Bombatam market in Lagos Island, a local government area for demolition. Governor Babajideh Somor-Lohu disclosed that shortly after a tour of the area, said traders in the two affected markets have been contravening the sanitation laws of the state. The governor warned that all illegal occupants under drainages and indiscriminate dumping of refuses would no longer be tolerated. Internally there, right, we have what to do, we have what to do at the three main markets that we saw there, the Jankara market, the Bombatam market, the Jankara market and of course the K-Mura markets, right, I'm using this as an information, as a notice to all of the legal supporters and all the people that are doing things there. It is an official notice again that we will take and clean up the entire market, we will start fully with the Bombatam market and the Jankara market, it's going to be grand zero, you know, and with a full design of what we're going to be putting there. To this end, Somor-Lohu said two major drainage channels will be opened up from Thomas on the right and the other from Udumakbo to Enhanced Free Flow of Water into the drainage and straight into the lagoon. The governor said the Ministry of the Environment will start giving notices to all shop owners whose stores are built and drainage is asked, the entire markets will be demolished. We're hoping two major drainage channels, the one from Thomas, which is the one on the right, and the one, there's a new one from Udumakbo, so both of them will flow into this drainage that you saw, that is looking like concrete, and to take them, and with the pump, to take them straight down to the lagoon. Each of those points will be automatically activated. Each one wins, the water channel gets up to four meters to go up to point one with kickoff, once it gets to 5.5 point two with kickoff, and even if it is 4.3, it will also, or never see it. So we'll build capacity and also build redundant, you know, as a final solution for the drainage evaporation from Ligur Sida. Get notified about fresh news updates.


Item number SCP-839. Object Class. Safe. Special Containment Procedures. All instances of SCP-839 are to be kept in containment chamber 839-1. The chamber is to be supplied with approximately half of a kilogram. A various plant matter daily. Mating of SCP-839 is to be regulated, and any extra instances of SCP-839 are to be kept in Foundation Medical Centers for Treatment of Ill Individuals. Description. SCP-839 appears to be a species of anilid, composed of sugar, flavoring, and coloring. A microscopic label stating, Candied Worm, is found near each instance's posterior, followed by a smaller label stating the instance's flavor. Each flavor is currently designated as SCP-839-X. SCP-839 is generally found in temperate areas. SCP-839's diet mainly consists of decomposing organic matter. However, when there is no decaying matter apparent, SCP-839 may ingest live plant matter. SCP-839 sexually reproduces. Mating followed by the egg hatching into a newborn instance of SCP-839. When SCP-839 is ingested by any mammal, it will burrow through the stomach lining and towards a specialized organ. The choice of organ appears to be dependent on SCP-839's flavor. SCP-839 will then attach itself to the organ and slowly ingest it. While the organ disappears, SCP-839 will change in form and chemical composition in order to match the organ. SCP-839 does not act as a perfect replacement, and some other effects may occur. This process may take two days to complete. Note, similarities between the life cycles of SCP-839 and SCP-1517 has been noted. Investigation into the possibility of a shared origin is under investigation. SCP-839 has an average lifespan of three years. Users of SCP-839 are recommended to replace their integrated instance with a new instance every two years. Addendum 839-1. Current flavors of SCP-839. Flavor. Cherry. Coloration. Red. Organ replaced. Heart. Other effects. Increased blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes. Designation. SCP-839-1. Flavor. Blue raspberry. Coloration. Blue. Organ replaced. Kidney. One. Other effects. Blue urine. Designation. SCP-839-2. Flavor. Green apple. Coloration. Green. Organ replaced. Eye. One. Other effects. Mild hallucinations. Tint. Designation. SCP-839-3. Flavor. Watermelon. Coloration. Pink. Organ replaced. Brain. Other effects. Data expunged. Designation. SCP-839-4. Flavor. Lemon. Coloration. Yellow. Organ replaced. Stomach. Other effects. Less fiber content. Diarrhea. Note. Recommended for use with other instances of SCP-839 due to the ulcers created. Designation. SCP-839-5. Flavor. Grape. Coloration. Purple. Organ replaced. Lung. One. Other effects. Fruity smell to breath. Designation. SCP-839-6. Flavor. Orange. Coloration. Orange. Organ replaced. Liver. Other effects. Increased acidity of bloodstream. Not recommended. Designation. SCP-839-7. Lesson complete. If you missed the previous orientation, go watch SCP-838. The dream job. Right now. Or for the complete course, watch this playlist.


Do you need to change your display language in Zoom? It's easy. Let us show you how. Rod here. Welcome to Burn to Learn. In this video, we're going to show you how to change the display language in Zoom by following these steps. Step 1. Locating the language settings. Step 2. Choosing your preferred language. And Step 3. Logging in again with the new language if required. As we get started, take a second to subscribe to our channel by clicking here. And give us a like by clicking here. And check out our techy t-shirts by clicking on the link in the description below. Let's begin with the first step. Locating the language settings. In this video, we will be using Zoom on a Windows PC. Once you have opened Zoom, go to the arrow on the Windows Taskbar to show hidden icons. This is normally located at the bottom right corner here. A small window with different icons will appear. Select the Zoom icon and right-click on it. After clicking on the Zoom icon, another window with more options will be displayed. Look for the Switch Languages option here. Now let's see how to choose your preferred language in the next step. Step 2. Choosing your preferred language. Once you have located the Switch Languages option, hover your mouse over it here. A menu with all available languages will be displayed. It will show you the currently selected language first here. Next, choose your desired language by simply clicking on it. Congratulations! Your chosen language has been applied. Let's see how Zoom looks now. Step 3. Log in with your new language if required. After closing and restarting, Zoom will now display the language you chose as you can see here. You may be asked to log in to Zoom again. Once logged in, your selected language is already displayed. Very easy, right? If you didn't do it yet, be sure to like and subscribe to our channel so you can see our next one that will deal with how to change names in a Zoom meeting. Dress to impress with one of our techie t-shirts by clicking on the link in the description below. Do you have a thought you would like to share? Make sure to leave it in the comment section below. This has been Rod from Burned or Learned. Thanks for watching.


And if that requires a state, and I think it does, then they need a state. And as long as that state is free, as long as that state treats all its citizens equally, and it can have all kinds of different immigration policies, I prefer more open than closed. But it should have clearly that for Jews, the border is open.


Nothing unusual about this. Except that the last two trucks which tried to make this trip never reached their destination. Behind the wheel of the truck is an American soldier assigned to United States Army's special forces operating in one of the most dangerous regions of Southeast Asia. The guerrilla infested central highlands of Vietnam.  As commander-in-chief, the late President Kennedy left to us this directive. We need a greater ability to deal with guerrilla forces, insurrections, and subversion. We must be ready to deal with any size of force, including small, externally supported bands of men. And we must help train local forces to be equally effective. This is the story of what one group of Americans are doing today to carry forward that far-sighted policy. Eraging today in South Vietnam is not being fought in the streets of cities. Since the guerrilla onslaught began in the late 1950s, the Republic of Vietnam has had little trouble in retaining control of the great urban centers. The place names on the map. But the central highlands, the Hoang Son Cordillera, are a mountainous, largely jungle-covered region remarkably like those mountainous regions of Spain where the term guerrilla was born. Here, everything favors the lightly armed, fast-moving irregular. And it is here that the struggle for Vietnam may ultimately be decided. For the Hoang Son dominates both the rich rice bowl of the Mekong Delta to the south and the narrow, densely populated coastal plain bordering the South China Sea. Into this remote, almost impenetrable region, the communists of North Vietnam have infiltrated a steady stream of agitators, terrorists, and professional guerrillas. Their target is not only the highlands, but the whole of Vietnam. Military strategists on both sides of this struggle are agreed that he who gains the highlands will have won the fight for Vietnam. And political history of few nations have been so greatly influenced by geography. For more than 900 years, the emperors of China dominated all Vietnam, except the highlands. Here, in the 13th century, the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan suffered one of his few defeats. And here, in our own century, were mustered the revolutionary forces which overwhelmed 180,000 highly trained French troops in the campaign's climax by Dien Ben Phu. Colleges of the highlands are inhabited by many races, each with a tradition and a way of life distinctly its own. Known to the outside world by the French term, Montenards, or mountain people, they are known to themselves by such tribal names as Rade and Mong. Are vastly different from the light-skinned lowlanders whom the world knows as Vietnamese. Believed to be the original inhabitants of the region, before the arrival of the Vietnamese more than 2,000 years ago, most of the Montenards continue to live a stone age existence in the midst of the 20th century. Confined for centuries to the isolated areas of the plateaus, the Montenards have little contact with the city dwellers of the lowlands.  For most of them, Vietnamese is a foreign language. For such people, words like communism and democracy have little meaning. Cannot without great difficulty even be translated into their own dialects. Here in the mountains, both Saigon and the communist capital of Hanoi seem equally remote and unimportant. Through these mountain villages for more than a decade have passed increasing numbers of communist guerrillas. Befriending the villagers, rewarding those who cooperate, terrorizing those who resist, the guerrillas have converted much of the highlands into a secure staging area for their assaults on the roads and population centers of the lowlands below. Americans encountering these people and this situation often feel transported 200 years back into time to our own French and Indian wars when British and French vied for support of Indian tribes on the frontier. And like the primitive tribesmen of those earlier wars, the Montenard on his own ground is a formidable ally. Tough, muscular, a skilled hunter and woodsman, a man of great personal courage, the Montenard holds the key to a strategically vital area of Southeast Asia. If he can be one to the government's cause and given the training and equipment to resist communist terrorism, the guerrillas' jungle sanctuary and the Vietnamese highlands will disappear. With this in mind, United States military advisors and the government of Vietnam early in the 1960s began a program to win the active allegiance of the Montenards. Their primary objective was to seal off the hidden supply routes through the mountains from the communist north. Chosen to execute the plan were the anti-guerrilla experts of the US Army Special Forces, accompanied by Vietnamese Special Forces, whom they themselves have trained and through whom the bulk of their work in the village will be performed. Equipped with all the skills of the highly trained airborne infantrymen, the Special Forces soldier brings with him a number of unique abilities designed to meet just such situations. Selected for linguistic aptitude and a talent for tact and diplomacy, Special Forces personnel are adept at winning friends, from the village chief down to the lowliest peasant. Going into a Montenard village for the first time is an experience you don't soon forget. In the first place, the only people you're likely to find are the ones who were too old or too young or too sick to run away when they saw you coming.  There's no way of knowing whether the men have run away because they're guerrillas themselves or because they believe guerrilla propaganda about the government troops and the terrible Yankees. All you can do is keep your guard up and try to show by actions that you're here on a friendly mission. Our biggest asset in this kind of thing is the team medic. His main job, of course, is taking care of us. But there are no field hospitals in guerrilla fighting, so one of our medics has to know a lot about his business. With the modern medicines available, he can do a lot for people in places like this. One thing is, when you first ask whether anybody's sick in the village, the first answer is usually no, so then you offer to examine anyone who thinks he might be sick. And in no time at all, you've got a waiting line.  They say people don't miss what they've never had, but you bring medicine into one of these villages where they've probably never seen a doctor and the people turn out to be just as worried about their kids as you are about yours. Pull an aching tooth or save a man's eyesight and you've made a friend for life. You do this kind of work because you've got the medicine and because you're here, and God knows it needs to be done. In some of these villages, half the people have TB, most of the kids have Empatigo, and everybody has vitamin deficiencies. Any decent human being coming into a setup like this would do what he could without asking for a reason. But the fact remains that from a military point of view, this is a good tactic. Squads and platoons of Vietcong gorillas have been coming through here with promises. Now, thanks to our medic, we've come along with something a lot better, something we can give them now. The village chief is impressed, but he is also a man on a tightrope. Unless his new friends can provide adequate protection, cooperation will lead to Vietcong attacks, a devastated village, or his own assassination. The chief makes his decision. The young men are summoned back from the bush. They will train with the American and Vietnamese special forces. They will make a stand. And so, motinards of fighting age assemble. The first step is taken toward recovery of a communist-dominated area within the borders of South Vietnam. All this is taking place in what is, to all intents and purposes, enemy territory. Much will have to be accomplished before anyone here sleeps without a gun close to his pillow. Is it possible to make soldiers out of men almost untouched by the 20th century? What kind of supplies do you issue to men who have never worn pants or shoes? Mountain men are fighters everywhere. The Ozarks, the Scottish Highlands, or the Highlands of Vietcong. Get yourself a mountaineer and you've got potential fighting material. These people may be primitive, but they know what a weapon is and what it's for, even when they still haven't learned how to use it. These people are hunters. They're a peaceful people, basically friendly. Without this guerrilla business that's been going on here for the last 10 or 20 years, you'd be as safe walking through the Highlands as down a street back home. But being hunters, these men grow up fitting arrows into a crossbow. And from a crossbow to an M1 carbine is not as big a jump as you might think. One thing mountain people aren't always so big on, though, is discipline and organization. We had to teach our mountain yards to coordinate with such modern inventions as an aerial resupply drop, and that took a certain amount of doing. Great assets as a fighting man is the energy, the mileage he can get out of a single bowl of rice. Incidentally, this training program was by no means a one-way street. Our own food supplies were supposed to be obtained, as it said in the orders, through normal civilian channels. In practice, this meant a special forces sergeant, our weapons specialist, to be exact, learning how to bargain with Vietnamese shopkeepers in the nearest town. A part of the ritual involved sharing tea with the proprietor and his family while everyone argues politely about prices. Our weapons specialist became an overnight authority on chickens, cabbages, and bacon on the hoof. Not to mention the purchase of 2,800 pounds of rice and miscellaneous other commodities. Classes for the mountain yards were conducted whenever possible by U.S. and Vietnamese special forces working together. It was a complicated operation. The Vietnamese weren't much better off than we were. Most of the lecturers required two interpreters. There were Vietnamese who spoke English and a few mountainards who spoke Vietnamese. One of us would give the lesson to an English-speaking Vietnamese. The Vietnamese would then have to pass it on to a villager who understood Vietnamese. The native interpreter would then pass it along to the trainees. So much can get lost in translation that you have to say everything at least twice. That kind of thing takes time, but it's the only kind of training that pays off under these conditions. Students themselves were amazing. They took to modern firearms faster than most of us thought possible. These men came to us with almost none of the background you'd expect a trainee to have. Most of them couldn't read or write. Most of them couldn't even pass a draft board physical back in the States. Anxious to learn. Most important, what they're learning, how to defend, is their own home, their own families. With that kind of motivation, you can overcome a lot of handicaps. We had to hit the high points of six months worth of training in only a few weeks. But the lessons seemed to take. Our mountainards were shaping up into some of the best anti-guerrilla fighters in Southeast Asia. Very few weeks they progressed from simple hand weapons to the tricky business of demolition. Even radio communications were taken in stride. This was even more surprising and maybe more important. It meant that before we left, radios could be issued tying our friendly villages together in a sort of mutual protection association. Guerrilla bands moving in on an isolated village would touch off an automatic alarm throughout the network. Togetherness is a big thing with these people. When father goes off to training camp, the family goes along. But they still take to soldiering as fast as any group you're ever likely to see. Within a few weeks after seeing their first rifle, these characters were going through an infiltration course as rugged as anything they've got at Fort Bragg. They also had no trouble learning the tactics of resisting a night assault. This burning arrow technique is designed to point out guerrilla positions to aircraft answering a radio call for help. This is what the army calls a confidence course. Here it seemed a little like teaching birds to fly or monkeys how to climb trees. Convincing them of the importance of night patrols in the jungle was a little more difficult. Their inclination was to stay home and man the barricades. We had to persuade them that unless you attack and ambush their guerrilla on his own ground, he'll turn your village into a shooting gallery. Once convinced, as usual, they learned fast. The Viet Cong who gets within a mile of a village where these men are patrolling, is going to be as scared of them as they used to be of him. The guerrilla is a fish, said Maitre Tung, and the sea in which he swims are the people. If the people be unfriendly, he cannot survive. Operation Montanard is an exercise to teach the mountain people of Vietnam the art of anti-guerrilla warfare. It also involves giving them a better understanding of the issues of what the war of subversion raging in their country is really all about. Through no fault of their own, the future of these mountain people is inextricably bound up with the outcome of the struggle against communist expansion in Southeast Asia. Operation Montanard has given them the weapons and organization to resist guerrilla terrorism. Acts with U.S. and Vietnamese anti-guerrilla experts during the many weeks of training have also made fast friends where there was before only fear or indifference. The army's special forces leave behind a well-trained group of friends who may in time have a profound effect on the future of Vietnam.


Hello everyone and welcome to today's webcast, Boosting Your Brand. My name's Sarah Gonzales. I'm from Redback Conferencing and thank you for joining us for today's very special event. We're joined by Samantha Riley and today she's going to talk to us about everything brand. She is a number one best-selling author so I feel very privileged to be interviewing her today. How are you today? I'm very well. Thanks for having me Sarah. Excellent. So thank you for joining us.  How are you? First of all, when we talk about Boosting Your Brand, are we talking about your personal brand or your business brand? How does this all come together? Okay so when I first went into business earlier, like in my 20s, I used to think that branding was all about the logo, about the sign that went out the front, the colors, everything like that. And intuitively what I started to realize very early on was that people were coming to my business for me because they wanted to get to know me, they wanted to like me and trust me. So intuitively I just learned very early that it's your personal brand that leverages the growth of your actual business. So today we're talking about how to really build your personal brand so that people do get to know you like you and trust you and then they come and they do business with you. So it sort of all goes hand in hand doesn't it? Absolutely. Let's get straight into it. What did you want to start with today and what did you want to open with in terms of educating everyone online? Cool. Like I said, I noticed very early that it's your personal brand that builds your business brand. So on the slide here we're showing, you know, just in the last six months so I've written a book, I've been featured in three other books, Channel 10, Sydney Morning Herald, lots and lots of podcasts, way, way more than that. And by people getting to know me, what I stand for, my values, that that helps people to know, yeah, we want to come and do business with you. We know what you stand for. Yep. Excellent. You know, Simon Sinek says people don't buy what you do, they buy what you do and it's so true. And especially, you know, in the age that we're in, everything's so prolific on social media. And people want to feel like they really do know you now. Their BS radars are turned up really high, you know, we're having these thousands of marketing messages given to us every day in our faces. And people don't want to see that anymore. They want to say, you know, do I like you? Yeah, cool. So it's really about buying from a person as opposed to buying a product or something from a company. Absolutely. I'm excited. Yeah. So the three problems that I see from a lot of people that, you know, entrepreneurs, especially like solar entrepreneurs, you know, personal trainers, people in the health industries, coaches, it's like they feel like they're the world's best secret. A lot of them I've noticed have got a really amazing story to share. They're highly skilled. They've done lots of courses. And they've got their core one on one clients, but it's only a few of them.  There's a gazillion people doing what I do. But it's about, you know, not being the same as everyone else, what makes you stand out? And then, you know, when they're when they're like that, they're overlooked, you're not top of mind, because you're not, you know, very interesting, or you're not, you know, the first person that people think about. So, yeah, but there is three opportunities. Yeah, so when we talk about opportunities, we're talking about a formula. Absolutely. This earlier. It's always easier when you can follow a formula. I think everyone can attest to that. So what is the first step of this brand building formula? Okay, speak about sure. So when we get it right, we have leverage. Yep, we stand out. And and we do have the opportunities. So the very first step is to create your authentic message. Yeah. This is something that I think authentic message is everyone's talking about this right now. And I'm still not really sure that a lot of people are getting what authentic message really means. So when you're authentic, you're genuine, you really get to know. So you need to really know what you stand for. You know, embrace that authenticity. I'm a little bit quirky. A lot of all of my my the people that follow me on social media know that I totally have a lot of coffee every morning. You know, they know that that I like to have a glass of wine and I and that while that might be a bit of a funny thing to talk about, it's actually really funny the way that works because I get tagged in all sorts of coffee and wine, which is great because I'm top of mind. People know what I stand for. So how does that work that in organization? So we speak, we spoke earlier about business versus versus personal brand. So if your business represents one thing, so you work for an organization as a brand, they represent a but as a person, you represent a little bit more of B. How do you how does that work? Is it time to go or is a way that is there a way that it can work hand in hand? Wow, I've never been asked that question. I think that that you would have to really feel into that. You know, cultures are very important things.  Yeah. You know, that authenticity is what what story do you have the other people can relate to what skills do you have? What's your value set? All the things you know, what makes you excited? If you're not excited about what you're doing, then yeah, move on. Yeah, great. So once you're clear on your authentic message, and you know, you've got that and you know, ties into your value system and everything like that. What do you what do you do then? How do you actually use it in your brand? And is it about just being on social media and then just claim into the whole world what your message is? How does that all work? Okay, so just stepping back for two seconds. When you got your message right, it's your message is heard by the right people. So that does flow over into the social media world because when I'm truly, truly on brand is like this whole plethora of people that are like, oh, we don't care what she's talking about. We don't dig what she's about. Her story means nothing to us. So that it gives them the the the permission to go, we don't want to hear her so they can move on and find someone else to listen to someone else that can help solve their problem. So what's really great about getting your story right and that authentic message is that you get, you know, that laser focus niche people are leaning in for more to hear it and you're attracting the right kind of clients, the clients that that you can help the most and that that you're excited to work with. Okay, so we've got that message where we know what our target market is and we know how to get it out there. What you just mentioned social media and this is something I'm interested in because I think a lot of people either are for social media and everything's about social media, but I think they maybe do a few different social media sites and they don't do them well. They try and be all things to all people or then you've got people on the other side of the spectrum who don't actually want to go down that path and they think it's a waste of time, whether it's for as a marketer for Redback, I use social media as well and that's part of the branding exercises that we do. But do you need to use it as part of your brand like? Yeah, so I get asked that a lot. Do we as a business owner do we need to be on social media? And this is really important because this is where you're going to connect with your target market. So when business owners say to me, do I need to be on social media? I say, well, it's simple. Are your prospective clients or customers on social media, if that's where they're hanging, then that's where you need to be.  For example, a mum that maybe wants the services of a personal trainer or a bootcamp. That personal trainer wasting their time on Twitter probably isn't the best place to be. But hanging out with Facebook and Instagram to connect with those people is where to hang out. Okay. And this all plays in with connecting to your target market. Absolutely. Can we speak a little bit more about that, about how we should do it and how we should do it properly? Yeah. So connecting with your target market, I suggest you want to connect with them deeply. So it's not just about this is who I am, it's really getting deep connection with your clients. And I love that quote by Johnny Depp. I think it's really fantastic. So when you know exactly who that niche is that you're speaking to, it's a very narrow niche, but you can go very deep. You know, you get to be able to connect with them on a deep level and become a resource to them. So there's three different problems that your target market is going to have. There's going to be known problems and spoken problems. So they're the problems that they know about and the problems that they speak about.  So they're okay to speak about it. Then you've got your known problems and unspoken problems.  So it might be not being able to pay the bills. They know they've got the problems, they don't speak about them. And then those clients have also got unknown and unspoken problems. And they're problems that they don't even understand that they've got. So when you connect really deeply with your target market and you can talk about the problems they don't even know that they have and become a resource and start to add value to their lives and start to educate them, you'll be able to connect really deeply. Because it'll be like you're, you know, you've got a crystal ball that we like. How did you know that? Yeah. And what sort of steps can we then take to understand our target market better? How do we uncover that information? How do we go out then, you know, find without being too intrusive, if you like? Yeah. It's just connecting, you know, established trust. Make the space safe for them to talk about their problems. Yeah.  When you're, when you're that show person that people can't talk to, they don't want to share that kind of information. So a lot of times I'll post a status, for example, on Facebook and I'll get personal messages coming through from people going, oh, wow, like we didn't even know that we had that problem. Thank you so much for helping us feel safe to share that. So yeah, establish that trust because, you know, your brand is about what people say about you when you're not in the room. So, you know, yeah, own your niche, be very, you know, like I said before, go really deep with them, really understand everything that there is about, about those people and about the topic that you're talking about. Now, you have been business in for a long time. We spoke about that earlier. I'm interested to learn about the change in landscape. So we're talking about social media and knowing your customers. And I know that in the past, especially in the last five to 10 years, there's been a lot of talk about how, as marketers, especially, we definitely do know who we're talking to now. And we definitely do have so many different ways and more ways to connect. What have you seen change over the past 20 years or so? What are you, you know, and are people actually adopting to what you're talking about now? Or do you feel like we've still got some room to go in? What are people doing wrong? Yeah, that's such a huge question. In 20 years, so much has changed. You know, our first accounting system was on a piece of paper. How old school is that? You know, there was no email. And when social media first came out, I was a very early adopter with Facebook. I was on it right from the beginning, because I could see that there was such an opportunity. So I see that your question is about, you know, who's adopting it. And I see two very different camps. I see the older people that have been in business, maybe for as long as I have, is saying, you know, well, we've been in business for 20 years and it's been working. So maybe, you know, let's not get into social media. We don't really understand that, you know, we'll just keep going the way we're going. But the problem there is that they might be thinking that. But the people that they need to sell to, that's where they're hanging out on social media. So if you don't keep up with the times, I think in the next, I'm already seeing, you know, some of these people going through some issues now. And in the over the next few years, I think that their business is going to decline at a rapid rate. Because Gen Y, this is the, I said Gen Z now. This is the first generation of children that have grown up their whole life with social media and e-commerce. So we don't need to educate them and teach them like Gen X, Gen Y, they are totally, they don't need to be educated. They're just going to be going straight onto the web and doing what they need to do. And then there's this other camp of younger generation people that are on social media. And I think they're not understanding maybe in the same way as the sort of the oldest style business owners about creating trust, about getting to know their clients. They're just more about marketing, selling. And people don't want to hear that message. People want to be heard. They want to be listened to. They want to connect. Excellent. Before we start talking about the people part of it, because I'm interested in that, I just want to let everyone know online. If you do have any questions, please type them through. I've got an iPad here. There, you can see it. Any questions that you ask will actually come through to here. Love to hear your thoughts on anything that you want to ask Sam and we can get through to the Q and A session or something relevant to your business and your brand or something like that we can also chat about. So please feel free to type any questions in there. And then also there's a survey on the right hand side as well if you want to complete as we go along. Now, we've spoken about connecting to your target market, which is absolutely crucial. And I do get that. But what about other ways that we can connect with people? I think there's, you know, with social media, there does come okay, now are we actually talking to people or how do we actually have real conversations because it was behind the screen. I'm really, really glad that you spoke about this. Yeah, there is so this. So this is only about the beginning of the connection phase and social media is only one of these areas. Email, emailing, I was going to say email marketing, but let's just take the marketing. Yeah, you know, using email, your website, you know, a lot of this at the beginning stage is is a lot online. But what we're doing is we're starting to prepare to be able to take that relationship offline as soon as possible. You know, we don't want to keep chatting to people on Facebook all day. We do want to take it offline and turn these leads into clients that you're speaking with and helping. So just one step further than besides the online environment, what about networking and having discussions with real people? Yeah, how important is that for your personal brand? I find that a lot of people, especially who are at the same stage in their career as myself, they haven't even heard of networking.  Yeah, where how important do you see networking events and stuff like that for your personal brand? I believe it's really, really important because it's one thing to have who we are upon Facebook on Twitter on Instagram. And even when you are connecting authentically, there's still that, you know, yeah, still that shiny this is the way it is. And, you know, we've spoken on the phone with with email, but but meeting in person is just so much different.  Yeah. Yeah, getting I call it getting out of the cave. Yeah. And would that also go for getting to know other people in your industry? How else can we go beyond that? Yeah.  Yeah, it is getting out of the cave. It's it's who are the influences in my industry? Yeah, who are the people that I'm noticing that a lot of the people that I connect with who are they connected with? It's about setting the goal of where I want to be and working backwards reverse engineering that process. Okay, so if I want to be connected with, you know, someone in the in the US, for example, you know, because we are in a global economy now, not in a in a local economy. If I want to connect with someone there, who are the people that are connected with that person so that I can start to to work out that process going forward. As for collaborations, I talk about that's a whole, you know, that's my fourth step in the formula, because it is very important. But just, you know, in the connection phase, using social media, getting to know people have, you know, beginning to have that chat, definitely networking, you know, especially with LinkedIn, a lot of people talk about connecting, collecting contacts, where I say, we'll connect and then like coffee or chat or whatever it is, you know, something what's a number on a screen? It's nothing. Yeah. And I think it's important how you say you need to set your end goal and then work backwards, because I think a lot of people even turn up to events or something. And they don't know why they're there.  Yeah, yeah, the thing. So it really is about knowing what you want to achieve and get out of that. Isn't it? Yeah, in that, though. Okay, so if I was going to a networking event and I knew that I wanted to achieve connecting with with photographers, for example, for my own brand or as a referral partner, I'm it's okay to know that that's who I want to connect with. It's not okay to go in there and start selling at a networking event. I think a networking event is all about listening, yeah, connecting, asking questions. You know, I think the really the most interesting people that I've met, when you leave, you're almost like, I don't think they even hardly said a word. They actually were more interested in listening to me. So I'm always, you know, asking questions and learning as much as I can about that person. Yeah, yeah, listen, listen, listen. Yeah. Okay. Before we go on to the product side of things, we do have a question from Sanjay. So in your opinion, what's the difference between brand and positioning? Brand is wow, brand and positioning. I almost feel like they're the same. Brand is your message, but it's also how that you know, I did say before branding is about what people say when you're not in the room, but it's also, you know, how do your visuals look? Are they all the same?  Your the images, you know, your headshots very important to make sure that they're, they're getting the message across that this is, this is who I am. Yeah. You know, I'm a very strong personality type.  I'd be like, well, if I saw anyone do that, it's okay for a natural path, you know, so, so that is your branding and it's how those images and, and the words come together. And the positioning, that's more where you're perceived in the marketplace, you know, who are you connected with? You know, are you a published author? Are you a speaker?   Are you getting hundred thousand dollars to go and speak? So I hope that answered that question. Yeah, thank you. Now, just getting back to the formula, what are we talking about now in here? Well, let's have a look. So third, this is where we were heading, where you were heading before, once you've actually done the original connection, it's about collaborating in the right circles. And these collaborations can come in lots of different forms. You know, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. So it's really important that I talk about your inner circle, which is sort of your five closest friends. They're the people that you that you talk to when things aren't going right, you don't need the whole world to know. But you know, you might need to pick up the phone and have a bit of a meltdown at 10 o'clock at night. That's during the circle. Then then there's I can't even remember what I call it's not out of circle, but you know, it's the other business people that you connect with.  So you like you need to get out of the cave, get out and about the networking events, like you said, where I've actually found most of my collaborations is actually at masterminds and business conferences and expos. And I think I've been thinking about this just recently, I think it's because the people that go into those kinds of things are also in a phase like me where they want to grow, they want to be better, they want to learn more. And they're the people that sort of in the same mindset as me. So they're great people to do collaborations with. So whether that's a strategic alliance or a JV or a partnership, however you want to say it, you know, referral partners or people that can help you do marketing campaigns together. That's really important. Okay. Now we're talking about opportunities. Yes. So this is exciting because we were speaking about this before how opportunities do arise. How do you go with it? How do you know what opportunity to take? How do you want to actually attract that opportunity? So how does this all tie into our personal brand? Okay. So what I love about people call them different things. So joint ventures, strategic alliances, whatever we call them. What's really exciting about this is that you can use your other people to help grow each other's business. So let's give you an example. So there could be a personal trainer that is selling a 12-week boot camp challenge. So, you know, she might be able to say, okay, well, who do I know that I can speak with to help give me or give me leads that might need my services? So they might want to speak to a jeweler that specializes in engagement rings, because generally brides that are getting married, they want to lose weight quickly. Or they might want to go and speak with travel agents that specialize in cruising, you know, if I'm going on a cruise, I generally want to make sure I can put the bikini on. And how are we going to attract opportunities to help leverage each other's business? Where the personal brand is really important is to do those kind of ventures, you need to really align personally, because someone else is putting their brand on the table, they don't want it muddied, I guess as a word, they want, you know, if I've got someone else selling my brand, I want to make sure that our values align and that that we've got the same sort of ideas of, you know, yeah. Yeah. And I think that could work on a number of different levels as well. A lot of people out there and we sponsorship opportunities as an organization. As a brand, do you align with the same sort of values and beliefs? And do you want to be so it's all about association, isn't it? Absolutely associated with absolutely. Yeah. And on that sponsorship, so I get I talk a lot with my clients about contribution. I think contribution is a really, really important part of business. Yep. And it's about again, attracting the right kind of people that align with your business. So, you know, I need to know exactly what my legacy is, what my purpose is because then the collaborations that I do in that arena will align with my message. Okay, great. Now let's move on to the fourth step. Sure. In the formula. So this is where we talk about constructing an online product. Yes. So I get this because I do work in the online environment. But what about what about for people out there who don't necessarily have an online product or it's more like a one to one communication tool when they are working, whether you're an accountant or something like that. How does this all come into play? Yep. Okay. So this is like I said before, we've got to start especially in retail or in a in a business where they do one on one exactly like you said like accounting. A lot of people can't don't think they've got something to sell. Where in actual fact they do think about the questions that you get asked every day from your clients. Because if you're getting asked that that question every day by by people, there's going to be how many million people in the world that have got the same question. So the great way to start is what questions am I getting asked? That's how the brand builder formula was born. I was getting asked these questions every day all the time. And that's when I could start to see the progression. Just type it into Google and see what comes up first. And Amazon. Amazon's another really good place to do your research as well. Yeah. Interesting. So once you've established your brand, what can you actually do to do to build your influence or take it to the next level? Once you've built your brand? Yeah. So in your own, you know, you've done all these things, you're going out to these networking events, you know what you stand for, you've got this product, you know where you want to play almost. What do you do then to influence it or really take it to the next level and really stand out so you're not that vanilla type of person? Okay. So that's when we're talking about communicating in a leverage way. Okay. So we're really taking it to the next level. You know, you've got a message that you know can change the world. So instead of keeping it a secret, share it with the world. Once we're doing that, sharing it with so many more people, it does establish your credibility because you're known worldwide. It amplifies your message. And it positions your influence, like you said. So there's many ways that we can do that. It could be writing a book.  It could be speaking on stage because there might be many people that are listening. Webinars like we're doing today is a fabulous way because I can share my message once and however many people are listening.  Okay, great. Now, we were talking just before and you did mention something and I don't really like to go to the negative, but I think in this situation, it's going to be quite useful for a lot of people online. Businesses fail. And especially a lot of start up businesses or even the business that you're in now and you're employed in might actually fail. Now you're saying there's three reasons why businesses fail. Yes. Yeah. What are they? Yeah. I don't like talking about negatives either, but it's a fact of life. You have to don't you? Absolutely. And it really upsets me when businesses do fail because you know, I know that people put everything into their businesses. So the first one is is trying to do it alone. So whether that's not having your inner circle to talk to whether it's you sitting at home and trying to do all of the admin and the graphic design and writing blogs and looking after your clients and and and and it goes on. So, you know, you do need you do need help. You know, if you can walk up a mountain on your own, it's not a very big mountain. So as people with an amazing message to share, we want to share that in a big way. So that's a big mountain. We need to make sure that we've got a team around us. The second problem that I see is people not being held accountable. So they set a goal. And they're in their little cave or working from home. And no one else knows that goal. And no one else is helping them to overcome the fear of the next thing that needs to be done. You know, they might need to do a webinar or a Facebook live. And they just like, oh, I'm just too scared to do it. So they don't do it. There's no one holding them accountable to say, no, come on, you have to do this. And the third thing is not having a clear plan. So it's not not knowing, you know, what's your three year goals? What's your 12 month goals? And again, reverse engineering at breaking it down? What's your your 90 day plan? And what needs to happen this week to get you closer to that plan? How often do you see this happen? People go into like, I know it's probably a really broad question. But and, you know, how can you go back? If you maybe you've got one of these not in place or something like that, can you actually take a step back and go, okay, well, all three of them need to not happen in order for me to fail. How does that work with them? Yeah, of course, at any time you can go be vulnerable and go, you know what, that is me. Yeah, you know, oh my goodness, let me think about that goal that I have to do, you know, ABC in my business and no one's actually, you know, I'm afraid and and I don't want to do it, or whatever it is, you know, at any time that can change, you can be sitting down writing that plan being accountable can change at any time. Definitely. We've got some questions coming through. So just want to get to those. So Amanda has asked, what are your thoughts on LinkedIn and using discussion groups to create brand awareness and personal brand? Perfect. I love LinkedIn. It's one of my favorite platforms. And it is an amazing platform to educate a group of people with what you do. So Amanda, I think it's the perfect place to be hanging out in terms of discussion groups because I have been part of them in the past. And I know a lot of people say they do work and a lot of people say, oh, they actually just bombard me with a lot of information. Yes. What are your thoughts on that? Because I know if you are part of a discussion group, sometimes you do get emailed. A lot of that stuff coming through. What are your what are your tips on creating groups within there and making sure that you're not just Yeah, annoying people. Yeah, I think that it's definitely a personal thing because in different industries, people are going to react differently. I don't actually get into the discussion groups much because, like you said, I did find that I was getting bombarded with a lot of messages or topics that weren't even on topic for me. So be very aware of the discussions that you're having. And if you're in an industry where it works perfectly for you, then go for it. Yeah, excellent. So in terms of the formula, while we've got before we get to these questions, can we just give a broad overview just of the four steps and how people can actually apply them? Oh, the five steps of five. So yes, I had the five steps of the brand builder formula. So so going back, the first one is to create your authentic message. It's a very genuine message. You know, what's the skills and the story? You know, I've never met anyone that doesn't have a really interesting story. So share it. People love marketing is actually storytelling if it's done well. Yep. The second, the second step is to connect connect deeply with your target market. The third step was to collaborate. So you get out of the cave, work with people, get to know them very well, create joint ventures with them, create events, whatever it is. Then it's about constructing your online product so that you can take your business from a one to one model to a one to many model, or to take it from a global, sorry, a local to a global model. And the last step is to, to leverage that. I can't even remember what the last one was. Okay, so we've got some questions now. So it's great. We've got an overview of the brand builder. But for those of you online who do need to go, thank you so much for attending. We will actually be sending you a copy of the recording and slides within 48 hours of PDF. However, if you do want to stay on for questions, please stay on. Please also take note of the feedback survey. And if you would like to hear about some more information and sign up to the blogs, or any sort of information from yourself, there's an opt-in in that survey as well. Now we're going to go to some questions now because we do have a lot coming through. So we'll try and get through as much as we can. So Greg, so you mentioned speaking opportunities and presenting conferences. Yes. How do you get about making yourself be part of this? Okay, so when you I suggest that you do some research into whatever industry that that you're in. What are the events that are coming up? You know, what are the expos or the conferences? Who are the people that are running these events? And I connect with them mostly on LinkedIn and also on Facebook and just open up the conversation. And I tell them straight out, this is what I want. This is what this is what I value. I can give you this is what I can offer. Sort of start to think about what are the major topics that you can cover off that you're an expert in. Because then when when you do get those opportunities come, you know exactly what it is that you're offering is excellent. I hope that answered your question, Greg. So from Pauline. So when it comes to networking, do you have any recommendations on questions that you should ask people? I don't I don't when I connect with people, I prefer to just feel into the moment because I feel that that is really you know, when we're talking about being authentic and being genuine. Then, you know, I think it's a bit icky to always be asking the same questions. People, I think people intuitively pick that up and imagine if you bumped into them at another time and you forgot and you asked the same set of questions, it could get a bit funny. So yeah, I can't I guess a networking expert would probably be better to ask that question, because my strategy is random, just going with whatever feels right at the time. Yeah, excellent. So Sophie, so this is going back to when we spoke about creating your authentic message. Yes. What if you are creating your authentic message? However, there are other people that have the same message as you. No one's going to have the same message when you get really into your story. What are the things that have happened to you in your life that you can use that story to help other people? No one else has got the same story as you. So tap into that. And your value set is going to be different to someone else's value set. Two people aren't going to have the same, you know, they might have the same values, but their story is going to be different. So really tap into the story, the experiences you've had, the skills you've had and think about how you can use those stories to help others. So it's really about digging deep, isn't it? And definitely scared to share so much. It is that's exactly what it is, you know, if your story is the same, it means that you haven't kind of cracked in like deep enough, you know, it's very shallow still. So you know, be vulnerable, like Brené Brown is fantastic at this when she says, you know, you have to be vulnerable to be courageous. And it's I didn't realize that my story had been shallow for a while. And when I really shared some of the things that had happened to me, that's when I created much deeper connections of people going, oh, wow, you know, it's that that people connect having that personal absolutely can resonate with. Yeah, definitely. Well, that brings us to the end. If anyone has any further questions, they can speak to you. Yes, absolutely. So we'll put your contact details up on the slide. We'll just move that forward. Let's go. Gone by a lot. There. Sorry to the guys at the back there for that. So if you want to join Samantha on her journey and get to know her a little bit more, understand how you can help your organization or your business or whatever you're into at the moment. But before we leave, closing comments, if you could have people walk away with one thing today, what would be the big thing that you really want them to take away and apply? I think the greatest thing that I want them to really understand is the storytelling because it's the story, your story that people will connect to. And how does that story go across everything you do? It's infused into the way you speak, the way you write on your blog, the way you connect with people, the images. When you really, truly dig deep and you know exactly what that is and that gets infused into everything you do, that's when you will create really deep connections and lasting, you know, business contacts leads a nice, solid business. Excellent. Well, thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure to speak with you today. Thank you so much. And thank you everyone online. It's been great. Thank you for joining us once again for the business skills series. Like I said, keep an eye out for the recording and you have if you have any further questions or perhaps you know a speaker who would like to present, feel free to contact us at Redback Conference in. Otherwise, enjoy the rest of your day and we'll see you next time. Bye for now.


Hello everyone and welcome. You are on the field with me, Philip Sidney. Today, I have a very, very special guest. He was the former research officer in the Ministry of Agriculture, former Minister for Infrastructure, former Minister for National Security, former Minister for Agriculture, a retired farmer, I may say, and in 2022, he was knighted, knight commander of the Order of St. Lucia, for exceptional and outstanding service of national importance to St. Lucia. Ladies and gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure and honor to introduce my guest to you, my mentor, a great man, Sir Karlix George. Welcome to the program, sir. Thank you very much. This is a long overdue, sir. It's a while now. We've been trying to get you. I know, you know, because of various activities, we were not able, but I'm so happy to have you on my program today. So, sir, in the deepest corner of your cerebral cortex, a Sid was soon. It blossomed into a Korean agriculture. Why a Korean agriculture, Sir George? Oh, the primary reason for a Korean agriculture was to help my country develop into an independent, viable economy. And that was sort of brought out while I was at school, really, at St. Mary's College. At that time, I went to school in 1952. I went to St. Mary's in 1952. And at that time, sugar was still on, but there was the question of bringing in the banana industry and so on. Now, it so happened that we had an excellent headmaster called Brother Kanis Collins, who was very perceptive and kind of trained. In the first instance, he was the first person to actually bring science education into St. Lucia. Before that time, St. Mary's College was a classical college, and he introduced science. And he was instrumental in infusing a science orientation into our head and also of its importance to agriculture because agriculture was the bedrock of the economy of St. Lucia. So he actually trained us and advised us to move in that direction. So you will find, if you look at the records of St. Mary's College, which incidentally I wrote a a treatise on, and you will find in there how he infused the whole issue of agricultural development into us. The result was that scores of us eventually went into agriculture. For example, the first one was a gentleman by the name of Louis Campbell, Francis Leos, Dr. Edmunds and so on, who came in before me. All these guys eventually became very key people in the development of St. Lucia, the whole development of St. Lucia. You can say that the development of St. Lucia at the critical time of the agricultural expansion in terms of bananas was in fact due to a significant extent, Brother Kanis' influence on us. So I was a very good science student. As a result, for example, I belong to a group that did the first higher school certificate in three science subjects, chemistry, botany, zoology, and of course I was the first St. Lucia to get distinctions in botany and chemistry. In addition to that, I must say that my orientation was also agricultural in nature because my mother came from a rural area in a place called Founier, opposite Marquis estate. My father was a town man, he was an accountant and so on, but my mother came from a farming community at Founier and her father, that's my grandfather, had a very big farm in that place. He had a farm of about 120 acres and when I was a young boy, I used to go up every holiday. My mother used to take us up to the country. So I became familiar with all agricultural things because he had a self-contained and self-sufficient farm, both livestock, bees and crops, very diversified. So I was introduced, for example, like production of cassava, which is a big thing now, but we had our platine and all that kind of stuff. And I always remember the question of cassava was very, very intensive because you have to get up very early, go to get the roots and bring them down to the processing area because it had to be done the same day because of the hydrogen cyanide and so on. So it was very, very intensive. So the agricultural activities that I was exposed to at a very early age cemented the thing when I went to college, so I went to do agriculture. And then from there you went to UE. Yeah, from there I went to UE. I was the first group of West Indian students to do the degree in agriculture at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, which is in Trinidad. Now the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture was the foremost agricultural institute in the world to do tropical agriculture. And that was controlled by the British government who trained all her agricultural officers throughout the tropical world, from Fiji to Mauritius to India, the whole of Africa. So they used to be trained in that place. So in 1960 it changed to the University of the West Indian, University College of the West Indies. So Arfal always got it to change from the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture to the Faculty of Agriculture in 960. So I was in the first group that did the agricultural degree. Okay. Living University, you came back to Saint Lucia and from there, what happened from there? When I left university, I was agronomist for what is called the Regional Research Center. There was a research center for agriculture in Trinidad at the same Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture. And they have done research in many tropical crops like cocoa and bananas. So I came to Saint Lucia to do some experiments on bananas because bananas are just coming in. And they had to determine the fertilizer requirements of the banana. So I did some experiments throughout Saint Lucia in the different agro-ecological zones. Bananas have grown for determining the requirements for nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium so that you can get a formulation to give to the farmers. So the first set of fertilizer formulations were determined by a gentleman by the name of Ian Twyford, an Englishman who trained me in experimentation and so on and so forth. So I became very adept in terms of field experimentation. And of course that stayed with me when I became research officer of the Ministry of Agriculture. So after that, well you would know about that because I think I trained you guys also in field experimentation as well. So when I did that, then I left and went to England to specialize in soil science. So basically rarely I'm a soil scientist by trading, by photo trading. And then I came back to Saint Lucia and then became the research officer in the Ministry of Agriculture with responsibility for Union agricultural station. But in addition to Union agricultural station, I did experiments all over Saint Lucia, all over. I know that every hole, so to speak, in Saint Lucia because the first thing that you have to know is that the response of crops varies according to soil type rainfall, ecological zone. So whatever experiments that I did, I didn't do it in one ecological zone. I had to do it in several ecological zones to see the responses that you would get for that particular zone. Yes, yes. I remember, in fact when I came in as a cadet, I remember we had experimental plots in La Fag del Se and we did peanuts. And I remember planting peanuts and all my hands were bruised, you know. We had a lot of experiments all over the place. For example, we did a lot of experiments on Irish potatoes. Irish potatoes, correct, yes. I see them doing some there now. But we did all that experiments and we knew the taking varieties from Canada and also from the UK. And in fact Mr Leon said done it before me and I continued. And then we did the Irish potatoes in different zones, for example, at Bath, right in the Souffre area. Of course in the low-lying areas like Union and so on. And at Viewfort, you know, these kind of areas. So, you know, you found out where the best place was. In fact, Souffre area was in fact the best place to grow potatoes. Because they saw your type. They know the climate too. The climate too has got to do with it. Yes, definitely. I remember one of the things I remember you did, there were varietal trials. Oh, yes. There were spacing trials. There were fertilizer trials. Right, that's right. I remember having what they call a guard row. Yes, well, in fact, I'm not sure whether the present day guys in the Ministry of Agriculture, I feel disappointed. And in fact, even at my age, I'm willing to train them because there are certain principles that you have to follow if you have to make recommendations for farmers. Exactly. And the experiments have to be properly designed and executed. And the results have to be analyzed statistically, all right? And I think I taught you all some statistics as well. Yes, we did. How to interpret the results that you get and so on, you know. And that is where you talk of the guard rows that you talk about. In doing the pollots, you cannot, first, the soil type is important. Now in St. Lucia, we have about 53 or 54 soil types. And the soil types vary very, very, in very short distances and so on. So when you set your experiment down on a particular soil type, you must be, the treatments that you give must be in what's called random plots, randomized plots. So in doing the randomized plots, you have to make sure that there's no interference from one plot to the next. So you have to surround it, all right? By whatever plants that you're growing, so that there's absolutely no interference. So that's why you call it guard plots. Anyway, we do have a break. You're watching on the field with me, back soon. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Rural Development continues placing heavy emphasis on the concept of food security. It's our prosperity, our future. The crop production unit conducts surveillance and monitoring for trans, boundary pests and diseases of quarantine importance for St. Lucia. It provides technical assistance in the areas of post harvest technology, agro processing and soil and plant tissue diagnosis. The unit facilitates prudent management of agrochemicals and toxic chemicals in an environmentally friendly manner for sustainable development. Soil analysis is also being carried out. Need further assistance on crop production? Contact the Senior Research Officer at 468-5601. Welcome back to the program on the field with me, Philip Sidney. And of course, my guest, Sir Karlix George, who of course you heard, had many, many portfolios in his lifetime. That's why he was knighted Sir Karlix George. So George, we mentioned about the experimental plots and doing experiments around the island, all little holes based on the soil types and the ecological zones that you spoke about. But I also remember you preparing a number of tech packs. Oh well. And let me tell you, you said you were sad. I am saddened because I'm trying to revive those tech packs, you know, so that at least we have something to work with moving into where we are today. I have a copy of my CV and in it has the same tech packs we're talking about. How to grow onions, cabbages, sweet pepper, cabbage, this kind of thing, eggplant, tomatoes. So the results of the experiments that I did, that we just talk about the field experiments in different places, gave us the information that was necessary to do the tech packs. So it's on the basis of the experiments that we did that we can tell you that Calypso is a good variety to do. In this particular location. Right, and how to go about planting it. Well, I have all that information. I know, I can remember that very well. As a matter of fact, they were talking about food security and all that kind of stuff. And I was looking for one that I did on home vegetable gardening that gave you all the information that you required for you to do a vegetable garden, all right? And I also gave, that's for home vegetable gardens, and I also gave the details of the growing, for example, of onions, if you're growing onions or tomatoes and so on and so forth. Now, I gave it to a lot of people, there were a lot of people that got it at those days. But there's only one person, I think, that will be able to help you to get it. And I spoke to his son, and the son promised to give me, to look for it for me. And that is Mongru. Gregory Mongru. Gregory Mongru. Gregory Mongru, I must say, is one of the farmers that actually used all my information on all my experiments and so on. And if you go to Gregory Mongru, he will tell you exactly some of the things in terms of the growing of the vegetables, which he got from me. And he had a copy of the book, you see? Apart from the tech parks, which I'm sure people like Gregory Mongru and other farmers did use in the establishment of the plots. And of course, I'm sure they saw increase in production, of course, and money's in the pockets. There were quite a few of them. There were, in the Miko area, there were quite a few guys, for example, flood. Yes, I remember the flood. Flood went into it. I was growing, I remember. Cabbage. Cabbage, he had a real great something around the Vigier River. He used irrigation and all that kind of stuff. There were some guys from Miko as well. Mr. Reynolds, I think his name. And there were, oh, Elite. Yes, from Babono. Babono. Yes, he too was. He was a very, very good vegetable farmer and so on and so forth. So you had some key guys that actually utilized the information. You could grow onions and all that kind of stuff. We used to grow onions on a regular basis, you know, there. Okay, takes me to my favorite part of the program. Agricultural dead cost. How has that come about, sir? No, agricultural school at Union. It's a school, it's an agricultural college that was established in 1910 or something like that. 1910? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. One of the first things, you see, St. Lucia has always been an agricultural country, all right? And when the British took over, they obviously had to develop the country. So you find now that they had to establish areas for the propagation of tropical crops.  So, and in addition to that, you had to have people trained in agriculture. If it's an agricultural, it's an agricultural economy. So you have to have people trained in it. So in addition to establishing the propagation centers and so on, agricultural centers, there's a commission which the British government set up, right? In 1897. And in it, the recommendation for agricultural development of the colonies came in. And that is how they formed the first agricultural stations. You see, so the station now was located, guess where? In the gardens? In the gardens. That's right, yes. And the office of the superintendent of agriculture is still there in the gardens. You see the building? Yeah, they use what they, what's it, Red Cross at the time? I don't know what they're using it now, but that wooden building there, in the gardens was where the agricultural, first agricultural station was. And in there, they also taught the agricultural school was established. You see? So it came from there and went up to, it went up to Union when they bought over, they left, the station left castries and went up to Union. Okay? So that's how Union agricultural station came in. So Union agricultural station, right, is really a replacement for the botanical gardens. That's why it is called botanical garden because it had to do with the botany of crops. Of course, it's no longer, you can call it a botanical garden. I don't know what you can call it now. Now, incidentally, as an aside, you hear about Sir Arthur Lewis, the great Sir Arthur Lewis. Sir Arthur Lewis's first job was right there in that building. When he left school, he left school, I think he must have been very, very young, he was too young actually to get this, he didn't qualify in age for the scholarship, but he had passed his examinations and so on. So he worked in the gardens as what they call a copious in the Ministry of Agriculture. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and listen to me. And I have written about it in my book on St. Mary's College where Sir Arthur is well known for his paper on the unlimited supplies of labor and the whole issue of development economics. My thesis is this. That Sir Arthur got to know that from the time he worked at the Ministry of Agriculture in St. Lucia, because in there, he had to be exposed to the big farmers, the big plantation owners, as well as the peasantry that was just growing. Okay, so you find now that his thesis deals with that dichotomy of the economy, the traditional economy as opposed to the non-traditional one, okay? So that is explained in his paper on limited supplies of labor. And I am saying this as a result of his interaction in the Ministry of Agriculture that he did that paper to show the dichotomy of the two economies, if you want to call it that. That gave him the Nobel Prize. That's my thesis. Interesting, interesting, interesting. In addition to that, people don't know that. I have his volumes there, you know, if you want to, I can give you the volumes. If you go to my desk there, you will see all the volumes of Sir Arthur, the three volumes of his books, of his papers, all right? And in it, you will see that there's a significant amount of work that he did on agricultural economics, right, which is very well documented. So much so, again, and I write it in my book, that his contribution, they say he never did anything for Saint Lucia, but he did so much for Saint Lucia that Saint Lucia don't even know about it. The fact that he did all those works in agricultural economics, all right? He had written about the economics, the economics of agriculture in the developing world, and he identified Jamaica at the time as the ideal developmental laboratory, so to speak, okay? And one of the things in Jamaica was that Jamaica had a Jamaica School of Agriculture, which was similar to the one of the Union one that I'm talking about, but on a much bigger scale, and it was also located at Hope Gardens, which was the same equivalent of the Botanical Gardens there, okay? So they trained those Jamaican people, and eventually it became the Jamaican School of Agriculture, JSA, so you must have heard of your contemporaries. Four of you and some of those guys went to JSA. So the JSA graduates were supposed to be the best in the tropical world, so when Saint Lucia's development in agriculture was expanding, Sir Arfal was recommended that those agricultural officers who were trained in Jamaica, right, should be distributed and came to Saint Lucia. So that is how you have the first wave of Jamaican agricultures into Saint Lucia, like Harry Atkinson, Stuart, Gage, Mullings, and those guys, and they're the ones who actually, as you know, were the main extension officers for the development of agriculture in Saint Lucia, and that is a contribution stemming from Sir Arfal Wiss. Interesting, interesting. Hold that thought we do for our end of the program. I must say thank you for the first part. We are coming to our second part in a while. You have been watching on the field with me. We are going to be expanding the program to our second phase, so stay tuned.


In this presentation, we will take a look at the budget committee as we go through the budgeting process. When we consider the corporate structure, we typically consider it as a top-down type of structure. We have the management, we have the top management, we have the middle management, then we have the supervisor. So we have the top management with the overarching goals and objectives. We've got the middle management that's going to help to oversee the supervisors. First, a word from our sponsor. Well, actually, these are just items that we picked from the YouTube shopping affiliate program, but that's actually good for you because these aren't things that we're just given to us from some large corporation, which we don't even use in exchange for us selling them to you. These are things that we actually researched, purchased and use ourselves. Here we have a Western Digital WD elements 20 terabyte USB 3.0 desktop external hard drive. 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So you might want to come up with some kind of system where you download the project you're working on to your computer, to your C drive, or possibly to a solid state drive, which is a much more expensive external hard drive as you do the work. Once the work is done, then save the project to an external hard drive such as this. If you would like a commercial free experience, consider subscribing to our website at accountinginstruction.com or accounting instruction.thinkific.com where we have many different courses. You can purchase one at a time or have a subscription model, giving you access to all the courses, courses which are well organized, have other resources like Excel files and PDF files to download and no commercials. And then we have the supervisors typically focus on the day to day type of activities. They're managing the activities that happen on a day to day process. So we note that the company is not a democracy. We're not voting for what is going on. It's a top down type of structure. It's a top town type of organization. So we would think given that that the budget process would be something that possibly would be dictated by the top and the top would then just tell the rest of the company the map of where we are going. And of course, the final decision on the budget, what budget process will be implemented will be done by the top management. However, it's going to be important for top management in order to achieve all the objectives that we talked about through the budgeting process to get much of the information from the bottom up. That means that much of the information through the budgeting process will actually go from the bottom up from the supervisors to the middle management to the upper management. And we could see this bottom up type approach as we apply the budgeting process that will meet many more of our objectives. So as we look at the objectives that we considered in a prior presentation, we can meet many more of those objectives by taking this bottom up type of approach. And there's a couple of different things that we can meet. One is that it will involve everybody. If we have the decisions that are just made by top management and then top management implements those decisions, even if they're communicated well, even if management has a very good plan, they know what the plan is, even if they knew everything that's going on in the company and they made a perfect plan and then implemented the plan, it's very likely that people will not execute on that plan as well as they could, even if it's the perfect plan, even though it's communicated perfectly because they don't feel invested in it. So that's going to be one problem. The other problem is, of course, that a company of just about any size, if we have multiple type of departments, and of course, as the company gets larger and larger, there's no way that the top management knows everything that's going to be involved in the budgeting process. It has to, as the company gets larger and larger, it has to be more decentralized. A lot of the information is going to have to go from the bottom up because the people in the departments are the people that have the information necessary to make the budget or put the budget together. So the larger the company is, the more we're going to have to be dependent on the segments, the management of each department, the regional managers to go in and say, okay, we're going to piece this thing up from the bottom up, we're going to get the budget information, then we're going to put it together by region, possibly, and then we'll take a look at it from a holistic type of standpoint. So from a logistics standpoint, then as the company gets larger, then you're going to have different segments and you're going to have to put things up by segment, just from a logistics type of standpoint. It's also important that we want to have the communication because remember that the communications is one of the big keys of the budget. So when we consider the communication process, rather than thinking of it, this would be the way that we kind of build the budget from the bottom up, as we take the information from the departments to possibly regions to possibly top management. But the budgeting process, we want to think of it as kind of an even type of process here. So obviously the indecision is going to be made by the top management, but a lot of the information is going to be made by the departments. And what we need is communication back and forth. So although the indecision is going to be made by the top management, we need the communication to be going back and forth and the people that are directing the budget committee then aren't really there to make their end goal in the budgeting process. When we go through the budgeting process, isn't really to be the one to say, Hey, this is it. This is the actual decision or to be the one that really knows everything so that they can basically make the ultimate decision necessarily within the budgeting process. The important piece is the process. We need someone to manage and direct the process. So we have a lot of people involved here. The main goal is to put a process together that everybody feels invested in the process. Everybody feels that the process is geared towards the full benefit of the company. And everybody feels that they have been heard within the process and don't have any fear of putting the information into the process for it to be considered with the objective of the end result, the best result for the company in general. If people feel comfortable with the process, if they think that the process is fair is justified, then they're typically going to be good with the outcome. So that means that when you consider that the process of the budget committee meeting, the what has to happen in terms of running it is for it to be ran in such a way that everybody feels that the process is fair, the process is good, they have the contribution. And then once the decision has been made, then the communication could then happen and the decision making process then stops then because now the decision has been made. Hopefully everybody feels good about the process, it then can be communicated clearly by management at that point that, hey, the decision has been made. We've addressed everything that we can. Anybody that had a dissenting opinion, hopefully we've addressed that dissenting opinion decisions made now. Now we communicate the implementation of the budget process of the plan that everybody has had feedback in and has implemented their information on. And at that point in time, it's the communication of the plan, not the communication on how to put the plan together.