Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is portfolio questions and the portfolio on this occasion is net zero energy and transport. I would ask members wishing to ask a supplementary question to press their request to speak buttons during the relevant question. I would also make a plea given the level of interest in supplementaries today for the questions to be as brief as possible and the answers to match. Question number one has not been lodged. Question number two, Graham Day. To ask the Scottish Government what plans Forestry and Land Scotland has for the Glenfrozen estate. Glenfrozen estate will be managed by Forestry and Land Scotland in accordance with the variety of Scottish Government policy aims to benefit people, nature and climate and the local economy by collaborating with the community and neighbouring public and private landowners and managers. FLS and the wider Scottish Government is keen to lead a partnership approach to land management and habitat restoration on a landscape scale, and that across the Angus Glen and within the Cairngorms national park. I want to thank Forestry and Land Scotland for their engagement with me as the local MSP over the purchase of the estate and the implication for employees to whom secured housing tenancies as a result of those discussions, which also helped me to part-time employment opportunity for an estate staff. However, it is only by expending that type of engagement into the wider community that will hopefully avoid uninformed commentary of the type that surrounded the sale process. I ask the minister to assure me that going forward FLS will engage fully with the local community around the plans for the estate and with neighbouring landholdings in relation to deer management. I am glad to assure Mr Day that FLS will be actively engaging with all local stakeholders. I am very pleased to hear that they have already been engaging with him as constituency MSP. That will include, especially, the local community and neighbouring landowners, as I said. All of that will form part of the land management plan, which FLS will develop over the coming year, to ensure that the benefits of that acquisition can be afforded by everyone. I would add that, as well as the arrangements for employment of those who worked on the former sporting estate, as well as an opportunity for landscape scale restoration, that acquisition presents the opportunity for community engagement and opportunity, something that was limited in the former use. I think that we can expect employment opportunities from woodland creation among other pursuits. I am briefly at Liam Kerr. The purchase of Glenprosan estate is one of the largest land deals involving settled land for years. Despite the warm words that we have just heard about future consultation, the £18 million purchase was entirely off-market, behind closed doors and with no meetings or consultations with any of the local community. Given the recent public and media attention about so-called green lords, does the minister consider that this purchase process was appropriate as to how deals of public interest are conducted? Can we expect similar secrecy in future public land ministries? FLS operates in a competitive commercial land market where their job is to work to optimise benefits for the people of Scotland. FLS were one of a small number of potentially interested parties who were approached by the agents to bid on that. Given the enormous strategic opportunity presented by the former sporting estate for Scottish Government objectives, FLS opted to offer. I have already rehearsed some of the multiple benefits that will come from this landscape scale woodland. Recreation is an opportunity, so is peatland restoration and community involvement. As Liam Kerr takes the opportunity to say on the record what the actual sale price was, I hope that him and his colleagues will consider some of the more spurious figures that they have used in this chamber before, which I was not able to correct owing to confidentiality. I will leave it to them to consider their responsibilities for correcting the record. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will have carried out an assessment of the potential impact of its decision to end the network support grant plus for bus operators. It is clear that the current cost of living crisis is making it challenging to deliver bus services in many local communities. That is why the temporary network support grant plus has been extended until 31 March this year to help people to travel this winter. I continue to collaborate with bus operators through the bus task force to address the immediate challenges to help bus operators to move to a more sustainable footing and to ensure that the sector is supported by wider policies to improve bus services across Scotland. I thank the minister for that answer. After the SNP Green Government decided to cut the network support grant plus on 9 October, it quickly U-turned and reintroduced the scheme in December 2022. However, the scheme has now only been brought back until March, and the funding has been reduced by 22 per cent for bus operators. Can the minister confirm the reasons for ending the scheme again and why the funding offered has been significantly reduced? I am not sure if Alexander Stewart is aware that the SNP plus grant was always at a temporary fund. It was always meant to come to an end at the end of the pandemic. I have made two decisions now to extend that funding further, one back in June and one as the member alluded to in October. The funding coming to an end in March brings us into line with the funding ending in England and Wales, so there is parity now across the UK in terms of that emergency funding that was announced during the pandemic to help our bus operators survive and to sustain themselves further as we continue to support that recovery from the pandemic. I think that it is really important to put on the record the additional funding that we provide to bus operators, so that is around £210 million that we have already given during the pandemic, and that, of course, has ensured that our bus operators are well positioned and are at the forefront of that green recovery. We also need to tackle congestion and improve bus journey times. We have also awarded £25 million of initial funding for that to 11 bus partnerships covering 28 local authorities across Scotland. Looking ahead, of course, we will consider any further support that we may be able to provide to the sector, but those are very challenging times for the Government, as the member will recognise. Despite the huge investment in bus from the Scottish Government from Covid recovery funding to extension of concessionary travel, many constituents of ours are still facing really poor services. I understand that the receipt of the network support grant plus is conditional on operators meeting particular terms and conditions from freezing fares to protecting service levels, so can I ask the transport minister to provide any further information on whether any current recipients of the fund have been penalised for not meeting the fund's conditions? As briefly as possible, minister. I do not have the detail of what the member has asked me, but I can confirm that a freeze on fares is conditional on participating in the NSD plus extension, and I will be happy to write to the member with the detail that he has sought. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government what economic analysis it considers prior to awarding ferry contracts worth £150 million to a shipyard in Turkey. The long-term economic benefits of this investment will be derived from the improvements to the tariff at Harris and Loch Maddy north-east ferry services. Over 40% increase in vehicle capacity during summer and over 10% of an increase in winter will support sustainable growth on our islands. Those vessels will also provide significant reliability and resilience benefits across the wider west coast routes. In line with relevant procurement legislation, the contract was awarded following an open tendering process by CMAL as procuring authority. The bid received from the yard represented best value for money in terms of quality and price. The glaring omission in that answer was about the impact on the Scottish shipbuilding industry. I am afraid that I have already asked a written question in regards to this, but what waiting has applied to foreign shipbuilders against domestic shipbuilders, the Scottish Government told me that the score for foreign domestic shipbuilders is the same on social value and other criteria. An apprenticeship created in Turkey is weighed the same as an apprenticeship created in Greenock. Its absurd given analysis shows that £1 spent on domestic shipbuilding returns a 35% benefit to local economy in Scotland in supply chains. The minister did not realise how foolish this approach is, and she realised that continuing with that approach will result in the terminal decline of shipbuilding in Scotland. Given most foreign shipbuilders are heavily subsidised by their Governments and are therefore able to submit bids that domestic shipbuilders are simply unable to compete with. The member touched on a number of different points in his question. I recognise that he has also asked a number of written parliamentary questions, which I believe I have responded to. In relation to the vessels themselves, the relevant procurement legislation has been adhered to. The most important challenge to my mind at the current time is to bring that additional capacity to the western isles in particular and to the Calmax. We have to provide additional capacity. I am proud that, in the last year alone, we have been able to confirm that there will be the two new additional isle vessels. We have the additional vessel on the open to craig new route in the Lochfrija. I confirmed additional vessels at the end of last year to which the member has alluded, but the bid received from that yard represented the best value for money in terms of quality and price. The two vessels in construction at the yard are progressing well. The two that I announced earlier this year remain on time and within budget. CML's recent confirmation of signing the contract with the additional two vessels at the same design spec with the same yard follows the recent procurement exercise that the member has alluded to. That includes a full builders refund guarantee. However, the most important point in all of that is that we deliver that extra capacity to Calmax to allow it to provide a more sustainable service to the western isles in particular. I have two brief supplementaries, but they will need to be brief, as will the answers. I remind Labour that it was the SNP who took action to save Ferguson's shipyard from closure. As the minister has just highlighted, those new ferries are going to increase capacity and resilience for islanders. That investment is therefore welcome news for islanders and businesses. Does the minister share my views that we should all focus on the real differences that those vessels will make to the lives of the people who rely on them rather than seeking to score political points? Ms Minto is right to highlight our intention on those vessels and the benefits that they will bring to our island communities and businesses that they will serve. Some of the challenges have been well rehearsed in recent months, so we should all welcome that investment from the Scottish Government. If we look at the progress that I mentioned in the last 12 months, we have now four additional major vessels on order or under construction in addition to the two major vessels under construction at Port Glasgow. The Scottish Government remains absolutely committed to improving our lifeline very flea and better at meeting the needs of our island communities. I think that there is on one occasion that the minister shouldn't be proud, as she put it, in the case of constructing ferries for the western isles. She should be ashamed of what's happened, not proud. Can I just ask a specific question? Were there any clauses in the contract with SEMRA stipulating that Scottish businesses should form part of the supply chain? In relation to the procurement, which is the wider point of Mr Rennie's question, I answered that in relation to Mr Swinney's point. In relation to ferries more generally, we know that they are actively pursuing opportunities for future vessel contracts. As a shareholder and as a Government, we will do all we can to help the yard to secure those opportunities, but decisions on what vessel contracts to bid for are of course a matter for the yard management and the board themselves. To ask the Scottish Government how the strategic transport project review number two will improve rail infrastructure, journey times and rail connectivity across the South Scotland region. A number of the SEPR2 recommendations make a direct contribution to improving rail in the south of Scotland. Those focus on infrastructure to provide access for all railway stations, on decarbonising the network, on high-speed cross-border rail enhancements, on consideration of the upgrade or relocation of Strannau rail station, and on rail freight terminals and facilities. All of those will contribute to meeting the aims of protecting the climate and improving lives through better transport connectivity. Thank the minister for that answer. The SEPR2 makes a commitment to improve journey times specifically on the Glasgow-Carly line. Can the minister comment further on how that commitment will be taken forward and on timescales for the changes happening, as improving the line from the current two-hour journey from Dumfries to Glasgow will allow more people to rely on public transport across the region and will attract people to DNG as the stations in the region could be key commuter lines to Glasgow? I very much agree with the sentiment of the member's question that the long-term plans for our rail network in Scotland, including the south of Scotland, are set out in the SEPR2, which was published back in December 2020 of last year. The recommendations for future rail investment focus on the decarbonisation of the remainder of the network and on reducing the emissions from road transport by getting more freight and passengers on to rail. SEPR2 will help to deliver the vision, priorities and outcomes that are set out in the national transport strategy, and it will also provide improved rail infrastructure journey times, as the member alluded to, and rail connectivity across the south of Scotland. The delivery plan, which will give the further detail that Ms Harper has sought today, will be published later this year, and I believe that the cabinet secretary will be bringing a statement to Parliament next week on that very matter. So, after years of waiting, hundreds of thousands of pounds of public funds, the long-awaited SEPR2 report still leaves us none the wiser as to what investment Scottish Government will commit to the south of Scotland transport infrastructure. Can I ask the cabinet secretary for the sake of all those who live in the southwest, when can we expect any details on actual projects for this area of Scotland, already ignored by the Scottish Government, and bring the transport infrastructure up to an acceptable standard? As I mentioned in my response to Ms Harper, the delivery plan will be set out in the coming months, and the cabinet secretary will bring a statement to Parliament next week. During the budget, the Deputy First Minister said that a six-month pilot will remove peak rail time fares. It turns out that it will only be some peak rail fare, so can the minister tell us which rail routes in south Scotland will see peak fares removed, because clearly it won't be all of them? My understanding is that it will be all routes and the coming details. I await further advice from my officials in transport Scotland in relation to how the scheme will operate. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to help to increase public transport use in East Kilbride. The Scottish Government is investing more than £100 million in the East Kilbride rail project, enabling more diesel trains to be replaced across Scotland, and encouraging greater modal shift. The electrification from Glasgow to Barhead is under way alongside the relocation of Hermeyr's station, where the plan is to create a new fully accessible transport interchange, giving the local community the option to walk, wheel or travel by bus to the station. We are also supporting bus use through the under-22s free bus travel scheme, which means that around half of Scotland's population can now travel for free by bus. I thank the minister for that response. Could the minister provide an update on the East Kilbride rail enhancements, as well as the benefits the Clyde metro will bring to the town and can she outline the local engagement taking place on these matters? For East Kilbride network rail, advanced works have been undertaken at a number of locations, including the successful removal of a redundant footbridge last weekend at the site of the proposed new Hermeyr's station. We continue to make good progress with the East Kilbride business case, including a very well-received event here in the Parliament for members late last year. As the project develops and the full programme of works is finalised, network rail will intensify its activities and continue to work closely with communities, MSPs and other stakeholders along the line of the route to keep them informed. Work on the Clyde metro has been undertaken through the 2022 scoping programme level business case. That is being undertaken collaboratively led by Transport Scotland and its partners, Glasgow City Council and Strathclyde partnership for transport. A delivery plan will be prepared following the completion of the programme level business case. The engagement will be obviously key to that business case as it progresses. I think that what people of East Kilbride want to know, and I certainly want to know, and I am sure that Collette Stevenson wants to know, is when work is actually going to start on the East Kilbride line and when it will be complete. I alluded in my response to Ms Stevenson to the on-going engagement with network rail, and I think that it is really important that Mr Simpson, of course, as a local MSP, continues that engagement too. I think that he met with network rail very recently on the project itself. In terms of the timescales in relation to the decarbonisation work itself, I am more than happy to write to the member with an update on those if they have changed in any way, shape or form in the last months, but not to my knowledge. In a previous portfolio question time, the minister gave a commitment to ask Transport Scotland officials to compile data on the number of bus service cancellations and the reasons for these cancellations. Can the minister update us on that matter and tell us if and when the Government expects to know the full extent of bus service cancellations in Scotland? I did commit to ask my officials in Transport Scotland to provide that data. I have not yet received that data from my officials, but I am more than happy to publish it as of when I receive it to give that national picture of cancellations, because I very much recognise, as the member has alluded to, the on-going challenges that we face in that respect. To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address fuel poverty in North Ayrshire. We are tackling fuel poverty throughout Scotland with £119 million allocated this year to provide heat energy efficiency and fuel poverty measures to fuel poor households. That includes funding for our area-based scheme, delivered in partnership with local authorities. Since 2013, North Ayrshire Council has received over £13.2 million in ABS funding, enabling energy efficiency upgrades to be made to over 2,700 homes. This year, the council has been awarded £1.8 million to target homes in five fuel-poor areas for insulation of external wall insulation and to help to support 100 fuel-poor homes that receive solar PV systems. I have constituents in housing association properties that require work to make them more energy efficient. The landlord tells me that they have no funds for capital improvements. My constituents' wages are stagnant and all other bills are going up, including rent, year-on-year, 7 per cent this year. Can I ask the cabinet secretary what guidance he can give as to what funding is available, whether that is grants or loans to housing associations for such work, and further what advice the Scottish Government can give to help to support my constituents in housing association homes? The schemes that apply to housing associations are exactly the area-based schemes that I just made reference to. For housing associations that are looking to undertake energy efficiency programmes, they should be looking to engage with Warmer Homes Scotland in the range of funding that is available to them to support the installation of energy efficiency measures in properties. To ask the Scottish Government when the final design for the dualling of the A9 path to Inverness road between the pass of Burnham and the Tay crossing will be published. The design work for this challenging section of the A9 is continuing for a community creative process. This process has helped us to form an extremely positive working relationship with the local community and broadened the vision for dualling this section of the A9. An announcement on the preferred route option is expected to be made in the coming months, after which the preferred option will be further refined, developed and assessed before commencement of the statutory process. The community in Dunkeldon, Burnham and, indeed, other road users of the A9 have now been waiting eight years to see a finalised design for this section. I know that there has been extensive engagement with the local community, but that has ceased many months ago. We still haven't seen a finalised plan that we were expecting by the end of last year. Can the minister be more specific as to when exactly we will see a finalised design being published? Perhaps more importantly, when can we expect the works to be done on completing the dual carriageway in this section? The member will recognise that, having gone through a co-creative process with the local community who have identified a preferred route option that they would choose, we have to compare that against other potential route options of which there are three others alongside that, which is being supported by the local community. That piece of work and that assessment work is on-going at the present time. Once it has been completed by officials, we should then be in a position to set out our preferred route option. As I mentioned in my response, we will then communicate that, and I hope to be able to do that in the coming months. The final aspect in relation to the procurement process that we will have to go through, the orders process first of all, before that piece of work can be undertaken, which is obviously a statutory process and once that has been completed, we will then look at the procurement process for this particular aspect of the A9. Even now, the Transport Scotland website says that the dualling of the A9 between Perthland and Vanessa will be completed by 2025. If that happens, I will go out and purchase a hat in order to be able to eat it. Seriously, do we not owe an apology to the people of the Highlands and Scotland because we will not achieve that target? Should we not come clean? Above all, Cabinet Secretary, when will we bring forward full details, a fresh timetable and full details of how we will implement one of our longest standing pledges that we have ever made? I recognise Mr Ewing's long-standing interest in this and I want to reassure him of the Government's long-standing and on-going commitment to the dualling of the A9. There are a number of factors that are being taken into account at the present moment in terms of the procurement process for the next section that we were looking to do, which has been impacted by Covid. I have also been quite significantly impacted by the very significant levels of construction inflation that is now being experienced. We are also having to now look at, in particular, because of some of the economic challenges that we have, the potential procurement approach that we take forward in procurement in this particular aspect. We are looking at taking forward further procurement in the months ahead, and I can assure him that we are also looking at the forward timetable for the programme as we go forward in the years ahead. Thank you, cabinet secretary. That concludes portfolio questions. We have a brief pause before we move to the next item of business to allow the front benches to change.


to the moon. What's up, money geeks? Mr. V here. Welcome to another video, guys. So in this video, we are going to talk about Ticket Symbol, V-A-C-Q, which is Vector Acquisition. This is a spark or what you call a blank check company that is actually merging with Rocket Lab to take them public. So that's something that I want to cover in this video. But before we get started, guys, if you're new to the channel, we talk about how to earn money, how to save money, how to invest and build wealth. So if that's something that interests you, go ahead and hit that subscribe button and the notification bell so you don't miss out on new content. So guys, again, this is news that just recently came out. Let me bring this here so you guys can see. So Rocket Lab is actually right now in negotiations with Vector Acquisition to take them, that would take them public. And the value of that merger would put the company at a $4.1 billion valuation.  It's actually gone through. So just to give you guys some quick updates here or what's going to happen here and some timeline. So right now, the company is actually going to be trading on the Ticket Symbol, V-A-C-Q. So that's going to be Vector Acquisition. But as soon as the merger is over, they're going to have to change that Ticket Symbol from V-A-C-Q to R-K-L-B. Let me repeat that again, R-K-L-B. That would be the new Ticket Symbol moving forward. And then the merger is expected to be completed, I think by the end of Q2 2021. So just to give you guys some information there. Now that we got that out of the way, let's go and talk a little bit about Rocket Lab. So what is Rocket Lab? What did it do? Right now, this is a company that actually provides a service of sending satellites to space. The thing that I like about the company is that they are kind of a medium size. So you have like NASA that does like these massive rocket launches. You have a company like SpaceX that does kind of the large launches. And then Rocket Lab comes in and do the smaller. And then now they're actually working into getting into the medium or mid-range rocket launches that would bring satellites up in space. So I think from a market perspective, they have a specific niche. So if you're not looking to launch a massive rocket or a satellite, it's not that big.   Based on the research I've been doing, wait times have gone from like four months to at least two years for smaller companies that are looking to send your satellite up to space when they have to wait for bigger companies like SpaceX to launch. So this is definitely an area where smaller companies are going to benefit from. So that is something that I really want to put out there. So right now, they do have their main launcher is called the Electron. So that is the one that they currently have now in the market. So if you can see here, they have Electron, which is the smallest lift that you can see. And then they're working on the Neutron, which is going to be their medium lift. So somewhere between like half of what SpaceX would carry to the space. So if you see right now, the SpaceX Falcon 9, it's a very big rocket. If you can see this image here, if you see what Neutron is going to look like, it's going to be half of what Falcon 9 is going to be. So what the advantage here is that it reduces the cost of that launch. It reduces the cost for the customer, the people that want to send their satellite up in space. So again, to me, that is a step forward. If we can switch here and just look at the way they compare to their competitors. So you can take, for instance, like SpaceX. If you see right here, Rocket Lab, successful orbiter launches. They've done 16. If you look at their satellite delivery in orbit, 97. Then their capital raise to date is only 275 million. In-house satellite program, they have that. They return around and look at company like Virgin orbit. They've only successfully launched one. And then the satellite delivered to orbit nine compared to 97 for Rocket Lab. And then look at how much they've raised. They've raised a billion dollars. So way more money than Rocket Lab, but Rocket Lab has done a lot more work, a lot more projects, a lot more experience than Virgin orbit, which is kind of crazy. So, and if you look at the other ones like Firefly, Relativity, and then Astra. And again, guys, I'm probably going to do a separate video on Astra, because Astra also just announced that they were going to go public. So I might do a separate video on Astra or maybe just do a combination of my top five space, you know, yeah, or top five space stacks. So I'm probably going to do that. So Astra is on this list, but if you see, they haven't done anything yet, no lunches yet, no satellite in orbit, nothing compared to Rocket Lab. So right now that's why, I mean, I actually bought Astra as well, because they're going public through another merger too with Holy City. Again, that's a conversation for another day. I don't want to confuse that with what we have going on here. But what I'm just trying to say is that Rocket Lab has done a lot more to prove that they are a solid company compared to their competition. So that's why I wanted to bring this up. So if you can see here again, this is a list of their customers. You can see NASA is like the number one, they've done two missions for NASA. So you can see up there. And the reason why I'm saying like the number one is because, I mean, if you think about NASA, the company for how big NASA is, the fact that NASA is going and using these guys to me, that tells me that they have a reputation. NASA would not trust any company with their missions if it didn't think that the company was capable and has the technology and the manpower to manage that. So they've done two successful missions with NASA. And they can see here like spaceflight, they have four missions. And then if you can go to a planet, if you just go through here, three missions, you go through this list, you'll see that they have successfully completed a ton of other missions. So that's one of the things that I see these guys really being a force to reckon with when it comes to space and, again, putting satellites in outer space. So that's why I really trust these guys. Again, they're talking about their new rocket, which is going to be the neutron, as you can see here. So the neutron, that's that medium level that they're going to use, these funds that they're going to get from this merger to really push that program forward and start using that and start running some missions with that program. Again, as you can see, they're not in the direct competition with Space X, because Space X does more of the bigger load. And then Space X can do less than full load because they take rockets from, because they take their satellites from different people. But these guys, they go and just do the smaller ones. So again, if you look in terms of logistics, you have your big companies like FedEx, you get UPS. And then in between that you have smaller companies that do the same logistics like Speedy, which is, again, taking a little bit of business from those guys, but yet there's a niche for that. So that's what I see with Rocket Lab. So I'm definitely really interested in this one. If you can see here, one of the major backer, again, is Lockheed Martin, which is awesome. The fact that, I mean, this is, again, one of the top defense contract companies that we have here in the United States. The fact that you're doing business with them, and they do a lot of business with the government and private entity. So it's a good company to be associated with. So again, like I said, they have a total of 97 satellites in orbit right now from government and private companies. And this is, I mean, you can see that they're quoting this from the Wall Street Journal. And I looked at this company and I see that this is the future where they're going and the work that they're doing. I got super excited. I bought shares of this. So again, you have to do your own research to see that this is something that you want to do. So as of right now, the company has locations here in the United States and in New Zealand. So one of their lunch sites is actually based out of New Zealand. And then they have one in Virginia here in the United States. So again, just that diversification, if there's an issue in North America, weather is so terrible, they can launch out of New Zealand, which is probably going to be a better situation for them. Or if things are not working in New Zealand in terms of weather or whatever, they can launch here in the United States. So I like the fact that they're not just concentrated in one particular area like SpaceX has right now in the United States. So to me, that's just an opportunity, again, to make sure that your customers are happy once you have stuff going on. So that's what I wanted to cover in this particular one, guys. Again, the ticket symbol right now is VACQ. That is the ticket symbol. And as I was recording this video, the stock currently sits somewhere at about $14.40. I got this one just over $11, I think. Let me see if I can go back here. Yeah, so I got this one just after $11 somewhere, somewhere around here. Again, there's a tremendous amount of opportunity here. Long term, I see this thing running up to $40, $50, $60. So that's why I wanted to get in early before it takes off running. I mean, right now, you see, when they made the announcement, there was a huge squeeze just to go to a high of about $14.86 and then kind of pull back a little bit. If you want to get into this one again, guys, you know my strategy. I don't want you to just jump in. If you want to buy even if it's just 10 shares, don't jump in and just buy 10. Give yourself an opportunity to average in. Buy five and see which direction the stock is moving and then buy more. In some cases, we've even seen when we see the companies actually complete their merger, the stock price, you take a beating, probably pull back. But this one, I really doubt it. If it gets up to that 20, 25 price before the merger completes, even if the merger completes, I don't see it pulling back all the way back to like at least $13 or $12. So this to me, this would be a good spot for you to start studying. And I want to diversify my portfolio because we're seeing more and more that outer space is the way to go. Exploring outer space is the way to go. And then Cathy Wood with our Ag Invest, they also are studying a space ETF. So if they can actually add a company like Rocket Lab to their space ETF, trust me, this stock is just going to go 10X or even 20X. So that's something that you want to keep in mind. So that's it for this video, guys. Let me know again in the comment section what you think about this. If you're new to the channel, we talk about how to earn money, how to save money, how to invest and build wealth. So if that's something that interests you, go ahead and hit that subscribe button and the notification bell so you don't miss out on new content. Also, if you're looking to get started with investing, Weibo has their promotion where if you sign up and deposit $100, you get some free stocks, links in the description below. And as always, guys, do your due diligence.


I'm Abdi Mehfar from Iran. I was one of the PhD fellows of the University of Twente and IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. I graduated last week. I decided to study and have a PhD degree in the Netherlands especially. I found IHE and the University of Twente a good place to, you know, to pursue my education in the fields of coastal engineering. Well, I did my master's also in coastal engineering. So one of the reasons that really motivated me to do a PhD was that I've seen a lot of, you know, uncertainties in terms of the environmental aspects and, you know, climate change impacts in the environment. So, and I really wanted to, you know, know more about these kind of issues that, well, have not been really studied in the in the past. So it was just a nice idea from my supervisor if we can have a kind of different, you know, study on something that has not been really studied. It was a few years ago that I found IHE as one of the credible institutes for water education in the world and in fact it is the largest educational center for water education. So when I came to the Netherlands, well, I found that, you know, Netherlands is a good platform for studying in coastal engineering. I did my master's in IHE and then I decided also to do my PhD in IHE and at the same time the University of Twente. My PhD is basically about quantifying climate change-driven environmental losses in the coastal area and for that I developed a framework to quantify the environmental damages due to climate change impacts in coastal areas of developing countries. So it's basically the story was that first I developed a framework which is grounded on three different elements. One, valuation studies, economic valuation of coastal ecosystems and then also a participatory approach and a novel scenario-based approach in terms of how we can quantify or estimate the climate change impacts and particularly relative sea level rise induced inundation and erosion in coastal areas of developing countries. So and then I tried to quantify the monetary damages for the long time span for the next hundred years of the wetlands ecosystem services and how they can be affected by inundation and erosion due to relative sea level rise and applied my framework in three different cases. Studies of developing countries Indonesia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were the three selected countries that I worked on and I applied my framework to quantify damages to the coastal environment due to sea level rise. I really enjoyed over the last four years when I was in academia and in the universities working with different colleagues working with some of the students in master degree and it was very nice opportunity for me and that actually motivated me to still you know be in academia and doing research and you know further expand my actually opportunities if I can work in the same environment and working with different people collaborating on different research projects and also you know raising increasing the chances to to know more about what I what I have done in my field of interest which is basically climate change impact assessments in coastal areas so that is my plan to do research and be in academia. There are always advises and suggestions for people who really are willing to start PhD position it's very important if you know what you want to study to know how you are going to start these five years journey in your life and interest in the topic is the most important thing that I would say and I believe that if people are who are willing to do a PhD if they have interest on the topic and they have enough you know you know motivation to start these four years project or if it is a project or if it's just an idea they just write you know their proposals they just develop their ideas and start looking for what they want to get and that is the main thing in doing a PhD just to keep going and have the hope to actually achieve what they want to get and then that really encourage people also to even further continue and stay in the academia for further research for developing their knowledge and to stay be updated about the latest you know issues in their area of interest and their research


This is St. Tech, Hawaii. Community matters here. I'm Marsha Joyner. This today is a very special cannabis chronicles. As you know, we are on a 10,000 year odyssey. So tell me news of that plant of many resources which wondered far and wide the ancient plant of food, fuel, and fiber cultivation for millennial. As we venture through the past 10,000 years, we will explore and discover the plant from which cannabis derives. The many uses of the plant, hemp, cannabis, hashes, cannabis in religion, cannabis in medicine, cannabis in dear old Uncle Sam, and so our odyssey begins. Today our odyssey is not long ago and far away. It is current and in progress. So today we have an dear, dear friend, an old friend to Think Tech, Hawaii, and one of my dear, dear friends, Carl Campania. Carl has a new title since he left us. Let me read it. Executive Director of Hawaii Bioeconomy Trade Organization. Ah, and it collaborates with air, marine, and ground transportation stakeholders to advance the sustainable bioeconomy throughout the state of Hawaii. Did I get it right? Are you going to correct? Got it right. Yes. Thank you very much. Now, thank you for having me on the show. I appreciate it. Because this is about hemp, and you say, well, why is he talking about bioeconomy and hemp? Well, because they are one and the same. As we have said, hemp has been around for 10,000 years or more. It depends on who you talk to, but at least that long. And out of hemp, we're talking industrial hemp. We're not talking about cannabis. We're talking industrial hemp because we are talking about industrial hemp. We're only talking about that. It has at least 50,000 different products that can be made from hemp, at least. Wow. And as a side note as one of those, think how many trees you cut down for a roll of toilet paper. That's true. I mean, does that just... Anyway, for those of you that were with us last week, and we talked to farmers on the big island, and they talked about the... They are cultivating seeds of hemp, industrial hemp, cultivating seeds that will grow in this environment, that will be Hawaii seeds, that will be endemic to Hawaii. And that means the soil, the climate, all of that stuff. Out of that comes a whole new array of industries. Just fabulous, fabulous opportunities for industries where Hawaii can sustain itself. It doesn't need to be dependent on tourism or the military. And it's just an exciting, exciting world. So I asked Carl, who is leading the charge on biofuels, and I'm sure you've heard him talk about it. So how does hemp, how do they come together? So that's why I asked Carl to be here. So... Sure. Well, thank you. Once again, thank you for inviting me and for the opportunity to explain a bit about how the bioeconomy for the state of Hawaii and hemp can come together. As you mentioned, there are many, I didn't know 50,000, but there are many uses in many products that can be generated on the hemp. Well, when we get to the bioeconomy, that's part of it. But when we're talking about biofuels specifically, which is what we're driving towards, the Hawaii Bioeconomy Trade Organization is a collection of organizations and stakeholders that are dedicated to the, as you said, the advancement and development of the bioeconomy but specifically focused on biofuels, of which there are a variety of options, whether it is oil or algae, petroleum oil or vegetable oil or peanut oil or sunflower seeds or a variety of oils in that regard, or getting into the actual green plants and green waste themselves. It's that part right there where hemp comes in. So what we would be able to do is support the hemp industry by allowing them to grow as they want and utilize and create and manufacture and create a manufacturing industry for what they want the uses of hemp to be and then take their waste product and put it into a conversion technology that can then create jet fuel. So now we've created a closed loop system, a cycle where every aspect of this product gets to be used and produced in a manufacturing setting across the state, creating jobs, creating educational programs, creating opportunities for the state, as you mentioned, that are not just tourist based. Now for example. So tell me now, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, I think that we get about three harvests a year per acre of hemp, just growing wild. That is without the loving, tender cultivation that farmers tend to do. Without farming, without farming it. So if you had three crops a year, one person, this was on the show last week, they do $100,000 an acre. Sure. Think of what that would do to our economy. That our own people growing on our land, we're not shipping it in. Keeping all of that money here and utilizing it locally in multiple facets, including fuels, but in every other product that can be created and manufactured here. So we're creating jobs here. We're creating products here that'll be utilized and consumed here that will be able to potentially also be exported. So we're creating an export market for ourselves in that regard. And that all of that is huge for the economy. It adds a significant sector that can grow. Especially when you look at all that land that used to be sugar. Correct. All of that, just acres and acres of land. Sugar and pineapple and a lot of fallow fields that are just out there being unused at the moment. One of the challenges that we have with some of that land is the infrastructure. Of course. We don't currently have the infrastructure, the water primarily, but other aspects of infrastructure to actually reach some of these fields. And part of the problem is water has been diverted in some areas. So well, okay, I'm not going to get into whether we should or should not have diverted the water if being used. But what we need to do is make sure that we're getting infrastructure out. And by creating these opportunities, by building up this sector and throughout the hemp industry and the bioeconomy industry in general, what we're doing there is bringing investors in that want to spend money in Hawaii, that want to grow opportunities in Hawaii, and that will include that advancement of that infrastructure to reach those lands. Well, that in itself is an industry. Yes, it is. The infrastructure. And it needs to be there. I talked to representative de Kuit from Molokai. And she's excited about it because it's a natural product and it's not, I mean, it won't disturb the culture. She has farmland. There's lots of farmland there that's just sitting there. Yep. And so she was excited about, hadn't thought about it. But now that she's thinking about it, hey, this is a great opportunity, because what they want on Molokai is to stay, people to stay there. Yes. They are learning, they're, they are learning the language. They are really working at being Hawaiian. And they would love to have an industry that is not dependent on tourists. Definitely. And she was really excited about the possibilities. Well, the possibilities are huge. And one key factor as well is all of this stuff, when we're talking about bioeconomy or we're not only talking about fuels, we're not only talking about hemp and products that can be created. What we're talking about is how all of that integrates into food production as well. Right. And it's so necessary to know that both, both will be raised up and the opportunities that are created because we're giving the farmers a baseline revenue will begin to help the local costs of locally produced foods come down. So it's more affordable. And then we start to get it integrated into more aspects at a lower price, at a lower cost throughout the entire market here in Hawaii. So that, and now we're back to bioeconomy. What does bioeconomy mean? The word bioeconomy. Good question. Bioeconomy means an economy driven by living things, living organisms. Specifically, we're referring to green organisms or plants and trees, algae, and all variations that are sustainable in that regard. And it's considered sustainable because you grow it, you harvest it, it regrows. And you just continue that process. It seems to me that that is so natural for Hawaii in this climate where things just grow. It just seems, I know we are in a different world now. And I have a very dear friend who does surveys and she's found the dissatisfaction of the tourist is palpable because Waikiki looks like rodeo drive, you know. And the things that people have thought of Hawaii for hundreds of years aren't there. So it seems to me that bioeconomy is natural, just really what Hawaii should be or can be again. I agree. I agree. That definitely makes some sense to build up on the bioeconomy aspect as well and what the word means is it's taking those green materials and doing something with them and creating markets and creating businesses and creating and developing with that. So whether it's again fuels or products or food or the distribution aspect of it. So it really takes into account all aspects of daily life when you're engaged in what the bioeconomy is. And it's bringing that as a different sector, a different revenue generating sector to the state. Because in the Hawaiian culture there are so many stories and legends about tied to the land and growing products and harvesting, making salt. I didn't know that you manufactured salt until I saw the Hawaiians did that. So it just seems like such a natural thing to do. So how do we get started? And I know we're working, for me of course, it's the hemp. And the development of the seeds and the Department of Agriculture is doing that, which is great. I mean it's wonderful to think that we have a department in the state of Hawaii that's doing something wonderful and that is developing this market. But how do we move more than just the Department of Agriculture into bioeconomy, into, you mentioned education and schools and whatnot. We need to take a break. But when we come back, let's talk about education. Now we really get this mindset, not just you and me, but how do we move this out? Okay, thank you. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Some say scuba divers are the poor man's astronaut. At dive heart we believe that to be true. We say forget the moon. Dive heart can help children, adults and veterans of all abilities escape gravity right here on earth. Search diveheart.org and imagine the possibilities in your life. Aloha, welcome to Hawaii. This is Prince Dykes, your host of The Prince of Investing, coming to you guys each and every Tuesday at 11 a.m. Right here on Think Tech Hawaii. Don't forget to come by and check out some of the great information on stocks, investments, your money, all the other great stuff and I'll be your host. See you too. Hi, and we're back. And we are talking with Carl Campania for those of you that have been with us at Think Tech. Remember Carl? And he left us. But Carl is working on bioeconomy. And of course, you know, hemp has got to be a part of the bioeconomy. Now let's talk about moving it into the schools, into children, to have them grow into the mindset, the whole thing of what bioeconomy is. And they are so nice and young that they can grow and see the possibilities and look at a future in bioeconomy instead of learning how to fold napkins and set the table for the tourist. And do laundry. And do laundry. Although it's a wonderful service. But there should be more. And that's a very good point. And it's one of the aspects of all sectors, really, that should really be considered. How are we creating opportunities for our children to thrive here in Hawaii? And stay home. And stay home. What we fight against is the term is brain drain. And that's where the state of Hawaii loses its brains to other countries and to the continent instead of keeping them here. And as far as how we get bioeconomy and hemp integrated with that, there are a lot of steps to it. It's understanding what the supply chain looks like, understanding how to get it moving. One of the biggest factors that we need to, that we are currently trying to address and that we are working on right now and have been for years, is that friendly local policy at the state and county level. So that we've got local policy that makes that development possible. Once we're beginning to increase those opportunities and build the, well, grow the farming opportunities, build the conversion plant technology across the state and integrate it into our distribution network from island to island, as well as intra-island. Once we begin to do that, now we're starting to create a demand for jobs. Once you have a demand for jobs is where the education piece comes in. And that's where we start looking at, okay, five, 10, 20 years from now, we're going to have a fully functioning economy, bioeconomy, that is going to need people locally who understand how to grow, cultivate, and do the conversion process and work in these manufacturing plants at all levels. And they're all fairly well-paying jobs, various levels of that. So we need an education program that can begin as early as grade school, at the moment, and it will work its way. So it will begin as early as grade school and become an entire, its own program at the university level. So you can learn how to engage in agriculture and the business economy and how that comes together in this regard. One of the things that we currently do, and this is how this just works naturally, is many of our students at public school as well as private school learn about low e-patches, learn how to cultivate and work within and the uses and aspects of low e-patches. So we're already teaching some of that to our children, and so they're getting exposed to it early and begin to figure out who's interested in continuing in that path. And as many of them talk about becoming scientists or engineers, or you name it, you start laying out the opportunity of becoming a bioeconomy engineer. And so you start creating those opportunities. So it's not an overnight thing. No, of course not. But as the industry itself grows and becomes a viable industry, is where all of that then follows? Well, for us cannabis chronicles, one of the issues we deal with constantly is the negative impact of even the word and the scheduling of cannabis as a schedule aid drug, which it's not. And so that stigma isn't a real problem. I mean, we've got people working on removing it and who's dedicate their whole lives to removing the stigma. That is number one because when people can see the benefits without looking at all of this other nonsense that the government has, the government and the big farmers hold on to. If we can just move that, we can just grow like this. Well, that would certainly help. Getting it off of the schedule A would be a huge help. I know that that's not, we might be able to do that locally, but on a federal level. Oh, no, we're not even going full with sessions, a little dwarf. But no, the state can do it. The state has the right. In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court said the states have a right to control their own medical issues. Now, but we're not going to talk about cannabis. We're going to talk about using hemp to as part of one of the legs of the bio economy. Yes. And we really need to work in the schools so that they can see how this seed, this little seed that's been around for 10,000 years, can grow into this and that can go into this and this. Exactly. See the process. See what the supply, learn an ingrained understanding of what the process is, of what an entire industry can be from, here's a seed and you plant it and it becomes this. And once it becomes this, you can then turn it into all of these types of products. And oh, by the way, we're not done there. Once you're done doing that, there's a waste product. And that waste product now gets converted through a cellulosic conversion process into a fuel. Okay. And we can learn that word cellulosic. Cellulosic. I love it. Okay. See, that increases your vocabulary. Cellulosic. It does. Okay. I got two words today, bio economy and cellulosic. They're two big words and at the moment, they mean a lot and yet very little to too few people. We need to get more people to understand. Yeah. But even that helps at the grade school level in their vocabulary and in learning how to grow the seeds and how this hemp plant can clean the land that we have polluted. That if we just start there for the young kids, just that self makes it worth it. Yeah. That they can see because they are tuned in. Our young people are really tuned in to preserving the planet and this much more than we think they are. Yes. And this is step one in preserving the planet is to clean it up. Yes. Yes. And many of us are right in line with that desire, but not all of us, unfortunately, are quite as inclined to clean up. But that's one of the challenges that we have. Yes. But you know, because this is so local, this whole idea, the bio economy is so local that we don't have to deal with the federal government so they can go screwing around if they want. But to preserve Hawaii has to be number one. Yes. And this is a way to do that. And all we have to do is remember Hawaiian culture, remember the the AHAWA system, remember how Hawaiians have thrived for generations before we got here and how they did that, and just recall that, teach that, and utilize what is available to us locally to thrive. That is such a, we got to find out what bio economy is in Hawaiian. I think it's just the there, the Native Hawaiian, I can't speak for the Native Hawaiian culture, but it just seems to be the natural part of how they were integrated, how they were, how Native Hawaiians have always been connected to the land and connected to the plants and the trees and the fruits and everything that is here in Hawaii. And to just add this one plant to clean up the mess that we've made, because you know, the land left behind from the pineapple and the sugar plantations is polluted. And the land left behind Uncle Sam is polluted. So if we can just take this one plant to begin to clean it up, that's step one. I think that would be a huge win. Creating the environmental awareness of that, I think, is an important aspect because I don't know how many people are quite aware of both sides of that. How much damage has been done and how much hemp itself can help cleanse it and what that means. I think there needs to be, there could be an informational briefing on that, just to understand that better, so we can understand. I think that would be an important aspect to just begin with. Yeah, just to begin. And especially with youngsters. Because everything we see about this new generation and the schools are doing where they keep the leftover food for the worms and then they have this beautiful new soil and the kids are doing that. Vermiculture, yeah. All, everything. So this seems to me, the more I think about this, the more I think this, that's the place to begin. And what's great is I think a lot of that is happening. And as most things when it comes to this, it's a slow roll. It's happening in, not in fits and starts, but in a slow progress. We definitely have vermicultural centers in any of our public schools. We definitely have farm to school opportunities at many of our schools. And those opportunities are growing to more and more of our schools. And I'm not just talking about private schools, I'm talking about public schools as well. So I think that's a huge aspect of it. And the more our children are introduced to it and what it means, I think, the more the future is brighter in that regard. I'm excited. Well, of course, I've been excited about the opportunities with hemp, but I was thinking really on the big picture, but let's get down to the little picture. And that's wonderful. To begin with the students, to begin there. They're malleable. They can be molded and they already care. And they are our biggest investment for the future. Yes. And one last thing before we go about hemp and one of the products that can be manufactured out of it is suntan lotion. Oh, really? Yes. So it could replace copper tone. It protects the skin and it doesn't have that horrible stuff in it that kills the reef. Wow. So that in itself. Equally as effective? Yes. I did not know this. I would love to learn more about that. Yes. And just take that, for instance, and not kill the reef. Please, let's not kill the reef any more than we have.  Let's bring it up. So that to me is one of those products that for Hawaii would be wonderful. Have you been to Waikiki lately? I have, yes.  Yes, absolutely.  Yes. It's all gone. Well, listen, God, it's a pleasure to be with you. Thank you very much. I always enjoy spending this time with you. And you will come back. Yes, I will. Now that you've got this big time job and all this. I know about big time, but no, I appreciate the opportunity to come and talk about hemp and its aspects and how it comes together with the bioeconomy. I'm happy to talk about our bioeconomy trade organization. So anytime, and as we go through and develop, whether it's legislation or projects, I'd be very happy to let you know. Okay, great. Thank you. Aloha. This has been a real pleasure to be with you and we'll see you next time. Aloha.


Right. Good morning everyone. Welcome to the session. Let's begin this time with a word of prayer and we'll get into our teaching. Anyone would like to pray? Go ahead Francis. Let's pray. Thank you for this wonderful time. Thank you for a good day Lord. We are coming to the second section. Thank you for here with us. The pastor to teach us Lord, give us the wisdom and knowledge to understand the things Lord. We are asking the wisdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Alright. So last class we did chapter 6 and chapter 7. Chapter 6 we talked about organizational structure and then in chapter 7 we talked about innovation and creativity. Okay. So we'll get into chapter 8. Chapter 8 is very interesting because chapter 8 has a lot of practical insights and these practical insights are, you know, so this portion, this chapter is written from a leader's point of view, like a pioneer's point of view. Right. So there'll be a few, you know, points here where we feel, okay, I'm not, I may not start my own business but I'm just going to be working or I'm going to be serving in a church. But these are, you know, eventually remember that you will, when you join an organization, you will grow into leadership. Right. And as you grow into leadership, these are, you know, certain categories that you will begin to work with. So let's look at chapter 8. People, processes, performance and rewards. Right. You know, HRM, Human Resource Management is managing people, which is a very important aspect of an organization. Right. I'm sure all of you have heard of HR, Human Resource. Right. So there's employee motivation, there's resolving conflicts, performance evaluation, employee rewards, employee retention. And so in an organization, it's very important to be able to meet the needs of the people who are working for you. That's your stuff. Right. It's very little to do about, okay, it's my organization, it's my company and I want to do it that my way. It's not always, it's not always that way. Right. We need to be able to, you know, bring in employee motivation. Why is, why should a person stay in this company or this organization when he or she has 20 other options in 20 other places or in different countries? Right. Why, why is this person staying? So we're going to look at this chapter and, you know, bring out some aspects on people, processes, performance and rewards. Right. Number one, pay fairly based on contribution and value to the organization. Colossians chapter 4.1 says, Masters, give your born servants what is just and fair knowing that you also have a master in heaven. Now, this is what I meant when I said, you know, as this chapter is mostly looking from a pioneer's point of view. But as an organization, it's very important to pay fairly. Right. So for example, there's a person who's working for maybe, you know, it's not always tenure. Meaning it's not always like a person should be working for five years, only then he'll get a good pay.  Right.  That's all what matters. Right. And if you know, I know a lot of folks who are into just an example, right, graphic designers. I have a few friends who are graphic designers. They don't have a schedule. They wake up, whatever time they feel like, right, but they're very good at their job. They wake up, whatever time they feel like, they open their laptop, whenever they feel like they all work from home. Right. And they do their work, they sit up at night, they go out for lunch, they come back. I'll be looking at them and say, what is this? You know, and they're doing well, doing very well. Right. But the thing is, they've got the skill, they've got the ability, they've worked hard to learn the skill that they have. Right. So as employees, as employers, we need to pay our people justly and fair, right. Have a mutual understanding. Do they have the current knowledge? Do they have the current skills? Do they have the ability to solve problems? Do they have the ability to make decisions? Right. To have, you know, the ability to stand as a leader, right, provide leadership skills. The ability to build communications, build gaps in an organization. These are intangible skills that you and I have and we must use it. Right. We cannot expect an organization to pay us well and do nothing about it. Right. There was this very hilarious video that somebody sent me a long time back. This interviewer is asking a little boy, probably about six or seven year old boy. He said, do you want to be rich? He said, yes. The little boy said, yes, I want to be rich. So what do you want to do when you want to be rich? I want to do very little work. Right. And what will you gain by doing very little work? I want to gain very, a lot of money by doing very little work. He's a six year old boy. Now that doesn't work in reality. Right. In reality is you have the skills, you put it into place, you get paid. Right.  All of that has gone out the window because in this generation, it doesn't matter if you're a male or a female, as long as you have the skills, you have the skills, an organizational value. Right. Never permit culture or entitlement to set in. The moment people operate with an idea that they deserve the role or they deserve the position, they begin to, you know, it impairs performance. Right. So for example, if I believe that I deserve the role that I have, then my performance goes down. And it brings, you know, lethargy, it demoralizes others. Nobody's encouraged to do the work that they're doing. Right. Well, let me just share the notes so we can all be on the same page. Okay. Number two. Oops. Sorry. Yes. Number two, ensure people are paid on time. Leviticus 1913. Go ahead. Anyone can read that. Do not drop or take advantage of anyone. Do not hold back the backs of someone you have hired, not even for one night. In an organization, you know, for example, some of you are going to become pastors. You have associate pastors or you have staff members with you and sure they paid on time. Don't say, wait, I don't have the money now. I'll give you after three days. All of that is not there. Right. When you're, when you, when they have worked, got to pay them on time. What does the Bible say? Don't take advantage of anyone. Do not hold back wages from someone you have hired, not even for a night. Not even for one night. Right. Organizations, most organizations have a monthly cycle, right? So there are some organizations that play once in two weeks. Some of them pay bi-weekly. Some of them pay, you know, once a week, right? But mostly if you look at India, it's always a monthly cycle. So remember that the people that you have hired have families. They probably have people to take care of in their family. So we don't withhold money. And when you do that, the scriptures present this as a violation. And it's regarded as a sin. When we hold back wages that are, that we have to pay somebody and we don't give it back, it's regarded as a sin. Right. So when an organization is probably strapped and may not be in a position to make salary payments, that's all right. We can probably send an email, tell them, okay, this is what is happening. Give them the details. But don't keep them into, you know, just wait for it. Whenever I feel like I will decide to give, no, that's wrong. The organization has to be able to pay its people. Right. So for example, something that we do at ABC is that when we have vendors, right? Now, you know that we use a lot of vendors, right? Coffee, food, tea, everything that our vendors, LED screen, sound system, every place that our vendors, not one of them. I would say that what we do is we get the budget. The budget comes in, we get the approval. The moment the approval is got. The moment, so, okay, this is approved. LED screen for the next six months approved. The payment is done. Right. So then it is their responsibility to come and do it. We don't say, you know, you do it. Then we, when we have the time, when we have the money, we know. Funds are given immediately. So that people know that we value their, what they're doing, right? They're coming, they're setting up the LED, doing the sound. They value it, right? And they know that we will pay them. I remember this one time, something happened. And this happened long time back, I think 2014, I think, I mean, 15. Something happened, the payment got delayed. But this vendor of ours, he never even called us back. Right. And it was couple of months later that they came and, you know, they said, see, this is what has happened. Actually, I didn't get paid for this two months or whatever the time frame was. And then when we went into it, we saw that somewhere in the, it was an internal problem. Somewhere in the emails or somewhere in the, it had gone by. But what surprised us was, he said, I knew that I'll get paid. Because I worked with you for so many years. I know that APC will pay. Somewhere something's gone wrong. So I came to just let you know, but I'm not in a hurry. I know you all will pay us. So that is, that is the standard that you and I must set as an organization. It's hard, right? It takes time to set that standard, but you can, you and I can do it, right? Don't exploit people. Don't hold back wages. That's what we've been talking about. God forbids us from exploiting, cheating our employees. When something is rightfully theirs, just give it to them. Never exploit the poor and the powerless.  Now, one of the, when we look at the Old Testament, especially, there was a lot of oppression where the rich people would oppress the poor. It was very common in the Old Testament, right? And that's why the story of, you know, Boaz and Ruth is so wonderful, right? See, Boaz was a rich man, right? And, and when he, he had the right to oppress the people because his field, but he said, let the people glean, let them take whatever they want. Don't, don't, don't be behind them. Don't, you know, trouble them. Let them take whatever they want. Let them glean in the, in the, in the crops. And when God saw that, God honored him, right? And he was blessed. He decided not to oppress the people. Did he have the ability? Yes, but he decided not to. So in the Old Covenant, especially, it's very common where the rich would oppress the poor. We saw a little bit of it in the New Covenant as well, right? Where the Romans were oppressing the Jews. And we can also see it now where we can have leaders and pioneers or people who are in business oppressing their stuff, right? And when we do that, we are sinning, sinning against God. And so we must never do that. Proverbs, there are plenty of verses. Proverbs 22, 22, not rob the poor because he is poor or oppressed, he afflicted at the gate. For the Lord will plead their cause and plunder the soul of those who plunder them. Right? Next point. Higher right, retain and review. Proverbs 26 and verse 10. Anyone like to read that? Any employer who hires any fool that comes along is only hurting everybody concerned. Yeah. Higher right, retain and review. In an organization, we have to higher right. Just because I have a friend, I don't hire him. That person must be able to do the task of what the job is, right? You hire right, you can do things right. You retain people by giving them value in an organization, right? What is the meaning of retaining? You keep them in an organization, right? You, when you hire somebody, you know that they're an asset to the organization, you retain them, right?  You give them opportunities. Now, what will happen is if we don't retain, people will look at other opportunities. Now, there's nothing wrong in looking for other opportunities, right? But it's very important to do our best. Now, see, I cannot control. So for example, I started church or I started a ministry or an organization. I hire some people three years down the line that the person who I really liked, right? May decide to get another job elsewhere. I may say, hey, you know, that's why we have exit interviews. Ask them, is there something that went wrong from our end? Or is there something that we could have done better to help you to stay back? Or is there another role that you'd prefer to do? And so they share. And if it's possible, they stay back, right? I can give you an example. What happened to me was when I was working in one of the, you know, in the corporate, in about six months, I put my papers down. I said, I want to quit. Okay. And then the manager called us and said, why do you want to quit? So I had an exit interview. He said, no, I'm not happy with what I'm doing. I can do so many other things better than this. Okay. Those days I didn't have any commitments. So I was just, I said, I'm not happy. And I wanted to do something more than this. And I remember this exit interview. I was probably about 21, 22. I was talking to these managers and they were saying, okay, Paul, we'll, we'll, we'll give you opportunities to travel. Yeah. You can go to different places and you can, you know, start training people on, you know, language and communications. So is that something you'd be interested? I said, yes. Right. So I said, where will you, what are the opportunities around? We can send you overseas. We can send you to other countries. We can send you within our nation. I said, okay, I'll stay back. I went back. I went back, sat on my desk, continued working. It was a very simple interview. Why? Because they gave me better opportunities. Right. And I knew that, you know, if they said it, they'll do it. Right. And so thank God, I mean, I got so many opportunities to travel. And so this is one of the ways that you can retain people right now. You don't retain people by saying, hey, I'll send you here, send you there. And then tell them, no, you stay here after two months. Right. When you say something, you must do it. Right. And then you review people. Now, just because they have the ability, just because they have, you know, skills, doesn't mean that they are perfect. Right. As a leader, you must be able to review their work. Right. Every year. Right. It's been more than a decade that we are working here. Right. Every year we have a review and over the years, we keep having reviews. Right. So we have reviews as a pastoral team, as staff. And for each area of ministry, we review what we did. 2023, this is what we did. 2024, you know, so the end of 24, we will review the whole work we've done. So 2025, we will see. Okay. This is what was done. This is this thing work. This didn't work. And we review the entire work that is to given to us. Now, reviews help us to do better. It helps us understand that, okay, these are areas that I should not have gone into or these are areas I could have done better. Right. It's not to bring us down, but reviews help us get better. Right. You know, for example, you're learning an instrument.  Oh, man. Okay. I didn't know these chords. Please have learned these chords in this year. Right. It helps us. So, so when you're, when it comes to hiring people, hire right. And just because somebody looks good, don't hire them. Just because somebody dresses well, don't hire them. Just because somebody stays near the office, don't hire them. Right. You should hire the right people, retain the right people and review them help them grow. Right. Now, as I said, in retaining, there will be people who will choose to leave. We cannot hold them back. Right. But one of the things we can do is find out why they want to leave and so that the organization can get better. So we have something called as performance reviews, feedback improvement, creating culture where everyone is able to address their problems, meet each other's needs. Right. And talk to everyone. Six to one. Okay. I'm just going to keep going. If you have questions, just feel free to stop me and ask your questions. Right. Okay. Six to one. Treat people the way you would like to be treated. Luke six, 31 and 36. Luke chapter six was 31 and 30 days. Do for others just what you want them to do for you. Be merciful just as your father is merciful. As a leader, you treat people how you like to be treated. Yes or no? If remember that, you know, maybe one time you were an employee. Right now you may be a leader in an organization. But one time you were an employee. So you treat people the way you like to be treated. How do I like to be treated with respect, with dignity, corrected in private, applauded in public. That's something that we always do. Right. Now, if, if you were the employee, how would you like to be treated extend mercy and compassion. And again, this is a reciprocating relationship. That means if you want to be treated well as an employee, you got to get, give 100% in the work that you and you're doing. Now, if I'm giving 10% of my, if the boss says, okay, do these five tasks and I don't do any of those. Or maybe I do one of those five and the boss has come. I want me to do talk to you. Don't expect the boss to say, oh, very good. At least you did out of five, you did one. So we can cut a cake later. He's not going to say that he's going to give it to you. Right. Because the work is not done. So if I want to be treated well, and I want to be treated with respect, I must also be able to fulfill my work responsibilities. Right. Again, in being a leader, here's the thing. We need to, you know, show goodness. We need to show mercy, but we also need to be, you know, make sure that there's hard work. There is correction. There's exhortation. Right. So you be balanced that you want to do well. You should also be willing to do well. Right. Meaning if you want as an organization, if you feel that you're not being treated well, you know, there are other ways to, you know, handle that. But you do your best. The organization will do their best for you. Right. Next point. Warn, but never threaten or abuse. Read that verse. Efficient 6, 8 and 9. Remember that the Lord will reward each of us with a slave or free for the good work we do. Masters behave in the same way toward your slaves and stop using crates. Remember that you and your slaves belong to the same master in heaven who judges everyone by the same standard. The whole point of this is God is your ultimate boss. God is our ultimate boss or our employer. And then we have our boss who God has placed in our life where we report to. And as leaders, there will come a time when you have to, you know, warn people because people have different mindsets. Right. People have different. When we're working with people, it's very, very different. Especially now, how do I put this? Now in the corporate sector, it's a different world altogether. Now in ministry, we need to be a little bit careful. We need to be wise on how we do things. But the Bible also teaches that the Apostle Paul, he didn't just say God is love every time. He exorted, he corrected, he rebuked. What did he do to the Galatians? What did he do to the Corinthians? Galatians, he said, you're foolish. Now that's not something nice to hear, but he warned them. He said, as believers, if you are going back to circumcision, I warn you that what you believe in the cross is useless. He's warning them. You either choose circumcision or you choose salvation through the cross. Don't do both. He's warning them.  One is saying I follow Paul, one is saying I follow Apollos, one is saying I follow Cephas. There's division among you. And then you're having large table as if it is breakfast. So all of this is causing problems. So he's warning them. He's warning them. He's saying this is wrong.  No, as an apostle, he's telling them what to do, what not to do. So the same way as an employer, you need to tell people. I remember I was a Bible college leader. There's my opportunity. I start telling people, then I started warning people. But not in a bad way, but I will tell them, see, two years we'll get over. I'm warning you. After two years, what you'll do? You can't do this in your house. I'll keep warning them, keep telling them. There's nothing wrong in doing that. And what happens is we are helping them get better, but we're not threatening them, not abusing them. We're not forcing our will upon them and say, you have to do it. No, we want them. We correct them. I love what apostle Paul does. He exhausts them. He corrects them. He says, it's the choice of yours. I'm not going to, as an apostle, I have the right to speak into your life, but I'm not going to force it. You decide what you want to do. Right. Then empower people for high performance. Proverbs 30, 24 to 28. There are four things which are little on the earth, but they're exceedingly wise. The ants are a pupil, not strong. Yet they prepare their food in the summer.  Yet they make their homes in the crags. The locusts have no king. Yet they all advance in ranks. The spider skillfully grasps with its hands. And it is in king's palaces. This is a perfect example of empowering people for high performance. Let's look at these examples. Three things here. Ants, quite a few actually. Ants, rock badgers, locusts and spiders. Now Solomon is taking the example of nature and he's bringing out high performance. The ants, I'm sure all of us have seen these ants. High performance.  That line goes somewhere else. You come back after half an hour. What happens? It's back. Somehow they've got it back. Now they don't have a leader. They don't have somebody who can, you know, tell them, do this, do that. They work as a team. Who tells the ants? Really, season is going to start. So start storing up. They just know, right? And the moment they know, high performance starts. You don't see ants simply walking around here. If you do see them, they've lost their way. But they're not just sitting in one place. They're trying to find their way back. God has designed ants that way. For empowerment, teamwork and high performance. Imagine ants store up food for like three or four months during the summer. So that in the winter, they have enough food for themselves. Can you think about that? Ants have the ability to carry more than 10 times of their weight. Have you seen those ants? You know, they'll be walking suddenly. You'll see they'll be carrying one dead spider over and, you know, they're able to. What are they doing? They're working as a team. We need to get this to the storehouse. This can be a good meal during the winter season. High performance. Look at the rock badges. I don't know if you've seen the rock badges. They're very feeble. They're very timid animals, the rock badges. But they make their homes in crags. Crags are like between these mountainous areas. Look at the locusts. They have no king. Yet they advance in ranks. And the spider skillfully grasps with his hands. And it is in the king's palace. If you look at spiders, it's very interesting. You know, spiders have a very... You know, they're considered one of the most active predators on earth. Can you believe spiders? You know what they do? They make a web. They spend all their energy making a web. And they sit and wait in the corner of the web. Have you noticed that? Or they sling down from the web and choose a place that is little away from the web. And they sit and watch. Any insect or any mosquito comes. They're stuck there. No trouble. Quietly it will go. Finish the meal, come back. Or wait in the side. I'm talking about home spiders. But you should read about these spiders that are in jungles. And the wild spiders, extreme predators. They're able to catch insects and animals. Double their size. Who taught them all this? God was able to... You know, God has made them in a way for high performance. So empower people with their skills, training, equipment, equipping. And give them the tools that they need to build them up. So one of the wonderful verses is, look at the ants, you slugger. We can learn by looking at the ants. That we are not called to be lazy. God has called us to put in effort and do our best. Next one. Remember, sweetness of the lips increases learning. Proverbs 16, 21 and 24. Proverbs 16, verse 21 and 24. The wise in heart will be called prudent. And sweetness of the lips increases learning. Pleasant words are like a honeycomb. Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. We cannot force speed learning. Example, we can take a horse to the water, but you can't make it drink. Have you heard of that saying? You take a horse till the water. You can't make it drink. It'll drink when it wants to drink. You can't force a person to learn this. You can't force a person to complete your DTH or your BTH. You can't force a person. You can encourage them. You can't force them. But sweetness of the lips increases learning. Continuous learning and skill development is essential for the organization. So you keep encouraging people. Keep encouraging learning. Never stop learning till your last breath. Don't stop learning. Keep learning. Keep growing. Make mistakes. It's okay to make mistakes.  And I thought, okay, I shouldn't make any mistakes. Master. That's unnatural. Everyone will make mistakes. Pastor is just a title. But you're still a human being. And mistakes will happen. But you learn from those mistakes. And sweetness of the lips, meaning when we speak politely, speak gently, take things positively and encourage people, then it really builds us up. It empowers us to be better people. Pleasant words are like honey. They encourage the person. They invigorate, refresh and inspire. Imagine, right? I remember, you know, we just went for our parent teacher meeting for my son. And, you know, after the whole thing, he did well in his studies. But the teacher said, you know, your son is a very good boy, very quiet boy, but he's very naughty in class. He keeps running around. He keeps, you know, he's very distracted. He wants to always play, right? And then we finished the whole thing. And then when he came back home, I asked him, he was there for the parent teacher meeting. And I asked him, what do you do in the class? He said, you know, why are you so distracted? He said, no, my friends always say this. You know? But I remember telling him, see, as a teacher, I'm also a teacher. When people are distracted in the class, that means they don't value your teaching. Do you value your teacher? Yeah, I like my teacher so much. Then I said, then you should sit quietly in the class. You should listen to what they say. And just went into him. And this, you know, he was saying, I want to write a letter to my teacher and say, I'm sorry for troubling. And, you know, so it's a sweetness of lips. But the last time there was no sweetness of lips. I was very strict. Right. And I did see the changes. But there are times you and I need to use both. Look at the apostle Paul. He talked about Galatians and Corinth. Corinthians, right? But what does he also say to the Galatians? You are my beloved children. Sweetness of the lips. To the Corinthians, he says, I have, I have, I have, I have, you know, you have been born through my ministry. Right. And he's encouraging them. Saying, continue the gifts. These are the gifts that you have. And he blesses them. So there are times when you have to be stern. Sweetness of lips is also very important. You can't be always stern. All that happened is that person will get dejected. Every now and then, we need to encourage them, be supportive. Next point, be supportive even when people make mistakes. Proverbs 19, 11. What people know how to hold their tongue. Their gender is to forgive and forget. Hold their tongue means not literally hold their tongue instead. Hold their tongue meaning they know when to speak, what to speak and why to speak. That's wisdom. And we talked about it. How our words can get us into trouble and our words can get us out of trouble as well. So all of us make mistakes. Learn how to respond to make mistakes. Whether the mistakes are big, whether the mistakes are small. Of course, if you're working in an organization, big mistakes. It's good to have a good boss who can help you and help you overcome those big mistakes. But remember, part of if you are a leader now, for example, you're going to start your church. You have a young boy attending your church and he overslept on Sunday. He did not open the church. He didn't do the setup.  It's okay. He's a young boy. He overslept. Why didn't you sleep the whole night? What were you doing watching TV, watching the phone? It's okay. We did it when we were young. They're probably 19, 20 years old. What do you want him to do? Pray the whole night. He's not able to do that. But he comes in the morning every Sunday. But one Sunday he overslept. It's okay. Don't tell from now on you're not in the sound and setup team. Exit out. You give them. People learn from them. But you tell him or her what is the result of those mistakes? See, I understand you overslept. But this is what has happened. When we came in the morning, everything was you know that you're the main person.  Everything was all over the place. We were struggling. And so it was very difficult to get things set up in the morning. So next time if you feel that way, just let us know and we can get somebody else to fill in for you for that Sunday. Very simple. What I'm trying to say is don't just you know look at a person and decide what he or she is. You may give somebody to preach in your youth meeting. A person will go on the stage and may preach for 10 minutes and it may not be good. You feel it's not good. So we don't say you didn't preach well. No. It's the first time anybody will be nervous. Preaching. So you help them to get better at what they're doing. Extend support when people are struggling within the organization. Sometimes all they need is a little push. Just a little push. And then they may you may put them in the place where God wants them to be. Right? As long as people are willing to learn and make an effort to grow, support them. If they are complacent, indifference or defensive about their performance you will need to show them the exit. You understand that? If people are willing to learn willing to accept their mistakes give them more opportunities. But when a person says no, it's not my mistake I did it like this because I knew it would be better. If a person says this is the poor performance because all this happened. So it's not my mistake. Now what will happen? They are not in a place to learn. They're not in a place to improve. Give them one warning, two warnings. Show them the exit after that. It's good. Why? Because the organization is in priority first. You're trying to build an organization. So you give warnings. One warning, two warnings, maybe three warnings. And different organizations have that. Give them warnings. And then if there's no improvement you show them the exit. But our main responsibility is to help them get better. Right? One standard for all, no partiality. Let's read Proverbs 28, 21. To show partiality is not good because for a piece of bread a man will run this. Don't show partiality in the office. Is it there in offices? Organizations? It will definitely be there. Right? Now if you are on the receiving end of partiality don't worry. You pray to God. God is the one who will grant you a favor. Why was you think about this? Why was the king so in favor of Daniel? Did Daniel say when you come back to Jerusalem I'll give you some money. I'll give you a good house. I think Daniel God's favor was upon him. It was not partiality. But the other people thought why is the king always behind Daniel giving him all the opportunities? That's because God's favor was on him. Right? But as a leader I must not show partiality. I give everyone opportunities but when I give everyone opportunities I also watch what they're doing with that opportunity. If they're taking it lightly if it's something that they don't value I will wait. I will not give them the opportunity again. I will wait. Because something given freely has no value. I always believe that. Something that's just given has no value. That's why I always you know when I see people taking our APC publications I always say use it well. It's free. Don't just throw it here and there. Use it well. Value it. One standard for all. No partiality in office. Whether you're tall, short tall, fair, dark handsome, not handsome you have a car, you have a bike. All of that don't matter. Everyone are equal in an organization. Okay, next one. Listen to all sides of the story. Proverbs 18, 17 The first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. As we are dealing with people in an organization there will be conflicts there will be indifferences there will be people who need to be disciplined so very important to learn and listen to both sides of the story. If somebody comes up to you and says you know pastor that other person said that you're not preaching correct doctrine don't go straight to that person and say hey why are you saying I'm not teaching the right doctrine. You don't have to do that. Listen to both sides of the story. It could be a completely different scenario. Don't be quick to make decisions. Don't be we want to resolve the matter quickly which is important there's a sense of urgency but sometimes in all this urgency we may miss out hearing from everyone. So it's very important to hear what everyone has to say. This is part of leadership and I learned this I always thought okay just stand in notes preach and you're good to be a pastor but all of this is there. You've got to listen to different sides of the story. Sometimes people keep talking for half an hour one hour you've got to listen you've got to deal with the problem it's part of leadership right but very important listen to all sides of the story to settle a dispute quiet the quarrelsome person right problems 26 21 go ahead a pure lesson person in a dispute is like kerosene thrown on a fire kerosene problem you know kerosene is going to become even worse but it's all in conflicts there may be one person who would say he's very angry, very upset and sad for him you can shout, you can say things of the best way to settle the matter sit with them calm them down and then try to resolve the matter don't try to resolve the matter when a person is very angry and washes and that's a natural instinct which people have some people you know they be very hurt with it but you know they some people they say whatever they want to say and the other people they be loud so offensive to the others so you resolve the matter lighten them up use the power of a gentle response problems between one a soft answer turns the way around but the harsh words and soft answer solving conflict soft answer now in a heated moment especially speak gently speak peacefully and when we speak gently it diffuses the tension people will think ok let me calm down there are talks that make me tell and when people who are contradicted or angry it's very easy for us all to look at anger but we must take care of it I get angry and he has been even more angry I think it was use the power of a gentle response ok alright we take a break we come back thanks bye