At 105, Feisty Edythe Has 36K Facebook Fans and Still Drives

At 105 years old, Edythe Kirchmaier is still as smart and engaging as she was at 65.

She is the oldest user on Facebook and for her birthday she asked for 105,000 “Likes” on the page of her favorite charity. Her Facebook friends already number 36,000 and they made her wish come true, tallying more than 124,000 “Likes” for the medical nonprofit Direct Relief.

“It’s overwhelming,” said the tech-savvy great-grandmother. “I never thought I’d make that much of an impression on people.”

She is also still driving a car — a new Honda gifted to her by an anonymous stranger after appearing on the ELLEN show. In all her decades of driving, she said, she has never gotten a ticket or citation. Read full story

Boko Haram Being Progressively Weakened – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has said that with the security measures put in place by his administration, the Boko Haram sect is being progressively weakened.

Speaking at the Presidential Villa in Abuja yesterday while receiving the outgoing representative of the delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. David Mac Rae, Jonathan said his administration would remain proactive in combating terrorism.

According to the president, although measures taken by his administration have significantly reduced the occurrence of terrorist attacks in the country, the government will continue doing everything possible to further enhance security in all parts of the country. Read full story

CBN to test-run movable collaterals October next year

FOLLOWING the challenges of access to funds for the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Nigeria, The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has targeted October 2014 to test-run the registry of movable collaterals.

The Director, Development Finance Department, CBN, Mr. Paul Nduka Eluhaiwe, disclosed this at the general meeting of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME) while presenting a paper tagged “Access to Low Interest Funds for MSMEs Development- CBN Intervention Schemes and Programmes.”

He said access to cheap and long-term finance poses a major challenge to SME development in Nigeria and that Nigeria experiences a huge SME financing gap with successive decline since the 1990s show consistent decline, adding that the CBN has targeted October 2014 to test-run the registry of movable collaterals in the country.

On CBN’s FSS 2020 mandate of developing market infrastructure and access to finance by MSME sector, he explained that the objective is to attempt to solve the problem of access to finance by MSME sector due largely to lack of collateral security. Read full story

Five Very Important Tips For Aspiring Entreprenuers

Unemployment, amongst other challenges has emerged with dire consequences for the world. In Africa and in Nigeria, unemployment has been attributed to be the cause of youth restiveness and other related vices.  In the face of this development, younger generation has been advised to embrace entrepreneurship in a bid to finding permanent solutions to the problems of unemployment. However, before one ventures into the entrepreneurial space, some very important considerations have to be looked at as outlined below.

BELIEVE

From time immemorial, the outcome of man’s activities on earth has been conditioned by their ability to believe or the lack of it. For those who believe, they have a better reason to live, and those who do not, will merely occupy the human space with their bodies. Just like a rickshaw, believing pulls an individual from the state of aspiring to a place of possibilities. Like a telescope, it makes that which is distant nearer to the extent that the distant is drawn into reality. Consequently, when you believe, you live in the future. “Believe!” Believe in yourself! Believe in your startup idea!

When you have a business idea, you have to be your biggest cheerleader. Let your heart rock with elation that your idea will meet a particular need. Do not entertain disbelief because it is the quickest route to failure.  Back then in the University, a friend of mine told me how his classmate would come to him so both of them could do course revision some hours before an exam. In the course of their meeting, he would have her react to some questions, and she did quite well. Surprisingly, she would go for the exam and come out of the hall morose because she was unable to respond to most of the questions. It puzzled him so much because she reacted well to similar questions a few hours before. Believe in yourself; believe in your business idea.

Jeff Bezos, founder and C.E.O of Amazon.com quit his Vice President job at the Financial Service Firm, D.E Shaw, to start an Internet store where he sold books. Today, he is one of Forbes’ most innovative companies, and most importantly, his success has reshaped the retail space. To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to believe and then put up a strong resistance in the face of challenges. Most successful entrepreneurs have made novel impact in the business world because they didn’t give up on themselves and they endured till they became successful.

 

COMMITMENT

Commitment is the willingness to give your time and energy to something that you believe in. You have to be prepared to put your heart and soul to what you are doing, then, be prepared to work long hours. In this century, commitment does not only translate to physical presence and hard work, but also to adopting the right strategy to the extent of utilizing the most contemporary and efficient approach. A painstaking approach produces unprecedented results. No matter how novel your idea is, you have to painstakingly drive until you arrive at success. Stop dithering and stay committed to your startup.

 

KNOWLEDGE

Aspiring entrepreneurs should have answers to some basic questions at startup. What is the scope of your business idea? Who is your target audience? Who are your competitors? What edge do they have over you? You have to be knowledgeable about different aspects of your business. Research is key. When you are knowledgeable in your area of business, you become more confident and assured of success.

 

STARTUP IDEA MUST MEET A CERTAIN NEED

At startup, you should ask yourself who needs this? What would people like to have or do that available options do not meet, or that current technology has no provision for? What difficulties do people face at work or at home? What will they pay for right now? Most mistakes people make is to try solving a problem that is seemingly not real. Some years back, a cousin of mine came up with an idea to reinvent an old African craft (Tinkering) that focused on repairing broken plastics, steel pots and buckets. But the question is, “who needs that in today’s increasingly urban setting?” People would rather buy a new bucket than mend a broken one because it is relatively cheaper and convenient.  Please, do not build things nobody wants.

At startup, there has to be interested prospects that really need your services or products. If your business idea is not novel, it should be able to improve on what the other guy is doing, or able to solve the need better and differently.  Addressing people’s needs in a new and exciting way is the only route that leads surely to entrepreneurial success.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social media is a means of interaction amongst people, in which they create, share and exchange information and ideas in a community. With the compression of the world in time and space, it is now a global village. This has been facilitated by the evolution and emergence of social media which is now an integral part of modern society. There are general social networking sites with user base larger than some countries and probably some continents. As of March 31st, Facebook says it has 1.11 billion active users, a figure larger than the population of Africa, which has about 1.033 billion people – the world’s second most populous continent. Some of the most popular social networks sites are Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr and Pinterest.

However, there are some things aspiring entrepreneurs should know about social media. These are:

• It allows for the democratization of information and knowledge across borders.
• It allows for distribution through interaction.
• Because there are a lot of people sharing contents for free, people tend to react positively towards the best content.
• You have to understand your audience
• Interact first before selling. Always build relationships before trying to sell something.

In the light of the above, aspiring entrepreneurs should learn to put these platforms to proper use, especially as most social media platforms are structured to meet the marketing needs of their users. Aspiring entrepreneurs should prepare to always make a creative and focused message in a bid to capturing the attention of their target audience, and converting them. Adopting the paid adverts strategy could yield very positive results as well.

Aspiring entrepreneurs should make posts that are fascinating. If users love what they have read, they can share across their networks too, helping a wider audience to know about your products and/or services. Every post you make should have the potentiality of consolidating your market. However, the bottom line is, your post should no more revolve around celeb gossips and trivialities.

In a nutshell, you cannot be an entrepreneur if you have not started. You have to be in the game to envisage winning. Move beyond aspiring and set sail, for your name / brand to go down the chronicles of successful entrepreneurs.

Cheers

 

College athletes’ honesty caught on security camera

Four football players from William Paterson University went shopping at a general store in Wayne, N.J., on Sunday afternoon. After spending several minutes trying to locate the store clerk, two of the players who needed sunglasses and batteries were captured on store security cameras leaving money at the register.

Buddy’s Small Lots store manager, Marci Lederman, was taken by their honesty.

“They picked up a few items, and they left cash on the counter and waved to the cameras,” Lederman told Yahoo News. “Who does that?”

Thomas James, Kell’E Gallimore, Jelani Bruce and Anthony Biondi do that. Read full story

Scientist controls colleague’s hand in first human brain-to-brain interface

University of Washington researcher Rajesh Rao, left, plays a computer game with his mind, while across campus, researcher Andrea Stocco wears a magnetic stimulation coil over the left motor cortex region of his brain.

(Credit: University of Washington)

The telepathic cyborg lives, sort of. University of Washington scientists Rajesh Rao and Andrea Stocco claim that they are the first to demonstrate human brain-to-brain communication. Rao sent a signal into a Stocco’s brain via the Internet that caused him to move his right hand. Brain-to-brain communication has previously been demonstrated between rats and from humans to rats.

“The experiment is a proof in concept. We have tech to reverse engineer the brain signal and transmit it from one brain to another via computer,” said Chantel Prat, an assistant professor of psychology who worked on the project.

The mind-meld between the researchers wasn’t seamless. Rao spent time training his mind, with feedback from the computer, to emit the brainwave for moving the right hand so that it could be detected by the computer. “The intention can be as detectable as the movement itself,” Prat said. “Brain-computer interfaces have been capturing this with increasing accuracy over the last decade.”

When the software sees the right signal it is sent via the Internet to a computer connected to a transcranial magnetic stimulation device, which is positioned on the exact spot of the brain that controls the right hand. “It uses simple physics,” Prat said. “When the magnetic field changes, it induces an electrical current, so a signal is sent through the cortex of the brain and excites the neurons, simulating what happens naturally.”
Read full story

Google calls for entries in ‘Africa Connected’ Competition

Google has called on  entrepreneurs, creators, innovators and web-lovers in Nigeria and across Africa to share their stories of how the web has transformed their lives and work in its ‘Africa Connected’ competition.

Five successful people are expected to win  $25,000 each, and will also have the opportunity to work with a Google sponsor over a six-month period.

The initiative, ‘Africa Connected: Success stories powered by the web’, aims to gather the largest collection of inspiring stories about ventures established online by Africans, in Africa.

Commenting on the competition, the Google leader for the Africa Connected Initiative, Affiong Osuchukwu said, “Google wants to hear from young, spirited entrepreneurial web adopters in Nigeria and other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, who have a healthy disregard for the impossible and who are using the web and technology to do cool and extraordinary things to rise above their circumstances, change their world, and achieve success. We want to showcase the amazing achievements happening in the new Africa.”

Aspiring filmmaker, cinematographer and editor Amuwa Oluseyi Asurf is one such example. This Nigerian videographer has gone from spending nights in internet cafes, so that he could watch YouTube to teach himself how to edit films, to running a successful film and video production company in Lagos, where he employs 10 people. Read more

Scientists find clue to age-related memory loss

Scientists have found a compelling clue in the quest to learn what causes age-related memory problems, and to one day be able to tell if those misplaced car keys are just a senior moment or an early warning of something worse.

Wednesday’s report offers evidence that age-related memory loss really is a distinct condition from pre-Alzheimer’s — and offers a hint that what we now consider the normal forgetfulness of old age might eventually be treatable.

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center examined brains, young and old ones, donated from people who died without signs of neurologic disease. They discovered that a certain gene in a specific part of the hippocampus, the brain’s memory center, quits working properly in older people. Read more

Ogun plans N30bn cancer institute

The Ogun State Government on Wednesday said that it had concluded plans to establish a N30bn cancer institute in partnership with some United States of America-based cancer experts.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka, said this at a press conference he jointly addressed in Abeokuta, the state capital, with the Chairman, Board of Managers, HTI Global Cancer Partners, Dr. Bert Petersen; and its Chief Operating Officer, Ericka Consin-Mosheshe. Read more

Rare Chicken cost $2,500

How much would you pay for chicken?

Paul Bradshaw, a breeder in Florida at Greenfire Farms, sells chickens for $2,500…per chicken, that is. And $4,999 for a juvenile pair. Bradshaw says the rare Indonesian breed Ayam Cemani is “my most requested bird, ever.”

It remains to be seen if there’s a mainstream market for the bird. He’s the first U.S. breeder and doesn’t expect to have chicks available until early 2014.

We asked Dana Cowin, editor-in-chief of Food & Wine, why this chicken costs so much. Read more