Africa Calling

Its 5:45am, the dawn is breaking outside and we are in the office doing our last minute checks. In 2 hours Warid Congo will open its doors in a new country and become part of the commercial operations running in Pakistan, Bangladesh & Uganda.

There are many times when I thought that we will never get here just like many other times when I thought we were so close that I could reach out and touch it. I guess even with one's best efforts one has to count on a lot of faith and hope to get through life.

This also marks a change for me as what started as "my project" is now "my operation". And I am looking forward to working with the other members of the management team to make a difference.

UPDATE: 4pm

WOW! What a response! We are overwhelmed - both in Brazzaville & Pointe Noire. The business centres opened at 8am and within 30 minutes we had a queue of people wanting to come in to buy the SIMs. And even now the queue is there. Moreover, its like the whole company has come together for one purpose - to delight the customer. We have people from IT, Engineering, HR working on crowed control and helping people to fill forms. Inside the business centres the sales, customer services and finance teams are running around to serve the customer. Sweets baskets are being filled, fizzy drinks are bring served to the people who have been queuing in the heat and you see lots of smiles all around. And to make my day... the numbers are looking great! Alhumdullah!

See for yourself:







Let's pray that this is the beginning of something great.. Ameen!

Labels: bangladesh, congo, launch, pakistan, uganda, warid

Warid Congo celebrated its Soft Launch on 10th January 2008. Our Chairman High Highness Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan was here in Brazzaville to inaugurate the Business Centre and attend the mega soft-launch event.

^{Arrival of Sheikh Nahayan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan
Departure for Lunch with the President of Republic of Congo
Crowd waiting for the High Highness at the Business Centre
Inauguration of Warid Business Centre by High Highness & The Honorable Minister of Telecommunication}

The picture below have been taken from Gulf Arena's Burak Altunay's website who were managing the soft launch event.






















More will be uploaded on my Picasa Album soon!

Labels: chariman, congo, event, softlaunch, warid

A new year, a new beginning but the same old Congo. To be honest, its not that bad - it kinda grows on you. Have a look at this picture and see for yourself.



This picture has been taken by my colleague, Mojahid Rahman who is an IT guru as well as a very good photographer. You can see more from his album Beauty of Brazzaville on Flickr.

Coming back to the new year; so what is your new year resolution? The best one I have come across is from another colleague... "leave congo by the end of the year". I guess it is not growing on everyone equally.

Wishing you a very happy new year.

Labels: brazzaville, congo, newyear, photographer

Firstly, my apologies for not being able to update my blog for the past 2 weeks. When I took up the PMO (Project Management Office) position, I never thought it was going to be so hectic. But as they say... no pain no gain!

I know most serious bloggers think its sinful to ignore your blog for this long and would not think twice about casting stones at me. But in my defence I just want to say that I am going to take time out of my non-work activities (eating, sleeping etc) and make sure I blog at least once a week. If I have an easy day (leave office by 9pm) I will try to take this frequency up to two.

As for the ordinary mortals who do not blog and hardly find time to visit something truly useful like Africa Calling; PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE use the subscribe box on the right and give me access to your mail boxes. The pearls of wisdom and the jewels of experience I share with you here are better than the whole survivor series put together.

In the mean time, I am changing the blog header to a picture of the Congo River; hope you like it. Congo river is the natural border between Republic of Congo (that's our Congo) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (formally known as Zaire). As you can see from the facts listed below, No. 2 seems to be lucky number of Congo river.

• Congo River is the 2nd largest river in Africa (4,700 Km; Nile is the largest)
  
• Congo River flows through the 2nd largest rain forest in the world (Amazon Rainforest is the largest)
  
• Congo River has the 2nd largest flow in the world (Amazon river is the first)
• Congo River has the 2nd largest watershed (Amazon river is the first)
• Congo River is the only river in the world to cross the Equator twice
  
• Congo River runs between two countries

Interesting Fact: Indus which is the longest river in Pakistan (3,180 Km) is 21st in the largest rivers of the world list.

Although the centerville (that's down town in French) of Brazzaville is a very quite place, but the corniche road which runs by the river is totally tranquil. It is an ideal spot to stroll/walk/jog and the view of the river and its silence is very relaxing. For a city which offers very limited (and I am being generous when I say very limited) a walk by the river with its light breeze is a truly natural experience.

Labels: brazzaville, congo, congo river

As mentioned in my previous post, an Independence Day(s) party was held in Brazzaville. It was a blast (by Brazzaville standards) and both Pakistanis and Congolese had a lot of fun. The cake cutting ceremonies were patriotic and displayed a unique intersection of two nations which probably had never crossed paths before we came to Congo.

You can see more pictures of the Independence Day Party.

Labels: brazzaville, congo, independence day, pakistan

The cheesy line of the title is taken from the movie Independence Day. In a Survey conducted for Warburton in 2000, it has been rated as the 7^th most cheesiest movie line of all times.

Today is Pakistan is celebrating 60 years of independence. Since, the only Pakistanis in Congo are the ones who work in Warid Congo, we decided to get together at one of our guesthoues at midnight. As the clock struck 12, ten of us started singing the national anthem Pak sar zamin shadbad (Blessed be the sacred Land) at the top of our voices. Unfortunately, we are not very good at it; not only we sang out of tune, but also forgot lines. The performance can be view on YouTube video below:

For those who are neither Pakistani nor Congolese, the national anthems are as follows:

Pakistan

Pak sar-Zamin shadbad
Blessed be the sacred Land
Kishwar-e-haseen shadbad
Happy be the bounteous realm
Too nishan-e-azm-e-aalishan
Symbol of high resolve
Arz-e-Pakistan
Land of Pakistan
Markaz-e-yaqeen shadbad
Blessed be thou citadel of faith

Pak sar-Zamin ka nizam
The order of this sacred land
Quwat-e-Ukhuwat-e-Awam
Is the might of the brotherhood of the People
Qoum, Mulk, Saltanat
May the nation, the country, and the state
Painda tabinda bad
Shine in glory everlasting
Shadbad manzal-e-murad
Blessed be the goal of our ambition

Parcham-e-Sitara-o-Hilal
This Flag of the Crescent and Star
Rehbar-e-taraqqi-o-kamaal
Leads the way to progress and perfection
Tarjaman-e-Mazi, Shan-e-hal
Interpreter of our past, glory of our present
Jan-e-istaqbal
Inspiration of our future
Saya-e-Khuda-e-zuljalal
Symbol of Almighty's protection

Written & Adopted in 1952.

En ce jour le soleil se lève
On this day the sun rises
Et notre Congo resplendit.
And our Congo stands resplendent.
Une longue nuit s'achève,
A long night is ended,
Un grand bonheur a surgi.
a great happiness has come.
Chantons tous avec ivresse
Let us all, with wild joyfulness, sing
le chant de la liberté.
The song of freedom.

Congolais, debout fièrement partout,
Arise, Congolese, proud every man,
Proclamons l'union de notre nation,
Proclaim the unity of our nation.
Oublions ce qui nous divise,
Let us forget what divides us
soyons plus unis que jamais,
And become more united than ever.

Vivons pour notre devise:
Let us live our motto:
Unité, travail, progrès!
Unity, work, progress.
Vivons pour notre devise:
Let us live our motto:
Unité, travail, progrès!
Unity, work, progress.

Des forêts jusqu'à la savanne,
From the forest to the bush,
Des savannes jusqu'à la mer,
From the bush to the ocean,
Un seul peuple, une seule âme,
One people, one soul,
Un seul coer, ardent et fier,
One heart, ardent and proud.
Luttons tous, tant que nous sommes,
Let us all fight, every one of us,
Pour notre vieux pays noir.
For our black country.

CHORUS:

Et s'il nous faut mourir, en somme
And if we have to die,
Qu'importe puisque nos enfants,
What does it really matter? Our children
Partout, pourront dire comme
Everywhere will be able to say how
On triomphe en combattant,
Triumph comes through battle,
Et dans le moindre village
And in the smallest village
Chantent sous nos trois couleurs
Sing beneath our three colours.

Written & Adopted: 1959, replaced 1969, restored 1991

Labels: congo, independence day, pakistan

I arrived at my final destination – Brazzaville, Congo – on Thursday. As I had narrated in my previous post, that the journey was a very long and tiring. And Although I survived it, my luggage was not so lucky. One of my bags is lost and is expected today (it was expected in Friday and Saturday as well). I never thought I could be thankful for being a little overweight. Since my belt was in the other suitcase, its my love handles which are holding my trousers up while I go around wearing trainers under my suits.

This is an interesting place and I do not want to write too much about it cause I fear that if I write too much in this post, I might not have anything left to write. What I mean is that I went out for about 45 minutes on Saturday night and saw the whole city. Yes, this place is so small and so entertainment-ly challenged, that you can do all what is to do within a few hours.

More about that later, this is a “checking-in” & “I am alive” post.

Labels: brazzaville, congo