Electricity Pylons Galore!

Many apologies for the absence--in fact, next week promises to provide a dry-spell in blogging as I will be away till the 26th of May--but too many meetings have inhibited desire and ability to blog.

Here's one for good measure--electricty pylons around East Legon area. Just to show that it works!;-)

Shoprite's Fight (Bread) Club @ Least Once a Week!

This scene might probably belie the sheer physicality associated with usually-Friday evenings when one wants to buy a humble piece of bread at Shoprite, Accra Mall. I tell you: it's no mean feat, forming a bee-line to get fresh bread.

Many a time, I've joked that it's like forming a tro-tro line. I think it's frankly unacceptable. Shoprite doesn't have to keep customers waiting like this as if they'd die if they didn't get bread, should they?

Have a great weekend!

So Vodafone Painted the Town Red

Ghana Telecom is no more. It's now Vodafone [Ghana], and they're currently making a lot of noise on television, splashing red all over the place. The mobile service ONETOUCH has also been subsumed under the Vodafone brand.

I'm naturally not too enamoured by gory red, which I think this is--neither am I with Vodafone Ghana.

I don't believe that after the erstwhile right-of-centre NPP government sold it for $US900 million for Vodafone to acquire 70% of its shares, anything is going to improve that much.

We live in hope. Well, some of us do.

April Showers!

In all its glory.

The sky would open up this morning, after the usual orchestration of natural elements, where the sky darkens and the wind blows the trees to a samba dance, as leaves rustle like they're dancing the salsa;-)

The effect: solid cats-and-dogs rain.

Easter Monday Rain!

I hope it's not too late to wish visitors a (belated) Happy Easter. For what it's worth, this year's Easter celebration was not the most interesting, so I was kind of looking forward to the traditional rain that accompanies Easter Sunday.

You can imagine my joy to have noticed on Monday morning that dark clouds were gathering, only for rain to break out in grand style in the afternoon!

At long last, rain!

Tro-Tro!--Where Angels Don't Fear to Tread...

...on a tro-tro bus?;-)

No need saying this is no photoshop job; I cracked up internally when I saw this, viscerally reaching out for my camera-phone.

Maybe the angels that this tro-tro driver has admonished me of saw me? I need divine intervention every day anyway; they might as well have seen me!:-))

Accra has Street Names Alright But...

...you'd be hard-pressed finding any Ghanaian--and this cuts across both the working and middle classes--who would be comfortable identifying a location with a street name!

Street names are a-ok for filling in application forms or opening a bank account, but don't count on anyone knowing their street names! Before you ask, we do have maps a-plenty in "good" retail shops.

I wonder whether they're not sometimes a waste of time?;-)

A view from a Tro-tro!

I took this earlier this year. I'm no ace photographer, but I kind of like this one as it is able to depict both speed and purpose.

The purpose being the need to travel home fast!;-)

Have a great weekend!

Prepare yourself for Nigeria's "Chicken Republic"!

As a testament of Ghana's ever-continuous friendship with Nigeria on account of being both its "little brother" of the 1975-established Economic Community of West African States, and "gateway to West Africa", with Nigeria being the "destination to West Africa", there are a number of Nigerian outlets and banks in the country. Food outlets are no exception. If you have forgotten "Mr.Biggs", which is a Nigerian franchise that has been around since the 1970s, I bring to you Chicken Republic, which is described elsewhere on the "Net as:

Chicken Republic is our QSR and flagship brand. It launched in 2005 and is currently the fastest growing chicken franchise in West Africa. In 2007, we sold over 6 million pieces of chicken from our 17 stores in Nigeria.

A major milestone in Chicken Republic's history was also attained in December 2007 when we opened our 1st offshore outlet in Sunnyside, Pretoria, South Africa. This extends our mission - to make Chicken Republic a foremost chicken brand in Africa.

Chicken Republic historically accounts for circa 44% of our Gross Revenues. We intend to grow Chicken Republic from the current 18 stores to 300 stores by 2012. 80% of these stores will be located in Nigeria, whilst the balance in other African countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, and Uganda, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Mauritius, Gambia, Liberia, Guinea, Republic of Benin, Congo, Angola, Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana.

We believe our success is aptly summarised by Chicken Republic’s highly focused and energised brand essence -: “extraordinary chicken for extraordinary people”.

According to its website (http://www.foodconcept.biz/about/history.asp),...

Food Concepts and Entertainment Plc commenced operations in 2001 as a private limited liability company, with the sole aim of revolutionizing the Food and Entertainment industry in the West African region. Food Concepts is uniquely conceived company that is that is built on an insightful and strategic approach to market. Moreover, our track record speaks for itself. We not only pioneered the food court concept in Nigeria, but our committed and highly skilled team has also successfully launched several other brands including Chicken Republic, Butterfield Bakery, Reeds and St Elmos.

Today, we continue to repeat past successes by remaining focused on the core elements of our business: We bring food and entertainment brands to life as we constantly strive to deliver on our vision of “extraordinary satisfaction” for all who interact with our brand

We focus on the preparation and consistent delivery of high quality food products and create contemporary ambient restaurant environments

Belief in extraordinary people is at the heart of what we do and we constantly invest in our employees through training, incentive and reward

Exceptional customer service and added value are our key ingredients

We constantly develop and refine our systems and processes to leverage new business opportunities that deliver excellent returns on investment to our shareholders

Actually no-one has paid me for this--maybe I should ask?--but in the interest of West African solidarity, I am glad to write about it. Honestly, though, it puts Ghanaians to shame to see such quintessentially well-done food outlets like these make their home in Ghana, when Ghanaians claim that they are the "gateway" to West Africa!

My foot!

Next time, will eat there, and bring you some insight into their prices. I did go in, and saw the place was packed for a Saturday. Good stuff!