Government officers and executives have to take personal pride in finding solutions to problems just the same way as corporate executives should feel pride when they solve market or operational problems strictly through hard thinking. Even if there is no market incentive in government, the incentive of simply becoming more efficient at exercising one’s brain should inspire someone to think hard about cracking the problems faced by their institutions, no matter what kind it is. Humans are simply designed to derive the highest satisfaction and pleasure from this process, perhaps because they are the only animal with a thinking capacity…..
Chanda Chisala (Host)
 | Chanda Chisala (Zamblogs Host) is the founder of Zambia Online (www.zambia.co.zm). He was a John S. Knight Fellow in the Communications Department of Stanford University and more recently, a Visiting Scholar to Stanford's Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank. Contact him at cchisala@stanford.edu |
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Can Government Innovate? Part 1
15th June, 2011 
Chanda Chisala (Host) Innovation in public services is just as important as innovation in private companies. When civil servants and top officials in government departments, agencies and ministries are not innovative, the effect is felt not only by businesses but by everyone else in the country. For example, if the police force became more effective, through innovation, the entire society would simply benefit. An effective and efficient police force not only makes the public feel safer, but it even makes a country more attractive to foreigners and foreign investors, and this has too many advantages as we all know. Unfortunately innovations are not….
Can Africans Innovate? Part 3
17th May, 2011 Chanda Chisala (Host) Organizations should be born in innovation and should be run in innovation if they are to be continuously effective and create a lasting impact on society. The founder must start with an innovative, distinctive idea, and the team must also be innovative in all their operations, no matter what they are doing. As we have seen, the status quo in Africa is just to follow others blindly. There is little shame in just copying the next person without the least bit of effort in thought or self-differentiation. Most people do not realize that this really is a confession that they….
Can Africans Innovate? Part 2
13th May, 2011 Chanda Chisala (Host) The Wikipedia entry on entrepreneurship says: Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur, which can be defined as “one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods.” Although innovation is an essential part of true entrepreneurship, it is not just founders of businesses who should be innovative. Every leader and executive within an organization (whether for business or not) must be innovative if they want the organization to be very effective. If they are satisfied with just being average, then of course they should just do what the average is doing: they should….
Can Africans Innovate? Part 1
1st May, 2011 Chanda Chisala (Host) With the current renewed focus on economic growth, it is now common to hear African leaders talk about entrepreneurship. When someone starts selling bananas at a market stand surrounded by other banana sellers, he is hailed as an entrepreneur. But in fact, he is just a businessman. To be an entrepreneur, he has to start something new, or do an old thing in a new way. The element of newness has to be there, something that immediately distinguishes him from other people in the same business, something that makes him stand out and be preferred by some buyers (or all….
