Nflocals

Bringing broadband Internet to West Africa

Main One Cable is not necessarily a subsea company in the same vein as larger energy and telecom companies, but it was the first African-owned submarine cable company to complete such a dynamic project. Ms. Opeke made a point of encouraging angel investors from Africa to take a chance on her idea long before she had a license to make it happen, and once her project got under way she solicited further investment from African investors willing to put money into their own continent. The result has been a company owned entirely by African investors, all helping to improve Africa's infrastructure and economy.

When the Main One fibre optic cable was fully up and running, new plans were started to extend it further down the coast and connect it to another cable installed by Seacom in 2009. When that connection is finally made it will link both the east and west coasts of Africa. More importantly, it will hasten the development of broadband infrastructure further inland. Doing so is crucial to developing the African broadband market which currently has a penetration of only about 10%.

In the global economy broadband Internet access is becoming more crucial to developing countries so they don't fall further behind. Africa is a special challenge because business owners are reluctant to go online. With budgets that limit growth and expansion it is difficult to encourage African companies to take the broadband plunge. Hopefully that changes with the anew network and the announcement last fall that Google will be offering free websites to African businesses.

The Internet's most used search engine has been teaming up with various service providers since last spring to get Africa's businesses online. They are offering free websites, technical support, and webmaster tools designed to develop Internet use even among Africa's large number of totally inexperienced users. If all goes well they hope to see market penetration rise to at least 40% over the next couple of years.

Thanks to an entrepreneurial dream and a subsea company, the African continent is well on its way to joining the digital age. Welcome aboard!

Installing Interlocking Engineered Flooring

If you have recently started to think about redoing your floors and are wondering whether or not you should consider interlocking engineered flooring, then you might also be wondering how difficult it is to install.  The truth is that it is a relatively simple process, but there are a few things that you will want to make sure you do correctly or your flooring could end up buckled and warped in just a few short years.  

One of the first things that you will need to do is to make sure that the engineered flooring you choose is one that has a thick enough surface to resist the problems that it will encounter with everyday wear and tear.  If you pick one with a thin surface, and it goes in a high traffic area, then there is a good chance that the surface will wear thin in a short period of time and will need to be replaced sooner.  

Therefore, it may be a little bit more upfront, but it is a good idea to make sure that your surface thickness matches up with the requirements of the floor.  Also, check to see if the boards come with an underlayment built in, if they don’t you will need to buy one to go under the flooring.  Sometimes these are also called weather barriers.  When you get the boxes of flooring to the house, let them sit in the room where you intend to use them for a day so they can acclimate to the house.

Next, make sure that you lay the flooring so that the boards run down the longest section of the floor.  This is because if the engineered flooring is laid down correctly it will have a lot of long pieces where the breaks are at completely different sections.  Think of it like putting together blocks, if the breaks come in different sections, then the whole is stronger overall.  The best way to achieve the differences in the breaks is by cutting different lengths of the engineered flooring to start at the wall and go down from there.  

When you are putting the boards down, you also need to make sure that there is a half inch gap between the flooring and the walls.  This is because the engineered flooring will swell and change with the weather, and if it is up against the wall and it swells, then you could see buckling in your flooring prematurely.  Don’t worry there is trim you can buy to cover these gaps that match your flooring.

Follow these few simple tips when installing engineered flooring and you will help to increase the life of your floors.

Graduate Job Market

The current economic situation is affecting all sectors of the employment market, from school leavers looking for entry level positions right through to established professionals with 20 or more year’s experience. The graduate market has been particularly hard hit, but there are several strategies that graduates can follow to help make themselves as attractive as possible to future employers.

 

One of the most tried and tested strategies are to get as much work experience as possible during your time at school and University. Most students manage to combine part time work through the University term with studying, and take on full time employment during the long vacations. Obviously the ideal would be to get experience in an industry in which you’re interested in making a career, but any sort of work experience will demonstrate to employers that you are reliable and hardworking. Skills like team work, time management or negotiation can be got in almost any job. The alternative to paid work is to volunteer. This is an especially good tactic for people who wish to work in medicine or in the education arena. Education recruitment is tough and employers are looking for candidates who can demonstrate a love and commitment for the subject. Volunteering with a local youth organisation such as the Scouts, or offering to do unpaid work at your local hospital, nursery, school or youth club could get you that all important reference on your CV and provide a way of differentiating you from possibly dozens of other candidates applying for the same position or training place.

 

Many students who face the prospect of graduating without a job to go to may consider staying on at University and completing a post graduate qualification. Depending on the field you wish to enter it may be wise to top up your qualifications with a further year or more at University. All Universities and colleges have a careers department who should be able to talk through your specific circumstances and advise on the best course of action to secure your future career.

 

Many big corporations do still run graduate recruitment schemes but competition is tough. Bookmark websites of companies you are interested in working for and check regularly to see whether new vacancies have been advertised. Complete applications promptly and follow basic rules such as spell checking everything and having a friend look over your CV. For graduates interested in going into teaching, there are several education recruitment events run throughout the academic year which will give you all the information you need on qualifications and further training required. Most students will require doing an additional one year post graduate study to qualify as a teacher.

A Simple Guide to Learn More about HR Outsourcing

Whether you own a small, medium-sized, or large business, you probably spend a lot of your precious time dealing with employee paperwork. To shift your focus back to core business areas, you can always make use of an increasingly popular concept – HR outsourcing!

Today, you can find several professional Human Resources outsourcing firms to free yourself from doing hectic paperwork. However, it is crucial to mention that when you talk about HR outsourcing, you will see that different processes included in an outsourcing arrangement will vary a lot from organisation to organisation. Some companies don’t mind outsourcing all of their HR processes, while others select specific components.

Most services that you get from HR outsourcing firms come under four basic categories. These are:

• Payroll management is one of the major services that these firms offer. This involves deducting different taxes, keeping track of employee work time, and issuing checks.

• These companies can also offer their services for Benefits Administration. This usually includes things such as vacation, health benefits, sick leave, and retirement.

• Human Resources Compliance is another important service area. It involves making sure that all employee procedures are in compliance with different federal laws, including gender or race discrimination laws.

• You will also find these firms offering their services for better risk management. This important area is all about dealing with different insurance plans.

It is important to point out that sometime different limitations keep businesses from outsourcing all their HR processes. Take the example of payroll. Some small and mid-sized companies have to do their own payroll because they have to maintain a pay schedule that third-party outsourcing companies cannot support. For instance, some companies pay their employees by paper checks on a weekly basis.

This is something that makes people think if they should really opt for HR outsourcing or not. The best thing is to take your time and ask at the outset why you need to change the way Human Resources processes function in your company. Take all aspects into consideration and don’t make a decision just by thinking that other businesses are outsourcing and you should follow suit. Consider your specific circumstances before making a decision. However, one thing is for sure that if you choose a correct HR outsourcing company, you can enjoy several potential benefits, such as increased efficiency, reduced cost, access to highly skilled HR personnel, reduced risk… and above all, HR resources in this case can operate in a more systematic and strategic way. So, be prepared to learn about different pros and cons of switching to this particular concept before making a final decision. 

Advertising Options For A Small Business - Is A Business Directory Worth The Money?

In the past, the tried and tested method for gaining reputation, customers and increasing the profile of a small business or independent trader in the local community was either by word of mouth, personal recommendation or by advertising in a widely distributed business directory such as the Yellow Pages.

Nowadays, recent surveys by market research organisations have shown that 85% of searches by consumers looking for a business or trades person in their area are done online using one of the major search engines, and not through a paper business directory, telephone directory enquiries or even the website of one of the business directory providing companies.

Obviously in many cases decisions about where and how to advertise are constrained by budgets. A television advertising campaign is neither practical not achievable for most small businesses so most turn to cheaper and more local forms of advertising to get their name known. Many take small adverts in local newspapers, sponsor local schools or charity events, or post leaflets through the doors of householders in their target area. All are effective methods of communicating with potential customers, but none are of any assistance to someone searching out a company in a specific market sector.

Many local areas now produce their own small business directory publications, covering a very limited geographical area such as a city suburb or small town or village. Taking an advert in one of these business directories means that the small business is having its name seen in every house in the district, and these local publications may be more trusted than the larger national publications. There is also the chance that the publisher of the local business directory will be interested in doing a feature or editorial on the business, especially if it is somewhat unusual or there have been recent developments in the market. This sort of exposure can bring huge rewards to the small business or independent trader.

The other way that a local business can build its reputation and bring in new customers is to spend a bit of time and effort in building its own website. This can be done cheaply and easily by buying one of the template websites available through hosting companies. Hiring a web or graphic designer will get the company a more individual result and a website that is different from everyone else’s, but is much more costly. Either way, with the increasing use of the internet as the default business directory it is important to ensure all contact details for the company and details of the services being offered are prominently featured on the site.

Great Reasons to Choose Car Hire Palma Airport

There are many great reasons why you might want to choose car hire Palma Airport and we are going to be examining these here. In fact, choosing this option could make a huge difference to your trip - but don’t just take my word for it. If you consider the following then I’m sure you will agree that there are some great reasons to choose car hire during your stay in Palma.

• Imagine the scene. You arrive in Palma Airport tired after a trip; you just want to get to your hotel. Instead of this though you have to walk around the airport looking for transport and then queue for taxis or even more stressful public transport. Imagine the alternative scene though. You arrive in Palma Airport and have your own transport waiting for you (this is if you booked in advance). You will leave the airport with you in control and look on smugly as you see all those other people trying to deal with arranging transport.

• When you have your own transport you have the freedom of the whole of Palma and beyond. You can just hop in your vehicle and go where the mood takes you. If you see somewhere you like in a guidebook you can just pup the name in your GPS and be given turn by turn directions all the way. If you don’t have your own car then you will spend most of the morning trying to arrange transport; you may even decide not to go at all because it seems so difficult to get to.

• The really nice thing about having a car on a holiday is you can go and explore your surroundings. It will be possible to go places where the regular tourists don’t get to visit because they are being moved from place to place like cattle. When you have your own vehicle there is a much bigger sense of belonging and being in control. You can also just turn off the GPS completely and see where the road takes you; sometimes it is the places that we never planned to visit that will be the most enjoyable.

• Having to take luggage on and off public transport can be a real pain; with a car you will find it a lot easier and there is nobody going to be rushing you. The other good thing of course is that you don’t have to worry about people stealing your bags.

When you choose car hire Palma Airport you gain your independence. This is the real reason why people choose this option. Who wants to be dependent on other people when a car gives you so much freedom?