Iraqi Expat Wins British Invention Award: An Inspiring Story

If you like stories of personal struggle that end well, you will like this one. It's about an Iraqi citizen who fled Iraq with his family to avoid the death squads of Saddam Hussein, worked day and night to support himself through the University of Derby in the East Midlands of England, invented a device now employed by the British military, and was just awarded the Special Commendation Award at the 2008 Lord Stafford Awards East Midlands for developing the device.

Prototype of AHKYThe device is a portable translator worn on the wrist. It's called the AHKY, which is Arabic for "speak, and its inventor, 23 year-old Amin Ismail, created the wrist-watch translator to assist military, border personnel, and other officials to communicate instructions to Iraqi citizens in high risk situations, when a human translater is not available.

A human translator is rarely accessible during searches, stops, or other dangerous missions. The AHKY uses voice recognition software and is programmed with translations like "Don't shoot!" "Please stop" "We will not hurt you."

Amin Ismail created the prototype as part of his course work at University of Derby, where he recently graduated with a degree in design. After interviewing British soldiers to insure the most important phrases would be included in AHKY, Mr. Ismail and his university instructors introduced his design to Civil Defence Supply Ltd (CDS) a multi-million pound company that supplies operational equipment to the British military, police, NATO, United Nations, and the US Defence Department. CDS decided to collaborate with Mr. Ismail and the University on the production of AHKY, and the invention is now in use!

Wait! That's not the end of the story. As if any inventor wouldn't love to have his or her invention being used to save lives in war zones and other dangerous situations, Mr. Ismail was hired by CDS, the company known informally as the 'Q" division of James Bond films.

And, if a job with a world supplier of defence technology wasn't enough, Mr. Ismail received a Special Commendation Award for his invention, during the 50th annual presentation of the Lord Stafford Awards, presented by Lord Digby Jones, British Minister for Trade and Investment. The Special Commendation was presented on September 11, 2008, as Mr. Ismail's family watched proudly from the audience.

Ismail was gracious in his acceptance of the award. He said:
“This project has been a small way for me to thank the British soldiers for their honourable work to bring freedom to the Iraqi people. The soldiers working here do so in high risk situations where the slightest misunderstanding might lead to tragedy. If this device can help save innocent lives in a conflict situation I will be so proud.”

Mr Ismail, you have made many, many people proud of you already!

I am more than what I earn

bTW
ON MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING
RACHEL CHAN

QUITE recently, I met a
master’s degree holder
who had lost over
$60,000 in his multi-level marketing
(MLM) edu-preneur business.

When he told me that he had
willingly parted with his
hard-earned cash because he
was promised high monthly returns,
I wasn’t all that surprised.

You won’t be reading that story
because my paper decided
not to publish the article.

But I have had my share of
unwise pursuits, too, and I don’t
mind sharing.

A few years ago, a close
friend and I decided to hawk expensivemulti-
vitamins and skincare
brands produced by a perfectly
legitimate health-care
company. I cannot remember
what returns we thought we
would get – we were mainly
drawn to the excitement of setting
up our own business.

Our uplines – the distributors
of the MLM organisation
that recruited us – would earn a
commission based on our sales
efforts, and we, in turn, had to
find our own downlines to market
the company’s products. The
downlines’ job was to market
the products to consumers by
means of relationship referrals
and direct selling.

I would later find out that
my product was harder to sell
than I thought.

The star attraction, we were
told ad infinitum, was a patented
machine invented by the
health-care company. It could
measure antioxidant levels in
our bodies by non-invasive
methods.

It was going to be the next
big thing. If the impressive PowerPoint
presentations were anything
to go by, it was slated to
make waves in the health-care
industry.

The then-popular reasoning
was: Antioxidants determined
how healthy one was, so why
wouldn’t everybody want to
know their antioxidant count?

And because of the patent,
everyone would have to approach
the company to use the
machine. It would mean money.

What’s more, should we get
into the hall of fame, we’d be going
to Salt Lake City in Utah for
a grand convocation.

So, we anticipated the arrival
to Singapore of the much-raved
machine.

In the meantime, our uplines
fed us encouragement and
made us brush up our sales
pitch at least twice a week.

But we didn’t last three
months in the business, which
cost our upline (he was kind
enough to extend a loan to us
poor undergraduates) about a
grand or so.

It certainly didn’t help that
there were other MLM groups
that had smeared the products’
reputation with unsavoury sales
tactics.

But we also quit because of
other reasons. It wasn’t just because
we were unable to meet
the monthly sales targets to cover
costs, or that it was impossible
to find another downline
with a thousand dollars to blow
on multi-vitamins.

Rather, I partly have the antioxidant
machine to thank.
When it finally arrived, long
queues formed at the hotel
where hordes of excited direct
sellers had congregated, dying
to know what their antioxidant
reading was.

Now, these people had also
been consuming the company’s
multi-vitamins everyday, so
they ought to boast the highest
antioxidant readings.

On the other hand, I had
been skivving off my pills regimen
because I simply could not
afford them.

Yet my reading far exceeded
my condo-living, Benz-driving
uplines, whom I have not seen
since the day I left.

As I fled the hotel on my
own, leaving behind the speakers
who were giving talks on
“growing seeds of success”, it hit
me that I had almost been
bought over by the machine, but
that was not what the company
was trying to sell me.

Be it health-care equipment,
investment packages or magnetic
beds, any business involving
something you had to buy on
faith is really trying to sell you
dogma, and the most deceptive
one of all, is “you are what you
earn”.

And that was something I
wasn’t ready to buy.

- rachchan@sph.com.sg

MyPaper issue: 170909

Temporary Shutdown

SgSparks [Disclaimer]

will temporary shutdown due to time constraints of the web master as of 250508.
This website will resumed services until further notice.
Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Board game cafes, the latest playthings in town

Unknowingly since last year, board game cafes have become the latest playthings in town. Springing up in various corners of Singapore, they offer rare & interesting board games, cozy environment and of course finger licking good food.

No longer will you be restricted to the nostalgic monopoly and cluedo, with the wide array of board games, imported from the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and other countries, that are available at these cafés, you would be enthralled in the intriguing world of games.

Some cafes also offers a selection of “forfeit” items such as outrageous afro hair wigs, fluffy angel wings and ridiculous animal caps, amongst others, to enhance the fun of game playing. “Playing board games used to be something that only takes place in the home. So with a similar concept, we wanted to recreate a homely and cozy café setting, complete with a huge variety of games, to entice everyone to join us in the fun of playing board games in the comfort of our “home”,” shares Bernard Sim, an owner of HideOut Café.

More noticeable cafes out there currently are TheMind Café & Settler’s Café which even offer corporate functions gaming, and services that include sms reservations.

Board game cafes are definitely a great place to de-stress after a hard day’s work, or to engage mind-boggling strategy games to stimulate your mind and best of all, fellowship with your dear friends and have some great laughs!

Don’t Just Quit Your Day Job Just Yet

Most of us would like to run our own business - including me. Imagine all those advantages that you may have over your peers, freedom to work when and how and also unlimited potential for earning money, not to mention, you are doing what you like most.

But starting and stepping out can be a real risky business. If you give up your day job without much or little income, you may have no income til your business starts turning a profit.
Though people were saying, entreprenuer are risk taker, but you don’t have to take that unneccessary risk. Start small, taking on a few freelance projects, earned experience and expand your contacts in the related field while you are in your day job. In this way, you not only can save up your captial but also get a high chance to build up contacts and minimize risk, while maximizing your chances of success.

After much planning and as soon as you feel that you are prepared and have enough business on the go to launch a full-time career, you can quit your day job. So make the most out of your day job.

SEE LEARN LOOK ASK during your day job - just like me. Even though collegues around you may see you as a nosey poker, but is the experience that you will learned and carried over to your business.

20 tried and tested ways to increase sales and expose your business

In biz, reaching out to your targeted audience or clients is critical in closing in on that desired sales target. Below are 20 ways that you may consider in implementing it into your business. =)

1. Pass your name cards to whoever you meet.


2. Using world oldest marketing tactic - Word Of Mouth.


3. Write letters to editor to publish or interview your products/services in magazines.


4. Contribute your articles in magazines within your field or expertise.


5. Design your own brochures and send to printing house or if you are on budget, you may print it on your trusting printer.


6. Stick your signatures everywhere, be it forums, emails or groups.
   
7. Build up your sales speech not more than 30 secs. This is particularly useful if you going to meet your potential client.


8. Call and/or write to your potential, past and current clients.


9. Remember your clients birthday and send out greetings cards.


10. Start a newsletter mailing list to build up your customer base. Most effective if you are a affiliate marketer.


11. Use online FREE press release to get free publicity.


12. To get the latest updates in you industry, talk with your former employer, associates or friends.


13. Set a sales quota for your services/products.


14. Follow-up on a sales lead. Send them your brochure, then follow-up with a phone call and a meeting.


15. Get listed in online directories.


16. Use online marketing services like yahoo and google.


17. Review your marketing, customer and service program.


18. Tightly integrate your promotion online and offline.
    
19. Upsell your services/products to your current customers.


20. Having a smile goes a long way.

Why MLM is not for me.

Yes...all too familiar?

I presume some part of your life, you have been approach by some friends or family members with "an attractive business prospal" with the promise of making big in life. Getting that big fancy house, driving that sports car, going on overseas trips twice every month.

Chances are they came on behalf of MLM companies.

So what is MLM?

In MLM you are in business for yourself. You purchase products directly from a wholesaler at wholesale prices. Product moves from Point A to Point B. You can, if you wish simply use these products for personal consumption or you can resell them at a retail price to make a profit. The most common misconception, however, is that you have to sell retail to be successful. Not true depending on the company you've chosen to work with.

The sale of a product comes when distributors share that product with family, friends, coworkers and/or neighbors. Now, visual a single thread from a spider's web. As the spider continues to expand his web it continues to grow and reach in all directions. As you meet people who are interested in doing what you're doing, you recruit them. You become responsible for their training, helping them to build a business of their own just like yours.

Sounds good on paper right? WRONG!

Selling a product-based deal is fine, but the idea of marketing a business opportunity to prospects when we know the numbers is not ethical for us. In its purest form, MLM is a viable method of marketing if its focus is on products and not primarily the business. Selling the dream of financial independence with MLM is a mirage for 90+% of distributors. The MLM industry statistics are that on average only 10% of distributors get a commission check each month. Of that 10%, 80% do not make enough to sustain themselves as a full-time income.

Industry-wide company statistics show that 90% of distributors drop out of each company within a 1-2 year period. The distributor churn rate is terrible.Any way you cut it, MLM statistically does not work for 90+% of those involved. And those who make the big bucks are in a more elite group--usually 1/10 of 1% of all distributors.

Secondly,

in MLMs, you do not own your own business, you do not own the product, and you are not in control of your destiny. The company holds all the strings--product supply, computer tracking, commissions, collections, customer service, order fulfillment, publicity, compliance, public relations, comp plan, everything.

All you own is a position in a long line of distributors. You do not control the product you sell, the company plan, what the company does or does not do, the money that is paid . . . distributors own nothing other than the opportunity to sign more distributors and manage the existing downline.

You are at the MERCY of the company, upline, downline, media, and government.

Thirdly,

What and where your the sense of success? stepping on peoples head to succeed? Toying with their feelings & friendships? I despise MLM on a moral level because of the reasons most people already know and would rather die than associate myself with an MLM organization, most of whom are staffed with losers in conventional life. Either no paper qualifications, no discipline or strength to stay in conventional careers etc. All looking for a short term quick buck.

Having said that, MLM works for the few on top of the pyramid because of the concept of leveraging. If you are the average salaried worker, there is no leverage, because you only add value through your own efforts, and if you are only one man, there is only so much you can do.If you are a business owner, you leverage off the efforts of your workers. If you are an investor, you leverage off your financial capital.

Leveraging allows you to grow exponentially instead of in multiples. MLM allows ambitious individuals to leverage OFF the money of friends, family and co-workers without the time and effort needed to set up a conventional business, and without the need to start with any significant financial capital, allowing otherwise useless individuals to make quite a lot of money without really doing anything producitve for society.

Your key focus will be how many downlines.. how to brainwash pple in your seminar talks to newbies... how to network to get more nodes under u.. will you be keen to IMPROVE products, customer services, R&D? absolutely not.


Sorry i'm biased, i have more negative things to say about MLM than positive... That is why I do not explore MLM as a biz model.

You have been warned.