Giving Education A Sporting Chance

Giving education a sporting chance

You are probably wondering what a UN official is doing writing about the World Cup. So let me start with an assurance. I’m not about to offer post-match analysis, express a view on the vuvuzela or take a position on the merits of the official World Cup football.

A British football manager was once asked whether he thought football was a life or death issue. “Of course not,” he replied, “it’s much more important than that.” When you ride the roller coaster of the World Cup, you get a sense of what he meant. Whole nations hold their breath, experience those moments of soaring hope, and then slide into collective anxiety. Yet in the end football is game. What makes this World Cup different is that it has given football and South Africa a chance to tackle a real life and death issue – a global crisis in education that is blighting the lives of a whole generation of children in Africa and beyond.

Learning By Sports

In football, both teams follow the same rules. Matches are won or lost through the skill of the players, the tactics of the coaches and sometimes moments of chance.
Nobody would think it fair if a match kicked off with one team’s forwards having their feet tied together. Yet poverty and gender inequalities in education shackle the talents of Africa’s children. This is one of the greatest social injustices of our time.
The 1Goal campaign – a global partnership between the world soccer federation Fifa and civil society organisations across the world – has helped to focus attention on this crisis in education. On July 11, the campaign will culminate in a special education summit in Cape Town, hosted by President Jacob Zuma. The aim: to get the 72-million primary-school-age kids currently denied an education into decent quality schooling by 2015.
This World Cup summit is a one-off chance to galvanise the leadership and the financial resources needed to make this happen. So far, political leaders have failed to treat the education crisis with the urgency it merits. Perhaps that’s because you don’t see kids dying for want of schooling. But when 72 million children don’t have a chance to go to school, there are deep social, economic and human costs.
Consider the links between maternal education and child survival. Children in Africa born to mothers with a secondary education are half as likely to die before the age of five. Put differently, universal secondary education in Africa would avert around 1.8 million deaths a year – a stark illustration of the fact that gender inequalities in schooling cost lives.
Failing to educate young girls, the majority of those out of school, is not just immoral and a violation of their human rights – it’s also plain stupid. Denying girls an education is bad for economic growth, bad for the health of the country and bad for democracy. It’s like missing an open goal in the World Cup final.
Achieving the 1Goal ambition will not be easy. If we carry on as we are, the target of “Education for All by 2015″ will be missed – there will still be 56 million children out of school. At a time when rich countries are struggling to come to terms with fiscal deficits, more aid is vital. Estimates by our Global Monitoring Report suggest that another $11 billion will be needed annually.
Yet despite repeated pledges to do more, donors have been cutting aid to education. If broken promises to the world’s children merit a caution, several G8 governments would be heading for a red card and an early bath.

Learning While Playing

The education summit on July 11 provides an opportunity to chart a new course. True, the price tag might prompt some people to question whether the aims of the 1Goal campaign are realistic. But how “realistic” is it to deny vulnerable girls and boys a passport out of poverty? As the old saying goes, if you think education is expensive, try ignorance.
As Nelson Mandela once put it, “Education is the great engine of personal development.” It equips people with the skills they need to work their way out of poverty, to broaden their choices, and participate in political processes that affect their lives. And in our increasingly knowledge-based global economy, education is the surest route to higher economic growth, decent jobs and future prosperity.
When it comes to global reach, soccer could make the United Nations green with envy. The World Cup will be watched by a cumulative audience of 26 billion people for all matches. In a world scarred by so much violence and conflict, football cuts across ethnic, religious and cultural divides – and unites people across national borders.
In two weeks’ time, the final whistle will blow and the winning team will collect the World Cup. One set of supporters will be euphoric. The rest will be left trying hard to remember that football is just a game, and that there will be another World Cup in four years.
Whichever team we are backing, all of us should be supporting the demand for an education summit that delivers a result. Education is not a game. And kids get only one chance to go to school. Giving them that chance would really make this a World Cup to remember.

HOW TO TURN AROUND A DISTRESSED HOTEL ASSET IN 6 MONTHS

HOW TO TURN AROUND A DISTRESSED HOTEL ASSET IN 6 MONTHS :-

We have been faced with this challenge many times, and it seems it often boils down to the same. It might surprise you that generally the problem is due to a lack of insight in independent hotels on how the travel industry really works. There is also a shortage of understanding in the business in general. As a result hotel assets become distressed and are in dire need to be turned around.
Many properties are built without sufficient planning and ran by under qualified management. Yes, unfortunately many hotel businesses are challenged with not having the right staff and management that truly comprehend their job. They lack the capability of connecting the dots between the work they are doing and the financial results of the hotel.
A perfect example would be a conversation I had a little while ago with a very experienced revenue manager at a 5 star resort of a renowned international hotel chain. At the hotel she was assigned to take on, offers were being extended to distributors with discounts, rebates and override commissions that were in reality not contributing to the bottom line. Actually they were costing money. Yes they were selling rooms, but the hotel essentially had to chip in money to make the guest stay feasible.
How come a sales manager is capable of negotiating deals that end up costing money? To me it is amazing the shortage of understanding many people in the hotel have on what their real contribution and impact is on the bottom line of their hotel.
I have just used an example of a sales manager, but unfortunately they are not the only ones in our industry unfortunately. Many General Managers and Front Office Managers as well lack a deep enough insight in how to really manage a hotel operation and business.

HOW TO TURN AROUND A DISTRESSED HOTEL ASSET IN 6 MONTHS

SPEED TO MARKET :-

A distressed hotel probably got to its current situation through a slow process of decline. Over time business and profitability eroded. To get out of the slump you need to get momentum back on your side.
Takeover management is done with speed to re-energize the organization and the employees. You need to get the team huddled up. With motivation levels up again you will be able to get a long way.
So look for some quick wins to show them your approach has a positive impact, and you will get people on your side for the long battle ahead of you.


WAKE AND SHAKE THEM UP :-

Yes of course the downturn happened with the team you are now managing. But is it their fault? No, of course not; they were probably not shown correctly, trained or properly managed.
Motivate them by leading by example. Get your hands dirty and fix the problems. Show that you can do the job, and love doing it. Treat them with respect, and soon you will see the spark lighting back up in their eyes.
And don’t forget you can learn from them as well. They know the ins and outs of their hotel and market place. Show you care about what they know, and soon the will know you care. Little things matter, call them by their name!
From the beginning you have to set the expectations clearly. Let the sales, marketing and reservations team now what will be coming and what you expect from them. They probably have been neglected and left to their own resolve. If explained in a constructive manner they will welcome the new support and guidance you can provide them.


SIMPLIFY IT ALL :-

When we take over hotels I generally find that rate structures, marketing and distribution strategies are over complex. And as a result they become time consuming to manage. At one point you don’t even know anymore where and at what price you are selling your hotel rooms.
I have seen many hotels having absolutely having no control over their rates and inventory, just because they jumped on every promotion distributors proposed. Just imagine, an early bird discount of 10%, combined with a stay 4 pay 3 nights offer, and free breakfast for weekdays from 2 nights, and a 5% override commission. Do the math and we are talking about a 43% discount. Now subtract 15% commission from this and we only have 49% left of the price we set out to sell.


PRESENCE, REACH & EXPOSURE :-

You need to be visible to your potential guests. They search multiple websites to find a hotel where they would like to stay. So you have to make sure you can be found. And just being on websites is not merely enough. You need to make sure your online profile is much more attractive than your competition with many images, video’s, great customer feedback and good review scores.


CASH IS KING :-

A distressed hotel basically needs money. So it’s important to get the cash flow jump started quickly. Non-essential cost should be scrapped immediately of course to assist in a quick transition towards a healthy cash surplus. But cost control is not the only method. If the hotel is faulting occupancy, you might think about launching flash sales campaigns to get more people coming through the doors.


PUTTING THEORY INTO PRACTICE :-

I can hear you thinking. Fantastic theories, but do they even know how to do this for real. Yep, we do. Do it on a daily basis. Let me share with you a success story of a recent hotel turnaround strategy we implemented.
It is in the embattled market of Seville, Spain, which is heavily suffering from a deep crisis. The country has an unemployment rate of 27,5% and the economy is in shambles, putting a lot of pressure on companies.
Corporate travel budgets have been sliced to all time lows. MICE events are also down tremendously from pre-crisis levels. And national tourism is down the toilet.
Moreover the hotel is not located in the city center, but rather on the fringes, nor is it close to the trade-fair. And accommodation supply has also by far outgrown normal demand levels due to over-construction.