Romeo Richards

I asked Mike a question which I would urge every African diaspora to ask themself: which one of your friends is the best at what he does and is still struggling? Do you know anyone whom you will say he or she is the best in their field and they are still struggling to make a living? Herein lies the heart of our problems as a people. Most of us are not good at anything and we are not making any type of contribution to our host countries.

These articles might sound to some as if I am saying that it is a wrong thing to remove the likes of Gadhafi or Assad, that is not what I am saying. What I am saying is removing those guys alone will not solve the Arab problem. It needs to be seen as a first step towards creating a 21st century society in the Arab world. It is like a person who wants to lose weight by just dieting. For sure dieting is a good first step however, it has to be followed by exercise, stress reduction etc.

Leadership is not the core problem. Indeed bad leadership is a part of the Arab problem however, not the core problem. The core problem in the Arab world is modernity competing with antiquity. In Asia, there is a blend of modernity and antiquity in every facet of society. But then there is a place in which it intertwines to result in productive partnership.

No money, no passport and no prospect of getting a job to raise the money when the locals themselves were struggling for job, I was stuck. But my determination to get to Europe far out way my circumstances at the time. I tried another three times to get to Libya, each time I was intercepted and returned to Nigeria. I then decided to take another rout.

Walking through a burning building one morning during the civil war in my country in 1990 on the only wall that was left standing were graffiti the words: "our eyes are open but we cannot see". Someone with a magnificent sense of humour has managed to conjured laughter in the mist of tragedy and had magically captured the thought of the nation in a few words. The big question now is why? Why have those revolutions never succeeded in bringing about the desired changed the people anticipated?

For someone like me in a war ravaged country with seven and eight years old kids banishing AK47, where your life could end at any time by crossing the wrong check point, all you want is to get out. It does not matter where to. When a man is faced with certain death, the instinct to survival runs deep and you can do anything to get out of that situation. Those guys like many of us left Africa with big dreams and hoped to make it big in West.

You can now imagine my excitement when I was invited to this company. On one hand I was glad that I had the opportunity to learn from this company with spectacular shrinkage record but I was also apprehensive. What help could I give to a company that had shrinkage level blow the best retailers in the world. I began to get a bit concerned but I kept my concerns to myself.

From 2005 to 2009, online shopping population grew to 1.6 billion and is predicted to rise to 2.3 billion by 2014 with a gross revenue totally $778.6 billion. Every year, millions of people go to the Internet for their shopping needs, enjoying the convenience of shopping from home without stepping into the physical store – even doing their grocery shopping online. Given this new era of shopping practice, what can retailers do to get shoppers into the physical store?

Most retail crimes whether shoplifting or employee theft are crime of opportunity, when you remove the opportunity you remove the possibility. Both shoplifting and employee theft together accounts for around 78% of retail shrinkage according to the 2010 Retail Global Theft Barometer Report and effective store design can reduce these incidence by as much as 80%. In most instances, retailers can effectively design crime out of their store.

I just read a document from Tesco, you will think that a multinational company such as Tesco would be able to pinpoint the root causes of its shrinkage. Even Tesco blamed 80% of it shrinkage problems on theft. If 80% of Tesco shrinkage is down to theft and retail theft is the easiest shrinkage to control, I wonder why their loss prevention chief still has a job. Like Tesco most retailers are identifying symptoms to the problem instead of the root causes of their shrinkage problem.