Paradoxically, it’s a good sign when your internal campus is steadily consistent.

The paramount importance of the fundamental element of vision is greatly undervalued by many, not because of the current global recession, but rather by a poverty of ambition in today’s business sense which is hypnotized by the sizzle and not the steak.

Not to concoct a sensational story, but I’ve never been one to resign myself to the inevitable. 2009 has been a painful but rewarding process of trial and error for me.

The systemic nature of entrepreneurship is hinged on making effective decisions with scarce resources,in a dynamic environment. Taking the challenge (sealing my fate) by vowing to stay afloat in this economic upheaval has been more than a test of character; it’s been a philosophical journey.

The YMBK brand stands for strength, the strength to OVERCOME obstacles’. Irony becomes suspect, when in trying to follow the rules of academia and vision, the corrosive aspect of challenges is strengthened by an unhealthy lack of faith in the very elements that have positioned us to be where we are.

YAMBUKA has had a simple maxim: OVERCOME any and all challenges.

YAMBUKA as an entity has had its challenges, the greatest of which has been its vision. I want to pontificate that in an environment saddled with debt, YAMBUKA’s incumbency has been an ideological stance against coloring within the lines. As an entrepreneurial project, a ‘work in progress’ adventure, challenges come in all forms and from all directions. I have an energy milking but rewarding 4 days to look forward to. The humbling thing about these 4 days is that they sum up the BRAND thus far.

The challenge is that, YAMBUKA belongs to everyone; it’s an idea, a brand. With the set of well defined rules & ideals that we follow, that have successfully positioned us in this competitive environment, not a market leader by any means but rather an ‘undercut-punch’, with the potential to knock out the opponent, ceteris paribus. Blindly abandoning the creative philosophies that have resulted in profitable opportunities is unbelievably absurd.


360 degree feedback given in good faith is priceless. My challenge is aligning input with the original vision. Having a vision is imperative. Believing in the vision is attractive.

I will eternally be indebted to those who believe in my vision and those who believe that the vision is imperative.


Onwards.Upwards.Always.

Farai

">

MY NAME: Chrispen




AGE:29 years old


LOCATION: Toronto, Canada (you can make it here you can make it anywhere in North America!)

Project name: Upenyu Artwear Clothing

Purpose

Upenyu Artwear Clothing was founded by two young entrepreneurs with a vision of creating a clothing line that expresses all the positive and joyous aspects of life. In the African language of Shona which originates from Zimbabwe, Africa, Upenyu means Life.




Upenyu designs and garments capture the spirit of finding joy through adversity and holding onto moments that evoke emotions of peace and happiness. All the designs of the Upenyu Clothing collection are created with the sole purpose of reminding us of what is beautiful about upenyu (life).

Upenyu Clothing’s mission is to spread the message of positivity through our designs. Our designs reflect moments of joy, love and passion captured and expressed through our collections

History



Goals
As the planners of the business, our goal from the onset is to successfully convey the message and uniqueness of Upenyu clothing to our targeted demographic and beyond.




We are confident that once our positive message, original design concepts, quality clothing and professionalism is successfully conveyed to our target market and beyond, Upenyu will achieve great success.

Objectives
The goal will be to successfully convey Upenyu’s image to the public. We will align our brand with other individuals or companies that also represent positivity and social awareness in the same vein as Upenyu.

This will all be in an effort to connect with our target market on an emotional level as well as to compel them to become more interested in our brand.



Pic’s





URL to website

http://www.upenyu.com

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Toronto-ON/Upenyu-Artwear-Clothing/145200115567?ref=ts


ABOUT Chrispen

Last concert attended

Man this one is really memorable, although my best all-time concert is The Lost Boyz when they performed in Zimbabwe like 13 years ago, it was the legendary Roots crew. ?love, Black Thought and the rest of the band. Those guys know how to move a crowd with live instruments and Black Thought as the MC, they can never go wrong.

They had a lot of surprises too by bringing out Lupe Fiasco and De La Soul. It was such a diverse crowd there you just had to love it.

Last CD purchased

The last CD I bought was the latest from my favourite rapper, NAS. It was originally supposed to have the controversial title of NIGGER but he folded into the pressure to censor and so he called it UNTITLED. Yo, that album is crazy! The theme of the entire CD is the way some black people are still prisoners of their own minds and thus still acting like NIGGERS instead being more empowered.

From the almost acapella intro to the finale crowning the then to be elected President Barack Obama, this album is what mature hip hop fans should be on! You can tell I’m a conscious dude but I still realize where I came from so NAS is like my storyteller!

Favorite TV show as a child

Ah, taking it back! Well there was nothing like Saturday morning cartoons when we were growing up. From Thundercats to Voltron, He- Man and all the OG ones man, you already know what it is!

For non-cartoon shows it was actually action ones like Knight Rider, A-Team etc. The type of person I am I never look backwards (believe-it-or-not) so I don’t fret too much on old things lol


Most anticipated 2010 event/CD/movie.
Let’s see, off the top of my head, I can only anticipate the 1st ever musical festival that Upenyu Clothing is putting together with Upendo Sounds. It will be called the Upenyu/Upendo Festival and literally translates to the Love/Life festival. It will be a huge event held here in Toronto, Canada and will be a fusion of different sounds and performers but mostly with an afro centric theme. We are bringing in artists and DJs from all over North America, Africa and beyond to make this a truly successful festival!

I get excited even talking about it.

Keep checking for updates at http://www.upenyu.com

YAMBUKA THEME: Life (and Business) is tough: summarize an incident(s) you had to OVERCOME a challenge or an obstacle.

One very challenging situation was dealing with a PR person for an event planner that I had entered into a simple cross-promotional arrangement with.

The PR person had not been mentioned to me as being a go-between but she just contacted me about the event in question without a formal introduction and came in guns blazing with misinformation and an amazing lack of professionalism. She was bent on destroying a business relationship that had been months in the forming.




It took all my strength to OVERCOME this challenge but being faced with the challenges of just being who I am and wishing to succeed in business, I had to keep my eyes on the prize!


YAMBUKA salutes Chrispen & Upenyu Artwear Clothing

Championing purpose, hard work and social growth. Building community wealth.

Listen to the Blueprint 3 Album for FREE.

The Blueprint 3 - Jay-Z


Weigh in. Click on comments (bottom right hand corner) and leave a comment.

How do you rate Jay-Z as an artist?

How do you rate Jay-Z as an entrepreneur?

Is it fair to ONLY compare Jay-z to his previous work?





Is he getting better with age?

Does his entire body of work put him close to Pac?

Is he better than Wayne ?

How do you rate Blueprint 3?

Auto tunes or no autotunes for hiphop?

Is hiphop ALIVE?

It’s a little before midnight, I’m feeling a forced calm, I'm aching for a peaceful thought to cascade through me. I am at the office in mid-town Omaha, experiencing the ‘entrepreneur’s curse’ – having to monitor the project all the time.

I am reflecting on the verbal, non-verbal and paralinguistic styles of communication people use, particularly the ones YAMBUKA stakeholders have used in the interpersonal business relationships I have created this year.

A business associate told me (minutes before a deadline)that he would not complete a verbally agreed upon project unless I awarded a production tender to his brother-in-laws company.

I asked incredulously, "...is this how you do business?'

He chuckled and said, " I'm trying to stay recession free."

He went on to justify his calculated play; a monotone monologue lacking sincerity and truth. Shock quietens me, however, it’s a known cliché that ‘what people do not say is more important than what they do say’.


'Strong Arming' in business is a sign of desperation and a symptom of a poor business model.Rather, everybody responds positively when shown respect. Sound confidence and excellent communication skills, in my humble opinion, are better signs of a clear vision. Vision is an element of wealth. Wealth is the goal.


What boggles my mind is not why (business) people lie, rather, why we cannot tell the truth. Why are we evasive, deceptive and most importantly, ommissive? Why is it challenging to communicate the truth?


The communication process is well known, a function of content, structure and delivery. Whilst working on improving my communication competences this year, I have come to understand how the communication process goes beyond accents, diction, grammar (verb: doing word, noun: name of things, places, pro-nouns: personal versus possessive, adjectives etc) style and tone. Communication is truth. Truth is simplicity, purity and transparency wrapped in a delicious cocoon of value adding sweetness. It is beautiful, in business it is valuable and that’s why I feel it is difficult for many people to communicate truth.

The Power Facade In Business Meetings: Instead of interpersonal business interactions being an easy win-win situation, were both parties express their needs, highlighting the opportunities available and constructing a simple solution, I have noticed how fictional power plays (as seen on the silver screen) seem to be how some people believe real business is handled.

The truth is out there.

Upwards. Onwards. Always.

Farai

Conventional wisdom is shoddily formed and devilishly difficult to overturn.

My goal has always been to build a community of like-minded people, a creative engine powered by the need to OVERCOME (any and all) challenges, a ubiquitous unifying theme of individual empowerment through a diverse breed of experts. These experts are you and I. Experts on our own lives.

Shoddy conventional wisdom.

In my YAMBUKA endeavors thus far, I have had to fall back on my many years of business studies (risk versus return, cost benefit analysis etc), my personal experience and tastes (love, fashion and music), my ethical and moral ideologies (true motives, competition) and my sound self confidence.

My bone of contention with ‘conventional wisdom’ is simple, I’ve realized that as much as people may think that decisions are better made from gathering as much information as possible, at times it’s the simple facts that make everything clearer.

In dealing with YAMBUKA stakeholders (models, designers, promoters, distributors, suppliers, lawyers, accountants, team members, advisors, sponsors, business partners and affiliates) it’s always the simplest gestures that say the most.

Are the best decisions made based on INTENT (equity, vision, truth, purpose and value) OR, volumes of data from documents, reasons/excuses, theories and analytical models.

Personally, I beleive these tools help in forming an opinion, but the actual decision is independent from this opinion.

I've met several business people this year, some successful (business models hinged on simplicity) and others with room for improvement (over-thought business models with a lack of emphasis on key areas).

Shoddy conventional wisdom is difficult to overturn.