2016 Annual Review

It is literally the last day of January 2017, this blog post is rather late to the party but hey, rather now than never. After a fairly hectic end of year and travel in the new year, I am happy to have finally had a chance to sit down and pen this. Over the course of last year, I had been itching to setup this blog and start writing regularly (I get flooded with euphoria when I sit down to write or get up to speak and cringe at the sight of a poorly assembled set of presentation slides), so I am particularly stoked to have gotten round to doing so! On this blog, I will share some thoughts and ideas on Technology, Business, Travel and anything else that I find to be of interest to me.

In this first post, I look at what worked well in 2016 as well as what is in store for 2017.

What worked well in 2016

  • Sunk my teeth into some of the new JavaScript technologies, namely React.js and Redux. The learning curve was a bit steep, it’s a different way of thinking from the conventional MVC approach but thinking of UI in terms of components and state is pretty logical! I will be looking forward to working on more React / Redux projects to increase proficiency therein. I also dabbled with some Cordova + SAPUI5.
  • Made significant progress on a radio / podcast project with a good friend of mine. Can’t share too much on this now but watch this space!
  • Purchased an action camera and captured some great footage at food markets and festivals.
  • Finally got round to reading Good to Great by Jim Collins (companies do not just go from zero to hero but a lot happens behind the scenes such as sustained effort, having the right people on the bus, great leadership and an understanding of what you can be the best in the world at).
  • Attended Ultra SA (an outdoor electronic music festival) in Cape Town (Feb 2016). It was great to see internationally renown artists such as Black Coffee, Tiesto, ZEDD, Robin Schulz etc. The amount of global talent is phenomenal and its always great to experience the comradery at music festivals. Music and dance are truly a universal language that transcend culture.
  • Did some camping in Riebeek Kasteel (Western Cape) over the Easter holiday.
  • Road tripped to Victoria Falls (in Zimbabwe) with a friend after his wedding and that was an experience to remember. It was a fusion of American, Australian, Batswana and Zimbabwean cultures.
  • Attended the Swaziland Bushfire Festival (international music and arts festival), held over three days in Malkerns (in Swaziland). Dancing to music under the night sky, conversations with strangers and indulging in local food was such a rich experience.

What’s in store for 2017

  • Regularly blog on Technology, Business etc
  • Explore more of my homeland, Zimbabwe
  • Launching the radio / podcast project I hinted at earlier
  • Engage in public speaking activities
  • Regular exercise and healthy living

That is all for now. Thanks for reading. Cheers to an epic 2017.


Footnotes
  1. Thanks to Chiko Mukwenha for inspiring me to write this Annual Review.