The Merina kingdom is one of the many chiefdoms that existed in Madagascar before the time it became a single kingdom. It was formerly formed by one or more fortified hill-top villages located in the highlands of Madagascar. In the early 17th century, small chiefdoms were unified to form the Merina kingdom. The founder of Merina kingdom, Ralambo, established social and political institutions to forge and reinforce the kingdom. He instituted the council of “sampy” which was formed by the guardians of state amulets that served to strengthen and protect the power of the court. There was also the village council known as “fokonolona”, an administrative system which enabled local nobles and elders to regulate elements of local life such as canals, swamp drainage, trade, and defense. Divine status was bestowed upon ancestral monarchs. Ceremonies such as royal circumcision were implemented. The creation of a new concept of social classes made the Merina kingdom different from others. Merina rulers created a class of noble. These are mainly people that are descendants of Ralambo, and were elevated to a higher caste of nobility. This is due to a religion ideology that was elaborated into a sacred kingship from the Maroseranana (or Maroserana in some literature), a dynasty class of rulers that emerged in the western and southern regions of the island. They also created the caste of artisans, which is a social class that was founded to stimulate industry.

The Merina kingdom created a series of fortification to maintain the control of their territories. They subsisted on trade and agriculture. They drained marshes to create land for rice cultivation. Leaders encouraged people to work in cattle husbandry.

In the late 18th century, the kingdom faced a civil war and was disintegrated into four warring kingdoms. In 1780, one of the descendant of king Ralambo, named Andrianampoinimerina managed to reunite the Merina kingdom after usurping one of the four kingdoms. After the reunification of the Merina kingdom, Andrianampoinimerina had a new vision, a vision of a unified kingdom. He expressed that through his famous word saying “Ny ranomasina no valam-parihiko”, which literally means “the sea is the limit of my rice field”. He was succeeded by his son Radama I, who came to achieve his father’s vision and became the first king of Madagascar.

These are some of the kings that succeeded in the Merina Kingdom:

• Ralambo, the founder of the kingdom. He was also the first king that taught people to eat zebu.

• Andriamanelo, the first king that taught people to forge iron.

• Andrianjaka, the king that changed the name of the Merina capital city Analamanga into Antananarivo.

• Andriamasinavalona, the one that divided his kingdom into four for his four sons.

• Andrianampoinimerina, the king that reunited Merina Kingdom into one and had the vision to unite all the kingdoms in Madagascar into one kingdom.

• Radama I, son of Andrianampoinimerina, who became the first king of Madagascar.

Sources: Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA) / metmuseum.org / Francinet RATSIMAHOLY, “Tantaran’ny firenentsika”; Fahagola hatramin’ny taona 2004.

Entrepreneurs are those who undertake and assume the risk of a business enterprise. Everyone has his own concept of a successful entrepreneur. Silicon Valley, for example, views a successful entrepreneur as a 20-something individual with unlimited energy and clever mind.

Researchers such as Benjamin F. Jones, professor of entrepreneurship and strategy at Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg School of Management and J. Daniel Kim, a Ph.D. candidate in management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, co-operated with Javier Miranda, from the U.S. Census Bureau and Pierre Azoulay, from the MIT. They have made an analysis of the age of all business founders in the US in recent years. They have concluded that the average age of the most successful entrepreneur is 45.

However, Benjamin J. Jones and his colleagues found that the most new successful enterprises nowadays are led by young people and that these are more prevalent. They have discovered that young entrepreneurs are less indebted in thinking. That is, they seem to have more innovative and mixed-up ideas that can be fruitful to their business. At the same time, they still have more time and energy to work on their business. Thanks to their early age, these young entrepreneurs are more advantageous than their elder counterparts, because they are free from family concerns and responsibilities.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook uttered that “Young people are smarter”. In fact, young founders always have a surprising story to tell. How would you imagine that a young boy quits college to embark in a business with a mob of 20-something-year-old fellows and then come out after innumerable days with a new trending app or consumer product that make them generate important wealth? That is a very astonishing way to succeed! Thanks to this surprising story of young founders, venture capitalists choose to invest in the young founders’ business and sometimes let the older founders out in the cold.

How about other theories?

Benjamin J. Jones and his colleagues pursued their search and conducted an internal project at the US Census Bureau to check all the business launched in the US between 2007 and 2014, enclosing 2.7 million founders. They made a comparison of the founder age to establish a performance measure involving employment and sales growth, as well as the exit strategy for a business, whether it is an acquisition or an IPO (Initial Public Offering). They concluded that middle-age founders can create the highest-growth firms and the 20s founders are less likely to build a top-growth firm.
Some theories have showed that entrepreneurs get better with age. Indeed, experience is needed when we talk about entrepreneurship. Older and middle-aged entrepreneurs may have much more experiences in management and are endowed with a far-reaching knowledge in entrepreneurship. Moreover, they may have large-scale financial resources and more developed networks.

Here are some of these successful young entrepreneurs

Mark Zuckerberg, who is now endowed with an estimated net worth of USD 61.7 billion. Facebook which he created at just 19 attests itself the hit of the young entrepreneur. Since its conception, Facebook became one of the most used social media all around the world.

Blake Ross, the founder of Mozilla Firefox. At only 19, this successful entrepreneur created the famous web browser. Now, it is among the prior web browser across different platforms like Windows, Linux and Android.

Catherine Cook, creator of MyYearBook.com. At the age of 15, she came up with her brother Dave with a vision of digitizing high school yearbooks and putting it online, and got investment from their elder brother, Geoff Cook. Catherine and Dave got to be the youngest millionaires around in the prime time of MyYearBooks.

Sources: Lifehack / insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu /MarketWatch

We are currently living in a world where uncertainty has taken too much place. Due to the pandemic that hit all the nations worldwide, a variety of sectors have been touched so hard that many controversies have emerged around. One of these sectors is communication and media. Indeed, journalists and media workers have been found to increasingly struggle with freedom of expression and to not be able to fully enjoy their profession.

This is why every year, on 3 May, a day dedicated to celebrate World Press Freedom Day has been declared. The day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 following a UNESCO’s general conference in 1991 which took place in Windhoek, Namibia. In fact, it has served as an occasion to inform citizens of the violations of press freedom – since some publications and social media contents have been targeted to censor and suspension while media workers have been harassed, attacked and even killed worldwide – and also to remind countries around the world about the principles of press freedom and the fundamental rights on freedom of expression (UNESCO).

Highlights on World Press Freedom Day 2021 observance

This year’s global theme “information as a public good” deals with the major difference between information and other various communications content such as disinformation, hate speech, entertainment and data.The aim of this theme is essentially to draw attention to the key role of journalism in producing and spreading news as verified information in the public interest, and to the importance of assessing information and cherishing it as a public good while promoting transparency and empowerment. To proceed, as provided and initiated by UNESCO, the global observance will focus on three main topics:

• Steps to ensure the economic viability of news media;
• Mechanisms for ensuring transparency of Internet companies; and
• Enhanced media and information literacy capacities that enable people to recognize and value, as well as defend and demand, journalism as a vital part of information as a public good.

This year, the observance of World Press Freedom Day or WPFD is scheduled to run from 29 April to 3 May in Windhoek and the event is going to be both a virtual and in-presence experience and participation while respecting all the sanitary barriers set up against the pandemic such as social distancing and other precautions.

WPFD global conference hosted by UNESCO and the government of Namibia will include forums, seminars, artistic showcases, film screenings and more other activities. Further, the conference is intended to connect activists, policymakers, media experts, artists and researchers throughout the world.

It is important to note that WPFD 2021 observance in Windhoek indeed marks the 30th anniversary of Windhoek declaration held in 1991 in Namibia, where WPFD had its first origin. On 3 May 1991, Windhoek declaration for the Development of a Free Independent and Pluralistic Press was adopted, and this year World Press Freedom Day will be commemorated in its birthplace, in Windhoek, Namibia.

Sources : UNESCO / The United Nations

You may have already come across a movie featuring a majestic obelisk structure that rises to the sky and gazes up at other iconic monuments which stretch along the National Mall in Washington DC. It is the very well-known Washington Monument which stands between the Lincoln Memorial and the US Capitol building.

When talking of great leaders in US history, we sometimes refer to monuments, museums and statues to honor them. One of these US great leaders is Abraham Lincoln nicknamed “Honest Abe”, who was the 16th president of the United States. He has been dedicated a monument as a tribute to his great achievements during his term in office; a name that is no longer new for those who have already been to the National Mall for a tour or are only US history amateurs: “The grand Lincoln Memorial towers”. The Lincoln Memorial is a US national monument that lies on the western end of the National Mall, at the edge of the reflecting pool across from the Washington Monument. The memorial that has been built to honor Honest Abe depicts a neoclassical architecture inspired by ancient Greek temples.

Built as unique, built as a symbol

The building measures 190 feet long and 119 feet wide, with a height that almost reaches 100 feet. The exterior of the memorial is surrounded by a peristyle of 36 columns – an architectural style made of colonnade – representing one for each of the 36 states in America at the period of President Lincoln’s death, and by two columns in the form of parastas at the entrance behind the colonnade – an architectural term used to describe pillars on either side of a doorway or entrance like in Greek temple design.

From the outside, there are stairs leading inside the Memorial. The interior is split into three chambers by two rows of four classical architectural columns of 50 feet tall each. The central chamber houses the 175-ton statue of President Lincoln that measures 19-foot tall. Above the statue inscribed on the wall is a memorable quote written as follows: “In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever”. To the right and left sides of the statue also known as the north and south chambers are carved inscriptions of Lincoln’s second inaugural address and Gettysburg address. These are addresses that made President Lincoln among the most notable figures in US history. The Gettysburg address was a speech he delivered during the American civil war of 1863 and the inaugural address was delivered in 1865 during his second inauguration as US President, which occurred few months before his assassination. The construction of such a majestic monument was made by some talented people including the architect Henry Bacon, sculptor Daniel Chester French who designed Lincoln’s statue in the central chamber, and the Piccirilli Brothers, Italian carvers and sculptors, who carved the statue.

Since its inception, the Lincoln Memorial has become a symbol of US national identity and has served a site of many famous events such as the “The Great March on Washington” in 1963 led by Dr Martin Luther King Jr. That day on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered his stirring historic speech “I have a dream”. As for today, it remains one of the major tourist attractions in the United States.

Sources: Washington DC / National Park Service (nps.gov)

Have you ever thought about being a leader one day? But is leadership really meant for everyone?

Some studies have concluded that leadership is one third-born and two-thirds made. Indeed, it may be possible to be a born-leader, but somehow, being a great leader requires many skills and personal qualities. To be so, you have to learn and train yourself because leading a group of people and being a role model for them are far from being childsplay.

People who are born leaders are endowed with high energy to accomplish their duties. They have exceptional intelligence. They know how to manage their team by being, firstly, the best example for people they are leading. They have extreme persistence toward any situation. They never fear changes if there must be any. One example that can illustrate that is the time when we were in primary or secondary school. The teacher asks for a volunteer to be the delegate of the class, and there is that one little boy who stands out and accepts the challenge. Everything starts from there. How would you realize that this little child is going to accomplish his tasks with perfection? When the teacher asks him to write the name of his talkative classmates on a piece of paper, he does it even if he knows that his friendship may be in danger. He faces the obstacles; he does not fear possible change that may occur; he just does what he has to do as being the leader in his class. That is what innate leadership looks like.

How then, can people train themselves to become great leaders?

Warren Bernis a pioneer in leadership research, stated: “Leadership is the capacity to translate the vision into reality”. The leader has to set a goal for the team. In every group, he sets a goal, has to give the tasks for each members of the team and leads them to the right and perfect path to accomplish all the tasks. He also has to choose the right person who is accountable to him and ready to work with him and follow all his instructions for a special task in order to avoid delay in the achievement of the task. Above all, he needs to visualize all the obstacles that may occur when they are working. He has to think of what may happen in such an interval of work. In order to perfectly achieve the task undertaken, the leader must be the first and the best example for the team and an inspiration for them too. He has to be extroversive, the one that always thinks of the interest of the team. He has to be assertive as well, he has to be strict about the fulfillment of the goal, not thinking of anything else. For being the best inspiration for his team, he has to pay attention to the relationship between each members of the team. He has to foster a culture of gratitude by learning to praise and thank his colleagues for an achieved task and for the ideas that they contributed. That will motivate the employees and help them to be more productive.

So, do you think you are a leader?

Source: Psychology Today

Have you ever heard about “Kobaravina”? Today we want to make you aware of this famous and very delicious dessert in Madagascar. It is a type of cake, a dough that is enveloped in a banana leaf and is served hot. For international visitors and tourists, do not forget to taste that delicious dessert. Maybe you are wondering where to buy a koba in the Big Island. The good news is, wherever you will go, you will find a street vendor carrying a basket of koba on their head. They are walking around from the main road until the smallest alleys while reciting “Koba ô! Koba vao mafana ô!” which means Koba (dough), “these are hot doughs”. They are just waiting for you to call them. Here is the funny fact when you want to buy a koba. You cannot guess the seller’s name; you just call them by saying “Koba!” and they will come to you with a smile. Everybody loves it! A koba is a great option for a snack after school for your children, or for a coffee break for adults at the office.

Today we give you a short recipe for you to make your own “kobaravina”.

Ingredients :

- 5 ripe bananas

-½ cup of rice flour

- ½ cup of brown sugar

- ½ cup of chopped peanuts

- Banana leaves

- Raffia (it is a sort of string)

- Honey

Instructions :

Before starting, make to wash your hands in order to keep the cleanness of your preparation. Let us start now.

1- Mash the bananas in a bowl

2- Mix it with the rice flour and the brown sugar

3- Soften the banana leaves by boiling it in a hot water for a few minutes. Drain and pat it dry with a paper towel.

4- Place 3 table spoons of the batter in the center of a banana leaf.

5- Sprinkle it with the chopped peanuts.

6- Pour some honey on it.

7- Fold the banana leaf along the length of a rectangle and tie it with a raffia.

8- Steam for 20-30 minutes.

You can also use a pot and put the batter inside it and cover with a plastic bag in order to keep the steam and let the koba cook faster.

9- Serve it hot and enjoy the taste of this wonder.

A koba would be perfect with a cup of tea, coffee, chocolate, or milk! Do not forget to share and enjoy it with your friends and relatives.

Visualization is a mental image created in the mind and is similar to a visual perception. Visualizing can be connected with success. When you visualize a situation, you imagine in advance what you would do, what you would let happen in the near future to succeed. Then, you will be able to know where to start and what to do until you reach this success. If you want to be successful in your work, you just need to imagine how you would proceed to get to it. You think of some steps to be followed to achieve your work with perfection. From that, you may feel a wish to excel and give your best to succeed in your job; that may also be a very good motivation for you to fight until the end.

Visualization relates to health success too. In a situation you are facing illness, you can imagine yourself in advance being healthy or getting the perfect medication that will help you recover from it. Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., gave a similar example in his article entitled “The Art and Practice of Visualization”, published in Psychology Today. In his article, Dr Goldsmith teaches people about how to turn that visualization into action when they meet health issues. “If you are having surgery, imagine it going perfectly, hearing the doctor say "this is going great," and see your recovery going well too”, he says. Try it out and see how easily you will be able to overcome your disease.

While reading this article, you may already imagine and think about some techniques to enhance your visualization skills. So, here are three tips to help you get into the process of visualization.

Visualize before taking on any action.

Think of what to do before performing an action by always taking into account the consequences of any act that you take. Ask yourself whether it will bring you to success or not, and whether it will be fruitful for your work or not. After dealing with your inner questions, you can then start acting.

Take visualization as a simple step to follow.

Do not spend time on it like spending too much time on meditating. Just find a comfortable place and sit down by imagining a situation you want to make happen. That will help you focus on the most important points and truly make things happen.

Simulate in your mind the situation you want to come into existence.

The more you allow details to operate in this simulation, the better the simulation will be and become more realistic. As your mind simulates the outcome of your action, simultaneously, your brain starts also to perform to assure you to achieve your goal.

Source: Psychology Today

Voniary is a Malagasy blog writer, passionate about personal development-related topics.

During this time of the spread of Covid-19, and the lockdown, she decided to write a book entitled “Raiso an-tànana ny fiainanao” which means “Take charge of your life”.

This book is a collection of 20 articles from her blog named “Blaogin’i Voniary”. These are texts that essentially help people to develop themselves, to always be optimistic, to be ready to face any problem and get up again in case of failures, to know how to enjoy life, to have stillness and peace, and to increase self-esteem. As most of Malagasy people are currently undergoing unfavorable situation, it is then good to take time to read this book.

Voniary was one of those people who met trouble in the beginning of the lockdown but reading her blog gave her courage to face it. “There is somewhere, someone like me who needs support and encouragement. That is why I took the initiative to write this book”, she uttered. She also wants to expose winner’s mindset and positiveness in her book. At the same time, there are also motivating messages that are conveyed so as to provide guidance for those who want to start a career as an entrepreneur, those who want to fulfill their dream, for people who want to grow, to stand firm, to succeed and to live freely. Further, this book contains glossaries about personal development and positive mindset as well as Malagasy and French translation on its first pages.

Voniary and her journey with personal development

She is well-known for her involvement in promoting the Malagasy language on the internet through the “Teny Gasy 2.0”event, the Malagasy blog article writing contest, and the training “Blaogy sy teny Malagasy” which means “Blog and the Malagasy Language”. She also shares empowering messages about personal development.

She is a real fan of every motivating and inspiring contents and actively follows various blogs that deal with positive mindset and empowerment. She particularly loves motivational talks. In 2016, she decided to create her own blog in which she started to write on this subject and continues to focus more on.

If you long for reading her book, go to the website lulu.com or click on this link https://bit.ly/3697Qz3 and buy it online. You can also order directly and buy it on her Facebook page “Blaogin’i Voniary” and pay it by mobile money. The book only costs 9,000 MGA for the electronic version in pdf format whereas the hard copy is 18,000 MGA.

Every April 22, we celebrate a very special day, that of our home-planet Earth. Earth Day is an occasion for people around the world to show support to the planet also known as “Mother Earth or Mother Nature” by engaging in an environmental protection-related cause.

Each year on this date, a theme is designed to mark the day. The theme for this Earth Day 2021 is “Restore Our Earth” that aims to find other innovative ways to address climate change through focusing on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and brand-new ideas that can build the world’s ecosystems up again. Earth Day was first observed in the US since it was established in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson with the purpose to encourage American people to protect the environment. A few years later, it has gained in influence and since then has become a global day. Currently, there are more than one billion people in 192 countries who take part in the global action associated with the protection to the environment and participate in Earth Day activities and events each year.

Earth Day 2021 events

For this D-Day, the US President Joe Biden is expected to convene a virtual Leaders Summit on Climate in accordance with US plans to address climate issues. Right after his inauguration in January, President Biden delivered a speech about climate change and how the US government is going to tackle this issue by making it at the center of American domestic, national security, and foreign policy. He insisted on advancing conservation, revitalizing communities and cities and on the farmlands; and above all securing environmental justice.

As far as the overall unfolding of the event is concerned, Earth Day 2021 celebration will run from April 20 to April 22. It starts today! Indeed, it is a three-day event dedicated for climate action. Throughout the event, three virtual summits will be held which consist of workshops, panels, speeches, discussions, special messages and performances. One of these summits that will take place today, April 20, is the global youth climate summit led by Earth Uprising – a team of youth climate activists from all over the world who unite to take action and demand a better future for themselves and future generations – in collaboration with other non-profit organizations and other hundreds of youth climate activists.

Let’s restore the earth!

If you cannot attend the digital event, there is still another best way to honor Earth Day. In fact, restoring the earth does not only come down to attending a three-day summit or event. There is more! It is about being committed everyday to showing support to the planet we are living on and always doing the best to restore it. So we invite you today to join us in these few simple eco-friendly actions, provided by EARTHDAY.ORG, to prove how much we care about our mother earth:

• Spend time outside and try to pick up trash while enjoying your outdoor activities.
• Be part of the change by changing your diet to fight climate change.
• Stop deforestation by supporting companies that take an active role against it.
• Organize your own cleanup or do it with small groups to positively impact your community which then will contribute to global change.
• Take action to combat plastic pollution.
• Spread the word and talk about climate change around you and across the globe.

 Sources: Share America / earthday.org

Living one’s passion to become successful is like paradise on earth. Is there anyone who does not dream of that? Would you be ready to give everything to live your passion while working and enjoy all the benefits?

When you live your passion while working, you will increase self-confidence. You know that you love what you do, so you perfectly know how to deal with it. Everything will be alright for you as you know where to start and how to reach success in your job. You are comfortable on living your passion and freely express yourself on it. From that you are able to live a life that is acceptable to you, a life in which you will never undergo any pressure from your friends, from your relatives and from the society. You can then freely focus on yourself and on your way to success.

Living a passion will reduce your stress level and will hasten your success. Like in all jobs, you will have to face stress but while living your passion, you will have to encounter less stress because you do what you love. That will increase your motivation to work hard. It will make you enjoy your work. You will not fear failure and difficulty. What a relief!

Live your passion and you will see a fulfillment in the work you do. You will not have to follow the society’s concept which consists in “working to live”, but you will work to live your passion. You are free to give power and time to your passion and that will lead you to success. In that case, you will get the joy of living your passion at anytime instead of just planning a time to live your passion.

Live your passion and later, when you review your life or when you have a conversation with your future children, you will be proud for having lived your passion. You will not regret having pursued your dream and worked at the same time.

Live your passion in order to expand your comfort zone. You will not have to give everything up to live your passion. You work and live your passion at the same time and you will see how good it will be to you. It will make you try new things, become more creative and successful too. Yes! You can live your life and your passion while pursuing new adventures on the side. That will make you more successful.

Sources : Forbes/ lifehack.org