Category: Monkey Money Mind

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SILVER(BACK) LININGS: a journey to Rwanda / Uganda, The Gorilla Organi-zation & 3 take-aways

The story behind the story

A while ago, I had the chance to visit Rwanda and Uganda as part of a very special project – the book I co-authored with Chris Zadeh – Monkey Money Mind: a book that focuses on the psychology behind money and why we stop thinking when we start spending. Whenever I start speaking about Monkey Money Mind and my trip to Africa, many people immediately interrupt me to ask “What does Africa have to do with how we spend our money?”

When Chris and I first started writing the book, we agreed that we wanted to donate all the proceeds of the book to charity. We chose The Gorilla Organization (TGO) and once the decision was made official, Jillian Miller, its Executive Director, invited us to visit their projects in Rwanda and Uganda together with Dr. Ian Redmond OBE, former research assistant of Dian Fossey. That’s where the second part of our story begins.

But before we dive into the story, check out the short clip from our trip:

The Projects and Gorillas in the Mi(d)st

Myself and one of my colleagues, Carla Martinez, took off to Africa armed with all the cameras we could find. We were ready for the action, and that’s exactly what we got, and more. We arrived in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda and were immediately surprised. In the past decade or two, Rwanda has made some drastic changes – it switched its entire education system from French to English in no time so it could be more competitive globally. The roads were decent, good mobile signal throughout the country and there were tourists everywhere. Digitally modern and highly connected, they even use drones to distribute blood to medical emergency stations that are hard to reach. So far for the image we had (forgive our ignorance).

Excited about what was ahead of us, we couldn’t wait to kick it off. TGO created a jam-packed schedule, under the leadership of Dr. Samson Werikhe, that would allow Ohpen to meet their local TGO team and visit their main projects. Even though TGO works with communities in Uganda, Rwanda and Congo, our team only visited Rwanda and Uganda as the Democratic Republic of Congo was not safe to travel for us. Henry Cirhuzo, TGO’s project manager in Congo crossed the border to meet with us and shared the highlights of the projects he overlooks. But Henry is not the only one we met. Just to name a few, we met with TGO’s Uganda Field Officer, Regina Sanyu who introduced us to organic farmers, former poachers who used to depend on the forest. She has trained over 11.000 farmers in sustainable and organic gorilla-friendly agriculture. Now they are growing their own crops, eating from and selling them; schoolgirls who prepared a performance for us including poetry/storytelling and a powerful dance; and beekeepers who are making a living and a business out of their honey production. Everything they learn through the projects of TGO, they share with other people in their community. Each and every person we met had a different story, but a goal in common: building a better future for themselves and their families.

Besides the projects, a trek to see the gorillas in their natural habitat couldn’t be missed. We tracked them twice – once in Rwanda and once in Uganda. Visiting the projects and the gorillas taught us valuable lessons.

Trek 1: Mafunzo group (Rwanda)

The first trek took place in Rwanda. Guided by local guides and Dr. Ian Redmond, it took us 9,5 hours to get up to an altitude of 10,600 feet (3,200 meters) and come back down, covering over 18km of what used to be Dian Fossey’s home. Making it back after dark, the trek was no piece of cake. There were times we had to be assisted because of the thick jungle, the altitude and it was clear that we missed “leg-day” in the gym a couple of times. During the hike, Ian educated us about gorilla life, their habitat, families and the amazing history between him and this country that dates back to the seventies. After hours of hiking -Ian didn’t even break a sweat- we encountered the gorilla family, Mafunzo. Any pain we could have felt, dissipated to give way to pure awe mixed with adrenaline and the joy of seeing our furry cousins up close and personal. They say before you start that it is a magical encounter, and it truly is. 

Trek 2: Nshongi group (Uganda)

During our second trek, we set out to meet the Nshongi group. This is a special group, as donors can adopt gorillas that belong to this group via The Gorilla Organization’s website. We set out on this adventure with three delegates of TGO: Rwanda and Uganda Programme Manager, Dr Samson Werikhe, Safia and Jovia. This trek didn’t take us as long as the first one but seeing the Nshongi family was every bit as impressive as meeting the Mafunzo one. A striking difference, though, was the vegetation; it seemed to be much more diverse in Uganda when compared to Rwanda. A comment made by the porters stood out to us; they all used to live inside of the parks but in order to create an income that did not depend on poaching or taking wood from the forest, they are now on a rotating schedule where once a month they can assist tourists who visit the gorillas. They are given $15/$20 per person for helping out one day. That money supports the porters for an entire month.

Out of Africa: Key takeaways from our visit to Rwanda and Uganda

When I look back at my journey to Africa, a journey that started long before I actually set foot there, I can say that I learnt so much during our trip that one blog cannot do it justice. Although I could write another book on the experience alone, I tried to jam my top takeaways from our journey here and from meeting all the lovely people we met:

  1. We all want the same thing: a better future. That is what drives us and connect us. For example, one of the most inspirational stories we heard during our trip was from a beekeeper. She received her training as a beekeeper from TGO and received two hives. From the sales of the honey produced by her hives, she was able to buy a goat. She used the manure of her goat for her own garden and crops, then she combined the money from the sale of honey and crops to invest in more beehives. Now, she owns more than 20 beehives, her goat has had 5 babies and she is planning on expanding her honey business to make wax and candles. All made possible by TGO who train and educate the community. In the end, no matter how much we have, where we come from, what we look like, where we live or what our income level is, we want to do and be better.
  2.  The butterfly effect IS real. We learned how big the influence of the Western world is over these countries. For example, we learned about the Pyrethrum fields in Rwanda. Heavily supported by the European Union, more than half of Rwanda’s national park was reduced to cultivate this flower, which produces pesticide that is then exported and sold to the rest of the world. Rwanda and Tanzania alone make up for 75% of the world’s supply. The EU provided millions of euros between 2003 and 2010 to, among other projects, privatize tea and Pyrethrum. The European Development Fund advised to demolish one-third of the 160 km2 park for a cattle project that would generate income, swapping ‘useless’ forest income for income-producing cattle. Reducing the forest had a great impact not only on the gorillas but on other species that live in the forest. In Rwanda there are no more forest elephants left. This means that there are no large animals to ‘plant trees’ with the seeds via their dung. Everything we do has an impact and putting our needs above everything else no matter what, can have dire consequences in the long run. If we want to build a sustainable future, we need to fight short-termism: destroying our natural resources, in this case, the forest, to use it for projects that will generate income faster.
  3. We can all make a difference: we get to decide whether that will be good or bad. it doesn’t matter what level of income we have, we can always pay attention to our environment and try to do the least damage possible. And, if we can afford it, we can always donate to a good cause such as TGO. You can read more about why we chose TGO, in my previous post: APESTRUCK: An exploration of the psychology of money (and ultimately giving back).

We can do so much more with less

TGO doesn’t give money away or bring volunteers from abroad to help. Instead, they prefer to invest in local communities and projects – both by hiring local people, training them and getting them involved in their sustainability projects so they in turn can spread the word and train others, creating a domino effect and minimizing the dependence on the forest and increase efforts in protecting it. I saw firsthand how resourceful you can be when you don’t have much at hand. The idea is to try to look at our silver linings and make the most out of everything we have in everything we do to create a better future.

Until now we were able to donate €31.084,22 to The Gorilla Organization from the book proceeds and donations from friends, family and colleagues from Ohpen. Thank you all!

A special thanks to Melvin Siau, Marco Bos, Jan Fekkes, Sabrina Vanstaen, Laurens Wijnker, Linda Reijling, Ronald Mul, Carlo Velthuijs, Frederieke Hoogstins, Bas Doeksen, Denise Scheermeijer, Kees Postma, Ineke Schouten, Michiel Schipperus, Eelco Ouwerkerk, Victor van Osta, Ohpen and Laura Bron for your donations. Do you want to know more or donate to The Gorilla Organization? Please click here.

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APESTRUCK – an exploration of the psychology behind money (and ultimately giving back)

When working on and researching for Monkey Money Mind, a Forbes book I co-authored with Chris Zadeh, both of us were struck time and again by the human capacity for fooling ourselves. We think we are rational when it comes to spending, when in reality, most of our financial decisions are made based on our emotions. Our subconscious tricks us into buying stuff we don’t need and can’t afford because we think it will make us look or feel good; we ruin our credit scores, we don’t save for pensions, we max out our credit cards…and, when we are finally able to set aside some money, we already owe it on interests. 

We constantly overestimate our future earnings and underestimate the likelihood of bad luck. In the end, when we have painted ourselves in a corner, financially, some of us are left with no options other than face years of debt repayment or live in constant fear that something large, our car, the washing machine, could break down and we can’t afford the repairs. 

We stop thinking when we start spending

Game of Thrones – First delivery of the Monkey Money Mind

In short: we tend to stop thinking when we start spending and overlook that in the end, not being able to handle money is expensive. Washing at a laundromat is more expensive than having a washing machine at home, not having money to repair the roof, will ruin your entire house, not being able to afford car maintenance, in the end will leave you without the ability to commute and work. 

Our Monkey Mind is all about instant gratification and doesn’t care about long-term and sustainable planning. Not only financially but in many other aspects. This struck a chord with me even more during a chat with Dr Ian Redmond, who contributed to the book. Among other things, Dr Redmond is the founder/chairman of The Gorilla Organization and Ape Alliance; he was also a consultant to the movie ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ featuring Sigourney Weaver, the amazing movie about Dian Fossey’s life. 

“We are exceeding the limits of our sustainability. We now utilize more of the Earth’s resources in the first six months of the year than the earth can make in the whole year.” Ian told us. “Nature is, by all accounts, the economy of the world and it’s our duty and right to protect it.” I got goose bumps when he said this. 

Chris and I both share a passion for nature and travel and by the time we interviewed Dr Redmond, we had already decided that we wanted to donate the proceeds of the book towards a charity that protected Silverback gorillas. What struck me most by his words is that it’s true. We don’t plan for the future, and in not planning we are greatly damaging not only our finances, but our environment as well. Short-termism is killing us financially and it will kill the planet.

The reason for choosing to donate all proceeds of the book to gorillas? That was simple. Not only is it mildly linked to the book title, but many people don’t know that we share 98% of our DNA with gorillas, the ability to walk upright, the capacity to use tools. Gorillas are among our closest living relatives…and they are greatly endangered, by us, out of greed and carelessness we destroy their habitats and the communities that surround them. By now, there are little over 1200 mountain gorillas left in the the wild in the world. 

Fighting short-termism

The Gorilla Organization takes a new approach to the conservation of gorillas and silverbacks. It protects the gorillas by empowering the local communities around the gorilla’s habitat. They address the issue of short-termism. The Gorilla Organization helps local communities by teaching them sustainable agriculture so that they don’t have to rely on the natural resources that gorillas rely on, they plant trees, they support the brave rain-forest rangers who risk their own lives to combat poaching and do much, much more. 

If anything, Monkey Money Mind teaches us is that if you want to have a better future, you must plan for it. That should not be solely limited to increasing your bank account, but also investing in taking care of our environment and what will be left for our future generations. 

Would you also like to help create a better future for gorillas? You can buy the book on Amazon or Bol.com or donate to The Gorilla Organization directly. 

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“What FinTechs and Banks can learn from Mary Poppins? – Based on my experience interviewing Nobel-Prize winner Dr. Harry Markowitz”

I have to admit that I was a little nervous when the moment came for me to interview the godfather of the Modern Portfolio Theory, Professor Dr. Harry Markowitz. He had been so kind to agree that I would interview him for the book that my colleague Chris Zadeh and I are writing about the psychology behind our irrational behavior when it comes to money matters. A full hour, that is what we had to make sure we could capture some of his insights and convert it into a valuable contribution to our book.

It was not just me in the interview, but also several colleagues. Carla Martinez (who set up the interview) and Sicco Brakema (who introduced us to Dr. Markowitz), shared the same hint of nervousness for this interview. It is not every day that you get to talk to someone with some pretty impressive credentials:

  • Economist
  • Recipient of the John van Neumann Theory Prize
  • Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences
  • Professor of Finance at the Rady School of Management
  • Pioneer in Modern Portfolio Theory
  • And the list goes on…

Dr. Markowitz must have noticed this as he started by casually talking about a previous trip to the Netherlands and before we knew it several perfectly pronounced Dutch words such as “rijsttafel” came our way which made us a bit more at ease.

Change your perspective

In the movie Mary Poppins Returns which stars Emily Blunt as the title character (which she nails), taking care as a nanny of the new generation Banks children, Meryl Streep plays Mary’s eccentric cousin Topsy “a woman who can fix anything”. When Mary visits her cousin with the Banks children, she realizes that it is the second Wednesday of the month. A day dreaded by Topsy as her world literally turns upside down and she is not able to fix anything.

The legendary Mary Poppins stresses that if you change your perspective everything looks better.

Off course Mary is correct and as the Banks children, Mary and Topsy stand on their head, the world looks much better from that angle. Something that is upside down, is fixed. Turning the second Wednesday of the month into the favourite day for cousin Topsy.

Its all about changing your perspective.

Struggling to change my perspective

During the first 45 minutes of the interview I struggled to ensure that I could convert the experience and knowledge of the brilliant mind of Dr. Markowitz into advice and stories that non-Nobel prize winners could relate to. Giving it my all to keep up with his 91 years of (life) experience and him debating numerous topics he is passionate about:

Critical line algorithm, portfolio theory, sparse matrix methods, simulation language programming (SIMSCRIPT incl. Buddy memory allocation method), capital asset pricing model, etc.

As time was ticking, I dreaded more and more that I would fail to take this unique opportunity and convert it into something that I could use for the book which has a more practical and personal approach combined with a touch of research. My excitement about this interview was slowly turning into fear that I would screw it up by not being able to capture a practical lesson learned or piece of advice from Dr. Markowitz who brilliantly debates the most complicated economic theories and models.

So I was frantically thinking about how I could change my approach to one of the smartest economists in the world so that he would share a piece of advice that would relate to the general public and was in line with the practical direction of our book. Most likely advice that did not originate from one of his theories or research. But I realized during the interview that this is not something he might generally talk about a lot as everybody probably also assumes he talks about his research and really wants to hear the insights from the godfather of Modern Portfolio Theory in real life (as did I).

Then it hit me: I have to change my own perspective. I should not be discussing his achievements as an economist.

Marry Poppins to the rescue.

I was talking to a highly intelligent man and I was trying to get something highly intelligent from this interview. But I realized that I had to adjust my perspective and ask a far more simpler question that did not relate to what he would typically talk about:

“What advice would you give a 12-year old when he or she first received pocket money or money for chores like washing a car of mowing a lawn?

Super simple.

That was it, and I felt the interview turning…Like aunt Topsy Dr. Markowitz turned from sharing brilliant yet very complicated economic explanations, to sharing a deeply personal story with an exceptional piece of advice. A story everyone could relate to and could potentially be inspired by as it did me at that moment. It triggered me, challenged me and make me decide to change certain assumptions I had made for a part of our book, hopefully making it better (I’ll let you be the judge of that when it is published). By changing my perspective, it turned the interview for the better.

Mary Poppins did it again: she came to the rescue and put a smile on my face.

What can the Financial Services Industry and FinTech community learn from Marry Poppins

After this interview, I realised that I should project this experience more on my daily business, the industry I work in and the people around me. I feel that we have to change our perspective more often.

Our industry is rightfully very knowledge based and driven by specialists. Whether you work at a bank, an asset manager, insurance company or at an IT company like I do, we immerse ourselves in jargon, theories, models, technologies and all the great things that come with our industry and experience. All to make things better! #LoveFinTech

But the question is: how do we keep making it better?

Translate brilliance into simplicity

The answer to me is simple: keep changing our perspectives. You and me, not our professional sides but us as consumers and customers. We are all customers. And a customer is only helped if he grasps what we’re talking about and experiences the benefits (make ‘m happy).

My lesson from this unique experience was that when we translate brilliance into simplicity, so all the knowledge, inventions, strategies, theories, jargon we have and change our perspective, we can achieve that what we were looking for. For me it resulted in a valuable piece of information that we can share and hopefully make a difference. So drop the jargon and think benefits if you want to relate to your customer. Not once, but continuously.

Dutch Delights

At the end of the interview Dr. Markowitz and I exchanged our love for Dutch cheeses from the region Gouda and some other typical Dutch treats.

He concluded the interview by sharing a personal experience from many years back when he was in the Netherlands with Dutchman Erik van Dijk with whom he wrote a paper about “Single-period mean-variance analysis in a changing world”. The last name of his co-author translates to dike (which subsequently triggered me to think of Dick van Dyke who stars in both Marry Poppins movies) and the both of them where standing on a dike eating “maatjesharing” (Dutch raw herring), almost nothing is more Dutch than this image.

We concluded the interview with roaring laughter from Dr. Markowitz. Priceless.

Thank you Dr. Markowitz for giving us this opportunity and thank you Mary Poppins for helping me change my perspective.