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text:
Nandan Nilekani chats up with Indra Nooyi
Last Updated: Feb 06, 2007, 11:08 PM IST
Nandan Nilekani chats up with Indra Nooyi. Read it now.
NANDAN: I tried to see how we could structure this conversation and I thought there are, broadly, three areas we could talk about. One is about the business. The other about India and different aspects of India, your plans for India and so forth. And the third is more on the personal side.
INDRA NOOYI: Yes, as long as we stay out of politics.
NANDAN: Yes. You joined Pepsi in 1994 and at that time, it was soft drinks, restaurants and bottling; and it had assets, capital and so forth. Pepsi, 12 years later, is a completely different company, because you demerged a few things, you bought a few things. Could you just trace that whole journey and your strategy behind that?
INDRA NOOYI: Sure. In 1994, when I came to PepsiCo, there were really three businesses. They were soft drinks which included both bottling and the concentrate company. There were salted snacks ��� Frito Lay. And restaurants where we had, we all talk of them, Pizza Hut, KFC and a whole bunch of casual dinning chains.
PepsiCo, until 1994, had been a much admired company which was performing phenomenally well. Around 1994-95 the restaurant business started softening, and softening in a dangerous way. We didn't like the business trend. Roger Enrico came in, back from a sabbatical, and he became head of the restaurant sector which at that time didn't have anyone. So Wayne Calloway, the then CEO, appointed Roger as the head of the restaurant sector and I was his chief of staff having just joined the company.
So in ���94, Roger and I undertook a sweeping relook at the restaurant business. We didn't take any action on the restaurant business; we were trying to understand as to what was going on with the business ��� that it had been such a high flying one, and all of a sudden the performance fell. It was really falling. And the wonderful thing is both Roger and I didn't know the restaurant business. We had to learn it from scratch. We had no biases, we had no hidden agendas, we didn't have any baggage we were carrying. We just went and worked our way up and down the restaurants of every city.
NANDAN: So, you actually went around to your restaurants...
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely. Not just our restaurants, but competitors' restaurants as well. We just hopped on a plane, went to towns, morning till evening checked restaurants ��� front of the house, back of the house, and what did other people say.... everything.
NANDAN: Speed, quality, hygiene...
INDRA NOOYI: Exactly. And competition. We tried to understand the economics of the restaurant business ��� what has happened to the restaurant business is that the profitability has fallen the way it has; worse than what it was in the late 80s when it was such a high flyer. Then we tried to understand the saturation of restaurants. We tried to understand what has changed in this business between 1987-88-89 and till 1994, that all of a sudden traffic is down, profitability is down. Is it the whole industry profit fall or is it the way we run the restaurants? Doing this sort of a bottom-up analysis, with no biases, yielded some fascinating results. This to me is perhaps the best piece of work we did in a long time, because what it showed was the industry has saturated and too many quick service restaurants had been built, because if you didn't build the next quick service restaurant, somebody else built it.
NANDAN: So it was a race to the bottom.
INDRA NOOYI: It was a prisoner's dilemma. If you built it, you cannibalize your own concept, but if you didn't build it, somebody else is going to cannibalize that concept.
NANDAN: Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
INDRA NOOYI: So you were in this terrible vicious cycle. On top of that, once you put the asset on the ground, you have to utilize it to the max and if you look at Pizza Hut, it only had lunch and dinner and didn't have a breakfast. And if you look at KFC...
NANDAN: You didn't cater to a 24-hour meal cycle.
INDRA NOOYI: I mean, to maximize the output of that restaurant asset, we need to (do that). The first thing is real estate, which is the key driver of the restaurant's performance, was getting scarcer and scarcer.
NANDAN: So did you own the real estate or did you lease it out?
INDRA NOOYI: In most cases, we owned the real estate when we owned the restaurants.
NANDAN: So you had all that capital on your balance sheet.
INDRA NOOYI: Oh absolutely. But we had actually many, many tens of thousands of restaurants. We didn't own all of them. We owned about, at that time, 50- 60% of the restaurants, the rest were franchised. So, the first thing we said was, let's take our restaurants and refranchise them. Because, if you walk into Pizza Hut and you don't like the interaction, you do not come back. So, the quality of the labour became critical. We are not a big labour management company, and based on our calculations, PepsiCo would have needed half a million people just in the restaurant business.
NANDAN: Jesus!
INDRA NOOYI: If you think about shifts, (there were) three shifts. And multiply this by tens of thousands (of people). And the attrition rate!
NANDAN: Yeah, the attrition rate is pretty high in this business.
INDRA NOOYI: Yes, and you know all about attrition (laughs).
NANDAN: Yeah (laughs). It's more in the restaurant business.
INDRA NOOYI: It's terrible. It is very hard to get good people and by the time you do the background check on them and get them in, it is just impossible. So, we looked at this and said, my God, this is not the PepsiCo kind of business at all.
NANDAN: That's right.
INDRA NOOYI: And those who love the restaurant business have restaurant in their blood, want to have a steady labour pool ��� they're the people that should own the restaurant.
NANDAN: It is a classic franchisee business.
INDRA NOOYI: It is. So we started to refranchise huge chunks of the business.
NANDAN: You started selling off to the franchisees.
INDRA NOOYI: Independent people, either existing franchisees or new people. That is the first step we did in 1995-96.
In 1996, we said that refranchising is good, but does this business really belong to us? What would happen is, we would bring high-flying MBAs into the company and rotate them through senior jobs very quickly. What we realized was for them to grow in PepsiCo, you have to put them in the restaurant business. But when you put them in as a District Manager-Restaurants, they knew nothing about restaurants. You really needed a restaurant person to run restaurants.
What we were doing was, in fact, burdening the restaurant business with the packaged foods culture. So, we realized what we had to do, at that point, was to untether the restaurant business from the packaged foods business. So, we really unburdened the restaurant business rather than unburden PepsiCo because we were destroying the restaurant business by meshing it within the packaged foods culture.
NANDAN: So, you demerged the restaurants business.
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely. We spun it off to its shareholders and it started doing exceedingly well. You know, I was at YUM! Restaurants two weeks ago before I came here, and just the whole culture of the place is different ��� the way they talk, the way they act, the way they care for their customer. It is not that we don't care for customers, they deal with this at a very different level and there has been a huge success doing so. So that was the first one. And we reduced revenues by $10 billion.
NANDAN: What was the revenue at that time?
INDRA NOOYI: $31 billion.
NANDAN: Right now you are 33 or something, but a different 33.
INDRA NOOYI: Exactly. Much more profitable 33 and more cash.
INDRA NOOYI: So in Step One, we dropped $10 billion. It was a very painful decision, but we did that.
NANDAN: It was a bold thing, because it is easy for us to think of just building larger and larger companies, but not really analyse the way you did it.
INDRA NOOYI: And getting rid of friends, because everybody in the restaurant business grew up in PepsiCo. We grew that business. Wayne Calloway loved the business. John Kendall loved the restaurant business. So it was the most painful decision we made.
NANDAN: So your coming from outside with no history, no legacy and the sharp and analytic approach had something to do with it. Did that make a difference to you in convincing everybody that is the right thing to do?
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely, we had no vested emotion in that business. And, we started up saying it is easier to sell a business or kill it than it is to grow a business, so let's try our best to grow what we have got. Because very few people have businesses they can grow. We had terrific brands, so we started off by saying we really want to grow this business, not spin it off.
NANDAN: But when you stood up to make that presentation to the board or all these guys, a lot of whom had invested in this thing and said 'we are a service company', what was the reaction?
INDRA NOOYI: We did it in a very interesting way. The first step was just show them the strategic analysis of a restaurant business. We didn't tell them that we want to spin it off. We said that these are the economics of the restaurant industry. This is what is happening. These are the four options we have. What do you think should be the option we should go for?
We didn't put it out then. We said these are the options and we would like to come back to you with the consequences of pursuing two of the four options that we would like to push some more. The board said yes, we should push it some more. So when we pushed through the analysis on the two options we sort of zeroed in on, it was crystal clear that the spin off was the best option. So, it was a very deliberate, iterative process. It was not one of those things where we said, just close it off.
NANDAN: So, they became a part of that rather than confront...
INDRA NOOYI: Our board was involved. Every step of it and, I must say, the board contributed hugely to the discussion and it was an excellent discussion.
NANDAN: And so one-third of your business goes away, and from 30 billion you go to 20 billion.
INDRA NOOYI: And then right after that we bought Tropicana. And Tropicana was a very important acquisition because up to that time, PepsiCo's brands in the beverage sector only became relevant after 10 o'clock in the morning. So from about 5 a.m. to 10 o'clock...
NANDAN: But I have a few friends who drink Diet Pepsi at breakfast (laughs).
INDRA NOOYI: But you know, I cannot grow a business based on your few friends drinking Diet Pepsi. So from 5 am to 10 am, our brands were almost not relevant. We thought that as a very important part of the day that we had to capture. We could have built a brand ourselves, but the point is when you have a brand like Tropicana, which was good for breakfast and good for you, we decided to buy it.
NANDAN: So it was a part of Beatrice at that time or...
INDRA NOOYI: It was a part of Seagram.
NANDAN: Seagram, and it was in the market?
INDRA NOOYI: Yes, they were following two tracks, IPO or sale. So we bid (for the company) and bought it in 1997.
When we were buying Tropicana, the Cola-Cola Company���s stock price was almost $80 and much more than twice our stock price. They were the darling. So, we went to school on the Cola-Cola Company, trying to find out what they do right, what they don���t do right; what works, what doesn't.
One of the things we found out was the fact that they had spun off the bottling operation. This gave them a couple of advantages. One is bottling was a very labour intensive business again and it required maniacal focus on day-to-day operations.
While the franchise company had to focus on the brands, it needed big investment, unlike Frito Lay. One could argue, after all, that the old Frito Lay is an operating entity. Why do you think about this business differently?
Unlike Frito Lay, where distribution is everything, in the beverage business (both) a franchise company and the distribution company are important. So, it is critical for us that we look at these as two entities.
Again, we realized our strength is in franchise business. But you need a very operative culture to run a distribution business, which is precisely why Coke spun off its bottling units.
NANDAN: It is also a kind of capital issue. Because, in a brand business, if you remove an asset-heavy stuff, you get much better PEs and so forth.
INDRA NOOYI: No question about it, and another arbitrage that was going on at that time was that the bottling companies were trading on EBITDA basis and we were on the PE, earnings basis. Clearly, there was a problem because in the case of the other company, they had spun off. And we were trading differently. So as I said, it was a follow strategy, and it was not a leading strategy.
NANDAN: You did it almost 10 years later.
INDRA NOOYI: Right. But the only advantage we had was, we looked at everything they did wrong and we fixed it.
NANDAN: Okay.
INDRA NOOYI: So we went to school on everything they did and anything they did wrong, we fixed in our business. When we spun off, we did an IPO of the bottling business, we didn't spin it off. We did 60% IPO in '99. So, just as we finished that in 1999, we started discussions on the Quaker Oats.
NANDAN: When you spun it off, you kept 40%, so there was no consolidation.
INDRA NOOYI: No, not at 40%.
NANDAN: So how much revenue got lopped off by that action?
INDRA NOOYI: $7 billion.
NANDAN: Oh god, so out of 30 billion, you knocked off 10 billion on the restaurant and took another 7 billion out.
INDRA NOOYI: Now, I had Tropicana.
NANDAN: Yeah, from what you had in the original company, you went from 30 to 13 with these and you also brought in Tropicana.
INDRA NOOYI: Brought in Tropicana, and immediately we brought in Quaker Oats.
NANDAN: So what was the revenue contribution of Tropicana?
INDRA NOOYI: Tropicana brought in a little over $3 billion. And then Quaker Oats brought in $7 billion.
NANDAN: Fantastic.
INDRA NOOYI: So, it was there. But the cash flow of the... I should send you the case study that traces its evolution. We have written a case study on it and it has all the decision making and how we went through it, but I think it was an incredible financial transformation, because return on invested capital went from 15% to 25%. Cash flow on $30 billion of revenue was like a billion something; and on $20 billion of revenue ��� $ 10 billon less ��� it was over $3 billion. So it was a transformation.
NANDAN: And you did that financial thinking?
INDRA NOOYI: It was the leadership of the company that did it together. This was not an individual activity at all.
NANDAN: Yes, yes I understand.
INDRA NOOYI: Then we bought the Quaker Oats Company for a couple of reasons, which is very critical. One, for the Gatorade business. It was an area that we were not very successful in, the isotonic business, and Gatorade had an 80% share of the isotonic business.
NANDAN: 80%?
INDRA NOOYI: So we felt that was a very critical acquisition to make. They created the isotonic category. But the other reason we bought Quaker Oats, which very few people really understand, is because it was again similar to the Tropicana acquisition. If you look at Frito Lay, if you want to make a healthy product, you could not use any other Frito products, brands. To call them Frito bar or the Lays bar or Ruffles bar, and expect to use it for breakfast would be crazy.
NANDAN: Yeah, Yeah. You didn't have the right association to pull it off.
INDRA NOOYI: Right. We needed another brand. So we knew we needed a nutrition-credential backed brand to launch a whole range of good food products. So the brand Quaker, when we did all our brand studies, was clearly on the top.
NANDAN: Because of oats.
INDRA NOOYI: Exactly, cholesterol reduction. And you know the image of Larry in Quaker Oats, people loved it.
NANDAN: It is very famous... Yeah.
INDRA NOOYI: When we looked at all this in Quaker Oats, the brand Quaker was as exciting to us as was Gatorade. So the combination of the two sets had this as a win-win situation.
NANDAN: But wasn't that company also in play, and didn't other fronts also?
INDRA NOOYI: Well, when we first started talking to them, they really were not in play. But then, by prudent shareholder actions, Quaker Oats had to pull itself from the block, because you cannot just talk to us and expect to get a deal done.
NANDAN: Yeah. Yeah, that is right.
INDRA NOOYI: Then eventually all the complications followed, with Coke coming in and then Danone coming in; and Danone walking away and Coke walking away.
NANDAN: But net-net you bought it.
INDRA NOOYI: We announced in 2000. 2001, we closed it. And the rest is history, as they would say.
NANDAN: So, you went from this $30 billion company ��� with $ 10 billion (going away) in restaurant, $7 billion in bottling ��� to a health-related company, with a completely different mix of products.
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely... Yeah.
NANDAN: And a much more consistent range of products.
INDRA NOOYI: And you know, we can now see how we have got a range of products from 'fun for you' to 'better for you', to 'good for you', with beverages, meals, snacks and we have grown this company deliberately over time.
NANDAN: And we have been talking about this 'good for you', 'better for you'. So when did that seep into the whole strategic thinking at Pepsi?
INDRA NOOYI: It actually started in 1996. It was the first time we started talking about it.
NANDAN: Did you anticipate it? Because you know today, certainly in the Western society, the focus on wellness, obesity, lifestyle-related things is much more than it was I would say in the 1990s.
INDRA NOOYI: Actually I would say, PepsiCo anticipated it in 1990, when we moved to classified beverages as liquid refreshing beverages as opposed to carbonated soft drinks. That is when we moved into partnership with Lipton for Tea, with Starbucks for Cappuccino, we started moving into juices ourselves. So, we started really making the move in 1990, and along with the acquisition of Tropicana and then Gatorade, we really cemented our move in to non-carbonated beverages and today we have the Number One brand literally in every aspect of non-carbonated beverages. The real thinking on health and wellness started in 1996, 1997, but then Steve Reinemund accelerated it when he took over and now, you know, it's squarely in focus.
NANDAN: Absolutely. You are talking of wellness and better-for-you being more than half the business, or as a goal.
INDRA NOOYI: Not as the business, as a goal. Would like it to be 50:50. The problem is that, 'fun for you' today has globally 70% of the business, and that is growing.
NANDAN: Alright.
INDRA NOOYI: So as long as that keeps growing, you will never be able to catch up easily unless you do something big.
NANDAN: It certainly is not all that profitable to just make it big.
INDRA NOOYI: That is right. In any case, the consumer is saying don't tell us what to eat, let us decide what to eat. That means, we have to be careful.
NANDAN: But you are on that side by the fact that in your snacks, for example in India, you have eliminated trans fats, you're reducing salt, reducing those kind of things. Are you making efforts even on the 'fun for you'?
INDRA NOOYI: It's improved, ���fun for you���. We can improve 'fun for you', but then, I think there is always a place for those products. Look at what I ate since I came here and look at my products. I think one gulab jamun has got six Pepsis in it. It is okay that I consume huge quantities of that. So I think it (Pepsi) has its place in the Indian diet. The question is: how do you make sure you eat it all in one way?
And even in Quaker, we have a whole range of Quaker snacks, Quaker bars, Quaker Oatmeal and cookies. We have a fantastic pipeline of products.
NANDAN: When you came in here you were talking about performance with a purpose, so with this term, what did you have in mind? Actually I saw the e-mail you had sent out and it was a brilliant e-mail, when you first took over and talked about your agenda and strategy. Would you just elaborate on that?
INDRA NOOYI: I think PepsiCo has this unique opportunity to be what I would call the defining corporation of the 21st century. Let me speak of that. When Roger Enrico took over in 1996-1997, we all sat down and we said what is it going to take to make PepsiCo a defining corporation in the 21st century. What do we mean by that?
NANDAN: That is an ambitious goal...
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely. So, let's talk about what we mean by defining corporation and let us talk about what we can do. We started off saying when people talk about the last two decades of the 20th century and talk about the great companies, they talk about IBM, Johnson & Johnson and GE and, you know, names like Microsoft immediately come to mind. And last few years of the 20th century, the Infosys of the world come to my mind.
NANDAN: Oh, thank you.
INDRA NOOYI: Clearly there is no question about it. You are one of the defining companies in the world. But I think, in the first part of the 21st century, and I say first part because I don't want to say 21st century... that is a 100 years, who knows who is going to be around or what the world is going to look like... So the first two or three decades of the 21st century, there is a unique opportunity for PepsiCo to be among the defining corporations ��� not "the" but "among the"...
NANDAN: What is the strategic asset that you have?
INDRA NOOYI: Because we are going to deliver performance with purpose, and I am going to talk about that in just a second. What do we mean by delivering performance with purpose? Clearly, delivering performance is....
NANDAN: It is non-negotiable.
INDRA NOOYI: Yeah, we want to deliver, for the food and beverage business, industry-leading financial performance. No question about it. Let's talk about purpose. As I said in my speech in Delhi, out of 100 most powerful economic entities, one-third of them are companies.
NANDAN: The 100?
INDRA NOOYI: The largest economic entities in the world. Two thirds are countries, one third are big companies.
NANDAN: Some of the companies are bigger than the countries.
INDRA NOOYI: Exactly, you know the size of big multinationals. I mean I look at our company with a market capital of $100 billion, that is pretty significant. So we have a profound influence in society ��� we shape lifestyles, we shape behaviors, the interactive community. And this is not new. This is what PepsiCo has been doing for the past few years. I think, I am just putting some more shape and direction to it. The purpose part comes on three layers.
The first is human sustainability. I feel we have to focus on ensuring people live healthy and live longer. So, before making sure the portfolio has health and wellness products and ���fun for you���, I want to accelerate the move to a balanced portfolio globally.
The second part is environmental sustainability. Clearly, we want to make the world a better place for our children. So, worrying about the water use, energy use and recyclability, all of that stuff. Again you have to balance very carefully with the profit part of it, and talking about sustainability. So everything cannot happen tomorrow. We want to lay out a programme and deliberately working towards it.
And the third part is, for our employees and people sustainability. It is making sure that PepsiCo is the most diverse and the most inclusive place for all people ��� women, minorities, irrespective of your ethnic background or nationalities. We want to make PepsiCo the place where the best people want to come and work in. They feel they can have a great career and progress. Because we are drawing people from communities ��� we want to be able to work with the local communities and make sure that local communities feel great about having PepsiCo in their neighborhood.
So, clearly, I think if PepsiCo could take the leadership on these three purpose-driven activities, we could be among the defining corporations because we would have a clear plan for each one, but we are not going to give up on performance. So, that is the plan and that is what we are going to work against. I think that even in these early days, we have not unveiled this whole strategy globally, just talking to a few of our employees it resonates.
NANDAN: Okay. One of the things we very clearly found at Infosys is that if your employees feel that you have a purpose which is just larger, performance is not a question. But if they feel that your purpose is to change the world in some way, I find that the emotional fuel of that is much more than just a job.
INDRA NOOYI: Yeah, that is very true.
NANDAN: It's a commitment.
INDRA NOOYI: Yeah, today's is a war for talent. People don't come into the company and stay for reasons other than compensation. Compensation part becomes the great leveller. I think if that people do not want to come in and stay because they love coming to work every day, I don't think you can hold on to that business.
NANDAN: Let's take environmental sustainability, and I think a lot of companies are now saying that we will be carbon neutral or water neutral. Do you think that these are the kind of goals....
INDRA NOOYI: We are working through goals now and it would be very early for me to articulate goals. The problem with goals is once you articulate, you got to have a plan to get to that.
NANDAN: Exactly
INDRA NOOYI: And we are in the process of working through what goals we can sign up to. Somebody once said, give them a goal, give them a date, but not together. I want to give a goal and the date together. At least for my organization, and I am not ready to do that as of now.
NANDAN: Once it���s public, it���s there. They would want to know if it���s there in your filings.
INDRA NOOYI: Now I want to work through the goal and dates and get the organization ready for it before we go out to talk.
NANDAN: But, this is a compelling thing. Environment sustainability and ��� given the huge focus on healthcare, and in the US today the healthcare cost arising rapidly ��� wellness are two broad themes which will resonate with everybody.
INDRA NOOYI: PepsiCo is what it is because of the culture we have. Getting the right people and then retaining them becomes more important than anything else.
NANDAN: Sure. And in terms of performance of the company in markets, you have generally outperformed most indexes and most competitors...
INDRA NOOYI: We are listed in the New York Stock Exchange and we performed very well. Very good returns. We are the highest PE in the food and beverage space and amongst the highest in CPG space. That is good news and bad news because there is no place to go but down if you make a mistake.
NANDAN: And we have the same problem...
INDRA NOOYI: We got to sustain that very high level of performance. We are proud of where we are and I think the people at PepsiCo really would like to keep us there.
NANDAN: Sure. Now, let us move on to...
ET: We have one question to ask.
NANDAN: Yes. Sure.
ET: We���re really not to ask questions but you know, when you talk of performance on the one hand and purpose on the other, as long as there is no conflict in two at any point, it is fine. But there could be a conflict at some point where the purpose might in some may impinge on the performance. How would you deal with that situation?
INDRA NOOYI: That is one of the most difficult things that companies have to work their way through and CEOs have to make trade offs at different points in time. It is not an easy answer. I wish I could tell you purpose always wins or performance always wins. I think, as I said in my speech also, this is the most difficult trade off we have to make.
NANDAN: It's like how to balance short-term and long-term, how to balance stake hold of customer and the investor.
INDRA NOOYI: Every time it happens we have to very, very thoughtfully think through it, and then decide what action to take without losing sight of long term purpose. Because, if we give it up completely and say performance is paramount, that's wrong. It's carefully walking through these minefields.
NANDAN: Let's talk about India now. How important is India for you ��� I mean as a market and in whatever way you connect with this place?
INDRA NOOYI: The emerging markets are very important to us. The traditional Brazil, Russia India and China are very, very important to us. India is important to us, not just in terms of profit generation, returns, or growth, we say India is a long term investment market. India is important to us in a couple of key ways. One, it's a long-term investment market and we would like to participate in growth. We would like to bring all of PepsiCo's products into India and the company will perform with purpose in India.
NANDAN: Do you have all your products right here in India today?
INDRA NOOYI: Not all of them at all now. Not even a fraction of them.
NANDAN: So just getting in the entire product line itself is a huge opportunity.
INDRA NOOYI: It is a huge opportunity. That is the first one. The second is the India management team is really the feeder group for global management. We have got 40 Indian executives who are in PepsiCo senior jobs.
NANDAN: Would be top 400 or something like that.
INDRA NOOYI: In the top 400. We really got great Indian executives who are feeding the company.
NANDAN: It is also feeder group of human capital.
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely. I mean, just look at Asia Pacific, that is China, Vietnam or Thailand, you name it. We have got greatest Indian executives who are running key parts of our company.
The third way that India is very interesting is that India has a way of triggering on how to do things at a low cost for you. And the ingenuinity of Indian people is something that you cannot find elsewhere in the world. So, India is an exciting market for us.
NANDAN: Okay, I understand you have 40 managers from India that's pretty obvious and you are bringing products. But have you had any product innovation or any business innovation that you exported from here into the Pepsi system.
INDRA NOOYI: The Kurkure... It has gone obviously to places like Pakistan and exported to several countries. I understand now the US is looking at bringing in Kurkure and, again, it may not go with the same spicy flavor, but the substrate with that crisp bite with little bit different flavors could find its way into the US markets soon. So we are working through all of these things and it's a great feeder group for all that technology innovation.
NANDAN: Sure. There is one other thing. When you joined Pepsi, there was a lot of work also on the agricultural export side. Today, in India, the big theme is of inclusive growth ��� how we create jobs in rural areas. Do you see Pepsi playing an important role in that?
INDRA NOOYI: Pepsi has, is, and will continue to play a very important role in this whole area. So, let's talk about it. As you said, when we first came in, we did lot of work in Punjab on chilies, tomatoes, and improving the yields of that.
NANDAN: I guess lot of that was for restaurants.
INDRA NOOYI: Well, yes and no. It helped the farmers. It helped the farmers hugely, I think it created bumper crops in Punjab of chilies and tomatoes then started exporting a whole bunch, and so we had a major export for the food product outside of India. We are now helping farmers to set up citrus crop, right in Punjab again. So, we are doing a tremendous amount of work, helping farmers, improving crop yield, improving harvesting methods, and then helping sell the output of the farm. So I think we have been very, very good citizen and all you have to do is to go to Punjab and talk to the chief minister there and I think he will tell you honestly what he thinks about PepsiCo and what we have done for India.
NANDAN: But do you think this thing could grow not as a good thing to do, but now it probably makes good business sense. Because, Tropicana is one of the largest orange juice company in the world so just the supplies for that.... Tomorrow, as farming becomes more expensive in the west, as subsidies go away, it probably makes more economic sense to...
INDRA NOOYI: I think this booming market alone can absorb a lot of produce. I mean just look at the potato farming we do here for our Frito Lay products. I think we are a major contributor to the agriculture sector. The more and more our products draw from natural fruits and vegetables, the more we are going to be helping farming in India.
NANDAN: But, somehow I get a sense that this has not been highlighted.
INDRA NOOYI: In Delhi, everybody told me that. I tell you we have shouted it from roof tops, we talked about it, but I was talking to my team here, I think you are right in saying that.
NANDAN: I am saying this just as an observer. Because I think if we agree that agricultural growth is critical for this country's future and if you're bringing in those practices, as you said.... Historically, the green revolution was on the basis of rice and wheat. But we need a new revolution for horticulture ��� fruits and vegetables ��� and you know you play in that space, so that can be shown as a partnership that Pepsi has with India.
INDRA NOOYI: No, I will tell you, it is more than just agriculture products for our consumption. I do not know how much has been written about the seaweed project down in Rameshwaram. I think it is an incredible project, for which I really think Pepsi deserves a lot of credit. We have gone to a part of the country where the economy is very poor. A lot of women are unemployed there, as it is in many towns. Pepsi set up up a place where they can collect the seaweed, right where they live, in the fishing areas.
NANDAN: Why do you need the seaweed?
INDRA NOOYI: We don't really need it. But, we take the seaweed, we extract from that carrageenan, which is used in food products, and then we sell it to companies that need the carrageenan. Truly, we don't need it, but we are doing it more as a social responsibility activity to really help that economy. The project is doing us very proud with good support from the Tamil Nadu government. We were supposed to go down to Tuticorin to see the seaweed project. It would have been an interesting experience by itself. PepsiCo is doing some wonderful things in the country. I agree with you, we need to publicise it a lot more, may be The Economic Times can help.
NANDAN: I am asking because it is aligned with what needs to done in India. We have to drive agricultural production and we have to drive farmer incomes and I think these are things which directly benefit from that.
INDRA NOOYI: I agree with you.
NANDAN: Now the other thing is, of course, we cant have this conversation without talking about this pesticide issue. You have taken some moves there in terms of actually working with your competitors in bringing some new ways of approaching it. Can we talk about that?
NOOYI: First of all, let me reiterate and say without a shadow of doubt, our products are the safest in the world and whether the product is of New York or Beijing or Delhi or Shanghai or Thailand or Australia, it is the same product and uniformly safe. So, the safety of our products are not in question at all. So, let me pass that thing on the side.
I think, if I sit back and look at what's happened in India, I think the NGO really wanted to highlight the issue of food safety standards for India. I think that whole controversy started with milk. A lot of pesticides in milk and not much was done with the first study that was done and so, Coke and Pepsi got into the spot. Again, I am not going to second guess what the NGO was doing. The fact of the matter is we were caught in cross lines. When you are testing a very complex finished beverage with a testing method, which is really not geared towards testing these sorts of products, we many times get false positive results. We did get some positive results at very, very low possibility. Now, that's as far as this controversy.
Now, the government has since tested many, many samples of Coke and Pepsi. We have tested our own samples of Pepsi from around the world and I can tell you, we have no pesticides in our products because we test every input, where there are reliable tests for inputs, which are simple. We test every input that goes into Pepsi and unless those inputs pass very rigorous quality standards we never put it into the product. So again, I personally stand by the safety of our products.
Having said that, try explaining false positive results to public! The fact of matter is public has been told that there are some low level of pesticides probably in soft drinks. Nobody focuses on the low level, they focus on pesticides in the soft drinks. Our brand is under attack. We have to do something about it.
NANDAN: You are a consumer brand. And your brands are under attack. Whatever be the background of that, you have to...
INDRA NOOYI: That is right. So, what did we do? First, we have to find the testing methodology, which does not exist in the world because nobody tests that level. We are talking about one drop of pesticide in the Olympic-sized swimming pool of water, that is what we are talking about, right. Let���s be honest about what we are talking about. So, we have to find first a testing protocol to test at that level. It has taken us three years. We think we have a method, but the problem is the testing methods to test at that level are very expensive. What is the point of having a testing method when you can't test all the samples on a repetitive basis.
But, I have a second bigger issue. Is this about food safety standards for the country or about only soft drinks? Now, we have to really talk about this because I think the issue is food safety standards across the nation. So where I do agree with the CSC and the NGOs is that, I think they are all labour of love ��� all NGOs. They are after the right thing ��� food safety standards. So, let's help them address the issue of food safety standards and let's not get unduly caught up in the fashion we were caught in the past. Let me pass that issue aside.
Then we look at NGOs and say they are good for democracies, they are good for India. How many helped them fulfill their purpose of having food safety standards? So, we work with the government to put in safety standards for all food products for all and we will help by helping the government set up the food testing laboratories. We are happy to do that. But the government has to decide what standard can be tested and what levels should exist for products in the entire food chain not just our products.
NANDAN: Sure. But, in a broader sense as you know, across the world today, NGOs are playing an important role in shaping public perception. So do you see a broader strategy of how you will engage with them? Can you be ahead of the curve of these things in some way?
INDRA NOOYI: On this pesticide issue, there is no way we could have been ahead of the curve because we have no pesticides. So I don't know how to suddenly anticipate that somebody is going to use us to get a message across.
NANDAN: No, but we did have a situation about three years back when we had.
INDRA NOOYI: Oh! It is the same thing. It is just a lingering issue. It is just that it has taken us three years to develop a protocol, because as I said the testing methodology does not exist. Should we engage with NGOs? We do engage with NGOs. On the health and wellness issue, we are talking to NGOs around the world, constructively talking about the issue we are trying to address.
We are trying to address obesity as an issue. Let us talk about calories in and calories out, because what causes obesity is not the eating habits, it's a sedentary lifestyle that is causing obesity. There is no point saying, I am going to tell you what to eat and what not to eat, but incidentally that means you can sit in front of the television longer. This doesn't solve the issue. You have got to figure out, how to get these people moving, how to get them exercising more. We need to work on it.
So, when we work with NGOs, what we are trying to talk about is, let's talk about family balance. Let's talk about not banning products in school, because kids are going to bring it later on. Let's talk about how to give them nutrition education. Let's talk about how to get them working, so we are big participants in programmes like America On The Move, where we get people to pedometers and say go up there and walk the steps. So we want the people to work holistically on issues.
When we work with NGOs and engage with them, we don't engage with them on their one-sided attack of companies like us. We try to find out what are the underlying issues they are trying to address and then approach them in terms of how to address those issues holistically as opposed to just picking on manifestation of the issue.
NANDAN: But the risk you have as a strong, global brand, is that if somebody wants to make a larger point, it is easy to take you as a case and put it across. So do you think it's that or something else?
INDRA NOOYI: It's inevitable and it is a part of business.
I think, by and large, NGOs tend to be... They don't want to sully their names either. So I think we have to ascribe positive intent to most of the NGOs.
NANDAN: Have you met Sunita Narain?
INDRA NOOYI: Not yet, but I would love to meet her.
NANDAN: Great, then I think the next interview, we should...
INDRA NOOYI: No, I would love to meet her. I really would like to meet her, because I am sure that what she is doing is labour of love for the county and I have nothing against Sunita Narain. I will be honest with you. I have heard wonderful things about her.
NANDAN NILEKANI: On the personal side, I have a few questions before we wrap up. Your mother seems to be have been a huge influence on you. Would you talk about that ��� right from the days she prompted you to get 100% marks in Maths and all that?
INDRA NOOYI: That is typical southern Brahmin stuff. So there is nothing unique about that. I think that she was genetically programmed for that.
NANDAN NILEKANI: So, that was culture ��� there was this huge focus on personal education, reaching the top...
INDRA NOOYI: As I told you, those days, any Tamil Brahmin did that. The entire family focused on grades. When parents got together they only compared the report cards of their kids. Anybody who got together would say, 'so how is your child doing', 'what rank'. That was growing up in 50s and 60s. So, there was no way out of that. That part I don't worry about too much. The real issue is, my father travelled a lot and my mother was back at home.
NANDAN NILEKANI: He was in the bank, the State Bank.
INDRA NOOYI: Yes. My mother was the constant force and I think she always wished she were the prime minister of this country.
NANDAN NILEKANI: Really?
INDRA NOOYI: Oh, she is that. She is a real go-getter.
NANDAN NILEKANI: So, did she pass on her ambition to both of you?
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely, no question about that. She passed on her ambition and she always said to us ��� she was an interesting study in contrasts ��� 'I want to get you married when you are 18, and make sure you aspire to be the prime minister'.
NANDAN NILEKANI: Do both. Satisfy this. Satisfy that.
INDRA NOOYI: We never figured out where she came from. But deep down inside, I think my father, my grandfather, all said, 'our grand-daughters are going to be whatever they want to be'. So, my mother really did not have this get-them-married-by-18 option, although she kept on threatening us with that.
NANDAN NILEKANI: When you finished at IIM-Cal, and you went to Yale. Then she didn't try to get you married.
INDRA NOOYI: She threatened that all kinds of things will happen. But at the end of the day, you know, deep down inside I think she said, 'this is what I really like to do. But that is really what they want to do. And let me not stop them'.
NANDAN NILEKANI: So, I think there is a conflict between the traditional part of the life and the ambitious. And resolving this must have always been in the mind with these two things playing together.
INDRA NOOYI: Really, it was difficult. But somehow I think the family pulled together and said 'let them do it'. But just do not forget the family, do not forget the heritage, do not forget where you come from, just live life consistent with that.
NANDAN NILEKANI: I know once when you came in the Fortune's Most Powerful Women's list, and when you went home, your mom asked you about some milk or something like that.
INDRA NOOYI: No, I have said this story many times. When I became the president, at 10 o'clock in the night I went home and said, 'mom I have some very important news', to which she said 'leave that important news, just go buy some milk'. To which, I said, 'Raj is home, why don't you ask him to buy the milk?' She said, 'he is tired'. Typical mother you know, can't disturb the son-in-law! I was very upset, but I went and bought the milk and banged it on the kitchen table in front of her and said, 'Tell me, why do I have to buy the milk and not somebody else.���
She just looked at me ��� and I will never forget it and it was a powerful lesson she left in me and said ��� 'look, when you pull into the garage, leave the crown there. Don't walk in with it, because you are first a wife and a mother. And if the family needs milk, you go get the milk. That is your primary role in life. Everything else is what you acquired or what you got because I pray for four to five hours a day.��� That is the only thing she tells me. She says, 'what did you accomplish? You sit in a meeting on a chair all the time, and I pray for 4-5 hours.���
NANDAN NILEKANI: She takes the full credit for it.
INDRA NOOYI: Which I am glad she does because I tell you Nandan that where I was born, the way I was brought up, the last thing I expected was to be where I am. So you can't just be...
NANDAN NILEKANI: You left the country in 1971.
INDRA NOOYI: No, no, 1978.
NANDAN NILEKANI: Oh, you worked here till 1978.
INDRA NOOYI: And you know, it is a dream at this point. Sometimes I pinch myself. So this must have been forces other than just me...
NANDAN NILEKANI: Definitely, your mother praying there.
INDRA NOOYI: 4 to 5 hours a day!
NANDAN NILEKANI: Also, the other thing is that you have been willing to, in the sense, wear your Indianness on your sleeve, whether it is wearing a saree at work or whether it is...
INDRA NOOYI: Let me correct that, I don't wear a saree...
NANDAN NILEKANI: No. I mean you are willing to wear it to events. There was a time when the Indians abroad were sort of hiding their Indianess to integrate better with that. Did you find that kind of a challenge anytime?
INDRA NOOYI: No.
NANDAN NILEKANI: You were just what you were.
INDRA NOOYI: Yeah. When I first started in my summer job, I didn't have money to buy business suits. So you just wear a saree, because that is a necessity and it just did fine. What I would not do is flaunt my Indianess by wearing a saree to work everyday, because it distracts from the job. So, I would not do that. When in Rome do as the Romans do. Social events are different. If I feel comfortable in a saree for a social event, I wear it. You know, lots are written about how she shows up at board meetings in the saree. My God, I have never worn a saree to board meetings, people play it out in different ways. I think I have never shied away from the fact that I am an Indian and I don't intend to, but you can be at home with both cultures.
NANDAN NILEKANI: Until I happened to be in the US, I had never seen American football. Then I started to understand the stuff. I believe you did something similar with baseball.
INDRA NOOYI: When I first got to the country in 1978, I used to play cricket here and so I needed a bat-and-ball sport, because I missed it. And that was the year when the Yankees were going through an incredible season. I fell in love with the Yankees then. But then I also discovered that in business, the language of business is sports. So, people would talk about 'I do not want to get singles', 'I want to get homerun'. And the next day morning, everybody in business analysed the game and unless we were the part of the whole process, we felt very left out. So I combined my love for, or an urge to have an affiliation to the bat-and-ball sports, with the Yankees' incredible season with this language of business. Things came together. So, I went to school to study baseball with Yankees. Even today, I love the game.
NANDAN NILEKANI: So, you would know a lot about the Red Sox Yankee game of 1960?
INDRA NOOYI: 78. You know I can talk about all kinds of stuff.
NANDAN NILEKANI: I put that to you because I could talk well on football the same way.
INDRA NOOYI: Yes, it grows on you.
NANDAN NILEKANI: You have done an incredible job managing the family, home, children, office. What are the tips for the rest of the normal mortals like us?
INDRA NOOYI: First, I wouldn't say incredible job. We all try to do a job. As I have said before, Nandan, first of all, family has to support you. But more importantly, you have to pick the right husband, in your case, wife. I picked the right husband. Raj is a great guy and he has been a great support and I do not know where I would have been without him. I would say that without a doubt. He has been more than a husband. He has been a sounding board or friend.
You know, people like us get very lonely, because you cannot share too much with other people. So you come home and he is there and you can discuss anything with him and he gives you sound advice. Not telling you what to do, he will help you think through all sides of the issue, so that you can make informed decisions. So that way he has been a great support. I would say in terms of balancing the rest of my family, I am an okay mother. I would not say great. I am not available to my kids all the time.
I have been watching television here and I have watched the stereotypical Indian mother, running about the kids, snack for the evening. Really wonderful images of my mother and I am saying to myself, oh my God, my kids have never seen that side of a mother. So I feel bad for them at times, but you know what, they have seen some other kind of mother. I am sure they miss one kind of a mother at some time, but I hope they are proud of this other mother.
NANDAN NILEKANI: How do you manage time. I want to learn. You do not sleep I guess. How many hours you sleep?
INDRA NOOYI: Four hours.
NANDAN NILEKANI: Four hours? Oh God.
INDRA NOOYI: Yeah. I feel if I slept six, I am a basket case. So four is a pretty good number. But the first thing is, I think, Nandan, and you do it better than anybody else. To be a CEO is a calling. You should not do it because it is a job. It is a calling and you have got to be involved in it with your head, heart and hands. Your heart has got to be in the job, you got to love what you do, it consumes you. And if you are not willing to get into the CEO job that way, there is no point getting into it.
And I love the job, I love the company, I love the people, I loved it when I was president and love it as much as CEO. So it does not matter now what you do to me, that love I have, the passion I have for the company is not going to go away. So, I have to love my kids, but I have this passion for this company and you can't take that away from me.
I am going to have this passion, I want to make something even bigger on this company than it was and what I have to do is decide every moment in time whether I am going to be a mother or a wife or an executive. It's a day to day thing. Although, there are days when I have to go to the school. I do it, but I won't do it every month as they expect mothers to do. I would like to go to see my daughter playing a basketball game. I won't go to every game, but I would to some of them. Everything is a balancing act.
NANDAN NILEKANI: So, everything has been thought through.
INDRA NOOYI: If you have to do something on the spur of the moment, everybody helps you out to do things, but that is only on an emergency. You can't evoke the spur of the moment on a regular basis, then it is not a spur of the moment anymore, it is running from pillar to post. So, it is difficult. Trust me, I haven't done everything right.
NANDAN NILEKANI: But I think you are sitting on the verge of really making a huge contribution to Pepsi and I guess that is the excitement you have.
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely. I love this company. We have an outstanding group of people at Pepsi. The thing I like about PepsiCo is the team that has been built, the culture that exists, a sort of ownership culture. It is extraordinary. I think that's what makes the difference.
NANDAN NILEKANI: I think this redefining the corporate for 21st Century, that's an ambitious and audacious enough goal which can drive people to aspire to the next level.
INDRA NOOYI: And it is attainable. That is more interesting.
NANDAN NILEKANI: If I were to set people audacious goals, it energizes them because its all about human energy, its all about emotional capital at the end of the day. If you can get that out, then you are home.
INDRA NOOYI: Absolutely right and you know, I always tell my people that. What I never want to do is if they get a competing offer from some other company, to match it and then hold on to them. At that point, I have lost their hearts. When a head hunter calls, I don't want to take the call. I want to say, I love this company so much that I won't take the call. That's what we need to do. Because ultimately it is the people that are going to make or break the company, it is not the assets, it is not the brand.
NANDAN NILEKANI: Great. Thank you so much.
INDRA NOOYI: Thank you.
NANDAN NILEKANI: I wish you all the best.
NANDAN NILEKANI: I think you will do a great job.
INDRA NOOYI: Congratulations to you for being named in Forbes as Businessman of the Year. My goodness, I am privileged to be sitting here with you.
NANDAN NILEKANI: No, you are one the most powerful women on the planet.
INDRA NOOYI: Doesn't matter.
INDRA NOOYI: But congratulations again.
NANDAN NILEKANI: Thank you.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Is MeetMe Too Racy for Apple's App Store?
Rick Munarriz, The Motley Fool
One of last year's hottest social media stocks is coming under fire in 2019. Shares of The Meet Group (NASDAQ: MEET) tumbled 7% on Monday, after a New York Post story came out over the weekend suggesting that Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was about to boot it from its App Store on concerns of prostitution and other forms of adult entertainment taking place on MeetMe's live-streaming platform.
The Meet Group defended its fast-growing video offering when the accusations were raised by a bearish blogger earlier this month, a move that sent the once-red-hot shares to a fresh 52-week low. It stood by the safety that MeetMe provides for its 15 million active users, pointing to the human and tech filters that help sniff out dubious visual content as well as the proprietary text-monitoring system for threats and abuses. When Oppenheimer initiated coverage of the stock late last week -- with a bullish rating -- it seemed as if the worst was in the past for The Meet Group. The uncertainty will continue now until investors see if there's any meat to the Post article.
Exterior shot of MeetMe's offices.
Image source: The Meet Group.
Making the right connection
The Meet Group shares soared 64% last year, and by the time the stock hit a multiyear high in March of this year, it had more than doubled since the start of last year. It's been all downhill since then, as the stock has shed nearly half of its peak value.
With beefy slides after a mixed fourth-quarter report in early April and a more disappointing first-quarter release last month, investors have soured on the stock. Now, there are fresh concerns that Apple may either boot it from the App Store or force it into restrictive changes if it wishes to continue to be available on iOS devices.
Investors last year were cheering the growing popularity of video streams to its MeetMe and Skout social discovery and dating sites. By the time the first quarter of this year rolled around, video-related revenue had roughly quadrupled to account for 40% of The Meet Group's revenue. Members can purchase digital currency to tip popular performances -- a slippery slope, naturally -- and since The Meet Group and Apple each commands roughly a third of the revenue generated from the purchases.
Keeping porn and violent content off mainstream social media sites is never going to be a perfect process. The problem with live-streaming platforms that feast on virtual tip jars is that by the time any specific incident that crosses the line gets reported, it's already over. A lot of The Meet Group's growth -- including Oppenheimer analyst Jed Kelly's bullish initiation last Thursday -- is riding on the success of that video service.
Kelly feels that the the push into live-streaming video will improve the quality of The Meet Group's revenue. His price target of $7 is more than double where the shares are now, as Kelly sees more paying users contributing to improving sentiment for the stock as well as justifying higher valuation multiples. The upside is certainly there if The Meet Group's social offerings are still on Apple's App Store in the future, especially the way that video helped drive the better-than-expected 32% revenue growth in The Meet Group's latest quarter. The stock has been volatile in the past, and that's not going to change as the gray clouds loom overhead.
Rick Munarriz owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2020 $150 calls on Apple and short January 2020 $155 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Monkeys. Sock Monkeys. Created with an amalgamation of socks, buttons, and personality, these crazy stuffed primates could be out to take over the world. Their creator: adelsial. Their Names: The Drti Monkeys. These are their stories.
Monkeys posted on this community will be of a few catagories: adelsial 's personal collection, those made as gifts, and those made for sale. She is currently not yet selling anywhere online and is doing commisions only for personal friends. These latter few may change.


A full look at Kelly & Kevin's beautiful Spring wedding in Chicago.
Ruth Kelly Studio has been providing quality, professional photography services to the Muskogee, Oklahoma region since 1960. We have grown to service over 100 different school districts, and continue to grow.
Honesty, Commitment & Quality Service. Kelly Refrigeration and Air Conditioning are one of the most successful Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Companies in Ireland.
Parents: Call-kelly.com uses the "Restricted To Adults" (RTA) website label to better enable parental filtering. Protect your children from adult content and block access to this site by using parental controls.
I had to go to the school for a conference for Harper and we saw Hollis at recess so we went to the fence to wave at her before going on. She and ALL her friends came running over to say hi which I thought was so sweet.
Check out this site to view some of the pictures I've taken in the last couple of years.
For the Longest Time I've wanted to Experience Autumn in New England. I love the East Coast so decided to get my Leaf Peeping on and take a RoadTrip from Boston up to the Beautiful Town of Woodstock in Vermont.
Welcome to Kelly Paper. As printing has changed, so has paper. That's where we come in.
- I have an upcoming solo show at Distinction Gallery.Opening reception will be May 11th, 2019. Stop in and say 'hello'! - Please see the Info Page for details on other upcoming and past shows. - Limited edition prints available in the shop.available in the shop.


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The home group meets each week on Tuesday mornings at 10:30 except for the breaks taken during school holidays. The number attending each week can fluctuate but usually there are ten to twelve people who meet, most of whom attend St Peter's on Sundays.
The atmosphere in home group is relaxed and informal. At the centre of the group's activity is the study of the Bible and this can be from the Old or New Testament. The aim is to understand the meaning of a passage in the context in which it was written, but also to think about how it can help us to grow together in faith, and also how the principles can be applied to the perplexing issues we grapple with today. We gain a lot by the discussion which always follows the study, and in listening to the different points of view which people have. We always finish with coffee and biscuits.
What are the core aims of the group?
One of our aims is to be non-judgemental and accepting of one another so that members of the home group can be themselves and feel safe. Each person in the group matters and has a part to play if they so wish. Some like to lead a study and discussion, others offer their homes as a venue for our meetings. Life is not always easy and when difficulties arise in our lives, members of the group aim to pray for each other and care but without being intrusive.
Is there anything else that will happen in home groups?
Yes! We enjoy having lunch together. This is usually a simple meal of soup and a roll- except at Christmas when everyone gathers at the pub for Christmas lunch. Our lunches together are times of relaxation and laughter but they also give an opportunity to invite other church members to join us who are not able to come on Tuesday mornings.


A lorry has crashed into the central reservation on the M11, with emergency repairs set to block the road well into the afternoon rush hour.
There are around three miles of queuing traffic on both sides of the road and is causing major delays, with Traffic England warning that there could be disruption until 5.30pm.
For all the breaking news and travel updates visit the Essex Live website.
There is now only a mile of traffic on the M11 Essex after an earlier crash.
There are still around eight miles of queuing traffic stretching back into Essex.
The M11 is experiencing hevay delays in both directions after a crash involving a car.
The accident happened just after Junction 9 on the A11 at Saffron Walden earlier today (March 15).
There is currently congestion on the M11 to Junction 10 on the A505 at Duxford.
Lane two of two is closed both ways, about three miles after Junction 9.
Significant barrier damage has also been reported.
Longer delays going south will affect travel to Stansted Airport.
Lane three of three is closed on both carriageways for barrier repairs after a lorry hit the central reservation.
Around five miles of queues remain.
Two lanes are closed at the Dartford are closed due to resurfacing work. Read the full story here.
Traffic England have warned that the event is not expected to clear until 7.00pm to 7.15pm on 15 March 2018.
There are over five miles of queues on the M11 Northbound and around five miles of queues also on the M11 Southbound.
Both sides of the barrier on the M11 Northbound and Southbound need to be repaired.
They need to be repaired between Junction 7 on the A414 and Junction 8 on the A120.


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Holidays on Paros
Holiday Houses On Paros
Paros Hotels & Studios
Real Estate on Paros
Paros Businesses
Silver Holidays on Paros
Weddings and Parties on Paros
Greek Christmas recipes
Greek Easter recipes
Greek Traditions
Greek celebration days
Makronissos – Giaros
Home/Cyclades
Cycladeskater2019-06-17T16:51:44+00:00
Welcome to the Cyclades
It is not at all surprising that those who have visited the Cyclades islands consider the Cyclades to be Greece and other Greek island chains to be small aberrations to the national character. The Greek islands of the Cyclades are the main islands that advertise the whole country of Greece in all kinds of travel agencies, magazines, websites and travel brochures.
Every cliche, every memory, every dream of a sun-drenched clean white sanded beach can be discovered on these islands. The white and blue square houses are justifiably famous, inspiring the work of many international, modern architects, the architect Le Corbusier among the many. Most all of the beaches are crystal clean and very pleasant, the local food is fresh, the ferry connections are reliable and organized making it easy to sail to more than one Greek "paradise" while on a relatively short vacation.
There is a total of 56 Greek islands in the complex known as the Cyclades islands, 24 out of the 56 islands are inhabited, while the remaining 32 are mostly islets and rocks, some of these, however, have an important archaeological value. The spiritual center of the Cyclades islands could be considered to be the island of Santorini, for although Santorini is located to the south geographically, it is to this picturesque, beautiful, volcanic island that most people visit first, before the other islands.
The Greek islands that form the shape of a fan on the eastern side of the island of Santorini which include the popular islands of Naxos, Paros and Mykonos used to be popular for back-packers and island hoppers, whereas quieter islands located on the eastern side of Santorini include the small, almost virgin islands of Donoussa and Iraklia, the beautiful island that is located last in the line to the east is the island of Andros.
The Cyclades islands located on the western side of Santorini, create another chain, a line of beautiful islands, each self-contained in its own unity, however, they share the same culture that is linked by their history and the ferry connections. The western Cyclades islands are the islands of Serifos, Sifnos, Milos, Kythnos, and Kea, then the two islands of shame, Makronissos island and Giaros island which are not touristic islands and are considered to be the islands of shame for the Greeks.
The islands of the Cyclades are said to have been inhabited since the early years of 6000 B.C. During the third millennium until the end of the fourth millennium, an advanced civilization was noted with many paths of art and crafts and commerce.
People began to live a higher standard of life and enjoyed it as is displayed today at the address: Neofytou Douka Street which houses the Goulandris Museum of Athens. This museum is the first museum in the world that is exclusively devoted to the art of the Cyclades islands (Cycladic art), displayed by the museum's long, linear, bright-white sculptures made from the shiny white Cycladic marble.
Each island has its own unique history which you can read about on the island pages. Some islands such as the party island of Mykonos, may not display their history that much, but it can always be discovered easily.
The inhabited Cyclades islands are the following:
The Northern Cyclades: Kea, Kythnos, Syros, Andros, Tinos, Mykonos, Makronissos, Giaros, Delos, and Rhenia.
The Middle Cyclades: Serifos, Sifnos, Antiparos, Paros, Naxos,
The Small Cyclades: Donoussa, Iraklia, Schinousa, Koufonissia, and Amorgos.
The Southern Cyclades: Milos, Kimolos, Folegandros, Sikinos, Ios, Thira (Santorini) and Anafi.
Architecture of the Greek Cyclades islands
The Greek Cyclades islands are a complex of small, beautiful islands, located in the Aegean Sea. The islands form a circle around the holy, sacred island of Delos. The Cyclades islands are often mentioned as the pearls of all the many Greek islands and international visitors travel very long distances, just to feel the peace and calm atmosphere and the idyllic landscapes of the islands. We can assure you that after your first visit to the Greek Cyclades islands, you will be back!
When you travel to some of the islands of the Cyclades group, you are sure to notice many traditional windmills (some windmills still operate, while many others are just ruins that decorate the islands), uncountable little chapels, many water mills, and many large, rich Greek Orthodox churches. There are many ruined farmhouses that always manage to catch the eye of the visitors as well as the architectural decoration of the many dovecotes on the islands of Andros, Paros, and Tinos.
Some of the exclusive characteristics of the architecture of the Cyclades islands (Cycladic architecture) are the low white buildings, it is rare to find a high 3-floor building the islands of the Cyclades because each island maintains the architectural rules of the whole Cyclades group. The traditional architectural rules of the Cyclades states that the houses, stores, and buildings should be painted white and most wooden doors and windows should be a dark shade of blue, the same color of the ocean. This specific, traditional shade of dark blue has also been used to paint the domes of the uncountable churches, you will very rarely see a church in the Cyclades islands that is not white and blue. The beautiful traditional churches have been built in all areas throughout the islands of the Cyclades, making the islands even more beautiful and very traditional.
The initial reason that the houses, stores, and buildings were painted white was to reflect the hot, harsh summer sun. This means that in reality, this tradition was started off for "bioclimatic" or "ecological" purposes and resulting in making the houses a little bit more heat resistant, with the little architectural knowledge that the people had at the time. All of the old houses in the Cyclades islands were very well insulated, with primitive means – the walls were built with stone and dirt, sometimes as thick as 60 centimeters, this caused them to endure the hot and cold weather very well, while the roofs (whether vaulted or not) were also insulated, most times with a combination of wood, mud, hay, and pozolanic (volcanic ash) concrete. In the olden years, the white walls were not painted with today's buckets of white paint, as the white paint was fabricated and produced all around the world in the years 1905 – 1915. Instead of white paint, traditional asbestos was used to produce a shiny white color. Asbestos was also used as a cheap material for many other paint jobs, such as painting the tree trunks to kill the insects and pests, for making the edges of few pavements more visible, for decorating small alleyways, etc. Santorini did not follow this tradition, however, this was the case in the other Cycladic islands. You might have noticed or wondered why the locals paint the lower tree barks also in white on most of the Cyclades Islands and generally in Greece, ! This is said to get rid of the many insects, but it is also because the color white is clean, so by painting the bottom of the tree barks white, the trees look clean!
holidays on Antiparos island
Starting in the year 1974, all new houses in the Cyclades had to be painted white, either with asbestos or with paint. The owners of the buildings, houses, and stores are obligated by the municipality of each of the islands to paint the outsides of their houses at least once a year. The painting usually takes place in the springtime. Painting is still a common obligation, by the law, however, today, sometimes very light blue, pink, and some other light colors have been allowed but are not approved of by the locals as they spoil the Cycladic architecture traditions. Τhere was a big debate that re-opened a couple of years ago between the Ministry of Culture and other various municipal authorities about re-allowing other vivid colors for windows and doors, as in Santorini. This debate is still in progress, however, most of the islanders are proud of their tradition and they maintain the white and the blue colors.
Each and every island of the Cyclades complex maintains until today its own unique characteristics, which have been determined by the history of each island, the geology, and the topography, however, all islands are still bound together by their unique architecture. The Cycladic architecture is very famous all over Greece for its charm and uniqueness, it provides the islands with minimal aesthetics but with a beautiful, traditional style that captures the heart of each visitor.
Food and drink in the Cyclades
beaches Psaraliki on Antiparos island
The food and the cuisine of the islands of the Cyclades is primordial and reflects the deep history of culture. With the distinctive character, fresh spices, strong aromas, and fresh, organic fruit and vegetables that are ripened in the bright sun, it creates a separate chapter of the tradition of the Greek gastronomic and also of the culinary history of the whole world.
The popular 'makarounes' of the Aegean (hand-made, fresh pasta with caramelized tiny onions), the Kassian pilaf, 'skardoumia' (the offal soup) from Santorini, Serifos is popular for its 'marathotiganites' (fennel rissoles) and its 'dolmathakia' rice wrapped in fresh vine leaves with herbs. The 'melitera' (sweet cheese pies with a vanilla ascent) from the island of Anafi, and Sifnos's 'melopita' (honey pie), are just a few of the hundreds of traditional Cyclades dishes that the visitors should try while in the warm embrace of the Aegean.
The beauty of the islands belonging to the Cyclades group is a popular tourist attraction, not only for the travelers but also for people who are involved creatively in the culinary arts, who come to the Cyclades islands to expand their knowledge and show their respect and love of the Greek traditional cuisine. The taverns and restaurants of the Cyclades islands have a prominent place in most international rankings and are also highly appreciated by the devotees of the haute cuisine and authentic eating experiences.
Traditions in the Cyclades
Ios island in the Greek Cyclades islands
In most of the Cycladic islands, the houses, churches, and buildings were painted white, in order to reflect the harsh summer sun. So, this tradition started for "bioclimatic" or "ecological" reasons, to make the houses a little bit more heat resistant, with the little knowledge that the people had at the time. All Cycladic island houses were quite well insulated, although with primitive means — walls were built with stone (enduring heat and cold very well) while roofs (vaulted or not) were insulated too, with a combination of wood, mud, hay, and pozolanic (volcanic ash) cement. One thing to note is that walls were not painted with white paint, since the white paint was fabricated and mass-produced all around the world, only after 1905 – 1915. Instead, asbestos was used to produce an almost white color. It was also used as a cheap material for many other purposes, like painting tree trunks to kill pests, making the edges of pavements more visible, ornamenting small roads, etc. This was NOT the case in Santorini but in most other Cycladic islands.
You might notice and ask why on most of the Cyclades Islands and generally in Greece, the locals paint the lower tree barks also in white! This is said to get rid of the many insects, but it is also because the color white is clean, so by painting the tree barks white, they look clean!
The history of the Cyclades islands
The Cyclades, due to their central location to trade in the eastern Mediterranean, have a rich and long history. They are a part of the vast number of islands that constitute the Greek archipelago in the Aegean Sea. The name was originally used to indicate islands that formed a rough circle around the sacred island of Delos.
The Cyclades islands
The Cyclades are comprised of around 220 islands, with the major ones being Amorgos, Anafi, Antiparos, Delos, Ios, Kimolos, Kynthos, Mílos, Mykonos, Náxos, Páros, Folegandros, Serifos, Sifnos, Sikinos, Syros, Tínos, and Santorini (Thíra).
While ancient maritime trade made the region important strategically and geographically, a reliable agricultural base made life on the Cyclades archipelago possible. The Cyclades may have been one of the earliest sites of the worship of the Mother Goddess cult, which became widespread throughout the eastern and western Mediterranean.
All Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures including ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and later on, Greece, would feature prominent goddesses. When the Minoan culture flourished in the islands from about 3000 to 1450 b.c.e., frescoes on the walls of the palace, excavated by the British archaeologist Arthur Evans, featured a bare-breasted goddess with snakes.
Snakes figured in many of the Mother Goddess cults in antiquity and had its parallel in the story of Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden in the Old Testament. Settlement of the Cyclades was sporadic. The Phoenicians were most likely the first settlers, while around 1000 b.c.e. the island was inhabited by the Ionians. In the case of Syros, ancient ruins, statuettes, and skeletons indicate the island had been settled by the Bronze Age.
The very dispersion of the islands made seafaring a necessary part of survival, as islanders learned that they could gain by trading with—or raiding—other islands in the archipelago.
It is in these early boats that one can find the beginnings of the oared galleys that would be a feature of Mediterranean warfare until the 18th century at least when the Knights of Malta used huge galleys in their wars against the Barbary pirates. Cycladic ships were the prototypes with which ancient Greece would plant its colonies, beginning around the sixth-century b.c.e., and with which Rome would become the mistress of the Mediterranean.
The Cycladic culture peaked during the Minoan period, which was brought to life by the work of Arthur Evans with his reconstruction of the royal palace at Knossos. The story of European civilization begins on the island of Crete with a civilization that probably thought of itself as Asian (in fact, Crete is closer to Asia than it is to Europe).
Thus, the Cyclades and Cretan Minoan civilization provided the first known fusion of Western and Asiatic culture. With the rise of Alexander the Great around 320 b.c.e., this would become the great Hellenistic civilization, which Alexander's armies would carry to the very frontiers of India.
The mythology of the Cyclades islands
The deep ancestry of the Cyclades was remembered through myths and legends, and most of the islands feature in ancient Greek and Roman mythology.
The reality behind the myths can be explored through important archaeological remains, particularly in Delos, Santorini, and Naxos.
These date from the Bronze Age, Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Roman times, and they yield fascinating connections to the wider ancient world.
Each island has its own history and its own mythology, which is very interesting and if you study the sites on the islands, having a general knowledge of the mythology and history will help you tremendously.
Information about the Cyclades islands
Architecture in the Cyclades
Visit the Cyclades islands:
Donousa
Skinousa


Amateur inventor Liu Qiyuan has developed a set of pods designed to survive the end of the world.
Inspired by the recent movie '2012', Liu has spent over 1.8 million yuan ( $288,000 ) on the project. Ten workers spent several months constructing the capsules which are each built with a metal frame covered in fiberglass. The pods are able to block radiation and in the event of flooding can take to the ocean and maneuver 360 degrees underwater. With enough seating for 14 people the pods are packed with enough supplies to keep the occupants alive for up to five months.
"No matter whether the rumor that the world will end in 2012 is true or not, we should use our brains to thwart it," he says. Liu has named the capsules "Noah" in honour of his Biblical counterpart.
"Inspired by Roland Emmerich�s science fiction drama �2012,� and just in time for the end of the Mayan calendar, amateur inventor Liu Qiyuan developed an apocalypse survival capsule and called �Noah."
if the world was going to end with a catastrophic disaster why would anyone want to live to see the consequences? Fire everywhere, dead bodies hanging from light poles, dangling christmas tree remnents... Because then there'd be no government to stop you from gathering other folk and building a new society based on your own rules.


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France – closed for August
"Sorry to call you so early…but were you under the impression, as I was, that you were due to sign the compromis for the mill next week?" My heart sank as I listened to our agent telling me that he had been trying to talk to the notaire that morning, but that she and her PA had both gone off on holiday for two weeks. We only had a week of our stay left in France and it looked like everything was going pear-shaped. I confirmed that Maître G had said she was going away but that she had given me her PA's email address to send some documents to, in her absence – and now it looked like the PA had disappeared too.
France is notorious for shutting down completely during August. It's one of those love/hate things for us. The French have their priorities right when it comes to work-life balance. They have strict rules for when they work and nothing gets in the way of their family and leisure time when they're not working. But with my British hat on, it seems crazy that everyone goes off on an extended summer vacation just as the the busiest time of year starts in the summer. Restaurants and bars will close for their congés annuels, annual holidays, just as the tourists flock in. We've been stuck, waiting for several weeks in the past, for a spare part for the car,because the factory has shut down for August, just to be told with a gallic shrug – C'est les congés annuels.
We rather anxiously spent the day waiting for the agent's next call. "Leave it with me", he'd said as he hung up, but we were still worried. We had decided that it would be a good idea to go back and walk round the village where 'our' mill was, just to check out the local amenities and acquaint ourselves a bit more with the area! It was really nice to see the place again, if only from the outside – especially as the weather had at last changed for the better and we could appreciate the beautiful setting in gorgeous sunshine.
Our agent was as good as his word and phoned back later to say that the agent for the mill was now back off his holidays and had been sent all the necessary paperwork by the notaire, so we could go ahead with the signing on Tuesday, as planned. Phew!
It's been a busy few days, with a flying visit down to the Corbière region to see Colin's sister and her partner who live down there. The amazing mountains and forests of the area and the peace and tranquillity of their isolated home was a complete change from the green rolling farmland of our area in the Sarthe. It was like being in a different country and made a lovely break.
Back 'home' in Avoise today, we've been visited by our neighbours from up the road, who popped by to say hello, as well as their daughter and her friends visiting from Houston, who admired our 16th century house. After a lovely lazy lunch over at the home of Marianne and Jean-Paul who live in the next village and have been such good friends to us over the years, we decided that packing could wait until tomorrow and sat in the garden, reading and soaking up the sun. We've been really touched by our neighbours' sadness to see us go (even if we are only moving 15 kilometres away!). Even the young guy from next door, who moved in relatively recently, and who we barely know, came over the other evening to say he had heard we were leaving and how he would miss us! It's taken a while to build these relationships, especially as we are here for such a short time each year, but the warmth and generosity of the Avoisiens has made our time here really special.
Posted in: Living in France | Tagged: Avoise, Avoisiens, compromis de vente, congés annuels, Corbières, fermeture annuelle, France, French, house buying, house purchase, life in France, Living in France, Moulin de la Roche, watermill


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Back to Industry News
Crop Science in Africa
January 2017, Milling and Grain – by Clifford Spencer, Goodwill Ambassador, NEPAD
INTRO: I have practically and directly worked with over 60 different species of crops in my lifetime. This has been achieved as a farmer, nucleus seed producer, commercial crop grower, on-farm miller and consumer of these crops either directly or through the farm livestock to which they have been fed. My farming family's proud boast is that we provided the Royal Household of HM Queen Elizabeth with a Christmas Turkey when we won the UK national poultry show at Smithfield many, many years ago. We also broke yield and quality records for many of the crops that we grew on our farm. Our family farm also played host to many African visitors when I was a young boy and this harboured a long-term and growing interest in this huge continent, which is now an area of the world rapidly coming to the fore in global affairs and commercial developments.
Seven of the top 10 performing economies in the world today are within the African continent. When I completed studying agriculture at university, my very first act upon returning to the family farm was to install an on-farm laboratory. Even in the UK, given it was the very early 1970s, this was an unusual on-farm facility.
The laboratory was equipped for seed germination/vigour testing and grain analysis in terms of protein in cereals and oil content in oilseeds. So as I excitedly used my specialist Kjeldahl and Soxhlet apparatus I was at that time blissfully unaware in global terms of just how extraordinarily lucky I was in terms of the science and technology at my fingertips. This ability to analyse and immediately relate the laboratory results to the growing of the cereal and oilseed crops themselves proved to be real winner and as a result crop yield and quality constantly and rapidly improved. Also our grain produced proved to be extremely popular with millers and as a result always fetched a good price. That experience persuaded me very early on in my career of the power of science and technology in quality farming and food production and also its commercial benefits.
The Potential of African-grown crops to meet food demand
Several crops being farmed in Africa are of potential interest to the milling industry. These crops have the ability to both boost African farming and with that development, African economic growth. These opportunities will be reviewed on a crop by crop basis for readers of coming publications of Milling and Grain and to act as an easy source of future reference. With its vast land area covering three billion hectares, Africa has 1.3 billion hectares of agricultural land out of which 252 million hectares (19.36 %) is currently arable (2011, FAO). Compare this for instance to the total arable land of the UK of some five million hectares and the potential for food and feed production and its associated industries is clear. Africa is not only the centre of origin, but also a major producer of several cereals like sorghum, pearl millet, finger millet, teff and African rice.
Another major cereal, maize has overtaken these traditional cereals while wheat is widely cultivated in North Africa and in Sudan and Ethiopia. Africa is thus perhaps the great opportunity for millers to realise.
The importance of indigenous African crops Developing this opportunity has two sides as agriculture is the 'engine for growth' in Africa. Agriculture employs 65 percent of Africa's labour force and is responsible for 32 percent of its GDP. With subsistence agriculture currently practiced by majority small holder farmers, yield gaps are high and poor soils, amongst other constraints add to the difficulties for sustainable farming and incomes. Cereals like Sorghum, Millets, Wheat, Maize and Rice are major staple foods of the most population. These cereals are grown over an area of 98.6 m ha producing 162 m tons of grain as per the crop breakdown in the chart below. This month I will briefly describe maize (corn) before moving on in subsequent editions and in more detail to some indigenous African crops of potential interest to millers. An important consideration that perhaps the milling industry needs to carefully consider in the longer term is the type of crop used as feedstock. This is a basic requirement in terms of producing the highest quality crops in and for Africa and is related to whether the crop is a so-called C4 crop. Wheat, for instance, is a C3 crop and as such does not have the outright yield and quality potential in tropical climes as with a C4 crop, particularly so in sub-Saharan Africa. Maize (corn) is a C4 crop as is Sorghum.
To explain the basic difference, C4 plants are more efficient in photosynthesis than C3 plants. C4 plants are able to more efficiently fix carbon in drought, high temperatures, and limitations of nitrogen or CO2, with the more common C3 pathway being more efficient in the other conditions such as temperate climes. C4 plants are generally native to hot, moist or arid non-saline habitats as experienced in the tropics. The C4 pathway occurs in many grasses, sugar cane, maize, sorghum and other native tropical crops such as millet. In technical speak the C4 cycle is the alternate pathway of Calvin cycle (C3 cycle) and takes place during the dark phase of photosynthesis. In the C4 cycle the first stable compound is a four carbon compound (namely Oxaloacetic Acid) hence it is called the C4 cycle. C4 plants show a specific type of leaf anatomy called Krans anatomy. The indigenous African crops I will go on to describe in later articles are all C4 crops so with proper breeding and agronomy have enormous potential. Much work is now taking place in this area by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and in particular for example in Sorghum by the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) as well as many of the larger agricultural corporates as their interest in these developing world regions expands.
Traditional crops such as yam, sorghum, millet and teff have been ground for centuries in Africa, either with a crude mortar and pestle fashioned from a tree stump and branch or by using flat stones or rubbing stones. All these types of grinding systems are still in common use throughout Africa today.
Newer crops, such as rice, maize and cassava, have been introduced in more recent centuries and new milling techniques have followed.
Tackling the electricity shortage
In the mid-nineteenth century, electric motors were invented but this advance towards hammer and plate milling passed large areas of Africa by, due to the lack of electricity on the bulk of the continent. Instead diesel engineered and lower-speed driven mills were installed but even these were limited to availability of fuel and spare parts. This dearth of electricity on the African continent and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa is now starting to be tackled and NEPAD certainly understands the prizes that can be won as it is installed in greater capacity across the continent and higher speed machines can be used in a greater number of regions.
Maize (corn) will be well known to many readers and is a major staple food crop grown in diverse agro-ecological zones and farming systems on the African continent. Indeed it is now the most widely distributed crop in Africa being grown in almost all ecological zones. Highest yields per hectare are registered in Egypt and Indian Ocean countries. It is consumed by people with varying food preferences and socio-economic backgrounds in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and its central role as a staple food in that region is comparable to that of rice or wheat in Asia. It is most highly consumed in eastern and southern Africa (ESA).
Sixteen of the 22 countries in the world where maize forms the highest percentage of calorie intake are in Africa. This one crop accounts for almost half of the calories and protein consumed in ESA, and one fifth of the calories and protein consumed in West Africa. An estimated 208 million people in SSA depend on maize as a source of food security and economic wellbeing. Maize occupies more than 33 million hectares of SSA's estimated 200 million hectares of cultivated land. Considering the low average maize grain yields that are still pervasive in African farmers' fields, meeting the projected increase demand for maize grain in Africa presents a challenge, but also a huge opportunity.
What can be achieved
Helpfully, there is the contemporary comparison of the highly successful development of this crop in the US and other world regions. This development has taken place over a relative short period of time historically and is an example of just what can be achieved when humans put their mind and science and technology to this challenge. The success of maize bodes even greater developments for the indigenous and largely underdeveloped African crops that will be described in future editions of Milling and Grain. Hammer-milled maize meal is currently the major African product which varies country-by-country. It is a basic product containing all the ground up bran, germ and as a result has a short shelf life with the germ becoming rancid very fast after milling. This same problem affects plate milled and sifted maize meal which having a great deal of 'powder' resulting in high adsorption of moisture and fast release of this moisture when cold, giving a layer of water over the 'pap' in the morning and turning the porridge sour.
The porridge cooks with a slightly yellow colour although the raw meal may look dazzlingly white. Bran, with a higher water adsorption than endosperm often gives a bloated feeling to the eager eater.
The need for high digestibility meal for human or animal consumption in Africa has never been greater. Palatability and the need to expose the starch in the grain accordingly plus the need for nutritional additives is also crucial. Also avoiding the respiratory problems when fed dry of overmilled flour is important as many people in East Africa prefer a very fine flour to make 'nzima' or 'ugali', a smooth gruel.
However, other people in Central and West Africa prefer coarser, unshelled flour, which gives more texture to the product.
Whatever the social custom Africa needs good quality maize meal obtained by de-germinating the maize then milling the samp and chips and if a plate or roller mill is used then sifting the meal with the de-germinator or polisher having separated the bran, germ meal and endosperm. In the next issue I will go on to describe lesser known crop opportunities like Sorghum which have been partly developed in other countries and are now set to make a big mark in African agricultural development, energy and nutrition.
by Clifford Spencer, Goodwill Ambassador, NEPAD – NEPAD is the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development
Sourced by Milling and Grain