Transparency is the key to developed countries' success, in particular in the world of Internet, Social Media and Online Advertising. Transparency takes commitment and the key elements are professionalism and work ethic.
At Film Annex, over a year ago, we decided to go public on our internal activities starting from the very simple step to publish weekly articles and blogs by each of the Film Annex's people based in New York City. Every Friday, our 50 million viewers can read and watch what happens at Film Annex and in particular what Eren, Fereshteh, Jennifer, Semyon, Alexey, Mike, Tom and I did throughout the week. During the week, we also publish interviews and updates, share thoughts and seek conversation and suggestions.
Another important factor to transparency is to have a consistent and continuous work ethic on building content that illustrates and documents personal and the company's activities. Every few days, we update our blogs, our social media pages and we cross promote each others' articles to further enrich the knowledge of our viewers. I rarely write long emails and focus on publishing articles and blogs like this one, so that others can read and see what my thoughts are. By doing so, my thoughts and invested time go beyond my circle of 10-15 close collaborators and friends and reach people from all over the world. It also establishes credibility and liability.
My dear friend Alessandro Hamada mentioned that several people like him, half Japanese and half Brazilian, decide to move to Japan to pursue a successful working career. Because of Japan's transparency and business credibility, they save substantial amounts of money that they want to reinvest in Brazil, where their heart is. But the Brazilian economic system is very confusing and at times corrupted. It is definitely not as transparent. Consequently, they encounter problems and at times, loose their investment. The lack of transparency unfortunately facilitates corruption and the lack of accountability, especially in developing countries. Afghanistan's major enemies today are not the Taliban but the lack of transparency and consolidated work ethic, and an excessive corruption.
Our work in Afghanistan has the purpose to empower Afghan women and Afghan students and youth with the ability to work in social media, create a meaningful digital imprint, participate in the global conversation and market of the World Wide Web and with it, embrace transparency and strong work ethics. Each person who is part of the Film Annex's company and network is rated with a Buzz Score. The Buzz Score grows upon the social media interaction, reach and content quantity and quality published on Film Annex. Lazy people fall behind and are rewarded less than those that a have strong work ethic and quality content and production.
Today my Buzz Score is 91:
What is your Buzz Score today?
The Examer Educational Software designed and developed by Afghan women and financed by Citadel of New York and Film Annex has the purpose to educate young people on producing substantial professional written and video content, have a strong impact in social media and create a strong digital imprint and leadership. Let me clarify. One skimpy blog a week doesn't cut it. The real success is based on constant research and development of new valuable content and the substantial revenues its distribution will generate. As I mentioned in my previous article, we are transitioning from Research and Development to Research, Development and Monetization.
Each person has a story to tell and a point of view to share. Each person can teach others lessons that are valuable and has the responsibility to share them to educate others and help them grow in the right direction. Those who don't share content, don't write and create interesting videos and films, shelter themselves from new opportunities.We are back to the concept of Peer to Peer Education, Governance and Economic Development. 8 million students in Afghanistan can easily seek help and support from 1.6 billion worldwide connections. 1.6 billion people can seek inspiration and the social media support of 8 million Afghan students. It's a two-way street where all benefit.
In the last few months, I learned a lot from the comments and suggestions of readers on my articles and blogs. It is not a coincidence that film companies and journalists from all over the world have contacted me with the intention to establish business and mentor relationships. I rarely call people, they call me. I spend time studying what people propose instead of wasting time seeking clients and partners. This is called In-Bound Marketing. Mike Sweeney, managing partner at Target Marketing Annex, is my mentor and inspiration and I strive every day to exceed his expectations.
Film Annex operates in Afghanistan through Afghan Citadel and the work of our team of Citadel of New York. The team in Afghanistan is sourced and managed by Roya Mahboob and Elaha Mahboob who are our main points of contact in the region. Roya and Elaha's work is also to write weekly updates online about their activities and the activities of our 7 schools and two Women's Annex Centers in Herat and Kabul. They also train and require that our social media managers, teachers, filmmakers and students create content and publish updates in forms of blogs on a weekly and possibly bi-weekly basis. Unfortunately, our Afghan team's Buzz Scores are way below the target and I am working hard to motivate them to publish regularly and create a network of writers around themselves. A selected group of Afghan women are our first step to change Afghanistan, Central and South Asian perception of lack of transparency and work ethic.
The constant update of information, the use of targeted long tail keywords, the translation of articles from Farsi to English, from English to Urdu, from Pashto to Uzbek, etc. allow our organization to produce large amounts of SEO friendly content and multiply it on various language platforms. By doing so, the writers, filmmakers and Film Annex's team achieve further SEO supremacy and increase the inbound marketing and advertising revenues.
Increasing advertising revenues means increasing revenues for the students and women who publish professional articles, blogs and professional videos. It also increases Film Annex's capacity to hire additional writers for The Annex Press platform and reward them upon their Buzz Score. The higher the Buzz Score, the higher the reward. If your Buzz Score is 90, you get paid $90 for your article! Imagine the impact in a country like Afghanistan where the average per capita annual income is $900/year!
As the President of Film Annex, I dedicate time to create content and distribute it on my social media platforms. My Buzz Score is in the 90's. I am looking forward to others that can take the lead and hope that they will be women from Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, where their leadership is needed and their example of work ethic and transparency can change the destiny and perception of their countries.
In a few words, here is my message to young people of Central-South Asia and other developing countries: Prove your work ethic, be accountable for your work, be transparent with your writing and films. I will be motivated to invest in your ideas and projects.
Unless this is done, it's unthinkable that investors will come to invest in developing countries like Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, where, in many cases, institutions are not transparent and accessible to all. People like me don't rely on Government grants and outside donors. I rely on individual counterparts that show their work ethic and concepts by publishing articles and professional videos to open a constructive and profitable conversation. Even in the USA and Europe, I don’t waste my time discussing politics and economy with those who don't publish their thoughts. Talk is cheap and the first step to accountability is putting ideas and projects in writing and pay the consequences or learn the lessons from it.
People know my position on Education, Gun Control, Military Intervention and many other touchy topics by reading my articles and blogs. My writing and work talk for themselves. I expect the same from those who want to communicate with me and build new ideas. It doesn't matter if it's a Fashion clothing line or a real-estate development. To come to a realization, every project needs planning and accountability. It needs sophisticated articles and video documentation to illustrate products, concepts and the potential to growth. In today's' world, Digital Perception is Reality and Talk is Cheap.
Building Schools in Afghanistan and Women Empowerment can be done with contemporary and quantifiable tools such as blogging and professional film and video distribution.
Let me close with Captain Zellem's comment and wisdom through one of the Afghan Dari Proverbs of his publications:
قدر زر را زرگر میداند.
