Spoiler alert! This is a very loooooooooooooong philosophical blog!
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Whatever happens, it is how you act when you are down that defines who you are and who you will become. Some people ask us why Africa Night especially the Tilburg version always seems to be succeeding. Of course there are a lot of reasons including the fact that our guests who are from all over the world are the best anybody could wish for in the world.
Money is always a big issue in life. We were brought up to worship it. To bow down to it. Without it, you are nothing. Your intelligence, your place in life is determined by money. So it is not a surprise that when people are starting any venture the part that they put the most attention to is money. With us Africans it can even become an obsession. We spend the whole of our lives chasing the shadows of money.
The bitter truth is however, money will never be a substitute for vision, passion and determination. This is why we at Africa Night Productions took a totally different approach when we started Africa Night more than 15 years ago. We never let money be the Alpha or the Omega of our desire to entertain our guests. We started Africa Night out of our passionate belief that we could entertain people and have fun at the same time. We did not think first and only about money.
We set up a party knowing if we enjoyed ourselves, others would join us. It is a very simple logic. If you show people you are having a bad time, they will stay away from you. If people see you are having fun, they would want to be a part of the fun too. It is human nature. Nobody feels free when the host is on the edge. So we are thinking “us” when we organise an Africa Night. Money takes a back seat. That is because it is necessary. Otherwise it would not even have a seat at the back. It is not a goal. It is a necessity.
Some of those who have tried and failed have fallen on the wayside because they see, breath, think money. So instead of worshipping money we take the other approach. We invest our time and energy thinking about the most important aspect of business; the people! You see, we started this thing because we believed in it. That is the vision thing we mentioned above. The passion part is out desire to entertain ourselves. All of these times, we were/are really interested in the people who come and join in our fun. We don’t play games. We play straight. After all it is always a special gift to have people choose your party above all others.
You know when you enter the any Africa Night venue; you are not just a number. You know you just left home and arrived at a place where you feel wanted. In short we try to make it a home for the few hours you are with us. That is why we are happy with each other. You come alone, or you come with a car full of other enthusiasts because you feel free. You can approach us, give us tips and sometimes give us a slap on the wrist. Both are because we are free with each other. This is a freedom you don’t feel at other kind of parties. We never look down on our guests. We look up to them. This is based on a simple logic; money never brings people, people bring money! So those who start any event whether in this or other genre only thinking of money are bound to fail. This is because they lose focus on the most important thing. The human resources! It people who make or break. People have money. Money does not even know it exists!
Why this long philosophical diversion? Maybe it is because we are writing this blog after a very long day after Africa Night Tilburg June 2013 edition. It is past midnight now. We have selected the good pictures from the 400+ we took this time. We know the 165 that have made it through the vetting process. We have put a few (20) on Facebook, updated our website and the social media. We have made the video slides. It is our typical Sunday after! That is what you have come to expect from us. That is what we’ve been delivering all these years. That’s why you keep voting for us with your dancing feet 🙂 We thank you for voting for us again in June despite the other big events that were happening on the same day.
Before we finish this blog, we have to make a special mention of 2 sets of people who by their acts reminded us why we will always do our best to be at your service. The first are 2 of our loyal guests who always come to Tilburg every month from Almere. Yesterday they brought 2 special people with them. One of them is, as many may have noticed, blind and the other one was a lady who came from India. If these people did not feel comfortable at our show, they would not have brought these other special people. They did because they knew Africa Night is safe and people-friendly. Thank you!
The other people we want to give a special shout out to, are those 3 ladies whose car broke down in the middle of the road, in the middle of the night. After pushing their car to a safe area, they walked a very long distance to the venue finally arriving just an hour before closing time. These ladies proved what we’ve always been saying, “if it is important; you will find a way. If not you will find an excuse!” Ladies, we like your spirit! We think they make the effort because they knew they could trust us! We will always try to be the best we can. And did any one notice that the owner of the previous location, Partycentrum Oase, was also in attendance? That is because we built and maintained a good relationship with him as we always do wherever Africa Night is held. It was nice of him to come around too.
Above all, we like to thank all of you for being always nice to us! Starting from October Africa Night will be hitting the lovely city of Utrecht! So keep every first Saturday of the month free in your diary. We think we already informed you that Africa Night will be making a return to Rotterdam from November 2013. The Rotterdam editions are special editions that will take place on a 2 monthly basis. Nobody can accuse us of not trying! Keep reading our blog for more information and news!
See you all next month (Saturday July 20 2013) in T Kwadraat Tilburg.
