Whitecollar magazine 005: Blockchain Disruption by WhiteCollar Magazine

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EDITOR'S NOTE 03

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN BUILDING A PAN AFRICAN BUSINESS MODEL 05

Contents START-UP CULTURE IN AFRICA 08

BLOCKCHAIN DISRUPTION 16

OXFORD VS BROGUE 21

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Editor’s Note Hello & Welcome to White Collar! On This Issue we look at tech. Tech is an integral part of the modern individual’s life. It’s been an interesting journey since the creation of the internet till now. Numerous industries have been disrupted and the change seems to be continuous with tech stretching out into every industry. On this month’s issue however we look at where tech is going and focus on two facets i.e. Blockchain and Cloud computing. Blockchain has been called the most significant step in evolution of computer science because of all the implications behind it. We explore this from the perspectives of two tech titans. We also explore the reality of tech and start-up culture in Africa. We love hearing back from you guys. Do not hesitate to reach out to us across out social platforms.

Contributors:

Michael Kiruthi, Esq Emmanuel Kyama

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Kyama Kivuva

ManuKyama

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frica is a bit of a mystery for outsiders. What seems to work in the rest of the world might not work in Africa. The rules are different. Business ecosystems are structured differently. Numerous attempts to modernise and change various industries have failed. A good example of this is the attempt to move Nairobiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s matatu (public transport) industry to digital cash. Despite aggressive campaigns and endorsement from the biggest of companies and public figures, a lack of understanding of the matatu industry, caused the project to be relatively unsuccessful.

What you need to know when building a

pan African business model A MAGAZINE FOR THE CAREER-PERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR

The Matatu industry is just one example. According to the 2015 Economic survey about 95 per cent of the businesses in Kenya are found in the informal sector. A World Bank review of household enterprises in SubSaharan Africa (Fox and Sohnesen 2012) states that nearly 70 per cent of employment outside farming is in the informal sector. In order to tap into this industry you have to create value with as little disruption as possible. Mpesa, a money transfer platform, is a good example of this. It allows for seamless exchange of cash at a relatively low cost, and it has arguably fuelled the informal sector. With the spread of affordable internet services, more and more individuals across Africa are accessing social media. The exchange of idea on a pan-African scale indicates a few things chief among them is the thought that African nations are fundamentally similar but superficially different. This is a fine line to walk! How do we take advantage of the similarities present in African states, while still compensating for their differences? This is a difficult undertaking but it is poosible. With enough research and the patience once can pragmatically scale operations and eventually build a pan-african business. I know, this is easier said, however if we start by looking at a few of the hindrances present in Africa we can find fitting solutions to the high attrition rate of businesses. In Kenya only about 4% of businesses make it. Entrepreneurship is expected to create employment but if only 4% of businesses make it, that expectation may prove a little more challenging than expected.

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Vusi Thembekwayo is a prolific public speaker.He co-founded a fund ‘My growth fund’ whose objective is to help build about 300 black owned, panAfrican businesses by 2030. This is quite the undertaking. Mr. Thembekwayo has had his eye on the African business climate and is doing his best to open other’s eyes to it. When asked what trends he has noticed in African businesses, he reflected over the past 4 years and sited the following:

1. Lack of Venture funding & patient Capital for start-up businesses: Start-up funding is rare and far between. If present there is a high chance that the funding is foreign. Local investment in most African nations lacks structure and specialization. The most compelling opportunities have always required patient capital. The projects that will create greatest impact require patient capital and a nimble team that can change direction and adapt if need be. Rushing a business

instead of taking the time to adapt and grow it can end up killing it, as a result of not understanding customer or their changing needs.

2. Most entrepreneurial activity is linked to state procurement and not scalable start-ups : Procurement is one of the most coveted spaces in the African business climate. Corporate or government tenders issued to supply anything from paper to security dogs for the police unit are famous for generating incredible sums of money in a seemingly instant one time deal. If repeated it could lead to rapid generation of wealth. This model of wealth creation is not sustainable. It is rather stochastic and unstable as shifting sands. However, because of the significant upside, they draw quite the crowd who compete aggressively for each opportunity. Most start-ups aren’t as thrilling as a government/corporate tender, but they are sustainable. Well run start-ups create a stable and compounding revenue stream.

3. Incoherent state regulations : African regulations governing trade are still in the proverbial ‘stone age’. We need less trade restrictions across African borders. Numerous studies show the correlations between trade barriers, increased demand and increased prices. High entry costs have never been part of the signs of a booming economy, for businesses to thrive there needs to be a low barrier to entry and continued support through workshops and business-incubators. Some African nations are trying to adapt, in that, they don’t charge any fees for registration and give tax breaks to start-ups. This is

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an impressive feat and shows that some countries are critically considering intense ways to spur economic growth. The next logical step is to loosen the trade restrictions and allow for free flow of goods and services. This move to loosen trade restrictions will boost the economies of the involved nations but like many other things won’t be perfect. There may be a spread of social evils like drugs or prostitution. However with most new opportunities there is always a learning curve through which we may learn to curb the said social evils.

4. Poor education creates a systemic drag on the entrepreneurial growth: The light of education allows people to see the value of business and gives order on how to scale it. Education, both formal and informal can allow people to realize the full potential of business. History shows that nations with solid education programmes have higher chances of fostering environments that allow for innovation which in turn produces smart next generation businesses and services. Out-dated education systems create little value in today’s economy. Sadly this is the position Africa finds itself in. The wheel of education is turning In Africa, however it does so slowly. We have seen corporates start to create scholarships and education centres where people can foster talent and intellect with the attention each requires. We hope that the governments think about education more critically.

5. Borders and lack of a common currency means that African entrepreneurs still have their transactions cleared by banks in Europe: The lack of a unified African currency means that most trade deals across the continent are done against the dollar or euro. This creates value for the concerned currencies however a unified currency could allow Africa to create value for itself. It would also limit the time taken to clear transactions meaning more can be done within the same period of time.

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6. Innovations are typically locally relevant, but lack a global scalable opportunity: Things always seem clearer when observed through the lens of memory. This can allow people to sound smarter than they actually are but better still it allows people to learn from mistakes. A classic example is the failed adoption of Mpesa in South Africa. In 2010, Mpesa was launched through Vodacom in South Africa. They estimated adoption to the scale of 11 million users. However years in to campaign the numbers did not match the projections. In 2015 only 76,000 users signed on. This was vastly underwhelming. So where did Mpesa go wrong? The recipe for Mpesa’s success has to do with penetration of mobile devices in unbanked populations. However in South Africa 75% of the adult population is banked with traditional institutions. There was therefore not much of a need for Mpesa. We acknowledge the loophole in strategy but still applaud the risk taking temperament present in the Mpesa team. Taking calculated, well researched, risks is how businesses survive. The thought to scale Mpesa was spot on, but the selected place to scale it was wrong. That was an expensive lesson, bought and paid for by Mpesa. The rest of us should learn from it by figuring what makes our businesses work as they are now, and identifying the same factors in different economies. If by chance you do this and are successful in finding a way to replicate and sustain your business elsewhere, you should also stay flexible in how you scale in each different economy. Allowing your business to grow and adapt in different ways with respect to location. “With all the above, African entrepreneurs still build and scale phenomenal businesses. If we made the environment more conducive we could treble their success rate.” Tweeted Vusi. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

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Start-up Culture In Africa : WITH PHARES KARIUKI, FOUNDER AND CEO AT NODE AFRICA

ech in Africa can be mystery. We don’t see too many unicorns, global or even pan African tech companies. In an effort to understand the African Tech scene better White Collar got an opportunity to touch base with Mr. Kariuki. He’s a seasoned techie specializing in Cloud computing and neophilosopher at heart. His world view has been cultivated from observation and experience over the span of his adult life. From his simple t-shirt and jeans combo one would never assume that they are speaing to one of the brigtest tech

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minds on the continent. His longevity in tech is a testament to his skill, dedication and quality of service. “We’ve never lost a client at NODE” said Mr Kariuki with a bright smile on his face. He wore that statement like a medal of honour. The interview kicked off in the middle of a conversation punctuated by idea exchange:

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PHARES KARIUKI

longer see people as one dimensional so saying I want to emulate any particular individual wouldn’t be right. I don’t want to supplant their traits and weaknesses for my own and hope it works. Case in point, around 2005-2006 plenty of tech entrepreneurs and people in management modelled themselves after Steve Jobs. His blend of traits did not translate well when they tried to implement ideas as Steve would have. Has education adequately prepared you for cloud computing and business? Yes and No.

Who is Phares? I’m an Entrepreneur running a tech company. Are there any noteworthy role models that set you on this path? One thing I’ll say is they change. Role models change with the discovery of new information. I’ll put it this way; when we were younger we all read ‘Think Big’ by Ben Carson. Personally I read it at around the age of 8 or 9 years old. It’s one of those books that when read at a tender age, can help shape a world view. (Brief pause as he reflects) There’s this line from the Batman movie ‘You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain’. Now, much later, we realize that Ben Carson was a great surgeon but that was about it. As a human being he may have some questionable ethics. When younger I thought of politicians as noble, and in a way saint-like. But now, we know that they can be quite problematic. What I do these days is try to read as widely as I can and then pick different qualities from different people. I no

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I feel that people misunderstand the purpose of an education. An education should offer a theoretical base on how to apply different ideas/skills in the world. You get a good chunk of that theoretical knowledge in high school and University. For example, Computer Science; I don’t expect you to be able to tackle the toughest AI (artificial Intelligence) problems right after campus, but the Comp Science degree should position you to specialize in whatever field you would wish. How does one know it’s the right time to move to a different employer? Personally there’s a few reasons. First if my personal values in some way conflicted with that of the organisation where I worked I would leave. They may have good and ethical reasons behind their decisions but if there is misalignment with my personal values… Also, I’m a bit of an autodidact so I want to keep learning, keep moving keep facing new challenges. If while at an organization my learning curve plateaus, I get bored and feel like it’s time for a change. If I don’t have an answer to the question, ‘What am I doing that’s challenging’ then I don’t

Blockchain is just a progression of the IT field, a sort of next step. The whole field has been evolving.

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really feel the incentive to still be there on Monday. Personally this is one of my biggest reasons why I seek out change.

to capital so.. yea. The only thing I did was the only thing I could do, which is, keep working.

How does one find venture funding in Africa?

What trends in policy and business would you encourage to make sure more businesses make it?

If I knew the answer to that then I’d be a very wealthy man. Haha! We’ve gotten as far as we have without venture funding. Personally I feel lucky to have friends and family who recognized the vision that I had and actively supported it. Any missed opportunities you wish you leveraged? Regret can be corrosive. I’m currently living my life to avoid regret. There are certain things you look back at that stand out. For instance with this Cloud Business, we had a welldocumented business plan in 2009. We had started discussing this idea in 2006. The idea was solid, we knew exactly what we wanted to do. And back then the only person in the cloud computing space was Amazon, and people didn’t really know what they were doing. Starting a cloud computing business then was tough. There weren’t too many success stories, companies like Seven Seas technologies were still quite young, and so there really weren’t any opportunities for mentorship or support. I had no networks or access

so most businesses invested in their own generators. As time went on the electric grid was established and having your own generator was no longer a competitive advantage. Right now having your own computing is no longer a competitive advantage.

Government and enterprise are very different in the way they work. There needs to be a bit more of a shift as to how government approaches enterprise. Also there needs to be lower barriers of entry to business for locals, just like there are for foreigners. Could you describe cloud computing for the layman? I’ll use a common analogy. Everybody likes pizza. If you want to enjoy some, you could either prepare the pizza yourself or you could purchase it from restaurants that have specialised in preparing the pizza. The same thing applies for computing and providing wed services. You could either provide web services yourself, hire a tech team and all that, or you could outsource that to an organisation that handles that for you at a fraction of what it would cost you, while freeing you up to focus on running your company. Another analogy; when electricity was first invented, the businesses that had it first had a competitive advantage and

Why does cloud computing matter? (give a few use cases for cloud computing) Compute means calculate or figure out. One good example about why cloud computing works is the modern day mobile phone. The mobile phone would not be able to work as well as it currently does without cloud computing. If all the processes had been carried on in the phone the device wouldn’t perform as well as it does. So these days you don’t need a powerful phone or tablet, because computing isn’t mainly on device. You could have a basic device that still works as well as the rest in the market. Use cases for cloud computing are as numerous as there are companies/ services. Some of our clients are taxi companies, Banks, insurance companies. I could liken it to finding use cases for electricity. What is internet of things, and does it have any correlation to the Cloud? Internet of things involves connecting different devices that can compute and

I see a lot of hype 10

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i p

it’s not as useful as people think

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In other instances, you go through really high stress situations that test your ability to deliver under pressure. Those are always fun, hehe!

allowing then to send messages to each other; for example cars, to phones, to speaker devices. Most companies that are big in cloud computing are also focusing on Internet of things. That’s why Google bought nest, Amazon has Alexa and Microsoft has Cortana. The average device is not intelligent and so needs to send data somewhere else for analysis, that’s where cloud computing comes in. What are your thoughts on blockchain? (He sighs) I see a lot of hype around blockchain. It has it’s uses but it’s not as useful as people think they are. It’s overhyped. People are going out of their way to create use cases for blockchain. Immutable databases (blockchain) are interesting, but are not as applicable as people think. If you applied them in

Let’s talk about your history. Your first company Angani, What happened there? Well despite being the founder, I gave away too much equity and was displaced. I lost my position. There were some mistakes I made there that had very powerful lessons. Hehe. And you learn! NODE is the company you created after. How is it different from Angani? Well we got out of the space that Angani was in which is Commodity Chip public Cloud (the client does pretty much everything on the virtual machine, a sort of self service, for a more custom feel) and moved to Enterprise Moneyed Services (this is where we build and run everything for the client).

restaurants, where people can change their orders, then there would be a few issues there. All I’ll say is, traditional databases have evolved to where they currently are for a reason. That’s because they work. How would you go about applying blockchain?

A good analogy would be Rent a car (you do everything yourself) Vs Uber (everything is done for you). It depends on the clients. Let’s talk obstacles/ challenges. How does one approach them in a beneficial way?

For me to apply blockchain, I would have to find a scenario where traditional databases wouldn’t solve, and then I’d think about blockchain.

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First of all, we need to know not all obstacles/ challenges can be surmounted. There’s some things you face on your career-path that knock the wind out you and all you can do is rest for a bit, then get up and keep moving.

In other situations you just experience things that are out of your control and with experience you learn to let the fires burn themselves out. No matter what though, you have to keep moving. What’s been the highest point of your career? I’d have to say that’s when we presented at VMworld. It’s the world’s biggest conference for cloud computing run by VMware. It’s a very niche conference, only the best of the best get to go much less present. Have you invested in any start-ups? Haha, I don’t have money for my own so that would seem counterproductive. If you were to invest in any start-ups, What would you look for? I’m more of the idea that a system is more important than an idea. I’m saying this tongue in cheek but I think with time Microsoft and Amazon, two Seattle based companies, will outshine Google. That’s because these companies do not stumble onto ideas, they systematically pursue innovation. They’re constantly asking themselves what they can do better for their customers. They also try and anticipate the needs of their customers or try to adapt to their wants. Side note: Funny story, no one thought that Amazon would end up winning the tech wars. It wasn’t until recently that everyone woke up to what amazon was

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really doing. Looking at Bezos’ philosophy, it’s centred on continuous innovation. I’m not saying that Google doesn’t innovate, I’m just saying that they’ve found it a bit harder to diversify from their core business. Google has also shut down some interesting products, for example Google reader which had a massive following. Rumour has it that Trump is as a result of Google Reader shutting down. Because Google reader killed pretty much all other market based RSS readers and after that, they were shut down with nothing left to fill the void except products like Google News. The problem with Google News is that it’s algorithm driven, meaning it may display news suited to my preferences. If I support party A, I would, in theory, only get pro-party A news and vice versa. So yeah, Google is less connected to the users because it’s not the users that pay them, this is different for Microsoft and Amazon. In short I’m saying that the companies I’d consider are those that are more in tune to their clients. What would you tell 20 year old Phares, if you met him today? Have you achieved the things that 20 year old you set out to? 20 year old me didn’t have enough information about the world. In some ways I’ve surpassed my wildest expectations and in other ways I’ve fallen short of the dreams I had when I was younger. It’s bitter sweet.

"the path that most people take in life is set from birth. Factors like who you’re born to and where you go school play a big role as to whether or not you get a shot in life." In what sense is society rigid and stratified? It pains me to say this, but in my experience, the path that most people take in life is set from birth. Factors like who you’re born to and where you go school play a big role as to whether or not you get a shot in life. There is the common statement that if you work hard you can be anything you want and that’s true to an extent. But how stratified our society is became more apparent to me as I aged, and amm, it’s painful! Social mobility isn’t as easy as we think it is. We tend to focus too much on the few that make it and point at them and say ‘they made it and therefore its possible’. It’s good to aspire to something but it’s also unfair to expect that of everyone. It’s unfair because it makes people feel like the structural difficulties that keep them from succeeding are their fault. A study by the Brooklyn Institute for social research that states two of the biggest reasons why children missed classes were lack of access to deworming and sanitary pads/materials. Teachers may interpret this as truancy and bad attitude which means you leave school with a bad grade and your opportunity diminishes. That’s what I mean. We need to re-configure the collective system and figure out how we get to lift more people out of poverty. This means creating safety-nets for people, by for example taxing the more fortunate to give better healthcare and education. Something to think about. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

But like I said, 20 year old me didn’t have enough information about the world. It hadn’t hit me, just yet, how rigid and stratified society is.

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r. Rashid is a strategy power-house with over 15 years’ experience working for some of the biggest names in oil and tech.

He’s worked for PETRONAS an Oil and Gas company, handling business operations and IT. He’s also worked for HP (Hewlett –Packard) as a Senior Business manager and was the COO at U&Me, one of Asia’s biggest and most secure messaging platforms.

He is also an incredibly cosmopolitan man, speaking about 4 languages and having lived in every continent for about 5 years each. In November 2017, he founded Finterra a Blockchain based financial services platform. White Collar got a chance to speak with him in the following exclusive interview:

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How would you describe yourself? That’s quite an open ended question. Hehe. I think I’m an easy going person. I have had quite a few knocks in life but I always kept going. I have always been determined and done what it took even if it meant learning on the job. I wasn’t exactly the best student, I scraped through. But once I found what I was good at I excelled at it. I’m a people-person and a family man. I love to spend my free time with family and friends. I made the effort to speak 4 languages because I love interacting with people across different cultures.

What was your childhood like? Where did you grow up? I remember we moved around a lot. I was born in India, but we moved to Nigeria and that’s where I got my primary, secondary schooling and my first year of university. We then Moved to Malaysia which is where we settled.

What values have you gotten, from the places you’ve worked so far? First of all when I am recruited to work for a given company, I like to stay there, learn and prove my ability to add value. I have only mage about 4 moves in my entire 18 year career. This allows you to learn so much and grow.

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Hp is a tough place, the performance standards are very high. In fact they have a saying ‘if you can survive 3 years at HP, then you can survive anywhere.’ The experience there toughened me up and taught me how to think in a performance oriented way. Petronas was a bit different. This is a global oil company with national interests in Malaysia. The pace there was different for other corporates. It has a very dynamic and interesting system. This is where I refined my global approach and thinking, because they have an impressive global rollout protocol. One thing I learnt from both these places integrity. This is key! You cannot operate at a global scale without it.

Of all the countries you’ve lived in? Which one has the best business climate? The places I have lived each have their strengths. Malaysia is a good place for business in terms of government support, fair play and balance. But it is not as aggressive as places like Japan or Singapore. But looking at factors like a strong performance culture then I’ll say Singapore. There are very few places in the world where the performance culture in embedded into each and every citizen and Singapore is one of them.

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Why is your company, Finterra moving into the African market this early? A big chunk of the world’s population sits in Africa. But population aside, consumerism is just starting out in Africa, and this means that the African population can foster easy adoption of new technologies as compared to the rest of the world. Africa is one of the best places for start-ups to gain traction simply because they are open to new technology.

How would you explain blockchain to a child? I would struggle a bit. My kids ask me all the time what I do, and I’m still trying to explain it to them. Hehe Blockchain is complicated because it is an amalgam of 4 IT fields into a single thing. That is networking (distributed network), encryption technology, ledger and consensus.

What about smart contracts? Smart contracts came into the spotlight about 2 years ago. It is still evolving. This is where you create self-executing programs. That means it doesn’t need much human input.

So processes that would take days and need plenty of paperwork can now be done in minutes, for example clearing of goods at the port.

Blockchain and smart contracts have been called ‘Job killers’ because of the self-executing feature. What would you say back to this? Let’s recall the time when Henry Ford invented the first automobile. When this happened, the entire horse drawn carriage industry thought they would lose their jobs but this wasn’t the case. They transitioned into different jobs in the automobile industry. I think the effect will be similar with blockchain. It will create new jobs.

How did you find your way to blockchain?

At first I went into Blockchain mining looking at everything even the hardware configurations. I then went into the technology itself, and even worked on some of the blockchains. And then finally I moved into application development which is what we’re doing now at Finterra.

Why develop blockchains from scratch? Why not use what’s already present? I get that question a lot.

I remember when the internet was new. At first there wasn’t much structure. But the connection was there. And slowly value was created. And people began to create use cases for this new technology for example websites for companies, e-commerce platforms, knowledge banks like Wikipedia.

I’ll say this. I have worked in the ‘engine room’ and there is a lot missing from blockchain as it is, in its current state. There are elements that could be improved or done in a different way with respect to compliance, for example KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti Money Laundering) protocols aren’t there.

I approached blockchain in the same way. Blockchain is just a progression

There is no industry set standard/ best practices or ISO accreditation.

Blockchain is just a progression of the IT field, a sort of next step. The whole field has been evolving.

of the IT field, a sort of next step. The whole field has been evolving. Blockchain under bitcoin has been around for over 8 years. However it really hit a stride with Etherium and that’s how it got revealed to most of the public. In fact that’s how I learnt about it, through Etherium.

So at Finterra we thought why not build a blockchain from the ground up that specifically deals with compliance issues both technical and regulatory compliances.

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How does one regulate something that’s decentralized? I don’t think it can be regulated, but you can try to put frameworks around it. Countries refuse to recognize cryptocurrencies, but they try to impose restrictions around their exchange. The government is interested in KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti Money Laundering). They are also interested in knowing if they’re losing out in form of taxes when bitcoin is being traded because trading Crypos is like trading stocks or currencies.

How does your company, Finterra, fit into all this? In a number of ways: Like I said before, we are in application development. This means we develop use cases for blockchain technology. For example the Malaysian airport uses

blockchain technology to keep track of baggage handling and it has proved to be a lot more secure. Also the NYSE (New York stock exchange) has been running on blockchain for the past 2 years. We are also creating a platform where you can spend Cryptocurrencies. So far on our platform you can book hotels or plane tickets using cryptocurrencies. You can also pay your bills and utilities using cryptocurrencies. We have created avenues where you can pay for media content or video games from all over the world, using cryptocurrencies. The Finterra platform also houses a points exchange. This means we could exchange your emirates miles for Finterra tokens or even bonga points. The concept behind this is we exchange all kinds of points from all services for anything in return. You could exchange points for bitcoin, cash, and services or for different points. We also facilitate Waqf (Islamic endowment) charitable projects.

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Is your member’s data safe? We are setting up infrastructure to ensure that our member’s data remains safe. We are also doing our best to comply with world class ISO standards on data. We have applied for two levels of certification. This means that your data will not be used to market to you and it will not be sold for the benefit of Finterra.

You have businesses spread out all over the world. How do you scale and still adapt the businesses to the local markets? Finterra is first going to establish its global brand and services first before beginning to specialize to individual markets. We think this is the best way to go. It’s always best to set up a standard first. For more watch the video interview here

Tell us more about ‘Waqf ’ / Islamic endowment? Waqf or Islamic endowments, is something that dates back thousands of years. It has to do with the donation of land/ endowment assets for charitable projects. This could be building anything from schools to hospitals and orphanages. Historically these projects have only attracted capital through government grants or charitable donations. Our platform takes a crowd-funding approach to this where the Finterra members from all over the world to contribute towards these charitable projects. We have partnered with a Harvard law school professor who has specialized in Waqf and has been researching it for 53 years. We have a model in place to turn endowment assets into self-sustaining projects. Some of these projects can actually generate a Return on investment and thanks to smart-contracts each member will be paid back with respect to their contribution.

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Oxfords Vs Brogues M

en’s footwear has been a status symbol for quite a while. Those who pay attention to it know how to balance style and comfort. The problem however comes in style. There’s a lot of confusion about how to describe different types of official shoes. There are the two classic types of shoes; Oxfords and Brogues.

Oxfords Originally, Oxfords were plain, formal shoes, made of leather. They are the quintessential shoe for the modern gentleman and have continued to be such, since their inception and craze at Oxford university in the 1800’s. It’s quite obvious that that’s where they got their name however they were first called Balmorals (after the Balmoral Castle in Scotland) where they are believed to have originated.

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A time passed the craze for oxfords only intensified and people drew from the original design to create different kinds of oxfords. The various styles included canvas, Suede, faux leather and calf leather. They were mostly used for formal functions or worn to the office. Their plain design and thin soles did not draw much attention visually or acoustically when worn by the individual. They were among the first shoes to have the coveted red-bottoms which matched the red carpets that aristocrats would wear them on

Brogues The word Brogue originates from 16th Century England. The Scottish and Gaelic (Irish) languages both have the word brog which translates to ‘Leg covering’. They originally were a rudimentary shoe that was constructed using untanned hide. Modern brogues feature decorative perforations. In the earlier design of the shoes, these perforations were intended to allow water to drain from the shoe as one walked across wet terrain. Brogues were the obvious choice for anyone who was on an outdoors excursion. This featured a wide range of activities from attending polo events, to traditional hunting and Golf. In fact if you look at modern golf shoes most of them have various brogue designs. The soles of most brogues are also relatively thick and with deep groves possibly to improve grip. Such indicators show that despite their obvious style and grace, brogues were limited to the outdoors. They were rarely allowed in formal events or business/office settings.

Change of style: As time went on with increasing freedom in design and the ability to challenge the status quo, designers began to adapt brogues for office/formal wear and oxfords for

A MAGAZINE FOR THE CAREER-PERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR

informal events. They even began to add brogues to oxfords in order to improve their aesthetic from the plain formal design; a move that was widely criticized. It was seen as a challenge to the seemingly natural order of things. Blue collar workers had their brogues and the aristocrats had their oxfords. The ‘Oxfords not brogues’ statement on the hit movie Kingsman is a reference to the initial design of the shoes and the intended choice for the English gentleman: a move to preserve tradition. Tradition practices matter especially those rooted in logic, the smooth red-bottomed oxfords would be a disaster in the outdoors. However this shouldn’t stop designers from attempting new interesting designs for shoes that improve on the best of existing designs while allowing for crosspollinations of ideas. The official brogues have added style to business and the canvas/suede oxfords have added class to informal and outdoor events. ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

WHITE COLLAR | ISSUE 005

A MAGAZINE FOR THE CAREER-PERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR

WHITE COLLAR | ISSUE 005

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A MAGAZINE FOR THE CAREER-PERSON AND ENTREPRENEUR