So, what did 2007 bring you? Job satisfaction, increased pay, new clients for your business……or another year of frustration, one-off business opportunities and barely enough money to cover your increasing expenses?

While money isn’t always the key driver when it comes to choosing our career path, it would be foolish to pretend that it isn’t an important consideration in most people’s lives. At the very least, money offers us the opportunity to make the choices that we want rather than having to put up with whatever life throws at us.

A lack of sufficient money for our needs can also have a negative effect; constantly having to juggle money can cause frustration and lead to a loss of self-confidence which, in turn, impacts on personal and professional relationships. When these feelings start to take hold (and preferably before!) it is time to sit down, reflect on your finances and plan on taking a new direction.

This may not necessarily mean a change of job or business but does mean that you should reflect on how your skills and talents can serve you better financially. If you are self-employed, are you leveraging your market and promoting your products or services effectively? If you are an employee, can your success at work be better rewarded – for instance, if you have exceeded your targets or goals at work, is this the time to ask for that pay rise or promotion? On the other hand, if your job is providing you with reduced job satisfaction and even less income, is this the time to make a change?

Treating your money responsibly can also change your financial picture. If your spending patterns have started to bear little relationship to your income, perhaps this is the time to reflect on what you really need for your lifestyle rather than what you think you want? As with everything else, controlling our financial life needs a plan; consciously set aside time to examine our finances and decide on a new way forward. As another year comes to an end, if you are earning only a fraction of your potential income, taking time to reflect and restructure your career can pay huge dividends both financially and emotionally.

In this issue, we reflect on the subject of leadership. We bring you an interview with Onyekachi Wambu, Editor of ‘Under the Tree of Talking’, a newly published collection of essays by eighteen distinguished African thinkers and leaders. One of Africa’s most renowned spiritual leaders is Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu and we report on a recent event hosted by Reuters where the Archbishop shared his thoughts on leadership, reconciliation and the human experience. We bring you some preliminary results from the groundbreaking study, ‘Different Women, Different Places’ which sheds light on how Black women in Europe view the impact of their race and gender at work. As Ghana comes to the end of the 50th anniversary of independence year, international performance poet Andrew “Tuggstar” Togobo talks about his poem on independence and examines how young Ghanaians in the Diaspora can make an impact. The dynamic Barbara Campbell is the subject of this month’s ‘5 Minute Interview’ and shares how taking a risk by cashing in her life insurance has paid huge dividends today.

Our resident coach Helen Dupigny tackles the subject of moving to the UK from Africa and we bring you some tips for making the most of the ever increasing number of business networking events.

As always, we bring you a summary of business news from around the continent and a round-up of news stories from Africa and around the world. Not surprisingly, December is a busy month for events and we have highlighted a number of these dates for your diary.

We hope you enjoy this issue of ReConnect Africa - and don’t forget to write in and share your comments on these articles.