Inspiration: Incredible Power Statements for your Success; Volume 1”.
Published  recently in Harare, Zimbabwe, by Greatness Factory Publications, Fountain of Inspiration is Shumba’s third book in a two-year period. His other publications include “The Greatness Manual: Recipes for Perpetual Success” and “101 Great Ways to Enhance Your Career” which he co-authored with two other writers.
The 13-chapter book is a collection of inspirational, motivational and go-getter powerful statements that can be applied in various environments in order to achieve desired outcomes. These are timeless principles on leadership and success; identifying one’s purpose in life; maximising potential; applying wisdom in one’s daily life; living victorious lives; character and attitude building; business success; managing relationships; career/professional enhancement; love; marriage and family; and, national and community success.
As I went through the book, the best conclusion I arrived at was that Fountain of Inspiration is like the biblical books of Proverbs; Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon — all written by King Solomon. They contain principles on every aspect of life and can successfully be applied to any situation.
Like the biblical books, Shumba’s book is for now and the future. It is not for a particular age group and neither is it for a particular gender, race and/or ethnic group.
Thus, it is an excellent addition to the biblical books cited. I also thought that people and organisations that struggle to come up with mission statements; goals and objectives; and, themes for various activities and outlines for strategic development and training programmes  will find Fountain of Inspiration a useful ready reference manual. The nuggets therein allow the reader to meditate on them, and from that meditation will also arise more ideas suited to local situations.
Thus, we no longer have excuses using borrowed ideas and concepts, because an analysis of Shumba’s power statements shows that they are derived from local experiences. He has seen, touched and experienced all the things he manages to compress into hundreds of statements. Shumba’s style of writing is also a not-so-common phenomenon locally, which makes it the more interesting on why and how the writer decided to use the style. Will it work especially among people used to reading books written in contemporary styles?
Another interesting aspect about Fountain of Inspiration is the number of endorsements it has received from experts in the global arena. These are experts from Zimbabwe, the United States, Botswana, South Africa, Nigeria, Singapore and Belgium.
In my view, the endorsements prove that the way we do business has changed, that includes writing and selling books or ideas.  It also shows that we are not writing for a limited and local market because our ideas can be successfully applied in other environments, as long as they are known. These endorsements were also a pointer that Zimbabwean ideas can compete successfully on the global marketplace of ideas.
But we also give credence to the power of the Internet. Indeed, notwithstanding my argument a fortnight ago, collaborative work for the good of humanity can be done through the Internet, and in the process, billions of dollars are saved, which can be channelled towards other worthy causes. Like a researcher, he had to test his power statements with a sample of readers from across the globe, and they all gave him a thumbs-up.
Although the book bears one author’s name, in reality, many people would have made an input.
Dr John Stanko, who is the president of Purpose Quest International in the United States wrote: “Rabison Shumba has done it again. He has shared with us out of the abundance of his heart and what we have in this book is a veritable feast of wisdom, insight and inspiration.”
And, Dr Patson Dzamara, a local author, trainer and business consultant, says: “Rabison Shumba skilfully deciphers well-preserved universal truths and principles in this gem of a book.”
I randomly selected one statement from Shumba’s book: “Every voice has a right to be heard; however, not every voice will make a lasting difference to the status quo. Some are echoes, with some coming out as confused hollow sounds. Unity will make people resist the temptation of competing for the audience’s attention. When a collective voice comes out of a united people, it becomes worthwhile to listen.”
Shumba is a model of the NOW generation. They are not scared of ideas and they are also willing to share, as long as you respect their intellectual property rights (IPR). This is what Shumba said to the writer when I asked him about those who breach his IPR, especially in this age of the Internet: “It is important to note that stealing of someone’s material is not only unfair to the owner of the material but an absolute sign that you have personally failed to use your own creative power to activate the ingenuity within yourself . . . I got the shock of my life when I discovered one day that my first book, “The Greatness Manual”, was being sold online for ridiculous prices through a website with which I had no previous linkages or agreements in the UK.”
This will be my subject next week, when I will expound on Shumba’s insights about the breaching of writers’ intellectual property rights.

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