 "Knowledge is like a Baobab tree, one person's arms cannot encompass it."—African proverb
As one of Africa's most powerful symbols, the Baobab tree is a visual metaphor for the unexpected delights that are revealed when one embraces new cultures and concepts. To the uninformed, the Baobab is just a tree offering no apparent benefit to man other than its visual beauty. However, once better acquainted one realises that the Baobab tree is truly extraordinary—its hardiness in times of drought, its versatility as a resource to humans and its extreme longevity are just some reasons why Africans have long revered it. Many myths surround the tree. Some believe that if you pick a flower from a Baobab tree you will be eaten by a lion, but if you drink water in which a Baobab's seeds have been soaked you will be safe from crocodile attack. The tree's stoicism during a long life spent doing good turns to Africa and its people commands respect, incites imagination and inspires courage. The Baobab tree manifests a number of characteristics analogous to the organisational values espoused by Accenture. The qualities listed below are typical of the solutions Accenture implements in collaboration with its clients to enable them to become high-performance businesses and governments. Growth
The Baobab tree has an enormous trunk with tapering branches that resemble roots (hence the legend that the gods turned it upside down) and can attain a height of 22 metres, and a diameter of some 18 metres. It is so large that, in one case, a prison is known to have been located inside a Baobab. Longevity
Baobabs may be one of the oldest life forms on the African continent. Many of the specimens standing today have certainly been around since before the birth of Christ, others for far longer. Carbon-dating experiments in the Zambezi Valley have calculated that trees with a trunk diameter of five metres were more than 1,000 years old, and similar experiments elsewhere have dated trees at over 3,000 years old. Origins
The Khoi believe that there are no young Baobabs, and that fully developed specimens are flung from paradise. Being top-heavy, they land with their roots in the air. The authenticity of this belief is supported by their claims that thuds of falling Baobabs are clearly audible from time to time. Germination
Because of its many uses and its ability to survive in semi-arid conditions, the Baobab survives in the face of man's expansion across the African continent. Its resilience is further demonstrated by the fact that a broken branch that has fallen down and dried out will still bear flowers and fruit. Versatility
The Baobab is highly regarded by African people because all of its parts can be utilised in some capacity. Aside from being an important source of timber, the hollow trunks of living trees have served as homes, storage barns, places of refuge or worship, and even as prisons or tombs. The bark of the tree also contains a fibre used to make fishing nets, cords, sacks and clothing, and can be ground into a powder for flavouring food. The leaves of the Baobab were traditionally used for leaven, but are also used as a vegetable. Its fruit is edible, and when dried and mixed with water makes a beverage that tastes similar to lemonade. Baobab seeds are a valuable source of vitamin C. Other by-products include soap, glue, rubber, medicine and cloth. In Sudan the Baobab is so highly valued that individual trees may be privately owned. Adaptability and Resilience
Baobabs are very difficult to kill. They can be burnt or stripped of their bark, and will simply form new bark and carry on growing. When they do die, they rot from the inside and collapse suddenly, leaving behind a heap of fibres, resulting in the belief that they do not die at all, but simply disappear. In the wet months water is stored in their thick, corky, fire-resistant trunks for the nine dry months ahead. A mature Baobab can store more than 120,000 litres of water. Symbiosis
An old Baobab tree can create its own ecosystem, as it supports the lives of countless creatures, from the largest of mammals to the thousands of tiny creatures that scurry in and out of its crevices. Birds nest in its branches; baboons devour the fruit; bush babies and fruit bats drink the nectar and pollinate the flowers, and elephants have been known to consume a whole tree. The Baobab embodies many of the attributes of a high–performance business. To Top |