Dr Letshwiti B. Tutwane joytutwane@gmail.com Africa Awake! After discussing visionary American companies last week, this time I look at an amazing Brazilian company called Semco, together with its CEO Ricardo Semler. Semco first came to my attention by chance over 10 years ago whilst feeding my addiction at a bookshop in one of the airports around the world. I can’t remember which. What I remember is that I bought Semler’s book, The Seven Day Weekend (2004) and it shocked me. I was not only shocked by the claims made by the author but also that his ideas work. They not only work but work very well. Semco is quite an unusual company, a radical one. A revolutionary one indeed. It is a beast in its own league! I do not know of any other company in the world with the same management approach. I have read about Jack Welch’s impressive approach at General Electric but it is still innovation within the conventional Western streak of management. Semco is something else. Formed by Semler’s father Antonio Curt Semler in the 1950s, the company was an industrial entity famed for building ships and oil separating systems. Over the years, after changing names…