Summary of value

Humble Business Development

Over the summer, I volunteered with an NGO specializing in HIV/AIDS treatment and support.  This organization realizes with the advent of Anti-Retro Viral drugs that there woman will regain strength and wish to work again.  Our small team of MBAs and business professionals worked with them to develop an income generation component within their mission.  Within two months we had redefined a core part of their mission and even had orders coming in for a new product we developed.

 

Through this I grew professionally:

·         I gained an understanding of how to achieve a cultural change through the use of mission statements, value statements, and approach statements.

·         I learned how a healthy organization can undertake change rapidly to adapt to the new needs of their clients.  This NGO’s spirit of warmth and kindness serves a bedrock for allowing innovative approaches like ours to work well.

·         I saw the incredible power of a well defined mission that people believe in.  We had partners coming to us in droves and going out of their way to find ways to help our women.

I also grew spiritually:

·         The kindness and humility of these woman living on less than a dollar a day and surviving with HIV somehow passed through them to me.  I find myself chuckling at some things I use to do, like the need to use a Britta filter on perfectly clean tap water.  And, I feel profound gratitude for the opportunity to eat every day, and on top of this to enjoy a variety of foods.

·         This also reinforced my belief in following what feels appropriate for ourselves.  While many of my colleagues went to Wall Street and made big salaries, I spent all the money in my bank account($7,500) for this opportunity without fully understanding the Returns to me.  If I had done an ROI calculation, then I probably would have missed this wonderful opportunity.  Given my personal financial constraints, the support of grants from the Alliance of Students Against Poverty (ASAP) and UNC’s Kenan Institute (KI)  literally made the difference on whether I could do this trip. 

·         I found within myself that I enjoy sharing kindness with people.  This reshaped the way I look at business and who I choose to engage in my opportunities.  Now, as I look out at starting my company I am looking for kind people who instinctively offer those with less opportunity a chance.

Exploring the value

The value from this experience is hard to quantify immediately.  Yet, I feel the whole opportunity profoundly shifted my world perspective.  I found myself wondering after the experience “could I possibly have asked for a more ideal summer internship?”  The planning and people involved were that excellent.

John Post

Many thank you to Nondini for keeping our blog so healthy.   Getting decent internet access is proving an adventure.  I have been sending e-mail to kind folks without even getting to read all the mail they have sent to me.  I do this to let them know I am thinking of them. 

 

Thankfully, my external wireless gadget seems to work on the NGO network, so perhaps access will improve a touch when I am in the appropriate office.

 

We appreciate everyone’s patience with updates and our inability to respond to blog posts (the filters block these).

 

With warmth:

 

-John

 

 

Nondini Post: July 10th

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

So I wonder what not so early to bed, early to rise and sleepy afternoons amount to.

 

Last night we had a nice dinner with Brooke (Brrrroooke- roll the rrrr) one of Liz’s classmates, as well as Salaam a young woman who also went to school with Liz and now works for the Clinton foundation. It was at an Indian restaurant in Bole called Ajanta, and the menu read like a short novel. We ordered dosa’s and different kinds of chicken dishes and ate family style. Although it had been a long day (meeting with JT in the morning to chat over lunch/spending the afternoon at Salem’s) it was nice to be out of the house at night. Usually we try to be indoors by sundown and limit our traveling to the daylight hours. But Addis seemed to pulse with new life last night with the packed streets, and even more packed minibuses. Ryan and John seemed to “blend in” more and there were less calls of “ Eh Firenge, Selamno!” (Hey foreigner, hello). Ryan suggested we become nocturnal, but we weren’t sure that was the best idea.

 

Early morning: By 7AM John and I were out the door on our way to Lideta. He wanted to get some internet time in and set up a few meetings, while I had my first meeting with the Duke Betty, the coordinators (Aleuf, Mehret, and Howie) and their supervisor SIM Betty. Amazingly leaving early meant we had a smooth ride to Lideta with few stops and instead of an hour commute it only took us 30 minutes. By arriving early we found the Lideta office deserted, so Derek, John and I walked across the street for some coffee and tea. We were embroiled in a political discussion (US politics) and the time passed quickly. Then it was time to meet.

 

The meeting went well, as I pitched some small business ideas to them and gauged their level of involvement and interest in the project. We set up weekly meetings and I promised to email them updates and more information about the projects (baby hats, disposable gloves). Looks like we might have some issues getting good quality yarn here, and need to find a good manufacturer and supplier….But despite a couple of obstacles it seems like the team was ready to push forward. Afterwards Betty and I headed out to explore Lideta a bit more and talk about the project.  We walked around Lideta, and then went to Dembol (a huge yellow building on Bole Road) to eat a bit of lunch. Then we all came back to the house to read, prepare and relax until our support group meeting this afternoon in Bole.

 

One of the womens’ support groups that we met with wanted to talk to us again to share their business ideas, and pick our brains a little bit. It’s flattering and a good sign, it’ll be good to hear what they would like our help with. Internet continues to be a problem, but I faithfully write these posts knowing that we’ll “post” them sometime…and that we don’t want to lose a record of our progress.

 

Cultural Note:

More on the minibus…I feel like I could write a novel about the minibus and the culture that surrounds it. So apparently after dark the “middleman” who usually collects the money gets his opportunity to drive, and LEARN how to drive when the roads are less crowded. So consider it real life drivers ed after dark. Since we don’t go out much at night, and usually take private taxis after dusk we didn’t know about this phenomenon. But last night we decided to dole out our 20 cent fare and take a minibus to the Indian restaurant. Wow. Let’s just say it was a short yet adventurous trip down the road. It’s really the first time that I’ve felt a bit nervous on a minibus…and judging from the looks on John and Ryan’s faces they weren’t feeling so confident either.

 

Don’t bother trying to crane your neck to read the speedometer, it doesn’t work in a single minibus. Maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe it’s better not to know.

 

Nondini Post: July 8th

Forging ahead…

 

We have finished meeting with most of the beneficiary groups and have met with at least 200 people. Carefully recording their demographic information, as well as trying to glean leadership and entrepreneurial qualities has paid off. We have merged our notes with the research that Jonathan gave us, and have put it all into a large excel spreadsheet allowing us to easily query for specific interests and skill sets. Now if we want to know how many people have handicraft skills we can simply pull it up quickly, and by using a 1-5 rating system for entrepreneurial capabilities we will hopefully be able to leave SIM with a comprehensive list of potential business leaders that they can tap into for future projects.

 

Our immediate projects are making headway as well. On Saturday Ryan and I met Salem for the first time. Salem is a truly incredible woman. She sells various handicrafts and is an artist in her own right. Her jewelry is amazing, and her aesthetic sense is classic yet modern. She has worked with many marginalized communities especially with women, and has created a strong business. John has been facilitating talk of a partnership with her, and her openness to the idea was indeed a very positive sign. Exciting opportunities to do the right thing abound…

 

Yesterday we met with (SIM director) Andy, Bev, Teddy and the team to give everyone an update on what we have accomplished and what we are looking to do over the next few weeks. We laid out our 3 pronged approach: 1. Finding an MFI partner to help with future funding of business initiatives, 2. Creating a framework and process for evaluating business ideas 3. Working on immediate business opportunities that can be started with minimal infrastructure and funding. With each member of the team taking the lead on each prong, and pairing up with a “business champion” Brian, JT, Betty and the SIM team we hope that we have what we need to get the wheels in motion and a plan to how to keep things going after we leave. It was an encouraging meeting, efficient, organized and most importantly the SIM team made us feel valued and showed interest in what we had to say. We continue to be grateful for this opportunity to learn and add value.

 

This week we are all headed in different directions, working with our sub-groups and researching and working through different initiatives and ideas. The change of pace is nice, and having flexibility back in our schedule after weeks of important support group meetings  is important as we dig deeper into what we are trying to accomplish.

 

On a random note: Our dietary protein deprivation is beginning to show, I have been dreaming about eating a big juicy hamburger, or a steak. And the possibility for some good Mexican food is never far from my mind. Even our resident vegan John ate some meat on Saturday morning trying to supplement all the nuts and cheese he’s been trying to pack away over the past couple of weeks. Everyone’s pants are getting looser, and we’re not sure if it’s because we’re losing weight or because we don’t have a dryer. Nevertheless thoughts of home aren’t far from our minds since we live, breathe, eat and think work. Since these weeks have flown by we try to think of the sightseeing we’d like to do before we leave, and are trying to make time to fully take advantage of our time here in every sense.

 

Nondini Post: July 5th

It’s flag day in Ethiopia. It’s one of the first flag days they have celebrated in a long time and has something to do with the new government. Anyway you will find flags in the front of different minibuses and hanging off of cars, and to feel in the spirit I paid 5 birr for my Ethiopian flag. Ryan told me to put it away when I tried to wave it as I walked, because NO OTHER ETHIOPIANS were doing anything of the sort. I complied.