The African Safari

Our amazingly long weekend continued as we geared up for wild life safari at Akagera National Park. Situated at approx. 4 hours’ drive from Kigali, Akagera is one of best weekend getaways in Rwanda. We started early in the morning crossing the countryside and the mountainous terrains on our military landrovers (I drove one and it moved like a beast, for $ 15 K, it is a steal ).

Once we reached the hotel located at the national park, some of us fiddled in the pool, while others hovered around clicking pictures and enjoying the nature. Soon we heard Emma shouting aloud, before we could understand anything, we saw some raccoons storming out of her room holding oranges. That was some thrill and a heads up for a great wild life Safari. The CAP team convened at the restaurant for a group lunch before heading off for our first game drive.

As our jeeps whizzed past the hotel campus, I quickly settled in at the roof top of the jeep. Few meters down the road, we were greeted by a family of raccoons basking in the sun. Moving ahead we saw some Zebras grazing under the brisk sun.  The game drive was supposed to be 3 hour long and we were heading towards the shore of one of the lakes formed by the Kagera River flowing on the eastern side – after which the park was named.

Moving across scenic landscape we spotted some very colorful birds but most of us keen to see something really wild. The never ending wish list was lion, hippo, elephant, giraffe, leopard, topi’s and many others. Though our tour guide made some efforts to track elephants, we were not able to find any unfortunately, though we spotted some Impalas munching on lush green grass.  In a while we landed at the lake side which was too scenic to be captured by cameras (we tried our hand though). While we heard grunts, and some of us managed to sneak peek of a hippo as it protruded its head out of water.

As it turned dark, we returned back to hotel at the park. We were informed that the next days’ game drive would begin at 7 am and we will be heading towards north. After wrapping up a lavish dinner, some of us headed back to rooms, while some chose to gaze stars.

The next days’ game drive was supposes to be 7 hour long and thankfully we had our lunches packed. (Two for Chris Petrucka: P) Within few minutes we were in the jungle and it was a memorable experience sitting on the roof top and moving around the rocky trails. Soon we were discovering herds of impala’s, a couple of topi’s here and there, and some raccoons every now and then. As our vehicles moved in the sludge, the bugs were biting us quiet rampantly. Though it stung for some moment, it was fine after a while – but way to irritating to handle.

Nevertheless, the whole experience was beyond imagination. We saw a hippo running into the jungle just after our jeep crossed a trail. After a while, we landed near the shore where we found some alligators. Moving ahead, we came across an absolutely beautiful savannah where zebras and other animals grazed in sheer comfort. A while later, we moved to another lakeside chasing zebra’s and some wild buffalo’s.  As you can see from the picture below, it was really beautiful but what created the most excitement was the presence of hippos 200 meters away from us in the shallow waters. Suddenly our tour guide said, look at that wild elephant!! On another side of the lake, we saw a giant elephant half immersed in the water. It looked like a great picnic spot and we did not miss the opportunity as we gobbled comprising of tasty sandwiches and fruits.

It was now the time to meet giraffes (the most sought after animal in our group). As we chased some zebras in the savannah, we slowly moved towards giraffes as they quietly munched the leaves of the trees. For a moment it looked completely unrealistic. I clicked as many pictures as I could, but the best shot of the day (below) was the one when I managed to capture a picture of Prof. Click with giraffe from very close quarters.

After posing for a while with giraffes, we headed for the rest of the game drive. The trail took us to different sides of the forest as we discovered some more wildlife by the lakeside. It was almost 7 hours as one of the most thrilling experiences of our life was coming to an end. Suddenly, our jeep driver braked and before any could say anything, we saw a viper right on the middle of the road. As we slowly moved, it crept into the grasses. However I managed (thanks to roof top of our jeep) to take a shot (see below) before it disappeared!!

An exciting and little tiring day came to an end as we drove back to Kigali for the next bought of meetings lined up for the final week of our CAP; and yes the final presentations to the clients.

* Ditto as Chloe – Bad internet, but look out for some amazing pictures soon.

Last day in Sao Paulo, en route to Santarem

Yesterday was our last day in Sao Paulo.  Last yes, but certainly not least.  First, we had the grand come back of Markus at breakfast and then we were informed that Mohib would join us at the airport to depart for Santarem at the end of the day. So it seemed like everything was in order…but everything in Brazil in an adventure.  In fact, our next adventure in the “Where is my Passeport” saga happened right after breakfast when we were all ready to get on the bus to go visit the Natura factory.  As we are packing our suitcases at the bottom of the bus, it appears that Allan, Sid N. and Kelly have all “misplaced” their bookbags.   What actually happened, unfortunately, is that while we were eating breakfast, a group of us had piled our suitcases and bookbags in the lobby with one person taking turn watching everything.  But no one was actually actively watching the bags and so a skilled thief stole three bookbags.  So after Markus losing his passport in Rio, we know have Kellie and Allan losing theirs at breakfast!  Fortunately they went to consulate while the rest of us were at Natura and got an emergency passport.  The lesson has been learned for the whole group though, ALWAYS keep your passport on you where you can feel it.

Natura is an organic cosmetic company local to Brazil.  They use a direct sales technique much like Mary Kay does in the U.S. One of their product line, EKOS, uses exclusively ingredients from the Amazon.  We had the privilege of touring their manufacturing plant just oustide Santarem and it was absolutely breathtaking.  The whole plant is built on a sustainable model.  For example, they use the sun as their source main source of light, which means that the buildings are built with glass walls. They also recycle their water in their own water treatment facility to reuse in the manufacturing process. In addition to having a  sustainable  building, they also make sure they are taking care of their employees. They offer free day care on site and banned fried food from the cafeteria.  Their product is also developed responsibly. One of the takeaways for me was that while they have many product lines and many products, they never put out a new product unless it has surpassed the older product’s environmental friendliness.  So they are constantly trying to reduce their footprint.

After Natura, we all hoped on the bus and re-joined, Allan, Kellie, Sid N. and Mohib at the airport.  We are finally a complete CAP team.  Everyone seems in good spirit while we wait for our flight to Santarem.

We arrive in Santarem at 1AM, we can’t see much as it is dark, but I can already feel the 100% humidity weather and see the shadow of the dense vegetation that surrounds us.  I can’t wait to see what the city and its surroundings looks like by day.

*Unfortunately I am not able to download any pictures right now due to the slow internet.

 

A Viking Adventure

“My wife and I have made you a fantastic lunch of Swedish meatballs, but first, we exercise!”

And with that, John Erik, a man dressed in 10^th century Nordic garb – complete with a hand-forged hammer of Thor around his neck – ushered 17 George Washington MBA students into a series of three replica Viking ships at the lakeshore.  Before our enjoying our lunch of Swedish meatballs, we had to row across Lake Malaren.

My class in international management did not prepare me for this.

The video below gives you an idea of our transition to the water.  Notice that a few of us installed the oars the wrong way, and in the distance, you can hear John Erik hollering at us is Swedish (at least I think it was Swedish).

Viking Expedition (1 of 2)

John Erik runs a Viking cultural center called Frösåkers Brygga near Vasteras, Sweden.  He invites private parties to experience life as the Vikings did.   Upon our arrival, he regaled us with tails of Viking history on Lake Malaren, which was a major hub for Viking commerce in the 10^th century.  He showed us ancient coins from Rome and the Middle East that were found on the shores of Lake Malaren, and touted his exploits traveling across Europe performing Viking cultural reenactments (think jousting).

Then he pointed to his small fleet of Viking ships, and we set sail.  After initially flailing with our oars in the water, we improved as Viking rowers, as you can see below:

Viking Expedition (2 of 2)

Once back on land, John Erick led us to his Viking longhouse.   As we walked in, much to our surprise, we found a state-of-the-art chef’s kitchen.  We enjoyed a meal of nettle soup, Swedish meatballs, mash potatoes, homemade bread, and handmade ice cream with a fresh rhubarb and apple compote.   All ingredients were organic, and the vegetables were hand-picked earlier in the day.   Hands down, this represented the best meal I enjoyed in Scandinavia.   The Swedish meatballs were so delicious that one Swede in the room claimed they were the best she had ever tasted.  As it turns out, John Erik is a professional chef in addition to a Viking enthusiast.

The day proved to be an unexpected and unique cultural experience.  Should I find myself in the City of Vasteras again, I will certainly look up John Erik for another Viking adventure.

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Gashora – The Millennium Village

Our long weekend had a great start as we visited the vision 2020 – millennium village at Gashora. We drove close to an hour and half, stopping in between to pay homage to mass grave of genocide victims. The trip to Gashora was actually meant to be a rural emersion for the Rwanda CAP team. The line ups for the trip were truly interesting.

Briefing at Gashora

We had a detailed briefing upon arrival. The coordinator with the help of our translator Franceswaz briefed us about this unique rural project. The 2020 village was modeled on a millennium development program however it was more expansive and covered a large demography of eastern province. It had a cooperative craft center, a well-equipped hospital & maternity center, an ICT enabled agricultural development programme and a state of the art senior secondary school for girls.

One of the most unique meetings of our trip unfolded under the tree, where we learned about SACCO (Savings and Credit Cooperative)  from the program head. As it started raining, we moved our meeting from the tree to our bus. It was a memorable experience playing with children who surrounded us throughout our stay. The place was buzzing with local women, urchin and young men who were excited to see some Zungus in their vicinity

SACCO visit

 

 

 

Up next was a lunch visit to Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technlogy. It was a state of the art girls’ school established under Rwanda Girls Initiative. We had a detailed discussion with the Head of the school Mr. Peter Thorpe who talked about the budding talent of girls in this institution and shared some great stories about the background and brilliance of these girls. As we proceeded for a group lunch, we soon realized that we were amidst the most talented and gifted girls in Rwanda. They not only spoke fluent English and had strong academic background, but they also had a clear vision of their brimming aspirations. I was struck with surprise when one of the 10^th grader asked: “Can you tell me how I can get into the best civil engineering program in the US” before I started my answer another girl asked what it takes to succeed in life. We had a great conversation eating away a tasty lunch comprising of Rice, beans, fish, chutney, fries and pineapples.  It was indeed an inspirational visit and one of the high points of my Rwanda visit so far.

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As we bid farewell to girls, we moved to a maize/corn (the debate is on about the difference between the two) cooperative established with the support of USAID. In between I quickly stopped by a local market to buy some pineapples plucked moments ago from the tree. For 200 RWF it was a steal as I relished the juiciest pineapples I had ever eaten.

The visit to maize cooperative enabled us to understand the functionality of an agricultural cooperative. It was heartening to see the difference an entrepreneurial investment by USAID had made in the lives of maize producers. The cooperative was well equipped with the computer systems and it sold its produce twice a year to Rwanda Government and United Nations World Food Programme.

We wrapped up our engaging day by visiting local handicraft cooperative at Gashora. As some of students shopped, the others were engaged in conversation with locals and international volunteers. However the highlighted of the day came when the women of the cooperative decided to do an ethnic dance performance for us. Soon almost were dancing with Prof. Click leading the charts. It was so joyful to see every one immersed into a fun filled atmosphere. Before we departure, every one of us were presented a Rwandan peace basket as token of love and memorabilia.

A busy week in Kigali

An insightful week came to an end in Kigali as we visited various government and development organizations. The first meeting of the CAP was set up at National Bank of Rwanda (Equivalent to Federal Reserve of US), where Mr. Claver Gatete, (Governor)  spoke in detail about the economic and financial policies of Rwanda – Much to the delight of Prof. Click and his students J . We were humbled by the gesture of Mr. Governor and his team who made special efforts to address our concerns related to our projects. It was perfect setup as we got to know detailed perspective about Rwanda’s economic vision from the apex financial institution.

Later in the day we visited newly established Rwanda Stock Exchange. Though only a few stocks were traded, it was interesting to know a brewery stock (co-owned by Heineken) continues to provide 100 % dividend to its shareholders. An in-depth discussion with the Managing Director helped us understand the complexities of share market and efforts made by the Rwanda Government to establish a promising stock exchange.

               

Our visit to Clinton Foundation underlined the constructive role of US and its development organizations have played in Rwanda’s development. The sustainable model to promote farming of soy for oil production was really impressive.  Clinton foundation elaborated on the measures it is taking to improve oil productivity in Rwanda with the establishment of a major soy oil factory. Clinton Foundation’s office was located at a very picturesque location as you can see in the picture below and we spend some time posing in front of cameras before heading for our next visit.

Clinton Foundation – Rwanda

As we were immersed in completing their project work in this penultimate week of CAP, it was interesting to discover local hangouts and restaurants. Whereas the in house restaurant at our hotel served some great delicacies, the Italian restaurant Sole Luna topped the charts for its lip smacking pizzas and other Italian cuisines.

Amidst the busy schedule, Dan Lieberman and I went to a local Dairy to do some research for our CAP project. The 20 minute motor cycle taxi (yes you heard it right) ride was truly unique as we drove to the countryside. Though considered little unsafe, Motos are by far the most affordable and easy mode of public transportation in Rwanda.

With project assignments on track, the Rwanda CAP team was looking for an exciting weekend ahead with visits to Gashora village and Akagera National Park lined up.

Tudo é bom em São Paulo

Dear Moms, Dads, Boyfriends, Girlfriends, Fiancees, Husbands, Wives, we MADE it. Well…most of us did.  I felt like I was having a bad start to my trip because I first went to the wrong airport in DC but turns out I wasn’t the worst off.  While most of us arrived safe and sound in Sao Paulo, Mohib and Markus are unfortunately stranded in Bolivia and Rio respectively. Mohib’s airline went bankrupt before he had time to fly from Bolivia to Sao Paulo and Markus lost his passport in Rio and is waiting to get a new one.  Hopefully we should have a complete team before we leave for Santarem!

But the rest of us here have been enjoying our first two days in Sao Paulo.  On day 1 our trip coordinator organized a tour of the city.  Sao Paulo is very big and spread out. It is the biggest business center of Brazil. We first went to an articraft market in Japantown for lunch.  That  was an experience of itself fresh of the plane.  Not only were all the food kiosk incredibly crowded, we also had no idea what kind of food they were selling.  I had to resort to “questioning” people on the street by pointing at the food they had in their hands and asking in broken Spanish “Donde, Donde es la Comida?”.  Brazilian, fortunately, are very friendly and always willing to help.  We ended up in a bakery, where Salma and I had our first taste of Pao de Queijo (cheese bread), a specialty of Brazil.  I personally didn’t like the doughy, cheesy inside of the bread, but Salma is a BIG fan and has had at least 2 cheese breads a day ever since. Next, we visited a beautiful cathedral, Cathedral Se, build in the 1950′s built from material imported from Italy and France.

Cathedral Se

As we are coming out of the cathedral and walking to a center of Sao Paulo, Allan points at the sky very worried.

“Hum….I think someone is trying to kill themselves on top of that building!!?”

We all look up and yes, it appears there is the silhouette of a man on the ledge of a high rise building.  Josepha, our tour guide reassures us, the man in trouble is actually a scuplture part of the “Still Being” interactive exhibition by Antony Gormley taking place all over the city.  The artist molded exact copy of his body and placed them on top of random buildings throughout Sao Paulo.  Maybe I’m not too artistically inclined because the first thing that came to my mind was an image of either Batman watching over the city or a game of where is Waldo to see who could find the most.  The main exhibition is in the lobby of a bank and it features sculptures of the same man in different positions hanging from the ceiling by their feet and at the bottom a “Critical Mass” of bodies in many different positions.

Still Beings by Antony Gromley

The main highlight of day 2, was our visit to the aluminum company Alcoa.  BUT FIRST, word of advice in Sao Paulo, KNOW where you are going. Our bus driver had the misfortune of getting lost and because of the constant traffic in the city arrived 40 minutes late to the meeting!  At the meeting, we met with a team of Alcoa’s finest, including the CEO, Franklin Feder.  He introduced us to his company and was remarkably candid about their successes and failures in their new project, the opening of an aluminum mine in the Amazon region of Juriti (We will be visiting the mine later during the trip).  To my surprise, one of their big concern and priority is to make sure that they build their mines and hydraulic source of energy in the most sustainable way possible. Since they are the largest single user of electrical energy in the country it is reassuring to see that they have an environmental license from the government and are operating responsibly.

Professor Robles and CEO Franklin Feder

To finish our day, we had the pleasure to meet with Monica again. We had first met her via skype in DC.  She is a close partner of PSA and has helped us in the past, answering any questions we had about the operations.  We sat down with her for an hour at the end of the day and had another extremely helpful Q&A session.  We are so grateful for her help, in the midst of uncertainty about the communities of the amazon, she offers a great deal of clarity on the customer side of the business.

Meeting with Monica

The Red Carpet and The Turkish bath!!

We were at the Best Auto-manufacturing plant in Europe!! The Ford Otosan Auto-manufacturing plant is located in Kocaeli, which is a drive of about 90-120 minute from Istanbul. The individual groups (ones working with Ford Otosan) met their Client contacts in person for the first time. Ford had planned for us, a tour around their innovative plant. For many of us, this was the first time inside an auto-manufacturing plant. It was exciting to say the least. We then went towards our hotel in the Kocaeli Area where we stayed just for that one night.

 

For many of us, that evening was the best part of the entire trip. Most of us went out to shop around Kocaeli at a mall. Since Kocaeli is far away from Istanbul, most things were relatively cheaper. But, what followed in the later part of the evening was unforgettable. This was the part when we enjoyed the Turkish Hospitality. The Hotel where we stayed in our visit in Kocaeli had the Turkish Bath and Kese. The process of Kese is like a body scrub done by the Hammam. There are some herbal mixes that are used to make your skin softer and cleaner. The massage that follows this process is extremely relaxing. If there is anything that I would recommend not to miss, when you are in Turkey is the Turkish Bath, massage and Kese.

We spent the next day with our individual group contacts at the Ford Office working on our team projects. This experience was valuable since this was our time to ask as many questions to them and understand Ford’s strategy on functions relevant to our projects. We had lunch with other Ford Otosan employees at the cafeteria in the plant. We came back to Istanbul the very evening. Burcu, our TA for the trip had been extremely kind in arranging tickets in a very short span of time for some of us who wanted to go to a concert at the Burcesehir University that night.

As I said, it kept getting better and better. If you are thinking that we have met as many big names in Turkey as possible in one trip, you are in for a major surprise. Friday began with a visit to the biggest bank in Turkey – ISInvestment. We were briefed on the state of the economy. The presentation focused on the securities and trading and foreign investment in Turkey.

This was followed by a visit to the Turkish Banks Association – I told you it just keeps getting better! This was amazing as we were given a presentation by the man himself – The Chairman of the Association. We discussed how Turkish banks were surprisingly not affected much through the global recession. If anything, the Turkish banks benefited through the downturn as the government reduced the Interest Rates. We also discussed the reasons behind the comparatively lesser drop in the Turkish economy during the global crisis in 2009. This was absolutely fantastic and possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

We ended the week at the Office of none other than Koc Holdings – The biggest name in Turkey’s Business Arena. The scenic view of the Bosphorus from the gorgeous campus was unbelievable. The next two sessions were based majorly on the core businesses of the Koc family group and the Corporate Social Responsibility efforts of the company.

This is not done yet guys. This is where our luck deserted us, partly I should say. Koc Holdings had arranged a dinner for us at a magnificent open restaurant. Guess what, it rained. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the Bosphorus evening from inside the restaurant. The food was exquisite at the very least. The guest at the dinner was the Director of Brand Management at Koc. This was now getting too much for us. If this was not RED CARPET, then what was??

We soon realized that this was yet, just the beginning !!