Having never been to a developing country in Africa, the Rwanda experience was eye-opening. The people were amazingly friendly, proud, and determined to grow and succeed in business in the future.
There is a lot of development taking place right now in Kigali. Aside from the normal influx of non-profits and aid organizations, the government is doing a good job in promoting the city as a destination. There is a convention center that will be completed soon, along with a series of new high-end hotels. Some criticize the pace of this development, saying that it is growing too fast and is not yet supported by the volume of business activities in the country. I disagree, and based on what I have seen Kigali definitely has potential to get put on the map as a city of commerce. The government is exploring new avenues such as being an East African conference destination and also enhancing its revenue from additional types of tourism.
In our recommendation to the Rwanda Development Board, we talked about finding a more defined means of attracting investors to Rwanda. In the agribusiness sector, we recommended agricultural tourism – a way for people to get to know how coffee or tea or wine production is done. We think that a more personal approach will yield a higher number of investors and will help them understand the reasons behind their funding, not just the financial rewards. Additionally, we recommended an enhanced web presence under the slogan of “Choose Rwanda”. What we saw during our time in-country was a great deal of potential, something that could not be easily seen from the other side of the Atlantic. So, in turn, we’d like for everyone to see this.
If you’re reading this and have yet to experience the Consulting Abroad Project, we invite you to “Choose Rwanda” as well. Trust me. You’ll have a blast-
Team WFS delivered its client presentation today and wrapped up its CAP Sweden journey. After finishing the remainder of our assignments, we took a boat cruise through the archipelago to socialize with our classmates one final time. Near the end of the cruise, the team interviewed Professor Helm to get her take on the CAP experience:
We would all like to thank the Grey Blanket Association (GBA) for its generous contribution to our blog. Without that fine organization, none of this would have been possible.
Professor Helm and Christina Johannsen did a wonderful job of organizing both the course curriculum and in-country activities. What I said in jest about the GBA applies sincerely here: without these two people, none of this wonderful experience would have been possible.
Team WFS arrived in Stockholm on Saturday and we’ve been drinking in the culture ever since. The video details one of the highlights of the city thus far, the ICEBAR:
We may have seen a little too much of the city, as we have spent the last 24 hours scrambling to finish our assignments. However, eating moose, boar, and reindeer heart at the Viking Tavern made it worthwhile. I’ve never been a big fan of hyperlinks, but that was pretty fun.
Yesterday, we visited Skanska and Parliament. The architecture inside Parliament was very unique and it was fun to learn a little about the political system. It was refreshing to get a tour from an actual member of Parliament, rather than being escorted by a random intern. This greatly enhanced the quality of information as we saw the building and process through the eyes of a politician.
There is no pearl of wisdom nor final thought that could conclude our adventure better than the immortal words of Jing Wang. “Chinese!”
May 26 is the rainy Stockholm Sunday when we as the team Firefly were able to meet for the first time our contact person at Firefly AB, Ms. Nicole Forsberg. We met with her at our hotel, which is conveniently located at downtown Stockholm, Profil Central Hotel. (http://www.profilhotels.com/centralhotel)
As the weather was not good enough for sightseeing, she took us to the Vasa Museum. This museum is the residence of the giant warship called VASA, which was built in 1628. However, it was not able to sail and sank in the middle of Stockholm harbor after sailing only 1,300 meters. The ship was not raised until 1956. This year, Anders Franzén and Per Edvin Fälting relocated Vasa. Finally, she was lifted in 1961. For more information about the ship, you can follow this link. (http://www.vasamuseet.se/en)
After our meeting with VASA, we were able to chat with our client and also take an initial feedback about our report and the work we have accomplished so far. Moreover, we were also able to taste the delicious shrimp toast as well as the relatively strong and tasty Swedish coffee.
Team Hexicon was invited to a dinner on May 27th at Marcus Thor’s ( Project Manager at Hexicon AB) residence in Stockholm. Mats Arnamo ( Director of Sales and Marketing), Filipe Rebello de Andrande (Project manager for Engineering), and Anders Ofverstrom (Project manager for Engineering) joined us for the dinner. Hexicon AB has a young and energetic team, a mix of technical and business development experts who are passionate about the offshore wind energy market.
We started the dinner with a delicious Swedish barbeque. It gave us an opportunity to learn more about the Swedish culture, popular cuisines, and general mindset focused towards sustainability. Discussions ranged from ice skating and popular biking culture to new renewable energy projects in Sweden
Hexicon project managers Filipe and Anders preparing dinner.
We chatted about our Team’s Swedish experience in Gotenberg, Vastros, and Stockholm. All of us shared the best experiences we encountered in Sweden over the last week and a half. We were really excited to learn about the sustainability focus in Swedish society from recycling to higher renewable energy generation mix .
Our dinner: Barbeques , Swedish apple sauce , fried cheese, corn, and grilled asparagus.
We all thanked Hexicon AB for the consulting project experience over the last 8 weeks. Team Hexicon discussed the hypothesis creation, thought process, in depth market research and entry strategy formulation during the dinner. In turn our Hexicon partners were also very grateful for the work we contributed for the success of their company.
GW Team Hexicon ( Robert Keiser, Kaitlin Hooper, Rachel Isaman, Greg Brace, and Deepak Jose, who was taking the picture) along with the Hexicon AB clientele (Marcus Thor, Mats Arnamo, Filipe Rebello de Andrande, and Anders Ofverstrom).
The final presentation was given to Hexicon AB on May 28th at the WFS office in Stockholm. Mr. Marcus Thor and Mr. Mats Arnamo attended the presentation from Hexicon AB. We advised the client to enter the U.S. Offshore wind energy market preferably through Licensing. Additionally team provided detailed U.S market potential and discussed estimated production capacity, grants for technology deployment as well as competitive landscape. Licensing advantages, disadvantages, and risk mitigation strategies were also discussed in detail. We also identified primary and secondary target markets for the Hexicon and formulated the implementation plan for the licensing strategy. Team Hexicon also detailed an additional entry plan through a joint venture option but expressed that licensing was the best viable option for Hexicon to pursue. Hexicon AB really appreciated the team effort we put forth, especially with regards to the final report and the outlining presentation.
We spent our last evening in Vasteras immersing ourselves in Bronze Age, Iron Age and Viking cultures. At Anundshog, we climbed on ridges developed around 2500 BC when inland ice retreated. We walked along an old trade route marked by a line of boulders and learned the meaning behind the village rune stone symbolizing fertility. Women held an important role, with their power demonstrated in the rune stone illustration, since they stayed in the village while the men were often out hunting. The area became a cultural center where people came together for “The Thing” (district court), an area still defined by large boulders forming two ovals, as well as worshipped and traded. Burial mounds can still easily be seen jutting up from the landscape. Our guide, dressed in traditional Iron Age clothing, helped us imagine life in the prehistoric village, amazingly well-preserved after so many years. At the next stop on our visit back in time, we didn’t need to use our imagination quite as much. We were able to command our own Viking boat on the lake! After driving to what seemed like the middle of nowhere and finding a lake with docks and a fleet of Viking ships (along with a “Viking” playing a traditional instrument), we loaded into 3 boats, grabbed our oars and took off for an evening cruise. Turns out that despite having a crew of 8-10 rowers, rowing a Viking boat is not easy. It took us awhile to get into a rhythm and row at the same time as well as figure out the steering mechanism in the front of the boat. However, being in the wooden boat in the middle of the isolated lake really helped transport us back in time and imagine settlements surrounding the lakeside.
After several failed attempts to back into our boat dock, we finally made it to shore and followed a marked trail through the woods to a log building up on the hill. The log building turned out to be a first-class restaurant, Frösåkers Brygga, run by a Michelin chef from Stockholm who traded city life for his own restaurant in the country. We were all treated to a delicious meal of veal, salad, potatoes and bread with an out-of-this world homemade ice cream dessert to finish it off. We sat on long wooden benches, surrounded by Viking ship candle holders and other Viking artifacts and replicas.
After being serenaded with traditional music, we toured the second floor where special events are often held. The area features an open floor plan and an impressive display of replicated Viking shields, paintings, armor, swords and helmets. The night was complete after an all-class line dance in a circle to a traditional song! We were lucky to have had the experience to have eaten at the amazing Viking Village – thank you to the city of Vasteras!
We were sad to leave such an idyllic spot but looked forward to Stockholm the next day! …
In Stockholm, a small group of us who hadn’t had our full dose of Viking decided to go to a Viking theme restaurant called Aifur Krog & Bar in Gamla Stan (old town) for dinner. We ate with medieval utensils which reminded us how great of an invention the 3-prong fork was (eating with 2 prongs is not easy!) and tried food such as reindeer heart and moose steak. Everything was absolutely delicious and the atmosphere couldn’t be beat. We would recommend this to students in future CAP Sweden trips (reservations are needed)!
reindeer heart is at the top right
Although we participated in quite a few Viking activities in a short amount of time, each experience was very different. We explored ruins, rowed replica Viking boats, listened to traditional music, and ate unusual food in a fun Viking theme restaurant. We saw the authentic as well as more modern-day interpretations of Vikings.
On May 22nd Sweden CAP visited Goteborg Energi AB in Gothenburg, Sweden. Goteborg Energi is one of Sweden’s leading energy companies and provides their customers energy services, broadband, district heating, cooling, innovations in renewable energy technologies, etc. Goteborg Energi began the site visit by delivering an informative presentation on their work in terrestrial and offshore wind. After the presentation they brought us to their onshore wind turbine site to see Big Glenn.
Big Glenn, developed through a collaborative effort between Goteborg Energi, GE, Chalmers and SWPTC, is Sweden’s largest wind turbine. Big Glenn was an exciting site for Team Hexicon. As the team was able to view an incredible engineering feat and a larger than life wind turbine, similar to the smaller turbines that will be used on Hexicon’s platform. We could hardly control our excitement, as manifested by our light-hearted video introducing Big Glenn and Team Hexicon. (Please See Video I below)
Big Glenn & Other Wind Turbines
Video Summary Part I:
Team Hexicon: Greg Brace, Rachel Isaman, Robert Keiser, Deepak Jose, & Kaitlin Hooper (not pictured)
The video begins as Rachel and Greg are amazed by the enormity of the wind turbine, Big Glenn. Robert swoops in, seemingly out of nowhere, to help illuminate the team about the nature of Big Glenn and the back story about how Big Glenn got its name. Robert explains that Big Glenn was named after Big Ben, the famous London clock tower. Rachel aptly mentions that Gothenburg is dubbed “Little London,” which is a humorous and appropriate correlation. Greg culminates the video by explaining that although Big Glenn is impressive so is Hexicon’s product, as Hexicon is constructing an offshore wind platform that can hold up to 24 wind turbines. (End Video Summary 1)
….
Team Hexicon and the Sweden CAP was then joined by Goteborg Energi’s Helena Nordstrom and Christer Pettersson. These two employees of Goteborg Energi worked tirelessly to make Big Glenn a reality. Helena and Christer first showed us the electric room where the transmission lines from the wind turbines ran to. Christer explained that raw energy was converted into electricity by the use of the transformers found in this room. After this, Helena and Christer graciously allowed us to ask them a couple of questions regarding Big Glenn and offshore wind production in Sweden. (Please See Video II below)
Christer Pettersson showing Team Hexicon and the rest of the Sweden CAP how the energy from the wind turbines are harnessed by transformers and then turned into electricity.
Video Summary Part II:
Q1: Rachel begins by asking Goteborg Energi “how progressive is offshore wind in Sweden?”
A1: Helena replies that offshore wind is not very favorable in Sweden and remarks that onshore wind platforms are more financially lucrative. However, she does mention that there is some push for offshore wind in Sweden.
Q2: Robert then asks if Helena could explain ”what are the obstacles for offshore wind development?”
A2: Helena replied that the two biggest obstacles for offshore wind development in Sweden are, the eyesore that many people feel that offshore wind turbines create and the financial sense behind offshore wind platforms.
Q3: Greg then asks Goteborg Energi to “please explain the development process behind Big Glenn?”
A3: Helena explains that it was a collaborative effort done in order to advance Goteborg Energi’s idea of a sustainable Swedish society. She mentions that to create this new sustainable future there needs to be teamwork and collaboration.
Q4: Finally, Deepak asked “what were the specific challenges in the creation of Big Glenn?”
A4: Christer explained that the challenges to Big Glenn were not unique. The project was just harder because of its scale. He also mentioned that it was an easier project then would be an offshore project because the land was already designated for wind turbine usage.
Overall, the site visit was extremely exciting and enlightening for Team Hexicon and the rest of the Sweden CAP. Goteborg Energi were wonderful hosts and are truly leading Sweden towards a sustainable future. Team Hexicon learned that the U.S. market differs from the Swedish market for both onshore and offshore wind, however many of the challenges are the same. Team Hexicon is excited to relay what they have learned back to Hexicon for future progress on their project.
If you’re reading this and have yet to experience the Consulting Abroad Project, we invite you to “Choose Rwanda” as well. Trust me. You’ll have a blast-
