Experiencing Clean Tech

Many of us came on this consulting abroad project to see clean technology in action.  In Vasteras, we had a day full of clean tech activities.

Our day began with a visit to Mälarenergi, a municipally-owned energy utility serving the region in and around Vasteras.  Within Sweden, hydroelectric and nuclear power supplies the vast majority of electricity, with biomass and biogas accounting for a marginal percentage of the country’s electricity profile.  Prospectively, however, Sweden has plans to expand the use of biofuels – particularly in its district heating and cooling operations.

At Mälarenergi, we heard about the company’s operations and toured its facilities.  As the European Union moves towards its goal of 20% of energy use from renewable sources by 2020, utilities such as Mälarenergi must overhaul their operations to use wood residuals, waste energy, and other biomass products in place of fossil fuels such as peat or coal.

In the afternoon, we visited a biogas facility called VafabMiljo.   In Sweden, individual household separate organic waste (i.e., table scraps, etc.) from recyclables and other forms of solid waste.  The household waste is stored and processed in large anaerobic digesters – like the one featured below – which transform the organic waste into methane gas and fertilizer.

The end result is impressive.  Last year, the VafabMiljo plant produced enough biogas to displace 3.8 million liters of gasoline.   These results are real and tangible.  Almost all municipal buses in Sweden run on biogas produced at plants just like this one.

But biogas does have one main drawback – the production process generates one of the vilest and putrid smells imaginable.   As the bus rolled up to the digester, most students gagged.   My eyes watered, and I could taste the smell of garbage in the back of my throat.

Interestingly, one of our clients, Cortus, uses a bio-gasification technique that is odorless.  Accordingly, we all experienced first-hand how this product attribute represents a major competitive advantage when entering the U.S. market.

Week 1, take 2

As our first week in Mumbai came to a close, we’d already done so much.  One of the highlights was a tour through the Tata Motors assembly line.  As we arrived, they had a sign welcoming us, we took some photos, then were ushered into the “indoctrination room.”  Almost every large Indian company has one.  It’s where they show you videos (sometimes play company anthems) telling/serenading you with their praises.  Truly something to behold.  I left every site visit wondering if they thought I was an investor looking where to place FDI or who to start a JV with.

The trip out to Tata Motors was a long one – about 3.5 hours exactly.  Following the tour, they brought in two specialists – both from supply chain: one materials and the other pricing.  It’s amazing to be able to meet so many intelligent, successful people from many different companies in such a short period of time.  We left Tata and headed to Cognizant – a professional ITES (IT Enabled Services) firm.  They wouldn’t let us take photos, but I was able to sneak one.  They too had a nice digital sign welcoming up to their premises.  They gave a couple of great presentations.  My favorite was when the head of they “Cognizant Consulting Services” explained how they’ve been moving into the management consulting space; no longer pigeon-holed as an IT only firm.  For lunch, pizza.  It’s hilarious how many firms are scared to be the one who gives the grad students “Delhi Belly.”  To be fair, it was the best pizza we’ve had (Dominoes twice and Pizza Hut once).

One week down, Dharavi Slum Tour this weekend.  Hopefully some time by the pool, and definitely time spent working to perfect our project to be delivered to CRISIL next week!  One last picture: Nam and Charles keepin’ in gangster in Mumbai?

It keeps getting better!!

Our first business meeting for the second week was none other than with the Istanbul Stock Exchange. This again was a first time for many. We were given a brief explanation of how the Stock Exchange works, the session, the components, the National and the Secondary National Markets, the regulatory bodies and how in the recent past, the exchange has seen many ups and downs related to the national and the European economy which dictates most of what happens in Turkey. After the information session, we were allowed entry into the exchange to see how the new electronic system works.

The wooden slates which were in use many years back is still placed in memory of the slate method. Prof. Akyuz, who has previously seen how the slate method used to worked, explained us how the different functions of the exchange were carried out in those days.

 

The next day was another highlight as we visited the International Finance Corporation, more popularly known as the IFC. It is a part of the World Bank Organization. We met IFC employees from different regions who worked together in the Istanbul branch. It came as a surprise to most of us that the Turkey branch was the biggest outside of Washington DC, where the headquarters of the organization is located.

 

There was a special presentation by them which focused on IFC’s work in the Auto-motive sector and in the Healthcare area in Turkey. This was a great time for all of us to ask questions about what they and the World Bank is doing to improve the conditions in the nation.

 

Once that was done, we all came back to the hotel and began preparing for the final presentation for our clients. This was the acid-test. We were ready to take on the world.

The Bosphorus Cruise!!

This was our second weekend in Istanbul. Some of us went around the city to experience the mixed bag of the Grand Bazaar, some wanted to enjoy the Bosphorus coast and some were busy preparing for the upcoming presentations for Ford Otosan. Although I did all of the above, my heart was on the final of the Champions League final to be played between Chelsea and Bayern Munich on Saturday night. I had promised drinks to my buddies if Chelsea won that evening. I was more than happy to do so when Chelsea eventually became kings of Europe. .

 As I said, I had done all of the above things over the weekend. My started with the Grand Bazaar, where I was floored by the art and craft that is involved in the making of lamps and the other Turkish specialties like head-scarfs and shawls. We spent about 4 hours in the Bazaar, but honestly, one can spend an entire day there and it won’t be enough to see everything. From there, we moved to Bosphorus and hopped onto a boat for a cruise.

 

After the Turkish bath, this would be something I would advise not to miss when one is in Istanbul. The 90 minute ride is divided equally to let one enjoy the views of the European and the Asian coast of Istanbul. Most of us came back home and watched the Champions League Final and headed out to go around the city later.

 I spent the next two days preparing for the Client Report and the presentation. Most of us did the same. We did have some room for fun as Monday was an off day too. We needed to submit our Final Client Reports by Monday night. The visit to their office had made us tweak our recommendations a bit and think about some more ways to fulfill their expectations. Did GMBA’s do that? That’s in the coming posts for you..

 

Bees and Bauxite

During our first day in Santarem, the group split up to meet with experts in the field of their project.  Team honeybee went to Bella Terra, a honeybee farm 40 minutes away from the city. When we arrived at the farm, the owner, Joao, had prepared some treats for us.  He made us taste raw pollen, apparently it is really good for a lot of ailment, as the label translates “Pollen, good for human ailment!”.  It cures, depression, anxiety, prostate cancer, erectile dysfunction etc…I didn’t make it up, it’s on the flyer. While it may be the answer to world health, it actually tastes very unpleasant.  It is extremely tart.  Even diluted in water, as most of the people use it, it still tastes sour. This, however, is what a lot of the people in the communities and villages drink for medicine.  We also got to sample ginger honey, which consists of mashed up ginger with honey, and which agreed much better with my taste buds, I definitely had a couple spoon full of that concoction!  Joao then showed us a sample of his hives. He uses “rational hives”, which are separated in two parts. On top is where the bees lay eggs, and on the bottom is where they build the pollen and honey combs.  Part of our recommendations for the communities will be to actually switch from this type of rational hives to a more practical and efficient “UTOB” hives where the pollen and honey combs would be separated from each other. Joao opened up a honey comb and made us taste the honey and it was the most amazing honey I have ever tasted. So fruity and sweet with a hint of maple sugar, it’s hard to describe but trust me it was amazing.  After all the tasting, he took us to the actual hives.  I think Matt has the hardest time walking among the stingless bees.  For some reason they took quite a liking to him and he ended up completely covered in bees, which  did not seem to want to fly away from his hair or t-shirt.  Joao and Josepha, our tour guide/translator had to pick the bees out of Matt’s hair, much like monkeys pull out fleas out of each other’s scalp.  It was a pretty funny sight until some bees got stuck in my hair, at which point I was more screaming uncomfortably than laughing.

The next day we took a 5hour speedboat to Juriti to visit the Alcoa’s bauxite mines (the rock used to produce aluminum). The boat ride was beautiful, on both side of the river we could see the amazonian vegetation and wildlife.  The width of the river in some part is so impressive you almost forget you are riding down a river.  This perception is also enhanced by the fact that the river has reached its record high in a 100 years.  While this is a good thing for us, since our boat to the communities will be able to navigate better along the river, it is problematic for the people of the amazon.  Along the ride, we could see a couple of spare houses, stores and churches completely over flooded and abandoned.  Upon arrival, we were greeted by Alcoa employee, including Vivana our tour guide.  They took us to Sao Pedro, a community next to Juriti.  Viviana explained to us that Alcoa’s activity in the region had first destroyed the path of the stream that originally brought water to Sao Pedro but that through partnership with the villagers and Alcoa’s employees, they were able to restore the stream and water source.  This is the case in all of the communities impacted by the mining.

The next day we actually saw what the mining of Bauxite entailed.  We went on site, equipped with our boots, reflective shirts and helmets and followed the process of mining from extraction to lab testing of the mineral.  Alcoa operate as a strip mine.  Once an area is exploited, the miners refill the hole and replant vegetation.  They explained to us that before tearing down the trees in one area, they analyzed the vegetation profile so that when they replant, they make sure to follow the same layout.  It takes however about 25 years for the planted seed to look like a forest again. From what I saw, they seemed dedicated to make Alcoa as sustainable as possible and follow all the rules set up by the government.  It seems that they also are concerned by their impact on the population of Juriti and the neighboring communities.  They subsidize a training school in Juriti that teaches not only engineering skills, but also practical skills such as sewing to develop the population as much as possible in hopes of making them more autonomous.

Tomorrow we leave for Ana, the community that we are helping with the honeybee project. I am looking forward to seeing their actual operations and village.  It will be extremely remote, with no electricity and definitely no internet.  We get to sleep on hammacs for 2 nights, that in itself will be an experience.

Some more contact hours !

The final week of the CAP was turning out to be really hectic as we had five more meetings lined up apart from our consultancy work. Monday was a quiet day as every team was giving final touches to its project deliverables.

As our client had invited us to his office for a short meeting, we missed out trip to Bridge2Rwanda – an educational initiative geared towards creating opportunities for higher education of Rwandan youngsters.  We drove to Masaka village – outskirts of Kigali to meet our client and visited a bull station and Masaka dairy apart from our client. After our brief meeting and some field research, we met the rest of CAP group to visit School of Banking and Finance (SBF).

GW MBA’s at School of Banking & Finance

SBF was the best higher education institution in the country which catered to more than 7000 students in various programs including BBA, MBA and MS. We met Reid Whitefield, the President of the institution who spoke in great detail about his experiences in Rwanda. It was interesting to know that faculty to student ratio at SBF was 1:700, and we definitely felt privileged for a moment.

The discussion with Mr. Whitefield was more focused on the economic development and the vision of prosperity of Rwanda. He shared some great insights about the functioning of Government of Rwanda – with whom he works very closely. Our curiosity levels brought up plenty of questions, which were answered very profoundly.

The next day was intense with 3 back to back 1.5 hour meetings (sounded like Business Policy lecture for a moment) lined up for us. The first meeting was at Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning where we met Mr. Rugwabiza Leonard, Director General of Planning, Government of Rwanda. He re-emphasized the importance sustainable solutions and emphasis on exports to reduce trade deficits of Rwanda. The BDF team had most number of questions pertaining to economic landscape of the country.

 

Visit to Ministry of Economic Planning and Finance

Mr. Leonard talked about the evolution of Rwanda post genocide and stressed on improving GDP as his major goal in coming few years. He shared an interesting trivia that in 2003, Coca Cola Company with 5000 employees was generating equivalent amount of revenue as Rwanda with a population of 10 million. He said it made us realize we need to improve our productivity and it was a great indicator of the challenges of a post conflict nation.

Grabbing a bite between the meetings at Bourbon coffee

Our next meeting was at MTN – Mobile money where we met Mr. Albert Kimuma, Country Head MTN Mobile Money. The telecom company is one of the biggest service providers in Rwanda and employs close to 5000 people. The first corporate meeting of our CAP was very informative as Mr. Kimuma detailed the entire process of wireless transaction of cash. We were surprised to know that close to 3 million were using mobile money for various business and banking activities after it was initiated in 2009.

Prof. Click with Mr. Kimuma – Head of MTN Mobile Money

The last meeting (no more company visit forms, yeah) for our CAP 2012 was at Rwanda Development Board.  RDB is unique institution which not only provides permit for gorilla trekking but also regulates FDI in Rwanda. We were amazed to know about the plethora of activities undertaken by RDP. Its focus area included export development, agri-business promotion, providing one stop solution to foreign investors, identification of new development avenues and infrastructure development.

GW students at Rwanda Development Board

The head of Investment, Mr. Joseph Munga shared that actually RDB was formulated by combining 8 different Government institutions in 2003 to create a feasible investment atmosphere in Rwanda. The vastness of RDB now made much more sense and we could relate it with Rwanda’s 2020 vision. My last question brought some smiles when I asked Mr. Munga which country is the biggest investor in Rwanda – To everyone’s surprise (except me) it was India.

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 ).

Stopover on our way

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, I heard a baboon sneaked into her room to grab some 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.

View from Akagera lodge

Some good food

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 baboons 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.

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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 baboons 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 ate our lunch comprising sandwiches and fruits.

It was now the time to meet giraffes (the most sought animal).  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.

Prof. Click with Giraffe

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.