Kickoff!

The day has come finally-- 1st day-- the day which kicked off this entire program that we've all put countless hours in.

I have to admit that I was quite nervous in taking the responsibility of facilitating the 1st workshop for the program. First days on any type of classroom delivery are so critical in getting the audience involved and entirely setting the tone going forward. A successful first day can make the entire program a success. A failed first day can torpedo the entire program.

Also, having checked out the "classroom"yesterday-- a meeting room that we Canadians would feel that fit maximum ten people but claimed by the youths to being capable of fitting 30 people, had got me quite nervous. Not only the size of the room was a concern (we were expecting about 20 students plus our team which adds up to about 27 people), I fear the Kenyan youths' English level, the amount of participation, and perhaps even a cultural shock to have foreigners who may be much younger than themselves to be the 'teachers'.

Despite all my fear and apprehension, the day went really well. I was absolutely amazed at the youths' participation, their English level, and how welcoming they are to us. We had a lot of great discussion as to what social entrepreneurship may mean (the first workshop was the discussion of social entrepreneurship and introduction to the business plan), and I was in awe at how much they shared their personal lives with us.

I remember one student would use the word 'ferocious' in his conversation, and another would let us know that the concept of 'social valued business' -- a watered-down term that Josie and I had thought of for the youths-- were called 'social responsibility.' Precisely the 'higher' level term and concept that we had hoped to convey to them.

And then we had students who volunteered to read out some paragraphs from our resource booklet. It really warmed my heart to know that this resouce booklet that our whole team had put 600+ hours in had really paid off. We went through editions and editions of this approximately 300 pages booklet to ensure that the language was appropriate. And when they volunteered to read and participate, my heart just died for them.

They were also really thankful for our presence, and they re-enforced my belief that education and sharing of knowledge is very important. And I guess, the youths today had made me feel much better for all the things that I sacrificed for this project (financially and other opportunities otherwise.) Our sharing knowledge at our discussion today was just amazing-- that i dont really know how to put it in words.

I have to admit that today went really really smoothly. And for myself, i had a great time, and from their smiles and ethusiastic participation, I'm convinced that they did also.

I'm so looking forward to the next 16 days!

Glad to be onboard.

My flight from NYC to Nairobi was supposed to have a one-hour transfer in London. Due to a delay in departure, that one-hour transfer turned into a mad 10-minute dash to the gate. Surprisingly they let me on the place without a boarding pass. However, my luggage is still back in London.

Being the last person to arrive in Nairobi, it was really impressive to observe how much the team had accomplished in a couple short days; institutional relationships are being formed, Day 1 is well prepared for and everyone has a good sense of the city and the surrounding area.

In less than 7 hours, we’ll be starting the project. The first adjustment we’ll need to make is presenting our workshops to a group of 30+ youths in a boardroom that, by North American standards, is suitable for 10.

It's Happening!~

So, we are all here on schedule and safely!

Tomorrow is our big day as our project starts. So far, we met with a couple students from the University of Nairobi and had some interesting exchanges. One of the students pointed out to me the beggars on the streets to tell me that "He is a beggar". I told her that we have beggars in Vancouver too, but she was so surprised, "You have beggars? But you are so rich in the West!"
The girl then asked me if I go to Church as she pointed out the Opus Dei Church for me (quite the time to point this out as I am halfway through Da Vinci Code), and she was shocked when I told her I am not religious.

Well, fortunately, McDonald's and Starbucks haven't made it here yet, but Coca Cola is almost the fountain of life here. But I cannot believe how Americanized the supermakets are. They sell anything from Oreos to Kit Kat to Parklane to... basically ANYTHING. Globalization eh? Well, the Dubai International Airport is totally Americanized too with Krispy Creme and Baskin Robbins and what's more. It's really crazy. I am actually seeing what's happening in my textbooks first hand in Middle East and East Africa. I guess this is also an academic experience to make me feel slightly better about my International Relations Bachelor of Arts degree.

We visited the slum where we will be teaching, and it is quite a special feeling that everything suddenly becomes so close and real. People are really nice here but it is just different. The gap between poverty and the wealthy is so huge. At least beggars in Vancouver Downtown dresses warmly with a dog as companion. I actually do have a lot more to say, but internet is really quite the luxury here and we'll try to update again soon.

On a side note, I think our team is crazy. Eiston is studying for GRE, Kathy is studying for LSAT, and Brit is studying for CSC. Guess what I'm doing? Finishing off Da Vinci Code :p

We're Here!

Eiston and I are finally here, after two whole days of plane ride and airport layovers. It's indeed very tiring. Dubai was extremely hot and the air conditioning on a transfer flight did not work until we were up in the air, and I felt quite sick for a while. But I'm all good and energetic now.

The Guesthouse we are staying is clean and tidy, although it is nothing luxurious, people here are very nice.

The weather is very chilly. I miss the Vancouver sun. Now, I wished I was not so lazy and would have brought a sweater.

Eiston, Nancy and I are going to meet with some students from the University of Nairobi and tour downtown a little bit. The city is not as bad as I had imagined - we'll be safe as long as we are on our guard.

Update more later.

See You in Kenya

So. We just had our final team meeting tonight before we all take off on our flights that are coming up in a couple of days.

When I left Kathy's house and Brit said to me, "See you in Kenya!" I felt slightly overwhelmed. I cannot believe that this is actually happening - surreal. I love our team and we are all such hardworking people, but I feel like there are so many loose ends that we have not tied up within our group in the "social" context: we are saying "bye" already before I actually felt like I ever said "hi" to all of them. Everything just happened too quickly and intensively for me to think about our team and friendships too much.

We spent hundreds (quite fair to say, I think) of hours working on our workshops and resource booklets to make it more applicable to the youths in Kibera - that suddenly when I am trying to write my final paper for Poli Sci that is due in 3 days, I find it difficult and had to search around my head for the right vocabulary and right ideas. It is almost as if I am speaking a different language, yet it is still English.

Countdown: 3 days until final paper due, 3 days until final exam, 9 days until my flight.

Friedman had it right

Africa's share in global exports decreased from 6.3% in 1980 to 2.5% in 2000. Source: UN Conference on Trade and Development, 2003

Last July at the G8 summit at Gleneagles, EU Trade Commissioner, Peter Mandelson, pointed out that if Africa could gain an additional 1% of global trade, then that additional 1% would deliver seven times more income every year than the continent currently receives in aid.

Let me state the obvious: poverty is a significant problem in Africa. Increasing economic opportunities will help alleviate this poverty. The continent of Africa has a lot of potential but "potential" is not tangible to the average African. The majority of global aid organizations had at one time or another told African leaders that aid was the solution to their problems, when in fact, this aid has only hindered the unleashing of their true human potential.

We're not trying to alleviate poverty or solve world problems; that would be extremely naive. In fact, throughout this pilot project, we WILL make many mistakes. What we ARE trying to do is learn, share and help coordinate the business tools to assist youth in Kibera, the largest slum in sub-Sahara Africa, to succeed in their entrepreneurial ventures. Ultimately, it will be these Kenyan youth that will contribute to the growth of their economy which will lead to the trickle-up effect.

Today, after-hour oil prices reached $78 USD a barrel. Hopefully more African nations will put their differences and internal politics aside and collaborate to futher leverage off this opportunity.

The bureaucrats should put a little more faith into the free-market - let the market find its equilibrium.

Count Down: Precisely 2 Weeks

I suppose I can write the first blog.

It is exactly 14 days before I leave for the 30+ hour "commute" to get to Nairobi. I am both nervous and excited. Unfortunately, I am still not in my travel mode yet because there is still so much work that needs to be done...

The planning of this project could go on forever, and I feel like we just did a "summer intensive" version. Looking back, it is really amazing how far we have come from scratch. I find it also interesting that our team has not even had one social gathering together!!! Rather 2 to 4 "meeting-gatherings" per week. This is the composition of our team eh - a bunch of Type A Personalities that is always on the go.

This will be a good learning experience. Africa, Kenya, Nairobi, Kibera... really foreign and far.

Alright. Back to studying.

and we're off...well, almost

The purpose of this online journal is to share with you the thoughts and daily events of six students and one dedicated professor on their pilot project, "Social Entrepreneurship 101: Africa" in Nairobi, Kenya.

Social Entrepreneurship 101: Africa is a youth-directed project developed by UBC students in collaboration with the Sauder School of Business and Kibera Community Youth Programme (KCYP). Our mission is to develop a sustainable program that will involve university students working with African youth to develop, promote and expand the socially motivated, entrepreneurial endeavors of African youth.

We held a business proposal competition with KCYP and we recieved more than twenty proposals from the Kiberan youth. From these proposals, we selected four ‘winners’.

The project has three main components:

·A series of workshops to inform interested Kibera youth about the essential components of a business plan, covering a wide variety of topics from operational organization to marketing tactics and financial strategies.

·Break-out sessions with the 4 selected proposals to share ideas and information, design and complete business plans and organize step-by-step development strategies.

·Presentations by guest speakers from the Kenyan business community to provide a local prospective, impart inspiration and share essential knowledge and experience

Thank You Kindly...

We'd like to extend our gratitude to the following individuals and groups: The Sauder School of Business for its financial support, Dean Daniel Muzyka, Nancy Langton and David Whyte for their continuous guidance. We would also like to thank KCYP, Fred Ouko, Emmanuel Nsabi, Carlos Urteaga and Alberto Navas for their assistance with project planning. Further, we would like to acknowledge Derek Gent of VanCity Capital and RBC Dominion Securities for their support with our fundraising breakfast.