Pomp, Circumstance And Kumasi

Friday was Graduation Day.  Most of the students dressed up for the occasion. Two wore western-style suits and looked ready for their first shareholders meeting. Many more wore traditional clothing: flowing, colorful shirts, dresses and ’suits.’  They were effusive in their thanks, acknowledging they really didn’t know what to expect when they arrived on Monday, but they were especially impressed by our faith that they can make a change — by themselves — for Ghana.

Saturday was the long drive from Sunyani to Accra, with a stop in the ancient Ashante capital of Kumasi. We had hoped to see some history, but were running behind and only had time to check out a craft shop. The drive was something of an adventure… watching extremely top-heavy trucks navigate the two-lane, no guardrail road… we saw a few that didn’t make the turn and toppled over… can’t imagine the lost revenue for that business.  At one construction stoppage, we were swarmed by more than two dozen women, wares on their heads, nearly pressed against the window trying to get us to buy fruits or sweets. We could tell that this ad hoc marketplace had sprung up due to the construction…30 some-odd had just moved their operation to the construction zone, knowing they would have a captive audience. We bought a few oranges, but otherwise disappointed them.

More on our Friday trip to a truly heroic pair of schools in our next blog… as well as a stop in what might soon pass for a college town in Ghana.

Fuzz

Friends in a Snap

Living within a new culture for a week, you are bound to learn a few interesting subtleties. One of these is trying to master the handshake. There is the traditional western handshake that will do in most situations, but then there is the snap shake or so I call it. If another man is feeling chipper and wants to give you a real friend handshake, kinda like a high five, they give you more of a finger tip handshake but as they release they slide their fingers over yours and use your middle finger to make a S-N-A-P-! noise. If you do it right you can do that to them at the same time and both snaps blend together. I only got it right a few times, but its really fun and if you do they laugh and laugh. All great fun.

 Not so fun is our flight home. Yesterday we found out that our flight is delayed out of Accra for 20 hours. This is a quick post, but in the next few days, when we have a bit of time and internet bandwidth, I will post some more pictures and a better decription of what we did during the trip.

 Stephen

Cashew-flavored soda and bush meat, mmm …

Today the students finished their business-proposal exercise. They broke up into six groups of 6-7 members. In about three hours of prep time, they came up with solid business ideas, mission statements, marketing strategies, high-level staffing plans, three-month cash-flow projections and growth curves. They were awesome… awesome in the pre-Valley girl sense. I’m truly full of awe.

Each plan was excellent; I could see investing in each of the teams.

But, of course, the most creative is what caught my eye. One firm planned a meat-packer… specializing in bush meat, what Americans would call “game.” Of course, one of the other students asked “wait a minute, isn’t the government going to ban hunting? How would you keep up with supply?” “With a corral on our grounds,” was the response. “Okay,” asked the questioner, “then is it still bush meat (ie wild) anymore?” Good question.

To wash down your antelope, try some cashew-flavored soda from another group. The soda will be all natural, made with organically grown cashews (just as their juice made from pineapples and oranges), because that will aid their marketing differentiation strategy). Plus, they would emphasize that the product is made in Ghana, adding to the customer loyalty and sense of community.

These, of course, are the made-up companies. After we return to the states, many of the group will send real proposals for real businesses, in the hopes of securing funding from GBA. If they impressed me after three hours, imagine what they can pull off in three weeks or more?

Tomorrow’s graduation day…someone ship me some mortar boards!

-Fuzz

Not too chicken to go to a poultry farm

Today was a really great day. Wednesday is the day that the students take the two days of learning we have given them and go “on the road.” We broke up into six groups and traveled all around Sunyani to look for businesses.

The goal was to interview business owners and for the students themselves to drive the process. They asked questions like: What is your business about? What value do you bring to your customers? What are your biggest challenges? What is your target market? I visited a poultry farm with my group. We took a taxi out of town and stopped by the farm. We met the laborer and he told us all about his business. The students asked questions and began to probe, politely but to the point. When asked what the “competitive advantage” of his business was , the worker explained that the owner went to university and learned how to compose a feed for chickens that would yield the maximum number of eggs at minimum costs. Great answer.

We traveled back to class where the group shared information and experiences. Tomorrow we will teach cash management and the students will start on their final business plan for presentation. I can’t wait. Will let you know what happens in the next blog.

Stephen

A seamstress, two women and nut-flavored pop

Last post, I mentioned how most of the folks in class have trouble getting loans from conventional banks — no collateral, no loan. But these eager businessmen and women have proven they have the talent to make something from essentially nothing. So, how do you bridge that gap between talent and opportunity? Part of that answer is what we’re doing this week. The other part comes from two dynamic woman, Doris and Meta.

They’re sisters who run the Africa Assistance Project. The project doles out small loans to local budding entrepreneurs, mostly women. Those loans need to be paid back … and while the loan is yours to invest, the burden of repayment falls on a small group of about a dozen fellow shop owners and merchants. If someone in your group runs into trouble and can’t pay back their portion, the rest of the group has to chip in. They’ve had several successes, from bread makers to seamstresses. So, when you give to any micro-lending program, including GBA’s… you support women like this. To paraphrase the Peach Corps motto, a help up not a handout.

The folks in our class have slightly bigger businesses (3-10 employees) than the folks who’ve been helped by AAP (who are mostly one-person operations). Our students have dreams of multiple locations and, in some cases, growth beyond Sunyani.

Anyone for some cashew-flavored soda? More on that in my next blog.

- Fuzz

Professor Fuzz at Work

Fuzz sent this picture today. I count more than 30 students, including several women. Go Ghana gals! – Liza

Bush in Ghana

While the Global Assist guys are teaching in Sunyani, President Bush is visiting to the south in Accra. Here’s an account of his visit today from Reuters including some good news about U.S. aid to Africa and some interesting background on the country, which celebrated 50 years of independence last year.

Earlier this week, when George and Laura Bush arrive in Tanzania, they were greeted by women wearing dresses printed with the president’s picture. Look for these in SoHo by the end of the week. – Liza

Ready to risk capital if only there were capital to risk

Who’s in class? Some you’d expect: Corn farmers, poultry farmers, clothes traders (they call themselves ‘petty traders’ — they need a better self-description… there’s nothing petty about schlepping a day away to Accra, haggling over a wholesale price and returning to distribute their wares on razor-thin margins back here) and a few shop owners. Some jobs you wouldn’t expect: pepper processors, life insurance salesmen, an author, a few accountants and one photographer.

Their big worry? As Stephen suggests in an earlier post: risk and capital. In the ice-breaker, I just mentioned these once and struck a gusher of anxiety. They implored us: how can you risk capital to grow your business when you have no capital? Indeed, it’s a shame. These folks started with, literally, nothing but an idea and a dream. They now have a small shop or a business that feeds the family or just enough crop to say they’re above subsistence farming. But that’s it. And despite that huge step (could you do it? would you do it? start your own business with no safety net?) their local banks don’t see enough collateral to make the loan that will take them to the next step. Then, how do they get there? Micro-lending… more on that in the next post from Sunyani.

- Fuzz

Into Accra and onto Sunyani

Coming into Accra we saw Air Force planes and personnel preparing for the arrival of George Bush. Most people tell us that the country is very excited that he is coming and staying the better part of three days. However, they are quick to ask questions about US policy in Iraq, Iran and Afganistan. They hide it, but they have a healthy dose of US skepticism, maybe like many people in the US.

 We took a short flight from Accra connecting in Kumasi (where I mistakenly tried to get off) before we flew to Sunyani. We were picked up by the daughter of our host (Bishop Donker). Her name Mita and she speaks great English, is easy to be around, and has a great sense of humor. We were tired Sunday night but spent some time going over our lessons, dividing out all the teaching materials and office supplies and finally playing some Gin to relax. Sorry Fuzz, but I whipped you.

 Today was the first day of class. We will send photos of the class in a day or two. We opened with several ice breakers and taught ethics of Entrepreneurialism, and also taught terms such as “Collateral”, “Loans”, “Capitalism” and others. One key point for our students is that Entrepreneurs are RISK TAKERS that are in search of a reward. We want to be very straight forward about the risks so that the students can go into business with their eyes wide open.

Well, I will let Fuzz post and get some more in later. The photo is of Accra on Sunday.

Stephen

82 Degrees in February

After three days of travel, the guys have finally arrived. Fuzz called today to say they are tired but happy to be in Ghana. The hotel is comfortable though hot water is not an amenity. No word on cable TV. The weather report in Accra today calls for a high of 82 degrees F, but it feels like 94. Take that Chicago! Tomorrow the work begins. Good luck!