Saturday, February 28, 2009

Our first day in Kigali



Jambo!

I finally uploaded a video for you.

Last night the entire group visited a restaurant around the corner that specialized in pizza. Yum.

Here is our schedule for Sunday (not a work day):

-- 8:30 a.m. optional Anglican church service
-- 10:30 Genocide Memorial
-- 1:00 p.m. Lunch at Bourbon Coffee, MTN Center
-- 2:30 p.m. Ivuka Arts Center (Traditional Rwandese dance classes for children)
-- 4:30-6:00 p.m. Downtime
-- 6:00 p.m. Reception at the Bridge 2 Rwanda House
-- 7:00 p.m. Dinner with Dale Dawson*

* In 2002, Dale Dawson was doing the work he had always wanted to do. He had 25 successful years under his belt – as a corporate tax advisor, investment banker, entrepreneur and corporate CEO.

He was leading an investment banking team and partnering with one of the wealthiest, most entrepreneurial families in America.

What more could he ask for?

Then he met Bishop John Ruchyahana, who introduced him to Rwanda and the kind of challenge he had never before imagined.

Dale asked Bishop John, “How do you find the strength to rebuild a country that experienced the horrors of Rwanda? Most would not even try.”

Dale saw in Bishop John one man who was making a difference and getting results. A year after meeting Bishop John, Dale quit his management position and began to build schools and businesses in Rwanda.

Dale is Founder and CEO of Bridge2Rwanda, an enterprise committed to creating tomorrow’s leaders by building schools and businesses in Rwanda and mobilizing “borrowed talent” to help.

He serves on President Paul Kagame’s Advisory Council and as a special advisor to the Rwanda Development Board, the government’s primary agency for economic development.

In Rwanda, Dale helped to found and now serves on the boards of Urwego Opportunity Bank and Muhabura University. In the U.S., he serves on the board of Leadership Network/Halftime Group and the Opportunity International President’s Council.
Waiting in London for our flight to Nairobi.

Safe and Sound at the Hotel Gorillas!


After 36 hours of travel and layovers, we're in Kigali at the Hotel Gorillas. A number of students are already touring the hotel's neighborhood. Others are crashed in their rooms after welcome showers.

Kigali is hilly and humid. Mopeds and taxi vans clog the streets. Kids charm you with their smiles. Lots of folks walking everywhere. And colors are bright and bold. You hear French and Swahili and English.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we start the day with a local Anglican church service. The music, we are told, will be amazing.

Monday we get down to work.

-- Gale

Friday, February 27, 2009

Uneventful flight to London

The first leg of our 10,000 mile journey is done. We're at Heathrow Airport waiting for our Kenya Air flight to Nairobi.

About two-thirds of the seats on our Continental Boeing 777 were empty. Most of us had three seats to sleep across -- almost like first class! One flight attendant said Continental was asking its employees to take voluntary, unpaid leave of absence, if they could. Not many takers. Some folks DID volunteer, she said.

Next stop, Nairobi.

Apparently, Rwandans will only accept U.S. bills newer than 2003. Several us changed our money into Euros. Ugh!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Some interesting videos about Rwanda

While we're flying for the next two days, you might check out these videos. [Warning: The videos about the Rwandan genocide are not for those disturbed by images of violence. The genocide happened 15 years ago, and Rwanda is now considered one of the safer countries in Africa.]

The genocide (1994)

High hopes for coffee

Bikes to Rwanda

MGMT 748: "This is real"

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to sell his fish and you have fed his dignity."
by Gale Wiley

That, in a nutshell, is my take on Professor Marc Epstein's Management 748, Technology Commercialization in Developing Countries.

Today, 20 of his MBAs leave for Kigali, Rwanda, to work with African entrepreneurs to commercialize medical technologies developed by Rice bioengineers:
-- an incubator that heats with LED lights
-- a device that ensures correct dosage of medicine
-- a medical lab in a backpack

A fourth product, developed outside Rice, is a tiny packet of powder that if used daily provides children with sufficient protein to survive.

The Problem

"There are almost one billion people in Africa," writes Epstein in his course description, "and most suffer from diseases that have long been eliminated from North America and Western Europe. There have been many attempts to provide assistance over the past century. Western governments have spent billions of dollars on aid, and NGOs have often been actively involved.

"Unfortunately, much of this aid has not been delivered to those in need and has been diverted by government and business leaders for their personal accounts. And much of the NGO assistance has not been well coordinated and delivery has been ineffective."

The problem, writes Epstein, is to develop better delivery systems and affordable products that meet the needs of the population.

To solve that problem, Epstein teamed up with Rice's bioengineering department which has been developing and testing innovative medical technologies in Africa and South America.

Epstein's MBAs are now tackling the problem of manufacturing, distributing, and selling these technologies in Africa.

So many questions, so little time

During their 10-day visit, students will face "an environment unlike anything they have experienced," says Epstein -- a large, uneducated and illiterate population who have no electricity or clean water with an annual per capita income of $300.

The students have lots of questions:
  • Are there local entrepreneurs who are willing to commercialize these products?
  • Who will make these products?
  • How will they be distributed?
  • Will there be anyone who can buy them?
Two days after they arrive in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, the graduate students will divide into their teams, each team focusing on a different product.

"This isn't your typical case study in a typical MBA program" said one of Epstein's MBAs. "We are creating the case as we go. This is real."

Says Epstein:

"The students will be spending time with local consumers, producers, distributors, NGOs, government officials, and any others that are needed to develop the plans for commercialization. The course should be an amazing experience."

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[We don't arrive in Kigali until Saturday. I hope to have a new post for you Sunday or Monday. --Gale]





Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Down to the Wire
by Gale Wiley

Thursday at 10:45 p.m. 20 Rice MBAs take off on a 10,000 mile journey to Kigali, Rwanda -- the heart of Africa -- where they will meet up with their professor, Marc Epstein.

Epstein and his students plan to help Rwandan entrepreneurs launch businesses using products developed and tested by Rice engineering students.

Lauren Vesteweg, executive director of Rice 360, and I (serving as cameraman) are accompanying the students.

We fly from Houston to London to Nairobi to Kigali.




Here's what the Houston Business Journal reported about the project:

Rice students apply business skills in Rwanda
Houston Business Journal

A group of Rice University graduate students will spend spring break away from the beach.

This week, 20 students from the university’s Graduate School of Management will depart for Rwanda to apply their business skills in a developing country.

Students will help Rwandan entrepreneurs make a living in a country where most live on about $1 per day, said Marc Epstein, a Rice professor of management.

“About 10 percent of the world’s population live in North America and Western Europe,” he said. “That’s the tip of the economic pyramid, and growth there is flat. The companies our students will eventually be working for are well aware that the growth in the next few decades is at the bottom of the pyramid, where the other 90 percent live.”

Four Teams The MBA students will be divided into four five-person teams and tasked with developing a viable business plan for a specific product in just four months.

The students are developing business plans for three prototype products that were tested in African clinics and hospitals last summer by undergraduate interns that were part of Rice’s Beyond Traditional Borders program.

The teams are organized by product -- the low-cost neonatal incubator team (center), a diagnostic lab-in-a-backpack team (lower left) and a plastic dosing device for liquid medicines team (lower right). [At the top of the page is the protein packet team.]





Epstein said there’s no way to know how good the ideas are until the students arrive in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.

Once on the ground, the students will gather information from potential customers, producers, suppliers and distributors and meet with government and business leaders.

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