"I wonder how many business people back home could come here for a week as a visiting executive or even as a teacher and make something simple for a Rwandan entrepreneur."
by Jason Benedict
RCE Strategist
This week our entrepreneurs here in Rwanda are studying Finance and Operations. Tonight we were giving them the skills they need to calculate their startup capital needs. As I was preparing for tonight’s session, I decided I would need a white board for some of the things I was going to teach. I called the building manager in our building to see if they had one we could use this evening, but “We have some but they are all being used – I might be able to find you a flip chart easel – I will get back with you.” In the meantime I decided that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to just have one in our center, so I went into town to see if I could buy a white board (dry erase board).
I looked in a couple of places and finally found a store that had one in the back; it was about 3’ x 4’. The price? $200 USD. Well, I decided to keep looking, so before long I found one in another store. This one was about 20 x 30 inches and they wanted $115.00 for it. Needless to say I returned home empty-handed save for a business idea – one of our students should look into importing whiteboards.
Class went well tonight – they did find a flip chart easel for me. A few of the students groaned a bit: finance does that to some people. Overall, though, they were very engaged and excited to learn the subject so they can apply it to their own business. One of our graduates came to class tonight, and asked, “Hey did we study this? – I don’t remember this exercise.” I told him, “We were learning what to do with your class; this is [an example of] continuous improvement.” He went on to tell me that he overheard one of the current students say, “Hey this is some of the best stuff we have learned so far.”
Last night another student told me, “This is so helpful. I have always been intimidated by this, but you are helping me see that it is simple.”
I wonder how many business people back home could come here for a week as a visiting executive or even as a teacher and make something simple for a Rwandan entrepreneur.
by Jason Benedict
RCE Strategist
This week our entrepreneurs here in Rwanda are studying Finance and Operations. Tonight we were giving them the skills they need to calculate their startup capital needs. As I was preparing for tonight’s session, I decided I would need a white board for some of the things I was going to teach. I called the building manager in our building to see if they had one we could use this evening, but “We have some but they are all being used – I might be able to find you a flip chart easel – I will get back with you.” In the meantime I decided that it wouldn’t be a bad thing to just have one in our center, so I went into town to see if I could buy a white board (dry erase board).
I looked in a couple of places and finally found a store that had one in the back; it was about 3’ x 4’. The price? $200 USD. Well, I decided to keep looking, so before long I found one in another store. This one was about 20 x 30 inches and they wanted $115.00 for it. Needless to say I returned home empty-handed save for a business idea – one of our students should look into importing whiteboards.
Class went well tonight – they did find a flip chart easel for me. A few of the students groaned a bit: finance does that to some people. Overall, though, they were very engaged and excited to learn the subject so they can apply it to their own business. One of our graduates came to class tonight, and asked, “Hey did we study this? – I don’t remember this exercise.” I told him, “We were learning what to do with your class; this is [an example of] continuous improvement.” He went on to tell me that he overheard one of the current students say, “Hey this is some of the best stuff we have learned so far.”
Last night another student told me, “This is so helpful. I have always been intimidated by this, but you are helping me see that it is simple.”
I wonder how many business people back home could come here for a week as a visiting executive or even as a teacher and make something simple for a Rwandan entrepreneur.
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