from Dr John Mulford in Rwanda
(note: subsequent updates are expected to be briefer) ;)
*This is the first day of class for Dr Mulford, but students began the course on January 31st with Jason Benedict teaching the first 2 weeks of the curriculum.
Mon, Feb 28, 2011
1. Up at 3:30 a.m. Must have slept too much over the weekend. Surprised Leigh Ann (my wife) by skyping her so early my time (7 hrs later there). Plenty to do with class planning, Center planning, etc.
3. Met Chrystel at our new office—4th floor Telecom House.
5. Met Franklin, Marketing Mgr Rwandatel, at lunch. He just happened to sit at the table Dona and I occupied at Blues Cafe. Had a nice talk about data services. He said Rwandatel has about 200MB connection to outside world (120 fiber from Uganda and Burundi; 80 MB satellite). Said Satellite cost (to Rwandatel) is about $1000/mo. per MB bandwidth, and falling. Wouldn’t tell fiber cost because once the fiber is laid, cost is so low they don’t want users to know it. He said they charge about $3,500/mo for 1 MB line, but that prices will drop fast. Franklin said he was interested in our program. Wants to start his own business. I invited him to visit class.
7. Last minute prep for class. Still no Internet, which is a problem, since half the class involves using it.
8. Carine, “Encourager” award winner from Cohort 1, called to invite Dona and me to breakfast at her house on Friday.
10. Class went great.
Fancy technology in the room is nice, but a mixed blessing. Every student has a microphone, so we can hear them. But I want them to learn to speak up. One cool thing. They don’t have to raise hands; just press their button and a red light on the neck of the mic lights up. I told them they should think “SFB classroom” (Jason taught first two weeks in this less-than-ideal environment) when they get their first space and furniture. This room is much too plush for start-up entrepreneurs. They laughed, but also nodded agreement.
Students introduced themselves and their business ideas. Heartbreaking to hear how many lost family members in genocide. One man said he was lastborn of 8 children, and the only survivor of his family. As a result, many have deep passion for helping orphans/survivors and helping their country in general.
(note: subsequent updates are expected to be briefer) ;)
*This is the first day of class for Dr Mulford, but students began the course on January 31st with Jason Benedict teaching the first 2 weeks of the curriculum.
Mon, Feb 28, 2011
1. Up at 3:30 a.m. Must have slept too much over the weekend. Surprised Leigh Ann (my wife) by skyping her so early my time (7 hrs later there). Plenty to do with class planning, Center planning, etc.
2. First one to arrive for breakfast. Warm greetings from Jean Marie—the full hug with heads touching on alternate sides three times, followed by intricate handshake (think secret pledge handshake). He made a delicious omelet for me.
3. Met Chrystel at our new office—4th floor Telecom House.
- Our stuff was there minus our desk chair—RIAM wouldn’t let Dona take it, because they couldn’t locate it on their inventory. One more hassle to overcome. [Now it is evening and Dona was able to get the chair, PTL!]
- Having no chairs, called building manager to ask to borrow, but he was busy.
- That led to our going to elevator to check classroom in basement. Much to my surprise, the wing opposite ours is occupied by Bridge2Rwanda (Dale Dawson, the founder, is a friend). Their ops director said they want to serve as in-country base for organizations that want to send teams, invest, etc. They are coordinating trips for Stanford, Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, etc. They will offer college entrance exam—SAT, GRE, GMAT, TOEFL—prep courses. Also have a tourism/marketer who will arrange in-country logistics for any team that wants to come. They have five sharp Americans working in the suite. All that to say that they lent us three chairs. Nice to have friendly neighbors engaged in similar work.
- Classroom in basement is big improvement over past spaces; however, not ideal for group work. Set up in tiered seating with fancy desks, microphone on each desk, big chairs—for Rwanda Senate to use for some meetings. Does have A/C, good lighting, plus two big photographer floodlights on stands, which light it up for video recording. We had to rearrange seating to get 32 in front of the speaker—has a big stage with desks, kind of like Moot Court. Hope we don’t have to do that every night.
4. Dona arrived at Telecom House. We worked out peer mentoring groups. Tried to get personalities, gender, and industry mix the best we could. Plan to meet the group as a whole Sat morning for a pep talk; then have them assemble in their groups and plan for further meetings on their own.
5. Met Franklin, Marketing Mgr Rwandatel, at lunch. He just happened to sit at the table Dona and I occupied at Blues Cafe. Had a nice talk about data services. He said Rwandatel has about 200MB connection to outside world (120 fiber from Uganda and Burundi; 80 MB satellite). Said Satellite cost (to Rwandatel) is about $1000/mo. per MB bandwidth, and falling. Wouldn’t tell fiber cost because once the fiber is laid, cost is so low they don’t want users to know it. He said they charge about $3,500/mo for 1 MB line, but that prices will drop fast. Franklin said he was interested in our program. Wants to start his own business. I invited him to visit class.
6. Paul Kayoboke, our contact at Rwanda Development Board, e-mailed asking for meeting to draft formal agreement on the space they provide for our Center in Rwanda. I’ll be glad to get that completed. We have been in limbo too long.
7. Last minute prep for class. Still no Internet, which is a problem, since half the class involves using it.
8. Carine, “Encourager” award winner from Cohort 1, called to invite Dona and me to breakfast at her house on Friday.
9. Arrived to set up for class at 5:15. Room being used by bldg mgr for meeting w housekeeping staff. He finished in five minutes. Gave me chance to meet him. Very friendly and welcoming. Asked if we had everything we needed. Said he’d take a picture of our chair arrangement and reset each evening if others moved them during day meetings. He made sure the IT person fixed the wireless internet in the classroom. He had a table set up so I could use projector. Very nice, big screen. Really looks sharp. Only problem: two lights just over screen put glare on it. He said he’d have those two bulbs removed tomorrow. He gave us keys to both inside and outside doors, so we can have the students enter directly from the parking lot thus avoiding delays through security in the lobby. What a refreshing change from our treatment in other facilities.
10. Class went great.
Fancy technology in the room is nice, but a mixed blessing. Every student has a microphone, so we can hear them. But I want them to learn to speak up. One cool thing. They don’t have to raise hands; just press their button and a red light on the neck of the mic lights up. I told them they should think “SFB classroom” (Jason taught first two weeks in this less-than-ideal environment) when they get their first space and furniture. This room is much too plush for start-up entrepreneurs. They laughed, but also nodded agreement.
Students introduced themselves and their business ideas. Heartbreaking to hear how many lost family members in genocide. One man said he was lastborn of 8 children, and the only survivor of his family. As a result, many have deep passion for helping orphans/survivors and helping their country in general.
Very diverse group in terms of backgrounds and business ideas. Many businesses similar to Cohort 1—pigs, poultry, added goats; consulting; doing business in Rwanda portal; Christian school. Not as many in health care or IT. I only got a glimpse of their ideas. I’ll know more by the end of the week.
Students remember lots of what was covered in first two weeks—well done Jason! They were very good on values, purpose of business, and loved the life purpose topic. I sensed that we have a more highly educated group. Now, we’ll see if that translates into stronger entrepreneurs.
11. 11:30 p.m. Handling a bunch of e-mails, finishing this blog and then off to bed. E-mail from Chick fil A guys says they are psyched. They can’t wait for Sat. arrival.
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