Divine Connections

Monday, May 2, 2011

(Dr. John Mulford)

Busy day of meetings with finalists helping them get ready for the competition tomorrow.  Jason provided an excellent template to help them organize their financials.  Fortunately, the finalists understood how to use it.  John Bosco, manager of nine bank branches, is a real pro at spreadsheets and finance.  We had fun playing with different scenarios for his business.  They all seem to be gaining confidence, which is what they need to stand in front of the judges.

I asked Mathilde, a finalist, if she might like to lead a peer mentoring group of cohort 2 graduates.  Her answer was an enthusiastic yes.  She said she definitely wants to stay involved with the BDC.  She sees it as a fulfillment of a prophecy 3 years ago that she would get involved with a high-level education/training organization.  She feels called by God to participate in and promote the BDC.  She said she will recruit dozens, if not hundreds of students.
 

Dale Neill, International President of the International Christian Chamber of Commerce, our partner in the BDC, arrived this afternoon.  He, Dona, and I went to a reception at the U.S. Ambassador’s residence for people and organizations focused on training and development for business in Rwanda.  A woman came up to welcome us and ask us what we did.  I asked her what she did.  She responded, “I am your host.  As the deputy Ambassador, I am representing the Embassy in the absence of the Ambassador.”  Awkward moment.  She quickly moved on to greet others.
 

I saw quite a few people I knew, including one of our graduates from first cohort.  Two people acted like I should know them, but I didn’t recognize them.  Turns out they were in the crowd that met me at church yesterday.  We got high complements from a Danish NGO that started with micro-enterprise training and is now moving to SME training in direct competition with us.  Their founder wondered how we attracted such top business people to our program.  He said we have a solid reputation among those interested in entrepreneurship in Rwanda.  Finally, I met a man with a very distinctive accent that I couldn’t place—he looked European (he later said his name if Finnish, but his family left five generations ago).  He said his company just acquired the Rwandan company that handles all customs for shipments.  I asked him where he was from.  He said Charlottesville, VA.  This was doubly funny to me, because of the accent, and because his company, Portek, works with ports.  He said he would like to get involved with the BDC.  I invited him to graduation.  I also told him about one of our graduates who supplies coffee vending machines to businesses.  He said, “Send her over.  We have 300-400 potential customers a day—mostly heavy coffee drinkers.”