May 2, 2011
Dr. John Mulford
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 is 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.”
Dr. John Mulford
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 is 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.”
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