Leaving on a jet plane

Bloomington is once again preparing for the start of an academic year. The moving vans are clogging residential streets and new students, proudly wearing nametags, are exploring all that Bloomington has to offer. Here at the Kelley School, the first years have arrived and orientation activities are in full swing.

My fellow second years have begun to return as well, wrapping up their internships and enjoying a few days of rest before Academy Week begins. I, on the other hand, am leaving Bloomington tomorrow morning for Fiji. No, this is not a pleasure trip (although I expect the island to be stunning); I am actually traveling with four other GLOBASE leaders on a consulting trip.

The Kelley School is committed to supporting and developing social entrepreneurship through business both within our school and around the world. Our project in Fiji and the Marshall Islands is just one piece of this wider vision. Over the next ten days, we will be conducting a market analysis of the Marshall Islands for the South Pacific Business Development (SPBD) microfinance group. We will talk to the men and women that these microfinance offerings will touch: sitting with them in their roadside stands and listening to their needs. In our final proposal to SPBD, we will recommend which products to offer in the Marshall Islands as well as highlight potential challenges and competitors within the market.

The Fiji trip is just one more example of the dynamic, singular opportunities that Kelley offers MBA students. The GLOBASE leaders are excited to build upon this experience as we craft the 2012 GLOBASE programs.

Synergies

How can business aid development in the two-thirds world? Recent partnerships between government, NGOs, and business groups have offered creative synergies to link American excess to regions of desperate need. One such partnership is detailed in Tina Rosenberg’s New York Times article “Salvaging Medical Cast-Offs to Save Lives.” The article can be found at

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/salvaging-medical-cast-offs-to-save-lives/

Rosenberg writes about organizations like Doc2Dock and MedShare that consolidate and ship excess medical supplies to developing nations. Ghana is mentioned twice.

The organizations and individuals represented in Rosenberg’s article inspire. While the solutions are not perfect and lingering shortages remain, their efforts evidence both creativity and dedication.

Stories to share

Hello reader. Perhaps you are just a few weeks away from beginning your MBA studies here at Kelley. Even now, you are clocking in your last few days on the job, saying goodbye to friends and eating your final meals in the office break room. The classrooms and colleagues of Bloomington await you. However, you will be astounded at how quickly time passes. Before you know it, you will be sitting across from recruiters, pontificating on your strengths, your weaknesses, and the experiences that have most shaped you. What will set you apart from the dozens of other applicants vying for a job in today’s crowded market?

Participation in GLOBASE Ghana will provide you with compelling stories to share in those interviews. Imagine sitting across from a recruiter next spring. After exchanging pleasantries, she launches into questions:

“Tell me about a time you faced a challenge.”

You respond with a story from GLOBASE, describing the challenge of learning a foreign market in order to make relevant recommendations to an international client. Your team’s initial recommendations, formulated in Bloomington, had to be nuanced when you arrived in Accra. You learned how to be dynamic and flexible as the situation demanded, adjusting quickly to new realities.

“Tell me about a time you exercised leadership.”

Again, you share a story from the Ghana trip. The Ghana program is the only GLOBASE course that includes a module devoted to Leadership Development. During the course, one-on-one mentorship sessions and group feedback on a range of leadership qualities allowed you to grow significantly as a leader.

“Tell me about a time you were stretched beyond your comfort zone.”

Perhaps you speak for a little too long on this question, but there are so many stories to share from Ghana! Bartering for mangoes in a crowded African market, visiting a rural village and shaping shea butter with clients, walking over the swinging rope bridges in a jungle canopy…yes, you have certainly stepped outside of your comfort zone!

Leadership, challenges, growth, and fun! Participation in GLOBASE Ghana provides all this and more.

West of New York, south of Chicago

Although our rolling fields and Hoosier hospitality are charming, Indiana (and the rest of the Midwest) is not generally well-known to those outside the United States. This caused me particular difficulties when I lived in Nairobi before coming to Kelley. “Where are you from?” my Kenyan friends would ask. “Oh, I’m from west of New York City and a little bit south of Chicago.We grow corn.” This was the pocket-sized Indiana that I offered as my home: a middle place, somewhere between the big cities.

This flattened and folded version of my state offered so little. Indiana is the annual excitement of Colts football. Indiana is elephant ears at the State Fair and homegrown tomatoes.Indiana is Gary steel yards and Bloomington forests. Indiana also differs vastly from the many other places west of New York City and south of Chicago. Louisiana bayous and crawfish are a far cry from Indiana soybeans and cattle.

My Kenyan friends could never imagine Indiana, or the rest of the Midwest, through my cursory description of home. In many ways, we as Americans face the same challenge in envisioning the complex, clamoring, diverse continent that is Africa. Africa is a few big cities, some neat safaris, and a lot of space in between.

There is great beauty and importance to a program like GLOBASE Ghana. Throughout the course, Ghana reveals itself as a particular place. Ghana becomes the colors of kente cloth, the smell of the sea, and the frenzied cheering of the football (soccer) fans in packed stadiums.The clients we work with emerge from their context as real people: men and women facing dynamic problems and possibilities.

These men and women will introduce us to a Ghana that cannot be grasped in an Internet search or a news clipping. In a little less than nine months, the GLOBASE Ghana team will walk with them through the marketplace, smelling open fires and roasting fish. We will stand in their workshops and laugh with employees. We will share their food and their stories. And as we learn and listen, we will also give, working together to cultivate business strategies that make a lasting impact.

We as a leadership team are so very excited for this journey. Perhaps you will join us?

Ghana Reflection

By Rob Herrick

On Saturday, March 19th the GLOBASE student consultant teams and staff returned to Bloomington after two weeks of intensive work in Ghana and seven weeks of pre-trip coursework and preparation. Although this was a relatively short time, the clients expressed that all of our work dissecting their challenging business problems and formulating strategies had produced very valuable results. In many cases, they thought we had accomplished far more than they had anticipated was possible. This feedback from the clients was of course very gratifying for all of the consulting teams not just for the fact that we had spent so much time and energy on the projects. It was also gratifying because we had learned a great deal about the importance of taking on a clients’ problems as if they were our own, especially as we had immersed ourselves more into the Ghanaian culture and gotten to know our clients on both professional and personal levels.

For our team, who worked with Kingsbridge Corporate Services Limited, we had the chance during our field research to meet our client’s clients and business partners who our suggestions would directly impact. For example, my teammate Jimmy Bettcher and I went with Kingsbridge management to do a pre-loan on-site assessment at an elementary school in Accra. There we had the opportunity to see the operations of local businesswoman who ran the school meal program and was seeking a bridge loan to cover inventory costs until she received government reimbursements. Our entire consulting team also had the chance to meet Daniel, a very bright business partner of Kingsbridge who does susu collection (traditional Ghanaian small savings system) and provides basic business skills training to local small shop owners. These experiences both informed our recommendations for Kingsbridge and helped us understand the connection the organization held with its stakeholders and the real impact we would have on their businesses and lives.

Moving forward will involve monitoring and evaluation to periodically check in to see how things are progressing. From my own previous professional experiences doing project development in emerging markets, there can often be a lot of enthusiasm for new ideas, which is great and needed, but might not be followed by measured implementation. Our team has already planned to review our final deliverable one last time in the next week or two with the client. We also intend to touch base with Kingsbridge every few months to catch up with each other and see how things are going. Maintaining the relationships built over this inaugural program and into next year’s work will help ensure accountability for the success of Kingsbridge’s work and of the GLOBASE Ghana program.

It was truly an honor to be involved in this first year of GLOBASE Ghana and pleasure to get to know our clients in Ghana.

Day 13 & 14 in Ghana

By Aaron Gutting

On our second to last day in Ghana we took a short bus ride from our resort to a nearby fishing village. The visit to the village gave everyone a perspective on the poverty in Ghana and stood in stark contrast to our accommodations just ten minutes away.

We watched (and some students actually participated!) as the villagers dragged in the fishing nets, and then saw how the fish was smoked and packed for distribution. At the end of the visit, we had the chance to meet some of the villagers and give them consumer goods and clothes.

Next we were off to a canopy walk over the rain forest. This entailed seven different wire bridges with nettings on the sides that at times were around 100 meters above the forest level. For someone like me (afraid of heights) this was a very interesting experience. The more adventurous took the time to pose for photos with “The Goal” and Kelley School of Business banners.

On Friday we headed to the airport for a long 24 hours of travel back to the United States. On our way back into Accra we stopped at a restaurant for a final group dinner. Once again, our ever gracious hosts and clients stopped by to wish us safe travels and even hand out a few more gifts. It was a great way to the end trip and was an indiciation of the strength of the relationships we built over the past 9 weeks.

Day 11 & 12 in Ghana

By Chris Frank

If I had the power to re-name days, I would call the last two “Fine Tuning Day” and “Culmination Day”. With the final presentations on Tuesday night, each team spent many hours improving their PowerPoint slide content as well as rehearsing the actual delivery.

As usual, the leadership team has been committed to each team’s success. In this case, we practiced our presentations for all 6 of the leaders on Monday evening. Adaptability is one of the key characteristics needed for a GLOBASE member and these past days have followed suit. The best room available to us for our practice presentation in front of the leadership team was in a sort of computer lab with an employee at the desk and the occasional person walking in and out and pausing to observe the odd mix of foreigners. The back wall that we faced as presenters was all glass, which was a bit distracting with people milling around and shopping outside. As usual, each of us had the opportunity to allow ourselves to be distracted, or choose to be flexible with the setting and focus as best we could. In the end, the leaders gave us a balance of encouragement (to keep plugging away) and coaching on how to “fine tune”.


Tuesday evening was quite the event, which met in a large meeting hall in the La Palm Hotel. It was exciting to see the clients from all four companies attend, but they also brought some of their employees, friends, and family. Other contacts we had made from trade organizations and the cocoa industry attended as well. In all, there were about 50 of us with an even mix of Ghanaian business people and Kelley folks. The leadership team gave an outstanding presentation about IU and the Kelley School of Business. All four teams presented the best I have seen. However, the best part of the whole evening was when each of the clients from Emefa Jewellery, Kingsbridge Microfinance, All Pure Nature, and Aid To Artisans Ghana took the microphone. Some confessed to having doubts about the programs value, but all sang the praises of Kelley and the GLOBASE program, while celebrating the valuable consulting they had received and the friendships they had built. Does it get any better than that?

Ivy Mackin Provides an Introduction to Aid to Artisans Ghana

Nicole Francis Gives an Overview of the Production of Jewelry at Emefa Jewellry

Visit to Wili Falls - Largest Waterfall in West Africa

Day 9 & 10 in Ghana

By Vick Advaney

Sunday, March 13th was the first “free day” of our trip. All students were permitted to use their time as they liked. Some relaxed at the hotel pool, while others went out to the market to purchase souvenirs. A small group of us (2 students, 1 staff member, and our driver) went to visit a local cocoa farm. Yao, a local contact who had experience interacting with the farmers, also accompanied us. The drive to the farm took over 4 hours, which included many stops for directions (streets names are not very common outside the Accra city limits).
When our van arrived at the village, we were welcomed by the leader of the farm. In fact, the entire village was there to greet us with warm smiles. Yao and the farm leader took us around the farm, where we learned the entire process of cocoa – from growing to exporting. We learned how the trees are planted, and saw the cocoa pods growing on the trees. We also opened cocoa pods, and tasted the sweet pulp holding the cocoa seeds. We observed the process of drying the seeds, before they are packaged for exporting outside Ghana.

Perhaps even more amazing than the process of growing cocoa was interacting with the farmers and their children. Not only did they greet us with open arms, but they also joined us as we walked around the farm. It felt like the entire village of people was with us for our short visit. Although few spoke English, we could still feel their genuine openness and their desire to share the precious moments with us. Chris, one of our students, offered to cut a ripe cocoa pod from a tree and present it to the lead farmer. The farmers were so pleased with his offer and effort that they then asked him to cut a plantain tree, and gave us the plantains as a gift. I started “high 5-ing” and shaking hands with a couple children, and before I knew it, over 30 children were all shaking my hand. While we were taking pictures, a couple farmers also took our pictures with their cell phone cameras. This moment showed me that everyone was enjoying the day, and wanted to capture it for their memories. Despite the language barrier and only meeting for the first time, we felt as if we had been friends for many years. It was a feeling of oneness that is difficult to describe with words.

Monday, March 14th was the day before our final client presentations. Our team is working with All Pure Nature, a company that produces and sells natural cosmetic products for haircare and skincare. We reviewed our recommendations with the CEO, Gladys Commey, and received her feedback as to what we could tweak for our presentation. We have been working with All Pure Nature since January, and are excited about our recommendation to help the business expand. Visiting the retail shop and the production workshop in Ghana has given us many insights about the business. We look forward to our final presentation, which will be the culmination of our project.

Day 7 & 8 in Ghana

By Jimmy Bettcher

On Friday our team had a busy day of work filled with finalizing recommendations for our client, Kingsbridge Corporate Services Limited. They are a microfinance institution that gives small loans to growing entrepreneurs. We are working with them to develop a strategy and internal control system for entering the Susu collections market. This is a traditional form of savings that Kingsbridge hopes to modernize and commercialize. Having spent three long days in the field meeting with Kingsbridge staff, entrepreneurs, clients, and Susu collectors, we decided that it would be best to stay in at the hotel to digest all the information we have learned. Putting our heads together, we were able to come up with a great plan that the two co-founders of Kingsbridge, Raphael and Mannasseh, loved. While we are certainly trying to provide as much value to our clients as possible, I know that we are all taking more out of this experience than we are putting in.

After a long week at work, our team and the Kingsbridge staff let loose a bit. We went out for dinner and drinks at Osekan, an awesome bar that is cut into rocks overlooking the ocean. It was an amazing setting to start winding down and digesting a week’s work with new friends and colleagues. After Osekan, we met up with much of the rest of the GLOBASE crew for live reggae music and dancing with plenty of locals and expats at Café Afrique. Some (cough... Debbie Papiernik... cough) danced so well that they got called up on stage. All in all, it was a great night.

On Saturday the entire group traveled up to the Volta region, quite possibly the most beautiful region of Ghana. It was a jam packed day filled with visits to the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary and Wli Falls, the tallest waterfalls in West Africa….. and hours and hours on a bus. The two places we visited more than made up for long hours on the bus. From hand feeding Mona monkeys to swimming at the base of Wli Falls, it was definitely an adventure.

Day 6 in Ghana

By Chris Talbott

What a day! After 8 weeks of working with our clients, 2 days at their offices, interviewing clients, sharing our insights, today was our day to really buckle down and start developing the implementation tools that will best help our clients. Our client is really relying on our team to develop tools and solutions that will increase revenues, provide structure, and integrate new systems that can best allocate resources towards a common goal. Our client, Bridget Darko, is a brilliant leader and we are learning so much from her on how to lead young talented people and a thirsty business in a country that starves of resources. As we sit and listen to her share her leadership philosophies, we are mesmerized by her experiences, wisdom, and strength to welcome change and persevere through challenging obstacles.

Our team needed a small break though and decided to head to the Art Centre in a crowded taxi to experience first-hand the Ghanaian craft markets. What an experience!! Some of us negotiated prices, some of us chatted with the local sellers, and a few of us bought goods to share and remember our experiences. Getting to see the local artisans sell their goods and fight for business really puts into perspective the extremes of the world and what people must do to survive.

Our day ended with hard work that we know our clients will soon appreciate, that will result in positive impacts on lives here in Ghana. This continues to be a trip like no other, with new experiences each day that none of us will soon forget.

Day 5 in Ghana

By Tim Cheng

Today was a productive day filled with ATAG customer and staff interviews. We wanted to confirm ATAG’s competitive advantage, core products, and opportunities for growth and from these interactions we received a wealth of information. It’s so interesting how so much of the feedback from both customers and staff overlap. We even visited the Marketing Director at the Ghana Football association – he was a busy man so he made sure we knew he only had 15 minutes to talk to us about ATAG. But he spent all of his 30 minute break talking politics and global events with us – it was awesome!

I came back from the client site early with our team partner to make some more customer calls. However, due to the lack of dependability of over-the-counter cell phones I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to connect to customers and getting bumped off conversations. I had to remind myself I was in Ghana where “everything takes three times as long”.

I think one of the biggest learning experiences for me stemmed from that issue. I have learned to be more patient, and try not to get frustrated when I am not being as productive as I want at any given moment. After an hour and a half of trying to make calls (and failing), getting bumped off, using someone else’s cellphone (and failing), troubleshooting the cell phone, I found myself absolutely frustrated and cursing the technology gods. It definitely presented a learning experience in “adaptability”- an LDP trait I knew I struggled with early on. I can already see myself growing, and I’m sure I’ll have continued opportunities to grow in area – I just hope I survive the experience!

Day 3 & 4 in Ghana

By Stephanie Cohen
Photos by Chris Frank

After shedding our winter woolens for our summer linens, we were off and running to our various clients, which had me and my team heading to Emefa Jewelry, to meet David and Mohammed, the two clients we had exchanged numerous e-mails, phone calls and Skype calls with over the past seven weeks. Emefa is a 45 minute drive outside of the capital city of Accra. After we toured the store, met David’s staff and were shown the workshop where each and every piece of jewelry is handcrafted, David took my team out to lunch at a newly opened restaurant down the street from his store. We attempted to enjoy some of the local flavor: red red, fufu and jollof rice, but were told our choices consisted of grilled chicken with fried rice or grilled chicken with fried rice…so, grilled chicken with fried rice it was! Lunch was delicious and we were able to find out more about David: his family, where he has traveled, his views on American politics and of course we chatted about the prior evening’s soccer match on television. Later that afternoon we went to the University of Ghana campus to meet an Entrepreneurship professor, which David had arranged for us. We gained insight into the classroom experience, how students spend their days on-campus, and, from a professor’s viewpoint, what life at home is like for college-age Ghanaians. My evening ended with a group dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant, which gave me the opportunity to hear about my friends’ day, talk to them about what I had experienced and learned and left us eager to begin work the next day.

Little did we know when we departed the hotel on Wednesday morning, David would be putting us to work in his shop! While we were chatting with one of the sales people in the store about customers’ purchasing trends, one of the silversmiths came in with a freshly finished silver cuff bracelet. He immediately requested additional sterling silver pellets in their raw form to get started on his next piece and it was at that time we saw how a pellet becomes a silver bracelet! After raw silver was weighed, recorded and handed off to the silversmith, we followed him into the workshop area to watch him melt it down and pour it into a mold to begin stretching the material out in order to begin the design process. Many hours filled with manipulating the metals with heat, filing the pieces down and carving traditional symbols result in the beautiful handcrafted pieces customers see on display at Emefa. In the picture, I am working with a scrap piece of copper, I opted for them to let me fiddle with the inexpensive materials, but Nicole who is pictured talking with David, was lucky enough to fire up a gold ring.

Our goal for the day was to meet with local university students in order to test the assumptions we had come up with in Bloomington. Much to our surprise we met with the Dean of Students who placed a call to the student body president to round up a sample set of students for us to chat with and in a matter of fifteen minutes, we were conducting informational interviews with over thirty undergraduate students. After an hour on campus, we left with copious notes and were whisked away to another university, International Professional Studies, where we met with ten graduate students studying business. We were able to learn more about their internet and purchasing habits, their favorite celebrities, as well as where they purchase clothing, jewelry and music. Soon the tables were turned and the students were asking us about everything from what a US MBA program is like to how we get internships and jobs to the price of a laptop. We finished the afternoon with David at Chez Afrique, where we finally enjoyed some of the traditional meals we attempted to eat the day before. Over the next couple of days we are looking forward to synthesizing all of the information we have acquired over the last couple of days in order to prepare our client deliverable and begin refining our presentation, which will be here before we know it, next Tuesday.

Day 1 & 2 in Ghana

By Blake Grosch

We have officially arrived to Ghana!

We checked our bags in at the Indianapolis Airport and pushed off on our 18 hour journey full of anticipation. Our first stop was Washington D.C. where we connected for our flight to Accra. 9 hours later we touched down on the African continent. As we stepped outside the plane, we were met by the heat. We passed through immigration and collected our bags, including the 6 suitcases we brought for Ebenezer (a PHD student at IU from Ghana) which were stuffed with clothing and shoes for his family and friends. After passing through customs, we were surprisingly greeted by our clients/partners. They had come to meet us before we even set foot outside the airport. It was a gesture that we would not forget and demonstrated a level of appreciation that we did not expect.

After packing our bags on top of the mini-bus, we set off for our hotel and arrived under 30 minutes. On most days there is intense traffic in Accra; however, we had landed on Independence Day, so for the most part, we had the streets to ourselves on this late afternoon. We checked in to our rooms and headed out for our first celebration to a local restaurant. We were all exhausted from the trip but were entertained by a Ghanaian drumming/dancing group that quickly revived our energy and appetites. We all danced before, during, and after dinner, as well as ate a delicious Ghanaian meal that included brown rice, fried fish, and a special birthday cake for Chris Talbott. We returned to the hotel with a full stomach, sweaty cloths, and eager to begin our next journey to the Volta Peninsula.

Week #7

By Ivy Mackin

My bag is packed (okay, it’s completely over packed) and I’m ready to hit the ground in Ghana.

The past seven weeks of this class have been an intense, but exciting learning experience. We’ve had speakers and performers who have shared about Ghana’s rich culture and what it’s like to be a small business entrepreneur. Our clients are no longer just businesses half way around the world. They’re organizations we’ve spent countless hours getting to know so we can make meaningful recommendations to help with their future success. This is not just about creating a slick slide deck with a SWOT analysis, milestones and risk mitigation techniques. We are invested in our clients, and we are committed to supporting their missions.

And now the moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here. This past week we presented our initial findings to the class and select professors and professionals. The dry-run gave us valuable feedback that we can implement when we’re on the ground in Ghana and preparing for our final client presentation. My team is working vigorously to ensure we make the most of our time in Accra. We’re tying up loose ends, organizing our research and finalizing our game plan.

This has been an amazing experience thus far, so we can only imagine what it’ll be like once we’re actually in Ghana (aside from really hot!)

Week #6

By Hemali Mehta

It’s hard to believe that we will be in Ghana in less than a month! We are all very excited but have much to do beforehand. This week, for example, our client deliverable is due. As part of the deliverable, we must define our project plan – including the who, what , and how’s that surround our strategy.

Luckily, we have had some amazing speakers in the past couple weeks to give us better perspective on the economic and political conditions in Ghana, which also included how to conduct business with the Ghanaian entrepreneurs. It is safe to say that business meetings in Ghana will be quite different than we have experienced here in the U.S!

In the weeks leading to our country visit, each of the Globase Ghana teams will be incredibly busy conducting final research, addressing assumptions, and creating recommendations for clients. Although there will be a lot of work to do, we all look forward to the warm weather, exploring the Ghanaian culture, and making a positive difference for our clients!

Week #5

By Tyler Kirsh

This Globase Ghana session was great! We were honored to have members from the Cummin’s team and a professor from the African Studies Department come speak to us about Ghana and the culture. It is always great to hear different perspectives. We are really getting to know how things work in Ghana, well the best we can without ACTUALLY going there.

Stephen Aryee, Henry Malm & Patrick Djan-Sampson, from Cummins, created a presentation for us about the business etiquette of Ghana. They did a great job explaining the nuances of business and had a great understanding of the differences of Ghanaian work etiquette and American work etiquette. This will in very valuable to the class during our time in Ghana, and even potential future work overseas.

Dr. Samuel Obeng, the Director at the African Studies Department here at IU, had a great discussion with us about the culture of Ghana. He had some great stories! He told us about his time as a teacher in Ghana, and his father. He talked about the government and the people. It was very exciting to hear all about the people and the life there. He made it very hard to be patient; the anticipation is mounting to get to Ghana!
All in all, this was a great week!

Week #4

By Debbie Papiemik

The ice in indiana is definitely making me yearn for the hot temperatures of Ghana. But even though the ice kept us from attending class this week, it didn't keep the Kingsbridge team from being productive. On Tuesday, we finalized our project plan and project scope, and on Thursday, we brainstormed like crazy about what our client deliverable will look like. Our project plan and project sponsor, Raphael Tyson, even ventured out in the icy weather to meet with us in person about the project. Our team is so lucky to have Raphael here in Bloomington for the three weeks! It's definitely easier to get to know Raphael and what Kingsbridge is about in person than over the phone or Skype.

Our project is really starting to take shape, but we are still narrowing down our scope of work to something manageable for our team to deliver. Given taht we leave for Ghana in just four short weeks, we need to do as much as possible before our departure, so that we only have very specific tasks left for our limited working time in-country. Our frequent conversations with Raphael have helped us tremendously in sifting through our ideas. It seems like every time we talk to him we come away with a clearer picture of what Kingsbridge's efforts in Ghana entail and how we can provide them with insight. If our team stays focus on what is actionable for Kingsbridge, then we will be on the right track.

Week #3

By Aaron Gutting

Every week in GLOBASE just seems to get better, and this week the excitement for Ghana really built with client visits to Bloomington. Kelley arranged for Bridget Darko from Aid to Artisans and Raphael Tyson and Manasseh Portuphy from Kingsbridge to come to Bloomington for a week and meet with students and faculty. I’ll talk more about their visit in a moment but first want to talk about the week #3 class. The session featured a lecture by Management Professor Matt Semadeni. Professor Semadeni challenged the GLOBASE teams to alter our approach to our projects and take the perspective not of a manager but of an entrepreneur. He emphasized that we need to consider our clients motivations beyond just pure business goals and consider what is really driving them.

We were able to immediately put this advice to good use in our meetings with our clients. My group was able to meet with Bridget, discuss her organization and scope out our project. We also had the chance to meet with Raphael and Manasseh. We were able to bounce ideas off them and get a sense for some of the challenges we will face once we get to Ghana. Finally – a highlight was that we had the chance to go to dinner a couple of times with Bridget, Raphael, and Manasseh. It was great to take a break from project work and actually get to know the people we’re working with. It has made everyone feel more comfortable as we start the heavy work on our project and will make some of the adjustments once we arrive in Ghana a little bit easier.

Week #2

By Nicole Francis

GLOBASE Ghana has been such an exciting and rich learning environment thus far….and it is only class 2!! Today, I felt that the highlights of the session were our visitor from Ghana and the international business discussion. Bernard, the amazing musician, led an interactive session where he introduced us to traditional Ghanaian and African instruments. He played us a song that we were able to sing a long to and participate by clapping and singing! A great time was had by all J One thing that I took away was the meaning of a Ghanaian symbol that is extremely popular and meaningful, it is called the Adinkra, and I have seen it as tattoos to earring designs at Emefa Jewellery. I feel the music helped our class to experience the culture up close and personal.

The International Business discussion was also helpful in that it allowed the four teams to take some time to think about how to effectively communicate with our clients, by understanding that the data collection process will require some creativity and leniency. We, as a group, pinpointed some areas that we anticipated difficulty and worked on contingency plans that would help us to work around them. GLOBASE Ghana just keeps getting better. I look forward to the weeks to come.

Week #1

By Liesel Mertes

We all returned safely from our three-week break, ready to face the craziness of internship season. Thoughts of business formal suits, CAR statements, and networking tips are at the forefront of everyone’s mind. So, walking into the Ghana GLOBASE class was a dramatic shift during the first week back at Kelley.

During this first class session, the reality of our project and upcoming trip began to sink in. One of the second years shared details regarding visas and vaccinations…yes, we would be traveling halfway around the world to a place where foreign sounding afflictions like yellow fever still lurked.

The “otherness” of Ghana was also revealed in the presentation of Professor Roberto Garcia, who gave an excellent talk on communicating successfully in cross-cultural environments. I especially resonated with his presentation, reflecting on the mistakes I made communicating with my Kenyan colleagues during a previous job in Nairobi.

Yet, in spite of the cultural and physical barriers that divide us, it was exciting to think about the common ties we would establish through our consulting relationships with Ghanaian clients. Right now, Gladys of All Pure Nature is just a name on a piece of paper. However, by the end of the course, she will be an in-the-flesh woman who (I hope) I have come to like. I will know her house, her neighborhood, perhaps even have shared some of her favorite Ghanaian dishes.

Our first session was one full of anticipation: anticipation for all that is to unfold over the next BUSY seven weeks.