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.