February 9, 2012
Tonight we had open house, and I think we set a new record – We had 30 guests!
We are running a contest among our entrepreneurs to see who can get the most interested people to attend an open house. We know that the ability to be persuasive is key to entrepreneurial success. I will award a trophy next week to the entrepreneur who brings the most guests to our open house. One of our entrepreneurs, Ibra, is way out in the lead. He invited 20 of the 30 who came tonight.
This week, we have the privilege of having Mike Anderson as a Visiting Executive. In speaking with him, I asked for his thoughts on the experience so far. He told me that this has been the most fulfilling thing he has ever done. I understand that sentiment! These entrepreneurs are really great and there is something very special about using your marketplace experience to bless them and invest in the future of a nation.
February 10, 2012
Earlier today I received an text message from one of our graduates. Pastor Peter Dayali was a member of our second cohort. His ultimate vision is to start a primary school, but after learning to start small, simple, and slim in our program, he decided to begin with just a nursery school. His text message read, “I have been in operation for two weeks and my Nursery School has 110 children and the registration continues unabated. The challenge is more room for accommodation.”
This afternoon I had a meeting with a local conglomerate to discuss their training needs. Opportunities like this to do in-house training and consulting give us the opportunity to influence the way business is being done in Rwanda. We gained significant momentum in this area as a result of a successful leadership and customer service seminar we conducted in the Fall. Please pray with us that doors continue to open so that we can teach principles of business that are shaped by a biblical worldview.
February 13, 2012
I had a great meeting at the Ministry of Infrastructure today. We are continuing our dialog with them regarding the possibility of providing business and entrepreneurship training for electrical engineers. The country has bold rural goals for 2017 when it comes to access to electricity and they want to increase the number of electrical contractors in the country. I am glad that they recognize entrepreneurship is the way to go.
In class tonight we will be covering customer acquisition and retention. This always proves to be a good nitty-gritty discussion. I have a meeting with government officials at RDB just before class. If I am a few minutes late, Mike, our Visiting Executive, will get them started with a discussion of “dependability” as an important characteristic of successful entrepreneurs.