weaving friendship

Monday morning we drove out to Nsuta to visit Mama Rose's school; this would be my second visit, and I was returning almost one year later to the day.  I paid little attention to the countryside as the driver sped along at 50 mph on an unmarked road lined with pedestrians on either side.

Sunday at Domsesre

Sunday morning I was invited to drive out into "the bush." Domsesre is a small village about an hour from Sunyani -- an hour because the last few miles are traveled upon an unpaved, pot-hole (sink hole!) road with the foilage crowding in on it. The little mid 90s Hyundai bottomed-out frequently.

rockin Nkwabeng North

And I thought spending Valentine's day in Africa would be...well, quiet.

I was wrong! In the neighborhood of Nkwabeng North (pronounce it phonetically and you'll be pretty close), the Donkors and friends had quite the Valentine's evening celebration going in the local church building.

I'd say about 50 to 75 people were there -- and it was loud, hot, fun and colorful. I felt a bit under-dressed, but Doris and I had worked in the office previewing loan documents to be transferred into MIFOS (more on that later.)

Off to the elephant post

  From Accra, I took a small turbo prop to Sunyani. Sunyani is about a 45 minute flight away. The plane was scorching hot for the first 20 minutes, and in spite of the fact that the sandwiches offered (turkey, tuna, or chicken) looked great, I decided to pass and took the apple juice instead.

Getting there is half the fun?

I'm not sure who came up with that expression, but they may have been half right. Once I found my passport, I thought things would be fairly smooth, and so they were. I tried to remember if I had ever been to JFK, and I decided that if I had, it was characteristically forgetable. The flight to New York was uneventful. The gate at which I arrived was on one end, and the departure gate was at the other. For those of you in Chicago, imagine going from the United terminal (1) to the International Terminal (5) on foot. I did not feel any rush, as I had 90 minutes between flights.

The gate for the flight to Accra is beyond the glitz of the duty-free shopping. I went all the way to the end -- the very end. I turned left down a narrow hallway so tight that two people carrying bags could not pass at the same time. There, at the end, was the gate. I was embarassed. It was definitely the least updated gate in the airport. Were they deliberately trying to make this gate look like the gate at the other end of the trip? If so, they succeeded.

My attempt to get an exit row failed. My hopes the flight would be lightly filled evaporated about 30 minutes before flight time (scheduled flight time). I could not find room for my overhead bag until I shouted out to the other passengers deep in the economy section of this 767: "who want's to watch my cookies for me?". That immediately resulted in space becoming available for my bags.

Amazingly, the gentleman I was sitting next to (I had the window seat, he was on the aisle) is a life-long friend of my host family here in Sunyani, Ghana (though he had not seen them in years)! I had some pictures of them from my visit last year, and he transferred family pics from his camera to my laptop to share.

I tried to sleep during the 10.5 hour flight, and managed about 5 hours (thanks to Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, and friends!)

Taking Off

This hasn't been an easy week. I started out Saturday thinking I had lost my passport, and then discovered I had indeed stored it in a 'safe place'. On Monday, gba President Doug Mann spoke with (divine!) insight...and at his suggestion I looked in the gba office safe. There it was! I still don't remember puting it there. :) I am now waiting for a slightly delayed flight to take me on the fiirst leg...to JFK. I am already pumped about my opportunity to 'oil the gears' so to speak -- to help our Ghana partners increase their capacity to help families create sustainable income through business! I think I can wipe that frown off my face now!

The Sudan Challenge: What's Ghana got to do got to do with it??

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Back to Ghana -- in the first phase of this year's activities in the Sudan Challenge. Wait a minute! Ghana? Sudan? Sure, they're both in Africa, but what does going to Ghana have to do with Bhar el Ghazal in Southern Sudan? The link is the launch of GBA's HelpLink -- a unique way to empower local organizations to create and grow successful microfinance programs.

During 2008, Global Business Assist volunteers configured loan administration software that has been made available by the Grameen Foundation. My trip to Ghana is to start the implementation of this project in Ghana -- where a successful micro-finance operation is already running. By automating the administration of the loans, the Ghana program will be able to expand the program to include the hundreds who are waiting to get in.

Later, we hope to take these Ghanian loan administrators to Southern Sudan, to help set up the same system there. That's the connection!

All of this is possible because of the hard work of volunteers like Stephen K., who has worked on the configuration for months -- and the runners who raised money while participating in the 2008 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

Last year, about this time....

The training was intense at times. In all, approximately forty hours of concentrated classroom teaching from Monday morning, February 18th through Friday, February 22nd. However, the forty-three students from the Brong-Ahafo region of Ghana attentively engaged in GBA’s first course in Ghana, “The Values-Driven Entrepreneur”.

Most of the students had been looking forward to this seminar for months. These were farmers, tailors, retail and wholesale merchants, salespeople, educators, tradespeople. They were individuals who already owned small businesses and who left those businesses for a full week to invest their time and forfeited income in order to take their enterprise to the next level. Others, still dreaming of owning their own business, took time off from their jobs to learn.

Their investment was applauded by Minister Mr. Ignatious Baffour-Awuah,Ghanaian President John Kufuor’s personal appointee to govern the Brong-Ahafo region, who opened the training seminar with both praise for the students and a challenge to them. Mr. Baffour-Awuah reminded them that their successful participation in this GBA seminar would not only improve their business, but also transform them into desperately-needed agents of change in their communities, the region and the nation. Speaking not only to the students, but also to a national audience via network television, radio, and print media reporters, Mr. Baffour-Awuah praised GBA and its pioneering approach to Enterprise Relief, a cutting-edge approach the minister said was just what Ghana, and all of Africa, needs to move forward and become less dependent on crisis aid.

During the week, students studied everything from basic bookkeeping, budgeting and cash-flow management to marketing, selling, people management and business planning. Students took the challenge to operate their businesses based on core values such as honesty, integrity and service; traits sorely needed in businesses around the globe. Teams of students participated in hands-on workshops, visiting and evaluating community businesses, and then presenting insights and recommendations to the rest of the class.

Four (Ad)venture Capitalists took more than a week away from their families and businesses to make this first part of our Enterprise Relief project in Ghana become a reality. But the success of the Sunyani, Ghana seminar will be complete only with your help – (Ad)venture Capitalists who will invest directly into lives and businesses of Ghanaian entrepreneurs.

One of the students, James, posted this on the gba.org website immediately after the class: “(I am writing to) inform you (of) my appreciation of the opportunity you’ve given to me to feed myself the rest of my years. I must say this study has helped me a lot.”

At the end of the class, GBA and our local partner, Africa Assistance Plan, challenged the students to apply what they had learned and prepare a business plan to identify strategic capital investment they need to grow to the next level. For most students, this was the part of the week for which they had been waiting – the chance to see their business idea come to life in the form of a real plan!