Old man, you did well.
The country that you have fought for is amazing and the direction in which you have sent it brings more than just hope - it brings firm belief – that a glorious future awaits South Africa.
Over the past two weeks we have visited the sites that tell the story of South Africa, the Apartheid Museum, the Hector Pieterson Museum for the Soweto uprising and your own house, which – whether you like it or not – has become yet another symbol of freedom and the fight that it took to get it. We have lived in fancy Sandton City with its shopping malls and posh hotels that few can afford. We have seen the unfortunate souls in townships and squatter camps and looked the HIV children of Cotlands in the eyes. Despite the sad sad circumstances, we saw nothing but big bright smiles. We were welcomed by thousands of singing, dancing and smiling souls in Soweto’s Grace Bible Church and we saw the roots of the country - its amazing nature and wildlife - in Pilanesburg National Park.
Not least, we have worked closely with the entrepreneurs of South Africa who produce anything and everything from diamonds and tractors to beds and hydraulic fittings. As much as soldiers and politicians are the heroes of the past, these passionate business men and women are the heroes of the future. They are the ones that will bring South Africa to the next level. We were told the huge success story of MTN, Africa’s first true multinational company, and we know that many more will follow.
When asked to define South African leadership my team quickly agreed on the three words: Forgiveness, inclusiveness and optimism. Forgiveness for the pain of the past, inclusiveness of all races, religions and colours in the prospects for the future and an incredible and forceful optimism that cannot be held back.
You will show them all of this in the FIFA world cup next year, where you have invited the whole world to your home. We know that you are preparing hard and we know that will do great. Just be yourself.
See you soon!
IMD MBA Class of 2009
Showing posts with label IMD. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IMD. Show all posts
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Delivery
Today was delivery day. Delivery of the projects we have been working on the past week. Judging from the many stories I have heard from my classmates South Africa have made an impact on us all and judging from the very same stories we made an impact on South Africa. Maybe not as a country, but for the entrepreneurs we have been working with. It is incredible how much you as a group can pick up, process and feed back in a week once you really set your mind to it.
The last two days we borrowed a room in the office of our host IDC, where we could digest and process the information we absorbed over the past week. For some reason, it did not feel much different than the dungeons back in Lausanne.
My concerns about us knowing absolutely nothing about hydraulic fittings evaporated already the first day and this week became an awesome demonstration of the power of a multi-skilled team. Eric – our financial genius – drew up a complete financial model from scratch and helped Peter sort some outstanding issues with his bank. Stone – our engineer – made a model that allows Peter to accurately calculate his production cost of each product, which ensures that the prices are set correctly. Stone also made suggestions to how Peter can make very significant improvements to the utilization of his machines. Shibu – our marketing wizard – draw up a plan for a more structured sales process than Peter has today. Myself, I got really good at getting coffee for everyone ☺ We wrapped it all up in a business plan that Peter can take to his bank to help him refinance his existing business and obtain new capital for his planned expansion. That was our deliverable and Peter seemed very happy with it.
Eric and Stone trying to get the financial and operational figures to match.
Delivery of the business plan took place at ‘The Mug & The Bean’ coffee shop. Here Shibu and Peter are discussing the marketing plan. Please note the huge cup of coffee in the front. This is on the menu as a so-called ‘Serious Cappuccino’ and consists of almost half a liter of warm milk and coffee. Not only in America!
What better way to end it all than with a team phoon in front of the Mandela statue on Mandela Square here in Sandton City. From left it is myself, our entrepreneur Peter, Stone, Eric, Shibu and our driver Sharl.
We had lunch at a Thai restaurant today. My teammates apparently thought I needed to relax and bought me a massage in the restaurant. For the equivalent of 5 dollars you get about 20 minutes of massage of neck, shoulders and arms before and after you eat. I could really get used to that. Although we were in a Thai restaurant the girl proved to be Chinese. As Stone and her started talking in their native tongue we learned that she was from a place in China not far from Stone’s and that she had migrated to South Africa a couple of years ago to work. Interesting, I thought, that someone would migrate to find work in a country with 25% unemployment. Stone explained that many Chinese go abroad these days, most of them to set up their own businesses, though.
We have also experienced the diversity of our group in a culinary way this week. Thursday Shibu treated us for Indian food, Friday Stone treated us for Chinese and today Eric took us out for Thai. There are unfortunately very few traditional Danish restaurants outside of Denmark, but I can always buy you a Carlsberg! ☺
South Africa is now seeing the rise of a new term: ‘White poverty’. This little exhibition was set up today across the street from our hotel.
The poster reads: ‘…poverty in South Africa no longer has an exclusively black face….. Poverty is becoming less of a racial issue and more of a South African problem…. Having been deprived of their previously ‘privileged’ position, the white poor are now seeking new ways to adapt or at least survive.’
In some bizarre way this is a good sign. Not that people get poor, but than when there is poverty, that it is evenly split among races. This is the precondition for eventually bringing South Africa out of the poverty!
Less than 50m from where the previous picture was taken we found this display of material wealth. Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Audi R8 in front of the posh Michelangelo Hotel reminds us that South Africa still is a country full of contrasts.
Thorsten
The last two days we borrowed a room in the office of our host IDC, where we could digest and process the information we absorbed over the past week. For some reason, it did not feel much different than the dungeons back in Lausanne.My concerns about us knowing absolutely nothing about hydraulic fittings evaporated already the first day and this week became an awesome demonstration of the power of a multi-skilled team. Eric – our financial genius – drew up a complete financial model from scratch and helped Peter sort some outstanding issues with his bank. Stone – our engineer – made a model that allows Peter to accurately calculate his production cost of each product, which ensures that the prices are set correctly. Stone also made suggestions to how Peter can make very significant improvements to the utilization of his machines. Shibu – our marketing wizard – draw up a plan for a more structured sales process than Peter has today. Myself, I got really good at getting coffee for everyone ☺ We wrapped it all up in a business plan that Peter can take to his bank to help him refinance his existing business and obtain new capital for his planned expansion. That was our deliverable and Peter seemed very happy with it.
Eric and Stone trying to get the financial and operational figures to match.
Delivery of the business plan took place at ‘The Mug & The Bean’ coffee shop. Here Shibu and Peter are discussing the marketing plan. Please note the huge cup of coffee in the front. This is on the menu as a so-called ‘Serious Cappuccino’ and consists of almost half a liter of warm milk and coffee. Not only in America!
What better way to end it all than with a team phoon in front of the Mandela statue on Mandela Square here in Sandton City. From left it is myself, our entrepreneur Peter, Stone, Eric, Shibu and our driver Sharl.
We had lunch at a Thai restaurant today. My teammates apparently thought I needed to relax and bought me a massage in the restaurant. For the equivalent of 5 dollars you get about 20 minutes of massage of neck, shoulders and arms before and after you eat. I could really get used to that. Although we were in a Thai restaurant the girl proved to be Chinese. As Stone and her started talking in their native tongue we learned that she was from a place in China not far from Stone’s and that she had migrated to South Africa a couple of years ago to work. Interesting, I thought, that someone would migrate to find work in a country with 25% unemployment. Stone explained that many Chinese go abroad these days, most of them to set up their own businesses, though.
We have also experienced the diversity of our group in a culinary way this week. Thursday Shibu treated us for Indian food, Friday Stone treated us for Chinese and today Eric took us out for Thai. There are unfortunately very few traditional Danish restaurants outside of Denmark, but I can always buy you a Carlsberg! ☺
South Africa is now seeing the rise of a new term: ‘White poverty’. This little exhibition was set up today across the street from our hotel.The poster reads: ‘…poverty in South Africa no longer has an exclusively black face….. Poverty is becoming less of a racial issue and more of a South African problem…. Having been deprived of their previously ‘privileged’ position, the white poor are now seeking new ways to adapt or at least survive.’
In some bizarre way this is a good sign. Not that people get poor, but than when there is poverty, that it is evenly split among races. This is the precondition for eventually bringing South Africa out of the poverty!
Less than 50m from where the previous picture was taken we found this display of material wealth. Aston Martin, Lamborghini and Audi R8 in front of the posh Michelangelo Hotel reminds us that South Africa still is a country full of contrasts.Thorsten
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Spirit of South Africa!
Who would have thought it would be so cold in South Africa! Not me, that is for sure. We have hit the coldest period of the year on the Southern hemisphere and with Johannesburg being far inland the temperatures get quite low, around zero degrees Celsius at night and around 15 degrees during the day. That does not sound particularly cold, but in South Africa the houses do not have any heating!! The argument appears to be that this cold period is so short – max. 2 months – that it is not worth to put in heating. Most people therefore wear their jackets indoor these days. We have learned to adopt that fashion.
We have continued our work with Peter – the owner and manager of the company we work with. We visited three of his customers yesterday and have also had two meetings with his bank. Eric – our financial wizard - have been digging into the numbers, while Stone – our engineer – have had a look at the machines and the manufacturing processes. Meanwhile Shibu and I have been trying to combine input from the customers and Peter’s vision of where he wants to take the company into a coherent strategy with a very concrete action plan. The trick is now to bring all three pieces together into a package (in the form of a business plan) that Peter can use both for his own reference and to raise capital for further expansion.
Today we had our second guest speaker, Ivon Johnston, who has been working in and with the South African government for many years. She told some moving stories about what South Africa has gone through, but most of all she told the story about what all of us already have felt – the spirit of South Africa! It is a spirit of optimism and joy that will not let itself be held down by the many very serious problem the country is facing. It is a spirit of reconciliation and compassion, not about revenge, hatred or blame. It is a spirit that recognizes what happen in the past while insisting on focusing on the future.
There is one name in particular that embodies this spirit. We keep hearing it again and again. It is mentioned by our guest speakers, by the entrepreneurs and workers in the companies, by our drivers and by other people we meet. It is used to name everything from streets to shopping malls. The name is Nelson Mandela. He is nothing short of a prophet here. His birthday is a national holiday. Had it not been for his vision South Africa would not have achieved the tremendous improvements that it has over the past 15 years and it would not be heading in the positive direction that it is. I cannot imagine what South Africa will look like in 15 years, but it will for sure be an amazing place!
Thorsten
Shibu James [India] having Chicken Licken (the South African equivalent of KFC) for lunch.
Stone Gao [China] and Peter discussing the manufacturing process of a particular component.
Stone and Peter discussing manufacturing while Eric is crunching the financial numbers.
The modern version of the classic problem of ‘how to fit a square stick in a round hole?’ This one is called ‘how to fit a Swiss electrical plug into a South African socket?’
Yesterday our team had Indian food for lunch. From left it is our driver Sharl, Stone Gao [China], Thorsten Boeck [Denmark], Eric Vergara [Thailand], Peter and Shibu James [India].
One of the teams is working with a company that has developed a special x-ray machine. They had pictures taken of them selves and asked the class to guess who is who. A very entertaining exercise!
Ivon Johnston telling the story about Justice Beki-beki, who was given the death sentence, but saved by the fall of the apartheid regime. He later became a lawyer, a leader of the election process in the Northern Cape province and a member of the international body that monitored the elections in the US.
Tonight’s sunset over Johannesburg as it looked from our hotel. The sunsets are very dramatic and beautiful in the way they paint the whole sky red. The picture does not do reality justice at all.
We have continued our work with Peter – the owner and manager of the company we work with. We visited three of his customers yesterday and have also had two meetings with his bank. Eric – our financial wizard - have been digging into the numbers, while Stone – our engineer – have had a look at the machines and the manufacturing processes. Meanwhile Shibu and I have been trying to combine input from the customers and Peter’s vision of where he wants to take the company into a coherent strategy with a very concrete action plan. The trick is now to bring all three pieces together into a package (in the form of a business plan) that Peter can use both for his own reference and to raise capital for further expansion.
Today we had our second guest speaker, Ivon Johnston, who has been working in and with the South African government for many years. She told some moving stories about what South Africa has gone through, but most of all she told the story about what all of us already have felt – the spirit of South Africa! It is a spirit of optimism and joy that will not let itself be held down by the many very serious problem the country is facing. It is a spirit of reconciliation and compassion, not about revenge, hatred or blame. It is a spirit that recognizes what happen in the past while insisting on focusing on the future.
There is one name in particular that embodies this spirit. We keep hearing it again and again. It is mentioned by our guest speakers, by the entrepreneurs and workers in the companies, by our drivers and by other people we meet. It is used to name everything from streets to shopping malls. The name is Nelson Mandela. He is nothing short of a prophet here. His birthday is a national holiday. Had it not been for his vision South Africa would not have achieved the tremendous improvements that it has over the past 15 years and it would not be heading in the positive direction that it is. I cannot imagine what South Africa will look like in 15 years, but it will for sure be an amazing place!
Thorsten
Shibu James [India] having Chicken Licken (the South African equivalent of KFC) for lunch. 
Stone Gao [China] and Peter discussing the manufacturing process of a particular component. 
Stone and Peter discussing manufacturing while Eric is crunching the financial numbers. 
The modern version of the classic problem of ‘how to fit a square stick in a round hole?’ This one is called ‘how to fit a Swiss electrical plug into a South African socket?’ 
Yesterday our team had Indian food for lunch. From left it is our driver Sharl, Stone Gao [China], Thorsten Boeck [Denmark], Eric Vergara [Thailand], Peter and Shibu James [India]. 
One of the teams is working with a company that has developed a special x-ray machine. They had pictures taken of them selves and asked the class to guess who is who. A very entertaining exercise! 
Ivon Johnston telling the story about Justice Beki-beki, who was given the death sentence, but saved by the fall of the apartheid regime. He later became a lawyer, a leader of the election process in the Northern Cape province and a member of the international body that monitored the elections in the US.
Tonight’s sunset over Johannesburg as it looked from our hotel. The sunsets are very dramatic and beautiful in the way they paint the whole sky red. The picture does not do reality justice at all.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
In Transit
I am back on the balcony, back in Lausanne. Thinking, thinking, thinking. I feel much better than when I left Lausanne three weeks ago. The batteries are recharged and the connection to the outside world has been reestablished. At the same time it is also clear that mentally I never managed to leave Lausanne and IMD behind. Questions about what actually happened during the first half of the year kept swirling in my mind. The feedback from peers and professors - received the day before we went on vacation - kept popping up. Some of it was encouraging, some of it was not. And why was that? What situation was behind each message. Are there any regrets? Yes, definitely! It is clear that I have missed out on some obvious opportunities. That cannot be redone - that time will not come back - but I can make sure that I find a better path for the second half. I have boiled it all down to a few points that I want to improve on. A few goals that I want to reach.
I arrived in Lausanne yesterday after a week on Malta with my family. It was very hot and humid on this little island in the Mediterranean, so I have enjoyed the chill of Switzerland for a change. The last 24 hours have been spent unpacking, doing laundry and catching up on emails, so I am ready for the next trip. We are leaving for South Africa in a couple of hours.
In Johannesburg I will be working with Eric, Shibu and Stone in a small company (10 employees) that produces hydraulic hose fittings!!!! I wonder how a trader of financial derivatives (Eric), a sales guy from Procter & Gamble (Shibu) and a shipping guy (myself) will get our hands around that subject. We will probably be relying quite a bit on our only engineer (Stone).
This complete lack of knowledge of what awaits us is also what thrills me. We will just go and see what hits us and then take it as it comes. This is an experiment, a first ever for a business school as far as we know. I hope it becomes a huge success and one that can be developed further in the years to come. I can not wait to take the plunge!
I better start packing.
Thorsten
I arrived in Lausanne yesterday after a week on Malta with my family. It was very hot and humid on this little island in the Mediterranean, so I have enjoyed the chill of Switzerland for a change. The last 24 hours have been spent unpacking, doing laundry and catching up on emails, so I am ready for the next trip. We are leaving for South Africa in a couple of hours.
In Johannesburg I will be working with Eric, Shibu and Stone in a small company (10 employees) that produces hydraulic hose fittings!!!! I wonder how a trader of financial derivatives (Eric), a sales guy from Procter & Gamble (Shibu) and a shipping guy (myself) will get our hands around that subject. We will probably be relying quite a bit on our only engineer (Stone).
This complete lack of knowledge of what awaits us is also what thrills me. We will just go and see what hits us and then take it as it comes. This is an experiment, a first ever for a business school as far as we know. I hope it becomes a huge success and one that can be developed further in the years to come. I can not wait to take the plunge!
I better start packing.
Thorsten
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