Professor & Mentor

Last Saturday I (Ryan--I'm sure you assumed this though since Crystal is a little shy when it comes to blogging ;) attended a African Youth Leadership breakfast at Kyamboya (pronounced Cham-booya) University. It was a gathering of University students in the Kampala area that talk about servant-leadership and leadership based on the principles of Jesus. I enjoyed interacting with a group of young people that want to change their nation by a becoming a new breed of leaders. Some will do it through politics, some through business, some through other ways. After the meeting I met with three of the leaders that will be graduating soon and we talked about setting up a workshop in June about job seeking skills--interviewing, resume writing, networking, etc. The job market is brutally competitive in Kampala, being the only professional and industrial hub in the entire country, there are not enough jobs to go around--espeicially if you don't know someone who knows someone.

On Saturday afternoon I got to play professor at the Business Forum. The Biz Forum is a gathering of cornerstone graduates that are either entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs. The come once a month to hear someone speak and to support an encourage each other. So after a short interduction I was handed to floor. I reviewed a dozen business plans the week before and all had deplorable financials, that is if in fact there were any financials at all. Many of the plans had completely left out any evidence that profitability or loan repayment had even crossed their mind. So I set about to correct this grevious thing! I had prepared a mock business that I was going to start and we went line by line though a start-up budget, loan amortization and terms, a projected income statement and balance sheet and lastly a few basic financial analysis ratios. I counted on it taking an hour, maybe an hour and a half. Over three hours later the Biz Forum Chairperson finally intervened and called it when he looked over at Crystal and saw her looking pale and dozing. There must have been 10-15 questions per line through each financial statement and then a dozen or so questions on financial theory or marketing etc before moving to the next line item.

It was actually extremely encouraging that there were so many questions, they really dove in to the information and were all right there with me. At the end I sent them all home to add financials to their business plans and bring them back. I had a blast teaching. I loved making something so complex and downright scary into something simple and understandable.

On Wednesday, I again go to dig my teeth into some great business interaction. Crystal & I headed to work with the Ugandan gentleman that is the Chairperson for the Business Forum. He is the operations manager of a property management & maintenance company that was started by a businessman from Texas that has recently stepped back to let it run on its own. The business is growing rapidly and had a great group of employees. We spend a few hours meeting with some of the employees learning about their work and what their frustrations or challenges are and brainstorming for solutions. Every business if filled with little inefficiencies and ineffectives but often everyone inside the business is either to busy to look for them or to close to be able to notice them. An outsider simply asking questions can sometimes open a lot of doors. I loved, loved, LOVED getting to do this. Solving complex business problems with very limited resources is thrilling (perhaps you think I'm crazy now). But I feel like its a stategy boardgame like Risk, or Settlers, or something except infinately more complex and much more rewarding too. We hope to spend more time with this company learning about it and then presenting a more formal analysis with proposed solutions and implementation in the coming weeks.

Tomorrow we are planning on heading up to the Cornerstone Ranch to help with some financial things...we really have no idea what it is, but we'll find out tomorrow!

We're also going to be heading up to Gulu on Thursday to teach some professional development curriculum to the teachers of Restore Academy who will then teach the material to the kids next term. Things like: Business writing, public speaking, resume's, networking, etc.

Happy Mother's Day, Margot & Carolyn! We miss you and love you!