Safari njema!

Bon voyage , Safari njema (in Swahili) to everyone heading off to Kenya next week!! While the team’s real adventure is just about to begin, those of us that have been helping out with the program but are not going to teach in Kibera now have a chance to reflect on this experience. When I heard about SE101 back in January, I asked Nancy to be involved with the project even though I could not go to Kenya as the timing of the trip conflicted with the start of the fall semester of my MBA program, which I will be completing on an exchange term in Hong Kong. I wanted to contribute to the program development with my background knowledge of social entrepreneurship, and at the same time was hoping that this would be a learning experience for me. As usual, we get what we wish for, and being involved in SE101 has been as valuable as any of the MBA courses I have taken throughout my program.

When we were working on the program development, we were asked to “teach” one of our workshops to the rest of the group to practice what and how we would teach to the classes in Kibera. Joanna and I had what seemed like the easy task of teaching the first class, until we realized we would have to start with an introduction, which meant explaining to the students in Kenya who we were, and why we were there. This really made me think about what we were trying to accomplish and what made us qualified to teach anything to people in Kibera, a place most of us had never been. In the end, the introduction I gave in this mock class was, “My name is Jana, and I’m a student from Canada. I am studying business, and before returning to school, I worked at a bank where I often helped people who were starting a small business. I’ve learned a lot about starting and managing a business both in school and at work, and I’m here to share some of that with you.” Social entrepreneurs everywhere in the world are people who are real innovators; they understand the problems of their communities and have come up with some really creative and effective solutions. They are also people who aspire to be self sufficient, and create employment and income opportunities for themselves and others. This entrepreneurial spirit and ability to take a risk is something I have always admired in people but never had myself. But what I am good at is detail, planning, analyzing, evaluating options…I guess that’s why I was a banker and am now an MBA student! People in places like Kibera have great ideas and are willing to work hard and take risks. What a business student like myself can do, is help them to make those ideas a reality by sharing what I have had the opportunity to learn.

In this spirit of knowledge sharing, my work with SE101 has led me to another opportunity to use my existing skills and new knowledge of the issues in Kibera. Through an organization called SAWA Global I have connected with a woman in Kibera who started a local NGO, the Kibera Integrated Project, and will be working with her as a mentor to support her efforts as she grows her organization. SAWA Global is a Vancouver based organization that gives a voice to local “heroes” in the 50 poorest countries of the world, who are transforming their communities with innovative solutions to social and environmental problems. SAWA, through their website, showcases videos profiling the work and gives an opportunity to someone with the necessary skills to help these heroes in their efforts. You can learn more about SAWA from their website, www.sawaglobal.com. I’m especially excited about some potential opportunities for co-operation between the Kibera Integrated Project and our SE101 participants and the possibility of a long term partnership between the organizations.

I’m looking forward to the updates on stories of this year’s students that will be posted on this blog, and wish everyone a safe trip!