Teaching is Hard Work!

Hi, I'm Les, A Sauder MBA candidate. I was stationed at the ICC site along with two UBC BCom students, Rob and Candy, and two Strathmore students, Celestine and Emma. My experience in teaching in Nairobi has been fantastic. Coming here, I was expecting to have to work much harder to help our students grasp the concepts in a business plan, but what I have found is bright, receptive, eager and hard working students. While their business acumen needs work, they don't have to stretch far to attach their business ideas to concepts like Market Research, Supply Chain Analysis and Cash Flow forecasting. Their abilities make our days more interactive and productive than I ever imagined.

Having the capability is only half the challenge. Cramming the business knowledge they need into 3 weeks means some long days. It takes a lot of practice on their part and flexibility on our part to keep pace with our jammed curriculum. It also took a number of early morning and late afternoon one-on-one sessions to keep everyone up to speed. This individual attention wouldn't be possible without the teacher-student ratio we are so lucky to have. The one-on-one sessions really helped adapt each individual plan to the model we set out in the curriculum. As we said in class, internationally we may speak different languages, but the language of business is international. Building these business plans to a world-wide standard means that our students will be able to plan effectively and look for the right financing should they want to take their ideas from plan to practice. As student-teachers, we were fortunate enough to have worked on the curriculum ourselves, editing and adding to what had been developed in previous years. This allowed us to really support each other while also being able to effectively deliver specialized tutoring.

I feel like my fellow teachers were incredible resources to our students. Candy's BCom focus was on Marketing and she was instrumental in helping our students refine their marketing plans with top notch surveys and analysis and really amazing branding for each plan. Rob's focus is in Finance and he really knew how to deliver his knowledge effectively to the students in a fun and functional way. The added bonus of having our Strathmore partners was not only a Kenyan context, but incredible Accounting skills.

One of the most exciting pieces of this experience is really how much I feel I have learned from my students. They have opened my eyes to life in Nairobi, taught me new ice breakers and helped me see how much of an opportunity there is in Kenya to bring knowledge and skills to the people who can use it most, but who have not been privileged to have the UBC education I have. Helping to support their efforts to create a stronger Kenya for themselves and their future generations is an experience I will never forget.

--Les Robertson


Les mopping the floor of the ICC classroom, one of the daily "teaching duties."

Teaching in Kenya - the good, the bad and the ugly

Now that the trip is winding down, this is a good chance to reflect on what we came to this continent to do - teach.

A typical day:

At our particular site, located in the International Christian Centre (we called it the ICC), a typical day started when we walked into the classroom at 8:15am. Class has a soft start at 8:30, and officially begins at 9:00. Most days, we'll arrive to find that a few students are already in the classroom, quietly working on their business plans. We help these early birds with their questions as we wait for everyone else to arrive.

Class starts with attendance and some opening remarks - we talk about everything, from an upcoming soccer (sorry - football) game with the other two classes, to an overview of what material we'll cover that day, to some comments about current business topics. Everyone is usually looking sleepy (particularly us instructors, since our guesthouse doesn't offer any coffee!), so we will often do a few stretches. Then the class begins in earnest.

From 9:00 until about 10:45, one or two instructors will cover the day's topic, which may be anything from completing a cash flow statement, to branding your company, to writing your company's mission statement.

At 10:44, everyone's ear is cocked to listen for the moment when one of the instructors will announce that it's TEA TIME! At our site, we have bread, butter, and tea set up for our students. To say the students 'enjoy' their tea would be a gross understatement... they waste no time in leaving their financial statements in the dust as they all clamber around the table for a snack, while shouting and chatting in Swahili.

After tea, we play a game (or more like we try to play one game but it usually turns into four...) to get everyone energized again. Then it's back to the books. We usually spend the afternoon on a new topic, like revenues and expenses, or proper market survey techniques. Everyone is encouraged to get as involved as possible, so we often have students coming up to present their ideas or offer feedback. If it's a particularly complex topic, we'll split into three breakout groups (our group is called the Safari Skewers!), at a ratio of two instructors to six students, to discuss the concept further.

At 2:30pm, we wrap up the class and clean up the room. Many of the students often stay behind until 3:00 or 3:30pm to ask us questions about their business plans. All six of us instructors - from UBC and Strathmore University - meet after class to discuss what went well / not so well, and to discuss the next day's lesson plan. Then it's time to head back to our guesthouse so we can start it all up again the next morning!

Three weeks in a nutshell

It's been a memorable three weeks of teaching. Every day was fun, nerve-wracking, random, exciting, disastrous, and always, always an experience to remember. Here are some of the good, bad and ugly moments:

- The bad: One of the toughest challenges we had - aside from dealing with a lack of electricity and running water on some days - was convincing some of the students that their business idea was simply not feasible. It's a terrible thing to see the light go out from someone's eyes when you tell them they have to rethink the plan that they are so passionate about... but as the days went on, it was encouraging for us to see the students thinking more critically and coming up with creative solutions to make their businesses more feasible.

- The good: Seeing our students become leaders. We hosted an event where all three sites came together to network and play a hearty game of football, and it was heartwarming to see some of our shyest students take the initiative and lead the other students from all the sites in a round of icebreaker games. This was in spite of the fact that on Day 1 and 2, one of our students was so shy, his peers had to physically drag them into the classroom and judo-chop him into a chair before he would stay. Seeing him stand strong in front of his peers on the last day of class, proudly presenting his business idea, was a profound moment - one that brought tears to every instructor's eyes (the guys will complain the room was too 'dusty').

- The ugly: Seeing some of the silly bloopers from students (bloopers that, truth be told, we must've made as well when we were junior students), like accidentally thinking variable cost was actually 'valuable' cost (as in jewellery)... or wondering why they couldn't get customers by "being physically aggressive"... or questioning why they had to make a profit...

To say the last three weeks were a walk in the park would be a complete lie. There were times when we wanted to kill our students... and we're sure there were times when they definitely wanted to kill us!

But as we kept emphasizing in our classroom, we're a family. And so, we were all there for each other on graduation day, when each student walked across the stage to get his or her certificate, in celebration of what they had achieved.

The family doesn't end here - we look forward to keeping in touch with our students, and helping them along with their business ideas.

Goat’s blood sausages and sheep brains – not for the faint of heart

“Maybe if I have a taste of the goat liver, and then go back to the sheep brain, the brain will taste better...”

“Just eat the potatoes, it’ll help cover up the taste of the sheep tongue...”

By now you must be wondering how we managed to get ourselves into this situation.

(We’re in the second week of classes teaching social entrepreneurship to Kenyan youth, and classes are in full swing. Since one of my esteemed colleagues is preparing a blog entry about our teaching experiences so far (and about how great our students are!), I happily leave that topic to him.)

This past weekend, after an exhausting yet gratifying five days of teaching, our group went off to explore more of this magnificent country.


The SE101 team spent all of Saturday on a day trip to the Rift Valley, organized by Mickey, a longtime friend of the program. After making a stop at an excavation site of Richard Leakey’s, where we learned all about homo habilises and erectuses (to the snickers of our immeasurably mature male students), we made a stop at a village in Kikopey region, and indulged in their natural hot springs.

This is the village where Mickey has evidently spent countless hours to help rebuild, after Kenya’s post-election violence. The chief of the village welcomed our visit by graciously ordering the slaughter of a goat and a sheep, so we could all partake in a traditional Kenyan lunch.

It was a cultural experience, to say the least! Some of the foods were delicious, and some were hair-raising in their looks and taste. All the same, it was a privilege to be able to meet with these friendly locals, and we were floored by their level of hospitality.


To wrap up the tour, we stopped by Lake Elementaita, one of two lakes in the Rift Valley that flamingos can call home. What a sight – the flamingos seemed to stretch on for miles and miles, as we were treated to a sunset view of the lake. It was also a sobering part of the trip, though. Thanks to the drought, which has affected so many people in Kenya, the lake had shrunk to half its size, and the surrounding ground was cracked and brittle.

After the tour, it was off to the next activity: Nancy had arranged for our entire team to go to a rather unique event – a goodbye party for a Kenyan high school student who will soon be entering Sauder as a first year student! The parents had stumbled across the SE101 website, and contacted Nancy to invite us to their son’s goodbye gathering. It was a real treat to be able to visit their home, meet their friends and family, and share our tips about life at Sauder. And of course, no Kenyan party is complete without a sampling of the traditional brew, drunk out of hollowed horns! (Note: they are very hard to grip)

We all had a blast during the weekend, and with that now behind us, we’re off to a great start to the SE101 program!

The Value of SE101

In this video, Barlet Jaji compares the value of SE101 to other entrepreneurship programs available in Kenya. His experience has been that SE101 gives participants a deeper knowledge and the practical skills needed to effectively run a business.

Over the past few months, the SE101 team has been working on updating the Resource Guide that Barlet shows in the video. For me, working on it was an opportunity to reflect on my entire Sauder MBA experience. Textbooks came off the shelf, and even my study notes from the Integrated Core came out of hiding. To strengthen the impact of the Resource Guide and to improve the effectiveness of the UBC and Strathmore students in delivering the content, Nancy Langton has also created an Instructor's Manual. Much like the SE101 program, the Instructor's Manual provides practical, step-by-step instructions for success and demonstrates the high level of support available to the participants.

Interview with Barlet Jaji

In the previous post, Nancy wrote about the SE101 pilot project at St. Aloysius Gonzaga School and the work of Barlet Jaji, the school's director of post-graduate training. I found his words in this video to be both inspirational and inspired. The students in the program have faced such deep personal tragedies, and yet, with the help of Barlet and SE101, they are learning to make a better future for themselves and for their community.

As I tucked my own children into bed tonight, Barlet's words echoed through my mind. I am thankful that there are people like Barlet who are willing to develop and empower those that are so vulnerable, fulfilling the dreams of the parents that these students have lost.

St. Aloysius--Rising to the Challenge

This year we are running a pilot project for SE101 at St. Aloysius Gonzaga School which is in Kibera (the largest slum in east Africa, and the second largest slum in Africa.) The photos show our "classroom," an outdoor area, covered loosely by an awning, which does not protect us from rain (we can move indoors in that event). It can be slightly chilly, and you'll notice the students bundled up. Our teaching "technology" involves a blackboard, chalk and flipchart paper.

St. Aloysius was created to give hope and support to AIDS orphans. All of the children who go through the school have lost one or both parents to AIDS (if one of the parents is still alive, that parent must have AIDS in order for the child to be enrolled in the school).

It is a tragic situation for these young people--to have lost one or both parents, and to have watched both of their parents be so sick. They have had to grow up quickly, and learn to care for themselves, rather than to be parented. I'm sure it makes the students on the UBC team realize how fortunate their lives have been by comparison.

Our contact at St. Aloysius is Barlet Jaji, who first started working with SE101 in 2007, when he co-taught with some of the team at the Bahati site. We met again last summer, where I learned that Barlet was working at St. Aloysius as the director of post-graduate training for students who had finished their O level (the equivalent of high school) at St. Aloysius. Barlet is passionate in his commitment to helping young people not only survive, but also to thrive.


With that in mind, he asked me at the beginning of this year if I would consider working with him through SE101 to help inspire some of the school's graduates to tackle social challenges in the slum through business opportunities. We agreed that it would be a pilot project because we'd previously been emphasizing individual businesses, and that we would take what we learned from this year's pilot project to make an even better project next year. I was excited to be presented with such an opportunity, because it closely fit the mandate of SE101, which is to empower youth so that they can try to break their cycle of poverty. The pilot project meant we would be working with the poorest individuals in Nairobi, trying to help them with the chance to succeed. It also meant taking the first steps towards helping individuals figure out how to help their community.

The challenge for the UBC and Strathmore students working at the site is to show these young students that they really want to help them, and that the help is unconditional. In society's emphasis on short-term goals (is everyone happy right now?) it is too easy to overlook that true impact does not happen in a day, a week, or even a month. It is the cumulative lessons left behind that can be reflected on over time. Our team has the opportunity to inspire these young people for a life time. I am eager to see how they rise to this challenge.

Nairobi – first sights, first thoughts

It’s been a few days since our team’s arrival in Nairobi, and since then, it’s been a whirlwind of activity!

Because I enjoy shooting myself in the foot (that is the only explanation I have), my trip from Vancouver to Nairobi consisted of a gruelling 40-hour journey that spanned four flights, and included a bizarre overnight stop in the Middle East where a local girl invited me on a walk with her dog along with her husband (or maybe she was walking her husband along with the dog).

Christi took the same arduous route through the Middle East, Rob, John and Jo stopped through London and did a 5-hour power tour through the city, Amanda, Sarah and Nadia went through Seattle and Amsterdam, Les flew through New York and Zurich, touring along the way, and Mike went to LA for a couple days to visit family and then to London and Nairobi. Mike arrived Thursday night and stalked the halls looking for any team member who might have been lingering in the guesthouse. He eventually gave up and made friends with the animals...

On the first official day (Friday), our team met for a dinner. Since we had all taken wildly different routes to get ourselves to Nairobi, it was a relief to see everyone again in Nairobi and all in one piece. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for our respective luggage pieces – two of our team members suffered from lost luggage. One of the two is still tracking her piece down, which is drifting somewhere between Seattle and Nairobi at this very moment.


On Saturday, we spent the morning at the Maasai market. It’s a fantastic, bustling destination of tourists, locals, and friendly/hard selling/energetic/aggressive stand owners who give new meaning to the word ‘persistent’. Nancy (our professor) gave us a quick Bargaining 101 session, and an hour later, we emerged from the market hoisting a few select art pieces. In the afternoon, we met with our student partners at Strathmore University for the first time. For those unfamiliar with the program, each UBC student pairs up with a Strathmore University student to teach the business curriculum over three weeks. That night, the Strathmore students invited us out to enjoy the best of Nairobi nightlife. They were incredibly welcome, made us feel very comfortable, and showed us a great time in an evening that included copious amounts of fried chicken.

We spent all of Sunday touring the three sites that our group would be teaching at. First we visited St Aloysius School in Kibera (east Africa’s largest slum). St Aloysius is a school for youth orphaned by AIDS. This is the location where the team will be running the social entrepreneurship pilot project. This site will be focusing on developing enterprises, which will in turn help the community and the individual starting the business. We had the pleasure of meeting Barlet (the school’s principal) who described a bit about his background and the school.

- Candy, Rob, Mike, Christi