So, I have been quite horrible about updating this blog. Here is an update on my life for the past month or so.
A few weeks ago, I finally managed to break through the bureaucratic Grameen nightmare and move into some cool roles. Firstly, I?m developing the IT strategy for Grameen Communications, the IT arm of Grameen Bank. There are a lot of cool issues and they?re really looking to me to make some key platform/architecture decisions for the next five years. Its pretty interesting and very hands-on. After crunching some numbers, I figure they can save a million bucks in equipment costs and labor by becoming more efficient. Becoming more efficient, of course, has huge implications for labor relations and working with their internal clients. I actually really enjoy developing this plan and working the Managing Director?s team on this. The challenges are unique to this situation, but not insurmountable. The good news is, unlike in corporate America, there is plenty of low-hanging fruit ? areas where small changes can make a big difference.
[the next two paragraphs are really geeky and more for all my IT and business-type friends?others, please ignore!]
It is also interesting to see how the best recommendations can fail without the proper tools in-place to facilitate change. For example, over a year ago a team of Swedish compsci PhD candidates prepared a comprehensive report on process discipline changes Grameen should implement. The report?s recommendations were excellent, but the Grameen staff didn?t know where to start or how to deal with institutional resistance (from the developers, the users and the business managers). As a result, nothing has happened; their apps development process remains incredibly ad hoc.
One of the first things I did was separate changes that they can make immediately from those that require longer periods (3 months, 6 months, 12 months) and give them a clear path of how to get from A to B with certain milestones. For immediate changes, I developed process checklists, questionnaires, etc. to help them continue in their ad hoc process but do everything much faster. Hopefully, as staff and users see the impact of small non-threatening changes they will become more amenable to the longer-term plans. We?ll see.
So that is one thing I?m working on, and its more along the lines of what I came here to do ? pro bono consulting. The other project is even cooler but my involvement so far has been up and down. A few weeks ago, Grameen and Group Danone (the huge $24 billion yogurt/foods manufacturer) inked a deal to setup an non-profit JV called Grameen Danone. The idea is to sell vitamin-packed yogurt to villages at-cost, in order to combat malnutrition. The entry price point will be 5 taka for a small cup of yogurt. The project is a boon for Grameen ? its borrowers with milk cows will now have a steady buyer and the organization will continue to help the poor. It is also great for Danone (even though its non-profit) since it will help them build a brand they can then capitalize on 20-30 years later. Danone stated long-term is to introduce yogurt to new developing markets, where consumption is a fraction of that in Western countries. So that?s the plan, but so far my involvement has been minimal ? basically helping to think through some of the planning behind this and giving some outside-the-box remarks that have helped the small staff think of things they didn?t before (e.g. what is the reputational risk to Grameen if Danone (or France) is embroiled in something that angers Bangladeshis? What is Danone?s long-term plan and are there safe exits for Grameen?)
So that?s whats been eating up my time lately. In addition, I?m finding Dhaka nightlife quite enjoyable. Because the community of expats is so small and we all frequent the same parties, clubs, and restaurants, I find myself running into people constantly. And most of the expats here are very friendly and laid-back.
I have actually taken very few pictures as of late, mostly because I visited a lot early on. I?m only abroad for six more weeks, so there are a few more events/places that I?ll be photographing soon. Here is a short ?must-photograph-before-I-leave? list:
- National Museum
- Liberation War Museum
- Tour of Dhanmondi Lake
- Dhaka University
- Karachi
While I have six more weeks before going back to the U.S., its actually gonna be more like four and a half weeks. I have plans to do the following (flights are unconfirmed however...):
April 24-27 ? Wrap up at Grameen and hanging out w/ my cousin from the U.S. (He?ll be here for business)
April 28 ? Dhaka to Dubai (chillin' in dubai)
April 30 ? Dubai to Karachi (visit grandma)
May 5 ? Karachi to London (visit family)
May 8 ? fly to the US (home from bro?s university graduation)
Also, sometime soon I?ll make another visit to my home village and Sunamganj ? but I haven?t quite figured out when. It?ll probably just be for a few days over the weekend. Oh and all the pictures from my last visit are in the next post. (They took forever to crop/edit/select/etc.)
Add to del.icio.us