8 Day Business Impact Booster in Sri Lanka [Part I]
How our team managed to get our new social business running.
The General Management Plus Experience by Marianne Ohm
What is it like being a social entrepreneur? How to drive social innovation? How to be a great leader? What does really happen in an international business impact project? With these questions in mind, I started writing on my experience as participant in a Leadership and Management program and being a social entrepreneur.
In the following, I will share in detail what happened on our project site in Sri Lanka: how we struggled, how we celebrated finally meeting each other, how we acted as a diverse team, and how we dived deeper into the Sri Lankan culture.
Hello Sri Lanka
Have you ever been to Sri Lanka? My first time was this year in January. I must admit, I knew very few things about the island state before visiting.
Diverse and fascinating — these are the words I now associate with Sri Lanka. Worldwide, the country is known for its rich nature, friendly people, and lovely tea. Most of you probably remember seeing the shift in politics and the anti-Muslim riots in the media this past year. This information is easy to grab through media. We had to dig deeper, though. To enable a business impact project in a nearly unknown country, we needed more insights. We had to understand the needs of the people in rural areas and the education system in Sri Lanka.
How it had started
Who is “we”? Our project had started nine months before we got to actually visit the project site: Nine internationals and six Sri Lankans became one team to create a business impact in Bandarawela, Sri Lanka.
During these nine months, we had created a new business model to support young people acquiring the right knowledge and skills to find a suitable job in their hometown area. After having spent a lot of time on planning the business impact project, we all were committed and eager to reopen the new learning center. Getting enough students to finance all costs of the center was a high set goal for only four days of promotion. We had planned to go out to schools and companies to promote the course offering, painting the learning center, organizing a grand opening ceremony, finalizing and launching our new website, and working on knowledge transfer.
Let’s see what happened
On the first day, our team of international executives met one of the local project managers in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. We enjoyed seeing each other again in person after the modules at WHU Campus Düsseldorf and had time to fix organizational questions. Some took half the day off to explore the city together and some had to finalize work issues. In the evening, we had our first traditional Sri Lankan dinner. Most of us had to figure out what is not too spicy, whereas only a few were looking for the really hot stuff.
For the second day, we had planned our bus transfer to Bandarawela, but the bus company we had ordered cancelled, so we ended up with a smaller bus that managed to fit us along with all our luggage. The 6-hour bus drive was a good opportunity to see the country and its beautiful nature, as we drove from the big city to a smaller city in the hills.
We also noticed the temperature change: from a 30° C it dropped by 14 degrees. Luckily, we were prepared for this as our Sri Lankan team members had informed us beforehand. After a long drive with two breaks, we were all super excited to see the learning center. And even more, to finally meet our community hero, Satheesh, along with four more local team members, who we got to know virtually, but never met in person. Meeting them was the highlight of the day.
Connecting with the people — Meeting our target group in person
On day three, we met early for a kick-off meeting, fixed our daily schedule and defined the tasks for our week in detail. The grand opening ceremony, as well as our open days, had been set and the mayor had confirmed his attendance, but a lot of what we had planned in the past months needed to be changed. This was frustrating, as some meetings got cancelled and the partner schools had not yet approved our visits. We planned to go to the city center to promote our new course offerings. Looking at the printed flyers, the internationals felt that they needed a sales training: what is important to the young people here, what do parents ask and want to know about the courses, and what is the key information that matters for a decision. The sales training proved to be very helpful. We were able to talk about our project and what we were trying to change for Bandarawela and the region to people in the city center, at the market, and in stores.
The third day had another Sri Lankan inspiration waiting for us, which would turn into a long-lasting memory. One of our local team members had organized a visit to a local Indian dance school for late afternoon. Fifty girls were awaiting us, excited and eager to show us their dancing skills. Seeing their excitement and passion for dancing was a wonderful experience for us and we cheered loudly to their performances. When they were done with various performances, they even asked their teacher if they could show more. We felt honored. It must have been a rare occasion for the girls, and we hope we have left a lasting memory for them in the same way they did for us. Two of our team members, who dance ballet, concluded the session by asking the girls if they would like to see a couple of moves. Of course, they wanted to.
The grand opening came closer. On the fourth day we visited schools, talked to students, their teachers, and met the principals. One group started planning in detail for the preparation of the grand opening ceremony. The oil lamp was cleaned, and tasks got divided in the closing session of the day.
Getting ready for our Grand Opening
On the fifth day, we were able to split up into groups and work on specific topics: website content, new Instagram account, posting on Facebook while there, marketing at schools and companies, getting the painting done, and setting up a new banner outside so that people could spot the center easier. Two of us video-interviewed former students on their experience and advice for younger ones. In the late afternoon and evening, we decorated the center, set up the booth for our partners and for career advice. The project managers wanted to inform us on discounts we could give to new students on the open days, but the discount rate was not clear yet. Even though nobody liked it, we had to postpone the discount discussion to the next morning to get some sleep.
Tomorrow we knew, we were going to open the Bookbridge Professional Education Center. Not everything was ready yet and we were hoping that we had reached enough students who would come to the center and enroll in courses.
Find out how being on-site made a difference. Follow how our business impact booster went on in my second post.
Why I write this
What happens in an international business impact project? How to be a great leader and what is leadership? What is it like being a social entrepreneur? How to drive social innovation? With these questions in mind, I started writing on my experience as participant in a Leadership and Management Program trying to give others insights.
About the Program
The General Management Plus Program helps executives to develop leadership skills while creating social impact. The program is offered by the Executive Education of the Otto Beisheim School of Management in cooperation with the non-profit social impact driver Bookbridge.
