Week One Almost Done!
I have been in Dakar for about one week now and it has been quite a whirlwind. Our days have been very full. Because of a delay in my connecting flight to Dakar, I was the absolute last person to arrive late last Saturday night. Orientation began Sunday morning. I met the other eleven select group who earned the privilege of participating in the sabbatical and I realized why the selection process is so vigorous and competitive. In my 7.5 year tenure with SAP I could immediately tell that this group is some of the brightest, kindest people that our company has to offer. From week one observation, though we are all a mix of different cultures, backgrounds and personalities, some how we make the perfect blend. I am happy to say these are people I am getting along with and am looking forward to getting to know better for the next three weeks. I hope they feel the same.
After orientation day, we started Monday morning with our official introductions with our clients. Up to this point, we met our clients briefly on the phone and were given a scope of work that they had delivered to us four weeks prior. Now we had the opportunity to see them face to face. The twelve of us broke off into our four sub teams of three to meet our different clients. My group is working with Ateliers Des Genies, a startup company focused on bringing digital education to schools in Senegal to promote youths learning new technological and problem solving skills. Ateliers Des Genies provides summer programs, extracurricular activities during the school year and a inter-curriculum program to French and Senegalese Private Schools.
After having lunch with our client, based on our conversations my team and I were able to map out the next four weeks and narrow down the low hanging fruit that we could support and bring the quickest wins to Ateliers Des Genies.
On Tuesday we presented our proposal to our client and then spent most of the day breaking down tasks and what the final deliverable would look like. By Wednesday we had signed off the scope of work and got to work scheduling and preparing for interviews with schools and parents to get a better understanding of Ateliers Des Genies target market. By the end of the week we had conducted our first interview with a Senegalese Private School and had six other interviews planned.
Before I entered into Senegal we were recommended to do a coaching session with a professional coach and mine had told me to make sure that I didn’t just focus on the client during the sabbatical. I thought this was kind of weird advice but now I realize that I can’t view this sabbatical as a typical consulting assignment. We are also here this month to learn about the Senegalese culture and get to know one another. The twelve of us are planning to spend our weekends together as we are mapping out what day trips we are taking to really immerse ourselves in the culture of Senegal.
We have an aggressive and certainly hectic few weeks ahead with a lot that we promised to our clients but I am looking forward to seeing the fruit that I know will come from this experience as a whole.
