I have been informed that I was chosen for the IBM CSC program late last year, but no information was given on where and when I will be assigned until early this year. I do not have much information about Kenya before I got assigned. My limited perception about Kenya was either about safari or political unrest. We started our CSC work early May where we learned more about the CSC program, our group, Kenya, some of Kenya's culture, and crash course on consulting (for some of us who are not working as consultants).
Our group: we consist of thirteen IBMers from USA, India, Australia and China. We have diverse expertise and experiences. Some have been with IBM for less than 5 years while some have about 29 years of service in IBM. None of us have worked with each other prior to being informed of our assignment. Since we've been informed, we've been working via conference calls. Finally, we had the chance to meet each other face to face last Friday.
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| IBM CSC Kenya 6 during our outing to the Giraffe Park |
Why Kenya? Kenya is a fast growing country in the African region. Its vision is to be a globally competitive country by 2030. Any company operating in Kenya is very familiar with this vision. To learn more about this vision, go to: www.vision2030.go.ke. It is a very exciting time in Kenya right now, and the election is coming up this March. The constitution has been changed to ensure that there are representatives from the women's group and the youth (anyone from 16 to 30 years old are considered part of the youth group). These representatives will be voted in the upcoming elections as well. More importantly, there has been changes in the constitution to establish some parameters to avoid what has happened on the last election (2007) which caused civil strife in Kenya (particularly in Nairobi).
In addition to what's currently going on with Kenya Vision 2030, IBM has announced (about three weeks ago) that it will be opening an IBM Research Lab in Nairobi. This will be the 12th in the world and the 1st in Africa. IBM Research Lab in Nairobi
Our CSC group is divided into 3 subteams to work with different clients and their goal/mission towards the Vision 2030. My team is composed of 4 people - Jit (from India), Paula, Angela and me (from US). We named our team - Team Nyoka (Snake) - don't worry our bite is not venomous! =)
We are working with a government sponsored university to recommend on how they can set a framework to engage more of the private sector to invest in the school and to strategically position them as unique contributor for the Vision 2030. We have been working with the client the last five weeks. We presented our work plan yesterday to the university, and it was well received. They are very eager on what we can deliver for them. Today was spent gathering a lot of data through interviews with the Principal, several Deans and staff members. We are coming back tomorrow morning to tour the different labs, radio and TV stations (which are student managed) and do further interviews before we drive to Nyeri. We'll be back to Nairobi this coming Friday to attend the university's first graduation for its degree program.
Although our clients are in Nairobi, our CSC group will be based in Nyeri which is about 2 hours north of Nairobi. The reason for this is that Nairobi is very different from the rest of Kenya. I agree. We have yet to eat an authentic Kenyan dish here. Most dishes we had are Western or Westernized to some degree. I was actually surprised to see that Nairobi's grocery stores are very similar to ours. I packed a lot of trail mix and protein bars since I thought I'll have a hard time finding food I am used to in Kenya. CSC program believes that if we spend more of our time in the rural areas that we will have a feel on the real Kenya.
#ibmcsc kenya 6
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