Teaching Business in Africa

Recently, I had the privilege to teach business fundamentals to a bunch of African small business owners - a first for me. This was in a village way out in the boonies, and it was something that I was anticipating for some time. As you may know, Fiona and I were on the road for quite a while traveling all over Africa, so I had some time to plan this out. The challenge as it was presented to me was that these guys (and gals) - can't read, can't write, and they can't count. A rather challenging environment for business development ... It wasn't quite like that, they were really pretty sharp in their own culture, and I was pleased to find out they have all done well with their projects. In addition to the challenges, I had to work with a translator, as shown in the picture above

You see, these are the participants in our Andando micro loan program, and they've had a few months now to utilize these small loans for the purpose of making a living. My goal was to help them improve their business by teaching a fews key business points. It went well, except it was really hot inside this building, I mean like 100 degrees. It was a concrete building with a tin roof in the middle of the African bush, no air conditioning or power or water. It was also very humid, but they didn't seem to mind (I did!).

But I was delighted to hear their success stories and most of them are doing pretty well already. In fact they have paid back most of the micro loans already and we can now expand the program. It was a long day, and after an "African" lunch, where everyone sits on the ground and eats out of a communal bowl, we visited some farms nearby where some of the loan recipients work their land.

It was a great day, very hot, rather exhausting, but very rewarding - Kevin

It's A Busy Time of Year

Quiz time - What's the difference between Bazarr and Bizarre?

Okay, so here's a sample sentence that may give you an illustration: I went to a semi temporary market with lots of stalls selling a variety of very unusual and offbeat articles that were way out of the mainstream. I went to a bizarre bazarr. So who got the answer right? Will you make it as a contestant on Jeopardy?
This time of year, we have been taking advantage of opportunities to sell wonderful Andando articles at one Bazarr after another. These are pictures of some of the activity. Also, the shop has been pretty busy.

And the Christmas Catalog has been generating a lot of buzz. Like people are noticing that it's pretty cool and worthwhile, and feeling like they want to be a part of it. Ain't life grand?

The Christmas Catalog

Andando has published a Christmas Catalog - here's how it works - you can buy a present for someone and give it to someone else. In other words, you buy something of a humanitarian nature to help those underprivileged overseas, and give in on behalf of your friend or recipient.
For example, you want to give your Aunt Ethyl a gift for Christmas, but she already has everything she needs, and you don't want to give her another trinket, so you purchase a feeding sponsorship for a village in Africa, and you send it in her name and she is thrilled to be a part of this effort and proud that her name is associated with such a fine endeavor!

Andando Grows on the Internet

In the matter of a few short days, there has been a growing presence of Andando on the World Wide Web, otherwise knows as http://www.....com/ or the web, or the internet, or online, or whatever you may choose to call it.
Son Lewis has now put up a facebook page at The Andando Foundation as a facebook group, I'll trust that you know how to find this, if not, sent a note and we'll help you.
The picture above is from Senegal, in West Africa, where we went recently and found out to our delight that there was a local mobile phone store with a promotion going on - and since Andando is an African word, they were using it on their t-shirts for their promotion (with an extra "O" at the end).
Keep in touch and watch this space for more news!