Greetings from Rwanda!

Greetings from Rwanda!

As I mentioned in my last post, I was lucky enough to be able to spend five weeks in Kigali, Rwanda for my MAP project.  Over the past four weeks, my team of four (Regan Fox, Eric Kobe, Greg Thorne and myself) has been working with a Kigali-based company that sells solar-powered lanterns, which also function as cell phone chargers.

The team (myself, Eric, Regan and Greg) at the Hotel des Milles Collines (a.k.a. Hotel Rwanda) 

Our main goal is to develop a rural growth strategy that provides distribution and consumer financing recommendations to make the lantern more accessible and affordable to consumers in rural Rwanda without electricity.  In order to do so, we have conducted three consumer focus groups in rural Rwanda to assess electricity and cell phone usage, as well as willingness-to-pay and additional sentiments about the lantern.  We have also brainstormed and met with numerous microfinance institutions, NGOs, and other organizations to determine optimal financing and payment plans that will allow Rwanda’s poorest consumers to light their homes with an alternative to kerosene lamps.   Our team also interviewed employees of the company to conduct a cost analysis to determine the optimal price and breakeven volumes for various distribution and financing models.  Our final presentation in Kigali was two days ago, soon to be followed by another presentation in Ann Arbor in two weeks.  We’ll also finish up the project with a formal paper describing our findings.

The solar-powered lantern in use at Akagera National Park. 

MAP has been a fantastic experience for me on several levels: collaborating on a project that impacts the triple bottom line (social, environmental, economic), living and working in a country I’ve never explored before, and applying the knowledge that I’ve learned as an MBA1 to challenges that I didn’t encounter during my past work experience.

I can’t ignore the fact that working in Rwanda has also provided an awesome opportunity to travel around the country during our weekends here.  Since arriving, we’ve:

• Been surrounded by 20 gorillas from the Susa group in the Virunga Mountains at Volcanoes National Park

Silverback and other mountain gorillas in the Susa group at Volcanoes National Park. 

More gorillas in the Susa group. 

• Tracked chimpanzees and colobus monkeys while hiking past four waterfalls in the rainforest at Nyungwe National Park

Chimpanzees in Nyungwe Rainforest.

Vervet monkey on the roof of our guest house in Nyungwe. 

Hiking down a waterfall.

• Went on safari and camped in Akagera National Park, where we saw giraffes, hippos, zebras, buffalo, vervet monkeys, warthogs, impala, and olive baboons

Giraffes and I at Akagera National Park 

Hippo!

Impala  

Zebras 

• Relaxed on the beach at Lake Kivu before feasting on whole charcoal-grilled tilapia for dinner while watching Intore dancers

 The Team at Lake Kivu

Sunset on Lake Kivu

  Awesome breakfast at Paradis Malahide, our hotel

• Reflected in the remembrance gardens and museum at the Kigali Genocide Memorial

View of Kigali from the Memorial 

• Interviewed members of the Sorwathe tea factory cooperative and residents of the Kayonza district in the Eastern Province

Gorgeous view of rural Rwanda on the way to Sorwathe tea factory 

The Team at Sorwathe tea factory

Focus group participants in Kayonza  

We return to Ann Arbor this upcoming Friday, where I’ll finish up my last two weeks as an MBA1.  It’s almost unreal how fast this year flew by!  As always, feel free to contact me with any questions at alvh@umich.edu.

 P.S. For the incoming MBAs that I missed at GBR this past weekend – looking forward to seeing you in September!  Also, don’t forget to sign up for the “Ice Ice Baby” M-Trek :)