First Steps in Ghana

We landed in Accra, Ghana around 12:30 pm local on Tuesday and managed to get out of the airport within an hour.  We were greeted by a man holding a sign with “Utah State” written on it and a big smile on his face.  This was our driver and new friend ‘Master Fufu’.  After loading up our luggage we headed to where we would be staying for the next few days to rest and battle the jet lag.  After a few stops, we got taken to what I can only call a compound complete with high walls topped with razor wire and a main gate that meant business.  Once inside, it felt a lot more comfortable.  Our host family has a son that lived in the capital and we were staying in his office (which had 6 bedrooms in the back) until a ride to Abomosu could be finalized.  Our first meal in Ghana that day… Chinese.

Friday we took off to Abomosu in a suburban with some of the luggage hogtied to the roof and the rest precariously balanced next to JD inside the vehicle.  3.5 hours of bumpy roads, mildly homicidal drivers, potholes, police officers unabashedly asking for lunch money with AK-47s strapped to their backs, bipolar road pavement switching from dirt to asphalt and back, street vendors, and driving laws that seemed to be guidelines at best made for an excellent adventure.  By the end we had arrived at our new home in the Village of Abomosu.

Stephen Abu, our new host, welcomed us with open arms.  He is one of the kindest men any of us have met.  His wife will be in Accra with their son for some weeks but we will see her soon. We got settled in our rooms and started going to work.

We met Douglas, the program supervisor, and had him show us our roles.  He introduced us to some of the loan collectors which in turn introduced us to many of the past recipients of the program as well as those who currently have loans out and are paying them off.  This was a great experience as we were able to learn what many of the people here in Abomosu and the surrounding villages do for business.  The humidity is heavy, the sun is hot, and our feet and legs are sore by the end of each day but we look forward to expanding the program.  We have already seen the goals of the program reached in many of the lives of the people we have met and are excited to bring it to many more during our stay here.

Welcome Fall Interns

These week our Fall interns arrive in Ghana, here is a little bit about each of them....

Garrett Hansen

Senior- Finance with a Marketing minor

I was born and raised in Hyde Park, Utah.  I am currently I a senior at Utah State University, majoring in Finance and minoring in marketing.  In 2011 I was married to my beautiful wife, Zandra Hansen.  I enjoy playing music, singing, oil painting, mountain biking, skiing, riding my motorcycle, and spending time with my wife, family, and friends.

I wanted to participate in the SEED internship because I feel it offers a great opportunity to put to practice all I have learned while at USU.  I feel that this internship will truly be able to make a real impact in my life as well as in the lives of the people I will get to work with.

  

JD Borg

Senior – Finance and Economics

My name is Joseph Dale Borg, but all my life I have gone by JD. I always say I am from Richfield, Utah, but I am really from the small town of Sigurd just outside of Richfield. I am a senior at Utah State studying finance and economics with a goal of becoming an actuary when I graduate. I love Aggie athletics and the Utah Jazz, and I love to play racquetball and volleyball. I am also a member of the USU percussion ensemble.

            I wanted to participate in the SEED program because of my involvement in the Huntsman School of Business’ Go Global program. In preparation for our trip to South America, we read the book Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus, which piqued my interest about microlending. I was excited about the small involvement of our program with the SEED program in Peru, and I jumped on the opportunity to travel to Ghana for a full internship.

Allan Follett

Senior – Finance with a MIS minor

Allan Follett is a transfer student from University of Texas in Arlington.  Currently he is a senior with his major being Finance with a minor in MIS.   In his spare time he plays EVE Online where he finds USU’s Finance program with its emphasis on economics give him an advantage over other players in the game.

Allan has always found the concept of microloans to be fascinating and the chance to see people in all phases of a microloan was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Beverly Jensen

Junior – Business Administration

My degree is in Business Administration and I am a Jr at Utah State University, Huntsman School of Business.  I am returning to school after raising most of my children, I am a mother of 8, 7 sons and 1 daughter.  I wanted to participate in the SEED program and go to Ghana because I have been a single mother in poverty in the US.  I was able to climb out and reestablish myself in the community with the help of my church, community and government.

I would like to give back, by teaching others about self-sufficiency.  I also want to better understand the basic concepts of the business principles that I have been taught in school, by seeing them in action.  I have owned several businesses and been in sales, including 6 years as a realtor.  I have enjoyed success and also learned from my failures.  My goal is to own my own successful business again, and I believe that my experiences with Wasatch Social Ventures will help me to obtain all of these goals.

Funding

Madison Johnson

The past couple weeks have been extremely busy for us. We spent hours writing each class member’s business plan. It was challenging to go over their financials since most of them don’t keep any kind of records. We submitted the applicants to WSV and then prepared all the loan agreements for funding. John and I funded our class from Akakom on Tuesday and Ross and Jamie (the other set of interns) funded their class in Sankub

enase on Friday. They both went very well. Douglas spent time going over the terms of the loan agreement and each individual’s payment schedule.  He was great at answering the questions they had. The class then formed two pods of five and elected a pod treasurer. The treasurer will gather the loan payments from each pod member at the first of each month. This makes the collector’s job easier as well as pressures the loan recipients to make their payments on time. In the villages that have a strong pod structure, we have an excellent collection rate. Once all the loan agreements were signed, we photographed each recipient, and then distributed the loans. It was a great experience and it was fun to see our class so excited. It was sad to say good bye to our class members. We hope they are successful in all their business endeavors.

John and I with the Akakom loan recipients. Douglas is pictured on the far left and Isaac (the collector for Akakom) is the tall one in the back. 

Why the SEED Program Rocks

The SEED program was not my first choice for an international internship. I served a mission for my church in South Korea and I wanted to find an internship there. When I could not find an internship in Korea I did not know what to do. I had always thought the SEED program was interesting so I decided to apply.  I am so happy that I did. I feel that I have learned so much. Being an intern has improved my business skills and understanding; it has opened my eyes to the problems a less developed country faces, and it has helped me network with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. Any student would benefit from this internship. I know that the SEED program will continue to grow and that more USU students will get the opportunity to have this wonderful experience. It is a great opportunity and I have learned more than I ever expected.

The SEED program improved my business skills and understanding of business principles in many ways. It has also taught me initiative. The program is still young and the interns are expected to do certain tasks but often do not have specific direction on how to accomplish them. If the interns want to accomplish anything, they must take initiative. Working in Africa is also difficult at times; often the simplest task will take hours. The SEED program has taught me that no matter the problem, I must find a way to get the task done. I have learned the basics that every business needs in order to operate successfully and have been able to apply the business principles that I learned in school in order to help our students. I have increased my productivity and ability to problem solve. Loan qualification, collection tactics, and teaching methods are a few examples of what I have learned.

I have been able to see how lucky I am to live in a developed country. I have been given so much that I take for granted and it has been a wonderful opportunity to come here to Ghana and see what the people are struggling with. Inconsistency in water and power are more disruptive to everyday life than I could have ever imagined.  But I have learned from the Ghanaians to take what is given and make the best of it.

The SEED program has given me a wonderful opportunity to network here in Ghana. I have met so many wonderful people and feel that if I ever needed contacts here in Ghana I would have plenty.  There are so many opportunities here and so many wonderful people.

Currently...

All the interns are writing up business plans for our students that went through the interviews with Douglas and Stephen. We have been working hard to finish them because we want to see our class members receive loans, and our time in Ghana is coming to an end. They have all worked hard and we have become good friends with our class members. The hardest part has been telling some of the class members that they did not qualify. We hope that they will still be able to apply what we have taught in class so that they can improve their businesses.  Business plans have been a challenge because no matter how in depth we try to get people to explain their business, most of them do not understand what we are looking for.  Records are almost never kept and even though many students say they remember what they sell, when we ask specific questions they don’t know the answers. This forces us to estimate and it and get frustrating at times.  However, it is fun to see the plans come together.  Learning the basics of these simple businesses will be a great foundation for any future job any of us interns will have. 

Ross Pickett-Summer 2013

We have just finished teaching in Sankubenase.  It has been a great experience.  Our students turned in all of their homework and business plans on our last day of class.  For part of our due diligence we decided to visit each student at their business site.  We had seen many of the business sites previously but this time Douglas was able to accompany us.  It was great having Douglas there because he helped us understand in better detail how each student would run the business.  The businesses we are evaluating vary quite a bit.  We have a carpenter, soap maker, paint seller, palm oil extractor, a few ladies who want to start a chop bar (restaurant/café) and many other businesses.  It has been fun to see how each person performs his or her trade.

For a better understanding of how a standard business works in Ghana I’ll explain about one student in our class.  Frank is a carpenter and he lives in Sankubenase, has a shop in Abomosu to sell, and does all of his carpentry work in Asoum.  Asoum is close to a one hour drive from his home.  Frank specializes in making doors for businesses in the three towns.  As we visited Frank’s site in Asoum with Douglas, we were better able to understand how he manages his business and calculates his profit.  Frank purchases the wood and has it delivered and stored at the site in Asoum.  He then has to pay rent to a machine owner for any usage of the carpentry machines.  Once the doors are completed he will pay his apprentice for the work he did and pay to have the doors delivered to the customer.  Frank sells the doors at 75 GHC and normally gets a profit of 22 GHC for each door (about $11 USD).  If a customer wants the doors to be polished or painted, Frank has to travel to another town to pay for the usage of a spraying machine. 

A few weeks ago we were talking to a very successful businessman here in Ghana.  He spoke to us about the many opportunities Ghana has for business.  He mentioned that if you have a little bit of money you can make a lot more in Ghana than in other places.  The owner of the carpentry workshop that Frank uses is a perfect example of how a little bit of capital can earn you a lot of money.  The workshop is owned by one man who rents out each machine to the carpenters in town.  The man who owns the workshop has a very good business set up for himself.  Because of the lack of capital and machines he is the sole provider of this service to carpenters in multiple towns.  After he has purchased the machines, he charges rent to each carpenter every day to use his machines.  Through quick profit, the machines can be paid for in just a few weeks.  Once the machines are paid for he is pretty much making pure profit every day the carpenters work.  Profit will continue over the life of the machine.    

Life as the Wife of a SEED Intern

      My name is Madison and I am the wife of John Johnson (one of the SEED interns this summer). John’s major is International Business, so I knew we would be leaving the country at some point. When he started looking into the SEED Program, I got really excited. I LOVE traveling, and going to Africa just happened to be on my bucket list! Both of our families were a little worried as we prepared to leave. They all had their concerns about our health and safety. As we made our preparations, I didn’t know what to expect. I had heard great things from past interns, but I didn’t know what our living conditions would be like, if we would have to eat crazy things, if I was going to get parasites, or if we would have a real toilet and shower. As it turns out, Ghana is Africa for beginners so my worries are small small, as the Ghanaians would say.

       When we first arrived in Accra, there was definitely some culture shock. Seeing how people live and work was really interesting. It made me realize how much we really have in America and how blessed we are to live there. We have so many amazing opportunities. On the other hand, I am excited for the people of Ghana because their country is growing and developing so much. They are receiving better educations and finding better employment all the time.

      I have learned a lot about the SEED program since I have been here. I have been able to assist the interns in teaching, collecting loan payments, funding new loans, and meeting past loan recipients. It is fun to see how much the loans have helped the people as well as their businesses grow. The program is continually adapting, and in my opinion, will continue getting better and better. John and I have also been volunteering at the village’s health clinic twice a week. I really enjoy helping them out and they appreciate it so much. When I am not assisting with intern work I read, crochet, play with the children, and take LOTS of pictures. My favorite part of being here has been getting to know the people, especially the kids. They have all been so friendly and welcoming. We have also been able to see some beautiful areas of Ghana when we get to travel on the weekends.
      Unfortunately one of the SEED interns had to return to the states early, so now I am taking his place as a full time intern. I am looking forward to being more involved, especially as we are entering the loan application process. We finished teaching our class this past week and are currently helping them develop their business plans. Over the next two weeks we will be interviewing them and helping them apply for loans. Our class has some great students, so I am excited to see how it all turns out for them. I hope they have all learned something from the class because I have already learned so much from being a part of the SEED Program.  

       

The view out our front door

Matthew Miles-Summer 2013- Goals and the SEED Program

Matthew Miles- Summer 2013

25 June 2013

I had many reasons I wanted to do this internship with Wasatch Social Ventures through Utah State University.  Teaching principles, analyzing business plans, and gaining another cultural experience are all things that I felt would help in reaching some of my future goals.  Since spending the last month and a half in this foreign country I have come to realize that this is true.  I have also learned much and have developed an interest other things I can now call new goals.

One of my goals in life is to take some opportunities to work internationally.  Whether that means staying in the United States and traveling abroad, living in a different country altogether, or a mixture of both, the experiences I am having in Ghana are both qualifying and exciting me to do so.

Being able to help people develop, analyze, and improve business plans has also been an incredible experience.

I feel that this is a great hands-on approach to learning about business plans and entrepreneurship.  It has been a good supplement to the classroom education I have received.  As a result of this experience I now have a desire to return and do this same thing but on a larger scale.  I have a new goal to analyze bigger businesses and their business plans sometime in my future career.

Being able to experience what I have here has moved me closer to accomplishing my goals as well as inspire new ones.