Jamie Ramirez in Swaziland
Jaime has an International MBA (IMBA) from EAE Business School in Barcelona Spain. Prior to joining the MBA program he directed an IT solutions and consulting company in Lima, Peru. He also holds a BSc. in Physicis from Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia. He adds up over ten years experience in IT consulting, risk analysis and project management.
Starting in July 2007, Jaime worked with Gone Rural providing direct business support as it looked to develop its sales network, pricing strategy and efficiency in its cost of goods sold.
Questions about the organization/company and local economy:
1. Please describe what the organization/company you work with does, how it is set up and where it is located?
Gone Rural is a handcraft design and export company that outsources part of its production to nearly 700 women in rural areas from Swaziland. It is located in the beautiful valley of Malkerns, Swaziland. They have a spin-off NGO called Bomake that works with the communities that are involved in the Gone Rural supply chain, providing health, education, and water services.
2. What is the organization/company doing well?
Gone Rural has identified the need to focus their strategy on product development and market diversification. In this sense they’ve prepared a very sound Strategic Plan along with a very usable Marketing Plan and they are sticking to it.
3. Where could the organization/company improve?
The company can optimize its production programming process to enhance lead time.
4. What are some aspects of the local cultural that should be understood when foreigners consider doing business in this country?
It’s important to realize that things take longer than in developed countries. This is a Kingdom, so you need to get acquainted with the values of the Royal Family to understand the dominant values in the country.
5. What are some aspects of the local business environment (e.g. registration of company, government’s role in business, business items unique to this country) that should be understood when foreigners and locals consider doing business in this country?
Registering a company is easy and has a low cost. Businesses are regulated through a 1912 act, which is in current revision, and allows much interpretation, which can be confusing at the beginning. International trade is done mainly through South African or Mozambican ports.
6. What were the direct and indirect results/deliverables as a result of your placement? Please be as specific as possible. Please provide both soft and hard examples. Hard examples include number of clients/people trained, dollars raised, people impacted, etc)
Through excel reports connected directly to the company’s accounting software, product trends and sales performance is monitored. This has allowed reducing SKU’s from over 3000 to 700 which in turn has enhanced the company’s capacity to control their stock and to monitor their production ordering needs. It has also allowed setting sales targets to the international reps, and taking actions to achieve these targets in a timely manner.
The overall process revision has allowed for a better, more structured communication between departments, minimizing errors and eliminating redundant documents. Having identified the company’s value chain has helped in allocating resources and monitoring these resources per activity.
The legal and capital structure revision allowed identifying the need for a restructuring of the company’s dividend policy and funding needs. Financial Statement projections are being used to make managerial decisions targeted at achieving financial sustainability eliminating the need for external aid for current operations in the near future.
The implementation of a modified Balanced Scorecard has helped in monitoring strategic objectives, such as number of rural women impacted or average income generated for the rural women.
All of the above impact the lives of the 20 staff members, the nearly 700 women in rural areas and each of the average 8 dependents per woman (adding up to roughly 5,500 beneficiaries – 0.5% of the country’s population). This impact is measured by the average income that has doubled form F06 to F07 and that will keep growing as the company achieves sustainable growth.
7. Are there opportunities in this field (e.g… health, agriculture or finance) for local and international entrepreneurs?
This kind of business model is much needed in Swaziland where there is a great need for economic engagement of the traditionally economically excluded population.
Questions about Personal Experience:
1. Why are you interested in international development and private sector development?
I believe that to effectively address poverty and social injustice, the traditionally economically excluded population should have access to markets and money flow. The involvement of the private sector in this quest is crucial, since it has shown to be the most stable type of organization. Donor funded organizations and NGO’s lack the drive for efficiency and continuous growth that people need to develop. The role of these organizations is to compensate for poorly managed governments that don’t provide for the basic needs of their citizens, but for them to be empowered, their entrepreneurial capacities need a market place, which can be provided with the help of the private sector.
2. Originally, why did you want to participate in this program?
I was in contact with the Bottom of the Pyramid concept and models such as the Sustainable Local Enterprise Networks during my MBA course. This made me rethink my childhood dream to “work for a better/fairer world”. I ran a search through different organizations that would allow me to use my business knowledge and experience to serve this purpose, but as most MBA graduates, I have school loans to pay, so volunteering was not an option. I found MBAs Without Borders and it allowed me to do what I wanted to do without compromising my financial obligations.
3. What were your main challenges, both personally and professionally?
Being away from my wife was the biggest personal challenge. The biggest professional challenge was to constantly take into the equation the social impact orientation of the company when reviewing processes and trying to maximize efficiencies.
4. Was the monthly stipend of $1,000US/month sufficient and how, if needed, would you change the way and what MBAs Without Borders financially covers?
I think the monthly stipend plus the covering of living expenses is a great financial support model for recent MBA graduates.
5. What advice would you like to offer future MBAs who work abroad for MBAs Without Borders?
Come prepared to learn as much as to provide your input. Grassroots businesses don’t behave like big corporations, human resources are scarce, but energy and motivation are always high. Be creative and make sure your work doesn’t end when you leave, the organization must not need you by the end of the placement. Open you mind to cultural differences and remember you can always learn new ways of doing things!
Enjoy!
6. Would you recommend others to participate on MWB programs?
Deffinitely.
7. What are some of your goals and aspirations (i.e. job, personal, etc), that you are planning for once this placement has concluded?
I’ll keep engaged in sustainable development and the role of the private sector in empowering the traditionally economically excluded population. I hope to join an organization that shares my values and aspirations to “work for a better/fairer world”