Meeting a role model

Last tourist activities...

The last week has arrived, so it is time to complete the training! But first, I want to continue where I ended the story in my last article.
Last time I stopped talking about the field visits at arrival to Bangalore city. The days after our arrival, we visited three more technology incubators in Bangalore and Mysore. Even though the visits to those incubators were not significantly different from the previous ones, they nevertheless added more experience and network exposure to all of us. But there were also very amazing and nice tourist attractions to be visited in these touristic areas. We went for example to an animal park and the Mysore palace of royal family.

Receiving my diploma

On Friday, March 29, we complete the fifth week by returning back to Ahmedabad by train in 32 hours. As this time is fewer than the 40 hours spent in train 2 weeks ago, it doesn’t leave any impression any more to me :-) The last week is dedicated to finalizing our programme: we have four more days of training session on the campus and finally the validation of the training on the fifth day of the week. This last week is quite intensive with lecture presentations on promoting sectoral incubators i.e. agri-business incubators and incubators for technology commercialization. We are not only offered important materials, but all those interested in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation through incubation also get the opportunity to receive support for the future steps.

Two entrepreneurs

For this I develop and submit an action plan for my short term (year 2013-14) and for my long term intentions (years 20 14-17).
The very last, but for sure not the least experience of the whole training is a presentation from professor Ashok Jhunjhunwal. He is telling his own, very exciting story of how he became one of the very few people who played a decisive role in initiating the current Indian technology development. In short he left from a very comfortable USA university and started working from the scratch with a few friends and finally became very successful. In that sense, he is a role model to me and I will give my best also to develop in the same way after completing the training.

Global entrepreneurs united....

 

Entrepreneurs at three oceans

Where the three oceans meet



After last weekends long and exhausting train trip, we have an exciting surprise: We are taken to Kanyakumari at the tip of Southern India, where it is possible to see three waters merging: The Gulf of Bangawal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. But again, it is a 3 to 4 hours trip from our temporary home at Trivandrum city, where the study tour programme continues.
On Monday we are visiting the local technology park and business incubator. This place is full of international technology business centers and successful start up innovators grown by the technology incubator inside the technology park. The size is amazing: the facilities are spread on an area of more than 70 hectares.
The next stop of our study visit is Coimbatore, which means that we have to take another 8 hours train trip and change from Kerala to Tamil Nadu state.


Maybe, you T-shirt was produced on this machine?

 In Coimbatore city there is a very famous entrepreneurial institution created 100 years ago focusing only on the same town. At the moment it hosts 28 national and international business enterprises. But it also has an IT technology incubator inside with 32 companies and also started Nano technology incubation. One of the 28 institutions is a textile factory, located a little bit far from the center of the city.
The factory is producing the best standard clothes for the European market. As I have experiences in other textile factories, the machines I see there are small and simple but obviously doing best quality to standards.
After visiting some places of tourist attraction we leave on Friday to Bangalore – another 8 hours train trip. Bangalore is cooler than other cities visited in the west and south of the country. We spend the weekend on more informal visits to know the culture and religion of the local people. I enjoy getting to know so many different new people and understand more about how they live their life.



Entrepreneurs becoming tourists

Are Ethiopians tall or Indians small?



Ever spent 40 hours in a train?

10:06h - The adventure begins

Trainspotting in India

Last Monday our program director introduced us to the schedule of our 15 day off-campus study tour. During the introduction, we realized with some astonishment that we would travel for 40 hours non-stop in a train. We would start on Friday at 11:20 in the morning and only arrive on Sunday at 3:20h at night. As you can imagine, this was quite impressive for us as most of the participants, me included – never even used a train so far in their life.
This Friday, while moving to the train station, we exchange the classrooms and the campus training sessions with the exciting adventure of a field trip.
I am quite impressed of the many different trains which I see while waiting for our train to come and to check in. The area is crowded and dirty but any way we try to control our selves in different ways.

After the first excitement of the adventure we just started, everybody starts doing different things: Chatting with a friend, walking through the train forth and back, dancing, watching movies, sleeping etc. For me being a railway-newcomer, it is very strange to do and observe all these things in a train.

Checking out India's landscape

I am frequently going to windows and try to look outside to learn more about the Indian landscape and natural resources. It is very fertile land suited for agriculture, full of rivers available for irrigation. It is also common to pass over bridge and also some times through caves.
After so many hours, everybody is quite tired. Finally, it is announced that the next station will be our final destination. We arrive in the middle of the night and everybody needs to sleep, but we are forced to leave the train and start the next step of our learning experiences.

Ready to check out

Finally there - but very tired...

My new friend, the silicon man

Bamboo chairs in the auditorium. Cheap, but comfortable!

The second week is deeper and more practical as the focus is given to training sessions. Yesterday, 8 of March 2013, we were taken to visit the “National Design Center”, a Business Incubator established under the National Institute for Design of India.
I am really surprised a lot about the many things that both the institute the students and incubatees are working on. Among the many I would like to mention two things: A big, standardized auditorium has been furnished with very low cost material (for example bamboo chairs). Nevertheless it perfectly suits for its purpose and provides all the services needed – thanks to the clever designing.

Which one is real?

And the second example: While entering the room of the presentation, we all – me including – passed a guy sitting at the entry. What a surprise when during the session we were told that it is was a doll made from silicon!
Here is the picture of the silicon guy. I leave to you to identify the real person on it.

The training is very fascinating and I am learning so many things every day. It is great to have high level trainers, many of them certified with international organizations such as World Bank.

Tagese (right) with the team of trainers

Crowdfunding for Tagese

Tagese is also on www.100-days.net. We are looking for some funds to support his stay in India. Will we manage to collect 500 Swiss Francs (approx. 400 Euro)? Please make some contributions. For donations from 15 Franks (approx 10 Euro) you will receive some little presents. Check out to learn more.
In  English (but in the environment of a French site...): http://www.100-days.net/fr/projekt/from-india-to-ethiopia
or in German: http://www.100-days.net/de/projekt/from-india-to-ethiopia

Thanks in advance!

Awassa - Ahmedabad in 2 days

Arriving at the campus in Ahmedabad

February 22 2013 - It is time of departure from Awassa to attend the six weeks training in India Ahmedabad. Using the fast running new model minibuses from Awassa to Addis and the African new sprit Ethiopian Air lines, I arrive in Mumbai/Bombay India lately before the sunset on February 23,2013. After immediate transfer between the international and the domestic airports at Mumbai, we are forced to stay 10 hours waiting at Mumbai domestic airport before Air Jet local air lines finally takes us to Ahmedabad. A person of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) collects us from the local airport and takes us to the EDII campus.

Next day is Monday and due to the long journey and extremely long time waiting at air ports every person is tired. The training center provides schedules, accommodations and starts training sessions in three halls. As per my registration I join my team in the training course for promoting Innovation and Entrepreneurship through Incubation. After the introduction in the morning, which is dedicated to the clarification of objectives and expectations, the afternoon is followed by micro lab practice in order to assist participants to introduce and familiarize among themselves.

Different topics are covered in the class or on the campus: processes of entrepreneurship development, the role of innovation incubation and entrepreneurship in economic development, and different steps of innovation:  how to convert ideas into enterprise, how to support grass root innovation.

The training is designed in the form of both theory and practical tools. It is lead by highly experienced experts and at the same time there is room to share practical experiences with innovative entrepreneurs who are invited to the campus. In order to have practical input from the beginning, we also visit the center for innovation, incubation and entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

During the first week, I was an active participant by forwarding reactions, group work leading and attending the whole week smoothly. As an outcome from one week attendance of the training I started to think how I can be among the most effective change agents at least in my country. Let us see what will be in the next five more weeks.

First training session "incubation and entrepreneurship"

Tagese (l.) with pax. from Tunisia, Mauritius and Ethiopia