INTERVIEWER: Tell us a little about yourself.
Emily Best: I am in my 4th year studying computer science and I will graduate the spring of 2024. I am from Seattle, Washington, but I love it here at the U. I am so grateful to be here.
INTERVIEWER: What made you decide to register for the ENTP 5800/6800 course that travels to Ghana?
EB: I thought about taking this class for a while. What started my interest in this class was as a computer science major it is hard to study abroad, so I was looking for different opportunities that could fit with my schedule because most of my classes are not offered at other universities. I considered taking this class in the fall of 2021, but I decided not to. Flash forward to summer of 2022 when I had an internship that showed me I was much more interested in the business side of organizations and software companies than I realized. I had taken one entrepreneurial class before, and I was not sure I wanted to continue on, but after the internship, I realized I was much more interested in business than I had thought. I remembered this class, and I figured this was a good chance to dip my toes in more business-related courses and travel abroad during my undergrad.
INTERVIEWER: Was it just the course that pulled you?
First found the course because of the opportunity to travel abroad to Ghana. And then I took the course because it had travel and explored more business concepts. I also wanted to develop more skills for myself that I thought this course had such as teamwork, public speaking, and communication. I work on these skills in different ways in my major, but I wanted to explore them in more ways.
INTERVIEWER: Tell us a little about the prep work you did before heading to Ghana for the business consultation portion of the course.
EB: Before going to Ghana we met weekly on Wednesday nights– meetings set up similar to a book club where we would discuss business consultation and build ideas of how we can help the businesses we would work with in Ghana.
I really liked the book The Prosperity Paradox that we read. It related very clearly to what we were doing – working with small businesses in a developing country. The Prosperity Paradox talks about how emerging businesses and emerging markets can help promote prosperity in emerging communities.
We also chose the businesses we wanted to work with and formed teams around those businesses. We started to reach out to businesses before the travel. Our business was unresponsive to our messages, so we did not get to talk to the business before we made it to Ghana. Other groups were able to make connections before leaving for Ghana.
INTERVIEWER: Which business did you work for?
EB: I worked with Gloria Rego Investments. The idea of Gloria Rego Investments is to provide jobs. Gloria, herself, has started grocery stores that sell western goods, a restaurant, and gyms, and wanted to start an event center. She starts these businesses and supports them. Also, Gloria has started a water purification business in Kpong just behind the western goods store. My understanding is they have wells on site that they can pull the water from and then run through the purification machinery and package the bottles that are squeezable packages that can be sold in stores including their store right in Kpong.
INTERVIEWER: Tell us about your consulting experience.
EB: We did not get to meet Gloria, but our main client was the manager of the store. The manager was tough to get in touch with. Once we met with him in person, he started to open up more. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed running the store and water purification. Their team had been cut back since the pandemic, so he was working with less help. He has two assistant managers underneath him that we got to meet with. They were feeling overwhelmed with how to get started after the pandemic. Their water bottles are manufactured in China, so they did have a supply chain issue to work with. They did lose lots of their big customers, and they were not sure how to get started again.
Some of the advice we gave them included the delegation of roles. The concept can be a lot to handle. We also talked about marketing because they have all of these great products, but very few people come into the store. We noticed most stores on the main street have their goods out for people to see. This building has walls, so we talked about ways to physically market goods. We talked about specific ways to market water because they want to sell more water. If they can sell more water at their grocery store it would bring more customers to their store who may purchase other goods.
INTERVIEWER: What was the most rewarding portion of the course and travel?
EB: One of the most rewarding parts of the course for me was The Prosperity Paradox. I would love to be involved with projects and companies that are trying to make a difference and help people get started especially in areas where there are not many jobs. It would be cool to provide jobs to people who need them. It was neat to read in The Prosperity Paradox how that has worked with other companies around the world. From an educational standpoint that was very beneficial.
I also loved being a consultant. We did some prep work before. Especially for me, I did not have much experience with business, I had only taken one entrepreneurial class before. I loved being in the meeting with the manager, assistant managers, and my team going back and forth about the problems they were facing and brainstorming solutions.
I loved the hands-on experience. I loved The Prosperity Paradox and what it taught.
As a global citizen, it was good to be immersed in another culture.
INTERVIEWER: Why do you think other students should take part in this course or other courses that have student experiences in West Africa?
EB: I think for this course some of the benefits students get are a specialized hand on experience. It is similar to many workplace environments such as teamwork. Even if you do not go into consulting that teamwork is important to your field. It was great to be in a professional position to talk about numbers, leadership, and strategies that your business is incorporating and wants to incorporate. It felt good to dive into the experience. Sometimes we talk about businesses and how they work in the classroom and simulate it too, but there is nothing quite like boots on the ground. And this was boots on the ground.
I think being in Western Africa, I have lived in the Dominican Republic before. That is my only other experience abroad, so that is what I could compare it to. It was good to be in Western Africa because people have an idea of what Africa looks like, which of course Africa is a whole continent and is diverse across lands. It was good to see what an emerging market looks like and realize for me it was a lot more developed than what I expected.
It was neat to see how the technology we use here is being used there on a different scale. As a computer science major to see the technology people use, see the problems that are faced by technology, and to see the technology that I work with and build used that part of the world.
INTERVIEWER: Most fun/exciting highlight of the trip?
EB: Mole National Park. It does not get much better than Mole. Driving from Tamale to Mole, we saw different landscapes. It was cool to see more of the countryside and other communities along the way.
Mole is magical and a beautiful place. And the safari.
INTERVIEWER: Any last thoughts?
EB: This is what comes to mind. I mentioned I lived in the Dominican Republic and that was my only previous experience abroad. I would love to be abroad and travel more, but that is not something I have experience with. So one of the benefits of this trip was learning some tips and ideas from other people who had traveled abroad before. I learned a lot from being there. Especially with Professor Alder and his team, who planned out the trip. One of our team members was a mother and she mentioned she normally plans all the pieces of the trip. And she said it was nice to come to this course and have everything planned and executed smoothly and safely. She had no worries or concerns on her mind. It allowed her to focus on why she was there, and I felt the same way. It was a benefit I had not considered until she brought it up. So for students and parents who may be nervous about traveling because I was a little nervous and excited. The team that organizes this experience has done it many times for the different groups. They have also thought through so many details for which I am very grateful.