While the ladies in Walakuba were making our beads, we took a side trip to Rwanda to experience this country and go trekking to see the chimpanzees and mountain gorillas.  Our flight took us  to Kigali, where we were met by our guide, Enos. Enos was very knowledgable about Rwandan (and Ugandan) history. Originally from Uganda, he speaks many native languages, and added a lot of “local color” to our trip.

Our first trek to see the chimpanzees was one of the hardest hikes we had ever taken!  We went up and down the mountains (no paths of course … just  guide with a machete…)!  We trekked for about four hours and only had a few glimpses of the chimps.  They were very speedy at moving though the jungle — and they seemed to want to avoid us!  One tracker would have a sighting of the chimp family and would radio our guide.  We would hustle (the best we could) to that spot only to find that the chimps had moved!  Oh well.  We really gained an appreciation for how well the chimps are acclimated to this type of jungle!

Rwanda offers some very sobering memorials to the genocide of 1994.  We were there during the 20th anniversary of this mass slaughter.  And, instead of sweeping this history under the carpet, the Rwandans have adopted a “never again” approach to the telling of the story.  Many school children were visiting the memorials and there were billboards everywhere reminding people to remember the horror of those days.

The highlight of the visit to Rwanda was our gorilla trek.  We started out early in the morning and were joined by our other trekkers at a very organized trail head. Enos relayed our previous chimp experience, and lobbied for a trek to a gorilla family who was relatively close by!  This was a good thing, as we were still a bit sore from the chimp adventure.

We hiked for several hours, and arrived in this clearing where a gorilla family was enjoying the jungle. We saw the silver back, several moms, a baby, and many young gorillas playing in the trees.  It was an exhilarating experience to be able to witness their life in the wild.  Even though the trek is quite pricey, the funds go to conservation of this amazing species.

This hour was one of the most memorable hours of our life. Being “up close and personal” was amazing.

We continued on our journey and ended up back in Uganda, for another gorilla trek.  Our hotel near the impenetrable forest was beautiful, and perched high on a hill. (This was a fantasy hotel built by a German woman who had been inspired by the location.)

We were very impressed by the quality of roads and beauty of Rwanda.  Being here with a terrific guide was a treat.

We even taught Enos a new skill!

Flying from Accra to Kampala, we traveled through … Dubai!

Our options for this segment were not ideal, since there are no direct flights. The four options were:  spending the night in the Nairobi airport for a 4 am departure (hmm… not so good); spending the night in the Lagos airport (ugh!); traveling through Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) with a long middle of the night layover (again… not so attractive); or flying a bit further on Emirates with a three hour 6 – 9 am stop in Dubai. As all the choices were the same price, we opted for the Dubai route.

When we landed in Kampala, we were met by a driver who took us to Jinja, a bustling town on Lake Victoria. This is where the Nile River starts its long journey. We checked into our peaceful guesthouse and crashed. Continue reading →

To make sure our jewelry is being made to the highest standards, in the right colors, and in fair-wage working environments, we traveled to Africa to visit our suppliers in Ghana and Uganda.

Landing in the Accra airport was like coming home. Gone were the butterflies and trepidation we felt when arriving for the first time in 2013.

This time, we knew the drill:

1. Stand close to the door of the bus from the plane; get off quickly to be near the front of the immigration line.
2. Wave our proof of yellow fever vaccinations in front of the Health Officer.
3. Proceed slowly in the queue to get our passports stamped.
4. Show our Resident Permits.
5. Stamp, stamp. Stamp, stamp. Stamp, stamp.

Tony, our favorite driver, greeted us with a smile, and took us to 5A, our old apartment. Continue reading →

Sorry for the lapse in blog posts!  In the last few months we’ve been “crazy busy” in a good way. We’ve been working in Santiago and have been on the road.

As part of our effort to understand customer needs and wants, we took a three-week trip to the US in late May/early June.  We visited Stanford, Harvard, University of Texas, Texas A&M, and Baylor and interviewed potential customers to find out their views about our RahRah4Good jewelry.

As much as this might sound like a boondoggle, it was real work!  We were constantly showing our jewelry and soliciting feedback. Continue reading →

Slowly but surely, we are making progress on our social enterprise, RahRah4Good.

Our accomplishments to date include:

• Analyzed market size and segmentation. (We are MBAs, after all!) Sport fan apparel and accessories is a $20B per year global market, 75% in the US and mostly involving university teams. We also have looked at the established fan jewelry products. We analyzed the relative size of team fan bases and also gained an understanding of the range of team colors and color combinations.

• Researched numerous jewelry designs with the Startup Chile entrepreneurs.  It was interesting to note the difference in preferences across demographics.  We narrowed our offerings based on the feedback.

• Identified five jewelry workshops in Uganda and Ghana as potential sourcing partners. This has involved a lot of emails, Skype chats and video conferences. All these producers employ local women to make jewelry, seem capable of scaling production and are anxious to export.

• Selected the test markets for our original production runs. We’ve looked at the sizes of the fan bases and assortment of color schemes of various universities in the US, and have selected four colleges — Stanford, Harvard, University of Texas and Texas A&M as our test markets. (Distribution contacts for any of these universities are welcome!)

• Specified the details for the samples to be produced by the African sources. This has included a lot of photos and bead-by-bead specifications to insure uniformity. We’ve put in orders for samples with all the workshops and expect delivery any day. Part of what we are trying to figure out is a style of communication that makes commitments clear.

• Planned a trip to the four US universities to show samples and refine potential distribution strategies. We’re scheduled to travel April 22 – May 11. At present we are planning marketing tests at 3-4 US campuses in the fall involving college bookstores, social media/ecommerce and partnerships with on-campus organizations.

Continue reading →