The Anti-Monster Job Search - WPC Graduate Career Webinar

Today I attended the Anti-Monster Job Search Webinar by John Mccrudden.  It was a very well presented and informative webinar and John Mccrudden himself was very accessible during the entire presentation.  This is the first time I have participated in a webinar and very satisfied with the technology.  It is easy to access, and the ease of communication over the phone allowed me to ask questions and participate in discussion as if I were physically in the room. 

The material consisted of sensible job searching and networking techniques that perhaps eludes the common sense in many of us.  There was a discussion on the fallacy of depending on Monster.com for job searching, which is actually a fairly exploitative job search tool, with very few jobs compared to the entire job market and many more viewers than there are positions listed.  Instead of Monster, Mr. Mccrudden advises on using websites such as the US Department of Labor, NAICS, and Hoovers to research industries and jobs of interest to develop of list of employers that we would otherwise never know about.  Mr. Mccrudden also breifly covered some topics on Dynamic Networking which I believe is an invaluable skill that every graduate should have.  I highly recommend this webinar. 

Bogra District (August 18)

On August 18th, I partook in an overnight trip to Bogra, located in the Rajshahi Division in northern Bangladesh to survey and analyze three Grameen social businesses, Grameen Danon, Grameen Eye Care, and Grameen Livestock and Fisheries.  Bogra is an important commerce and trade center in Bangladesh with much activity from various development organizations.  Bogra also has historical significance as the ancient capital of Bengal and near the site of an archaeological excavation dating to the 3rd century BC. 

I was very impressed with Bogra once I arrived.  It appeared much cleaner and organized than Dhaka urban areas and with a more planned infrastructure.  Our accommodations reflected my first impressions, when we were placed in nice brick homes which were air-conditioned.  We were surrounded by Grameen sponsored fisheries.  It was an incredibly beautiful place and at night, the sky was filled with fire flies, adding to its mystic. 

The next day, we toured the three Grameen initiatives, beginning with Grameen Danone.  Grameen Donone is a social business formed in 2006, as a joint partnership between Grameen and Groupe Donone, a dairy products manufacturer, which Americans know as Dannon.  Grameen Donone's objective is to provide yogurt products to poverty stricken families at very low cost, in order to provide needed nutrients to the poor.  The facility we toured was high-tech, clean and very professionally operated.  There were plans to begin constructing a second plant with even greater capacity.  The facility was producing 4,000L of yogurt per day, with a capacity of 10,000L.  One of the main goals of the Grameen Donone was to increase education and marketing efforts to promote the products, which in turn could allow them to increase production to full capacity.  Due to increased commodity costs related to the economic recession, the prices of the products had to go up recently.  This drew some criticism as to the logic of planning a second facility when the first is running below capacity and no where near meeting goals to cover initial start up costs by 2012.  The idea, however, is still a great attempt to alleviate mal-nutrition in under-developed areas.

Grameen Eye Care was the next facility we visited.  This facility was absolutely amazing, offering eye care at extremely affordable prices.  The center was able to cover initial start up costs after two years of operation.  Much of the equipment had been donated by governments and NGO's, allowing them to trim on expenses.  This social business model of offering health care as demonstrated by Grameen eye-care is an ingenious idea and should be replicated in the United States.  I made a point to research the replication possibilities further upon completion of my internship.

The Yunus Center (August 16)

The first order of business on August 16 was to meet in the conference room and review our trip to the villages.  Most comments were focused on criticism of center and group procedures, such as with interest calculations, redundant or ineffectual aduiting, lack of MIS technology, and possible group member exploitation.  I strongly agreed with every point of criticism, and even though, in my opinion the net benefit of Grameen's initiatives are higher than its costs, these concerns should not be ignored.  After the meeting, I spent part of the day editing documents and working on SOP's to stream-line office procedures as requested by my supervisor. 

The second half of my day was spent in meetings.  First, I attended a presentation in the Yunus Center, which is a think tank dedicated to promoting academic research and offering support for Grameen initiatives and social businesses that offer sustainable solutions to address poverty around the world.  The presentation was made multi-national group of full-time paid interns.  It was a comprehensive presentation featuring projects in Italy, Germany, Spain, France, India, China and the U.S.  The Yunus Center is in partnership with many educational institutions and governments and publishes numerous development publications.

Grameen Knitwear

Grameen Knitwear is a venture located in a special area in Bangladesh called Export Processing Zone (EPZ).  All goods manufactured within this area are for export only and restricted for domestic consumption.  The gated area is well taken care of with high security, with the purpose of attracting foreign investment and domestic investment that conforms to the regulations imposed within the zone.  Employee's are paid a higher wage within the EPZ and provided with free health-care.  Working conditions are clearly much better within the EPZ compared to manufacturers outside its jurisdiction.  It is meant to provide an example and model for progress. 

Grameen Knitwear is a textiles manufacturer and manufactures clothing for many popular name brands across the globe, from the United States to Germany to the Middle East.  Grameen Knitwear produced about 36 thousand shirts per day with a 90-120 day turn around period.  The tour of the facility was quite amazing, with many of the tasks using manual labor.  Grameen has covered its initial capital investment since its inception in 1999.  Worker conditions are strictly monitored to ensure conformity with standards required of foreign companies operating in Bangladesh.

Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution by A.J. Langguth

I just finished reading Patriots: The Men Who Started the American Revolution by A.J. Langguth.  It is a phenomenal book detailing the events that led to the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary war, along with a thorough narration of the events themselves.  This book is not a monotonous time-line of events, but more a colorful story about those who played a role in the founding of the United States.  A.J. Langguth delves in the personal lives of the American Revolutionaries and their antagonists, and narrates very intimate incidences that unfolded between them. 

For anyone interested in American history, this book provides a fascinating perspective that should not be missed.  After reading Patriots, I've developed a fascination for figures such as Benjamin Franklin, who was a man very much ahead of his time, and Abigail Adams, the wife of John Adams, an important and often unacknowledged revolutionary, who's foresight extended beyond many of her fellow male patriots.

Shorshodi Village Day 5 (August 12)

Thursday, August 12th, was my last day in Shorshodi.  We conducted a center meeting, helped with loan disbursements and had a last summary meeting before we had to head back to Dhaka.  Luckily, we also had the opportunity to interview a struggling member.  Struggling members are those individuals who are in extreme poverty and beg to survive.  These individuals are allowed to borrow up to 5K Taka to help basic needs or to establish a trade to lift themselves up from their condition.  Struggling member loans are not obligated to pay back the loan, but are encouraged to do so, in order to become a full member with extended benefits. 

Razia Khutum was a 50 year old widow with two sons.  She has had to resort to begging time to time in order to make ends meet.  Recently, she has taken out a 2K Taka loan to help finance a basket weaving business.  She showed us her goods, but confessed she has trouble marketing her products, and is 5 weeks late on her installment.  Much of the loan she had taken out had gone to buying food instead of her business.  Unfortunately, Grameen had not given her any counsel or financial advice with regards to loan she had taken, as they claim to.  Although the struggling members loan program is noble one and has had many successes among those who are suffering from extreme poverty,  it is a losing venture for Grameen Bank, and understandably so, due to the lack of attention given to those members. 

We went over some last minute topics and questions with the managers before we started back for Dhaka.  It was an exciting and informative week and I made many great new friends in Shorshodi.  My experience working at the branch level opened my eyes to the inner-workings of Grameen micro-credit.  Grameen had accomplished much in Shorshodi Village, and helped spur development by supporting closet entrepreneurs.  I had also seen enough to develop strong criticisms with some operational practices. 

Shorshodi Village Day 4 (August 11)

Wednesday, August 11th, we were to shadow a center manager for part of the day, conduct loan utilization analysis on randomly selected members, interview a struggling member, and finally travel to the Area office for a tour.  The group was a little late to start, so we had to meet the manager at the center after breakfast.  It was a usual meeting, but with a much more communicative and inquisitive crowd.  After listening to new loan proposals and collecting installments, we proceeded to the next center meeting about half a mile away.  At the next center meeting we performed our usual tasks, except the group of ladies at this particular center was even more inquisitive than the last.  They asked us many questions about where we come from and the purpose of our internship.  They were very interested to know what kind of crops are grown in our respective countries. 

After our second meeting, we took a break and spent some time talking with the locals.  We then headed back to the branch office to begin loan utilization audits.  Each center manager must perform several loan utilization audits per day, which is essentially auditing the financial statements of members with outstanding loans.  Several members were randomly selected and set off to their homes to inquire about their business operations.  This task, I felt, was a complete waste of time.  Rather, the method used by the center manager was ineffective and accomplished absolutely nothing.  We essentially asked the member how things were going, and received the typical everything is going well response, inspected the assets and went off the next audit after a quick glance at their bank book.  I suspect that center managers are performing these audits out of formality, without following prescribed methods they were trained with.

On the way back to the office, we had a chance to observe a school run by BRAC International, which is a development NGO based in Bangladesh.  The kids well behaved and the teacher were energetic and appeared very passionate.  They sang a song for us in Bengali before we left.