#ndmba

[jeremylforbes-blog]

Mod 4

The last class day in mod 4 has arrived and this is my first post. This delay in posting should set the tone for how busy mod 4 was.

I have started each mod, following mod 1, with the fantasy that “this mod will be easier than the last.” After the exhaustion that took place in mod 3, I felt guaranteed that mod 4 would be easier. I was wrong. That being said, mod 4′s impact was equal to its workload.

My classes included Management Writing, Problem Solving, Spreadsheet Decision Modeling, and Marketing Research. All of them have contributed positively to me personally and professionally. I want to go into detail regarding Marketing Research, since it has been my favorite class so far, but I’ll just give the highlights because I can’t imagine a large amount of people being as excited about Chi Square, SPSS, and other Regression pieces as I am. The course is taught by Professor Gilbride, who is a Bayesian statistician that is passionate about his expertise and his students. Although Marketing Research was my favorite, I want to share more about Problem Solving.

Problem Solving is taught by Professor Bartkus, whose resume does more than speak for itself. The class revolves around consulting cases that are highly ambiguous and you have very little direction on how to solve them. Problem Solving had a huge impact on me and not because I want to do consulting - I don’t. Her only measure of success for the class was for us to ask better questions. Believe me that we were required to do so much more. However, in the end, a few of the questions and phrases she gave us really hit home for me.

How do we create value for our customers?

How do we capture some of that value for ourselves?

How wrong can I be and how does that change the answer?

What keeps me up at night?

In life, you only carry two things with you, your integrity and your reputation.

Think about how far you have come, and for you, there is no point in dreaming small dreams.

These questions/phrases resonated with me. First, in my upcoming summer at Amazon, I will have to answer these questions successfully in order to complete my project. Second, the last phrase reminds me of my own journey. Losing focus is easy when you don’t take the time to reflect on the past. I have to remind myself why I am here and what my goals are. With the responsibilities I have both at school and at home, my dreams can sometimes get lost in the mix. The questions/phrases above are daily reminders for me in not only my business life, but my personal life.

I have eight days until my adventure at Amazon begins. Being excited is an understatement. In 12 short weeks, I will experience new challenges and solve complex problems for a company expecting to hit $100 Billion in revenues this year. I am honored to have this opportunity and I look forward to reporting the experience over the summer.

Until next time,

- Jeremy L Forbes

[jeremylforbes-blog]

Haiti: A Look Back

As a prelude to the Notre Dame International Business Plan Competition, five fellow classmates and I traveled to Haiti in order to consult with the Haitian entrepreneurs taking part in this year’s competition. The entrepreneurs are all taking part in EGI’s training program, which provides the resources necessary to take their ideas to the next level.

Each day, we divided into two teams and met with every entrepreneur separately. This allowed us to get different perspectives and provide even more valuable feedback for the entrepreneurs. It also showcased how quickly these future business owners learn as they implemented the first team’s advice during the second meeting. We were able to have valuable conversations due to all of the work that EGI has already done with them. Every entrepreneur came prepared to present to us and was ready to answer the tough questions we had for them. One of the benefits of having non-Haitians have these conversations is that we were able to uncover many answers that are typically not talked about in the Haitian culture. Since we were unaware, the questions came naturally to us instead of being held back. This revelation was one of the most impactful portions of the consults because it really helped the entrepreneurs uncover a key element to being successful in the business world. It will also help EGI in continuing these deep conversations that were previously off limits.

During the course of the week, we learned a great deal about Haiti from these passionate entrepreneurs. Every one of them is looking to start a business that will have a positive impact on Haiti. Part of our goal was to teach them more about social entrepreneurship, but we found this to be something naturally engrained in their mentality. It might not be a formal definition of social entrepreneurship, but their heart naturally leads them to the same result. The same can be said for EGI.

Everyone that we met from EGI had both a strong sense of business and a passion for Haiti because they grew up here and run successful businesses of their own. It was easy to see the work they put in with the entrepreneurs during our meetings. EGI is grooming a strong wave of local businesses through their training program and I can’t wait to see how it continues to develop in the near future.

Toward the end of our trip we went on a hike. We were dropped off in two cars and we were picked up in one. I realized immediately that this was really a metaphor for our entire trip. We met with all of the entrepreneurs separately, but we came together in the end to discuss the best ways to make them successful. We all came to Haiti for the first time not knowing much about the country and we left with the same Haitian passion as the locals. We all arrived with different ideas, but we all left with a common vision. None of us had any idea what to expect on our trip and we all left vowing to be back. One Team, One Dream…Haiti

[jeremylforbes-blog]

Haiti: Day 5

We got to sleep-in just a little bit today since there were no meetings early in the morning. I was hopeful that more people would join me for a run in the morning after receiving four commitments the night before. Rory informed me he would not be running as I was getting ready and I realized on my way down the stairs that this could end up being a solo run. Much to my surprise, there was one person waiting for me downstairs. Thomas and I set out for a run on the same route I have been running the past few days. It was a beautiful morning run and Thomas pushed himself hard to complete it with me. We returned to the hotel and showered before heading back down for breakfast.

Before I headed down, i was lucky enough to see my wife and daughters on Facetime. They were having so much fun in the morning and I loved being able to enjoy a portion of home from so far away. After our chat, I went down to breakfast with the rest of the team and enjoyed some good conversation over eggs, toast, and espresso. isabelle and Lynn arrived to pick us up and we headed to the EGI office for our last workday with the entrepreneurs.

My team met with Wendel first and the other team met with Martine, both aspiring Haitian entrepreneurs. Wendel already has his business up and running, but he is looking to improve his quality standards, gain better business acumen, and scale his business. Wendel is currently working to learn English and only speaks it moderately well. This made the meeting a little more challenging than others, but I am glad we got to experience it. His idea is great and he is capturing a crucial market for a rare product. He is currently operating at a moderately sized scale, but he made some business decisions recently that could potentially make things difficult for him. The good thing about the situation is that he fully acknowledges the mistakes and said he continuously learns from them. Our final advice to Wendel was to make sure he digs deep into his numbers and has them flawlessly laid out, make sure to seek out business advice to those at this disposal such as EGI, and to project more confidence because he should be proud of his accomplishments and excited to share his business idea. My hope is that Wendel continues to further his business education because that will be key in successfully scaling his business to where he wants it to be. It was a pleasure meeting him and I wish him the best as he grows both as an individual and as an entrepreneur.

Next, we met with Martine and she did not speak any English. I am really glad that we got to experience the language barrier twice today and I am thankful for Isabelle who was able to translate everything seamlessly. Martine has already implemented her business idea one time, but had to stop working for an undisclosed reason. We did not have a copy of her business plan available, but she came mentally prepared with a clear and concise pitch along with all of the answers to our questions. Her idea is simple and she has a lot of relationships with people in the community, which is a key part to being a successful business in Haiti. We were all taken back by Martine's depth of understanding of how to scale her business and all of her financial projections. I can't wait to see how she performs in the business plan competition and I hope that she continues to push toward her goals.

After our meetings, we headed over to the same lunch cafe as yesterday. The goat was available on the menu today and it was delicious. Of course there were plenty of pikliz to eat after Rory and asked for more in Creole. On the walk back over to EGI, a couple of us picked up some duct tape for a creation we have in mind for tomorrow's hike to Seguin. We plan to capture a time lapse of the five-hour hike and we needed some materials to make that happen. We still have a little perfecting to do, but this was a great test-run by Thomas.

We closed our day in the office with a recap meeting and finalizing the details of the best way to provide additional feedback to the entrepreneurs. This was the last meeting at the EGI office. After four days in the office, we got to experience so much passion and the opportunity to help shape local businesses that will someday make a positive impact on the community.

We packed it up and took our normal trek up to Petionville where we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some supplies for our hike tomorrow. Then, we went back to the restaurant and gift shop from the other day for some fellow teammates to pick up some gifts to take back home. The Serenity Cove picture below is from Haiti's famous street artist, Jerry Rosembert.

We retreated back to the hotel and took a few minutes to wash up before our evening meeting with the owners of our hotel, La Reserve. Fritz, Pascal, and Daniel are looking to establish a strong competitive advantage over other hotels in the area and they wanted to speak with us and get our input. They have a solid plan put together and we got a great opportunity to gather more information from them and provide some feedback. Once finalized, they are going to send us their full concept report so we can provide any additional feedback as they look to secure investors. We were all excited about this opportunity and look forward to being a part of the process and witnessing their success in the future.

Once the meeting was over, we ordered some dinner from the hotel and enjoyed the music since it was jazz night. After that, we headed up to our rooms in order to pack for our overnight hike tomorrow. The plan is to leave at 6:00 am and we will have a five-hour hike to the top of Seguin where we will camp overnight before heading back down the following day. This is going to be such a great opportunity to let all of our Haitian experience this week set in and to enjoy more of the natural beauty the island has to offer. The toughest part will be not being able to communicate to my wife and daughters for two days, but the memories I will be able to share with them will make it worth while.

I look forward to the early morning and the company with our team as we hike to Seguin.

- Jeremy L Forbes

[jeremylforbes-blog]

Haiti: Day 4

As with every morning so far, I started the day with a run in Petionville on the streets near our hotel. I have been trying to recruit more of the team to run and had three commits as of last night, but the morning came and only Rory was ready. On our run, we passed three girls that were holding hands on their way to school. They appeared to be sisters and it made me smile as I thought about my little girls at home. I sure do miss them right now and I can't wait to see them in a few days.

After the run, we showered and headed down for our usual breakfast at the hotel where we ate together and continued discussing yesterday's meetings. We are all impressed with the passion the entrepreneurs have and really the passion of Haitians in general. Seeing the entrepreneurs dreaming big and pursuing these dreams makes me so happy! Our lovely hosts, Isabelle and Lynn, arrived and we headed down to Port Au Prince for a full day of work.

On the way to our first meeting, we stopped at Rebo, which is the local Haitian coffee shop. After learning last night about locally grown and roasted coffee in Haiti, I was eager to enjoy this espresso with a different mindset. Drinking coffee in Haiti is the first time I have experienced this type of local experience. We only have locally roasted coffee in the US since the bean is not actually grown there, but in Haiti we get to enjoy the full local experience from tree to cup.

The next stop was Collibel Sandals. This business was started by Felder, the winner of last years business plan competition where Haitian entrepreneurs work with Notre Dame MBAs to develop their business plan. This takes place with a social innovation class during module four of the MBA curriculum. At the end of the module, the entrepreneurs pitch their idea via video and then key stakeholders at Notre Dame and in Haiti vote. Felder won last year and used the winnings to open up a store in order to increase sales. Visiting his sandal factory was amazing.

We entered Collibel's rented space in the back of a warehouse and were immediately greeted by Felder with a big smile. All of his sandals are handmade and he walked us through each part of the process. He shared with us some growing pains that he has experienced and what they have done to solve them. He shared a story of their trouble sewing, which was having an impact on quality. They started out hand sewing, but the quality was not good enough. Next, they purchased a sewing machine, but it was moving too fast for them. As a result of these troubles, Felder took a class on sewing and then trained his employees to further their knowledge and the stitching is now impeccable. Felder has also transitioned to more of an assembly line system and he has increased his production capacity to about two dozen per day. This number might seem small, but it's actually huge given their limited resources. Through further conversation, Felder shared information about his other businesses, plans for scaling Collibel, and his continued social impact in the community. He also asked us a few business questions and we took this opportunity to provide him with some valuable feedback. Felder is an inspiration to the local community and I look forward to the continued growth and impact his businesses will have.

We returned to the EGI office and ordered some more local cuisine at a cafeteria attached to the hardware store next to the office. While we waited for our food to be ready, it was time to work on a presentation for social entrepreneurship. We split into three groups to tackle certain categories: Definition of Social Entrepreneurship, Examples of Social Businesses, and Group Ideas for Potential Haitian Enterprises. In the middle of this work, we had an unexpected visit from one of the entrepreneurs, Coqmard, and we decided to hear his presentation and give feedback as one big group instead of two.

His idea is very unique and he is extremely passionate about it. He has been trying to get an internship at another company in this field, but it is very challenging in Haiti because of the fear that you will steal their idea. This has presented an interesting dilemma when it comes to raising money to start his business. On an off chance, I have a couple of close contacts in the US that run similar businesses and he is very interested to know if they would allow him to intern for two months over the summer. Based on the industry, I would not see any problem with them helping Coqmard out. This internship is crucial to him because he is looking for a lot of funding and he will need to have experience for anybody to fund even a portion of his requested amount. Our feedback for Coqmard was to consider starting slightly smaller in order to have some skin in the game and to start building his reputation in the industry. Then, he can scale according to his plan. I hope that my contacts will work out and I look forward to seeing him in the US.

We ended the meeting and headed out to eat our lunch. Rory and I have really been enjoying the Haitian Pikliz. Coqmard taught Rory and I how to ask for more pikliz in Creole and Rory nailed it! The result was a lot of laughs at the table and some extra pikliz. It was a win-win. 

The day wrapped up back at the office where we discussed Coqmard's idea as a large group and prepared for the next day. 

Our productive day was rewarded with a dinner at Haiku, an upscale sushi restaurant not too far from our hotel. The food was amazing and the service was great. We all got a few different sashimi, nigiri, and rolls to split amongst the group. Due to the great service, this was our quickest meal of the week and we headed back to the hotel for some team bonding.

We all went to our rooms for a quick change of clothes and then gathered around a large table downstairs to play a few rounds of bananagrams. Since we do not need to be up so early the tomorrow, we played a little later than normal and enjoyed lots of laughs and a few local cold beverages. 

One by one we all disappeared to our rooms and turned in for the night. The learning each day has been an incredible experience and makes me even more excited for the next day to come.

- Jeremy L Forbes

[jeremylforbes-blog]

Haiti: Day 3

Today has been the most impactful day in Haiti for me. I started the day at 6:30 am by going for another run and was kindly joined by Justin since Rory was still recovering from the hills on our run last night. We ran another couple of miles with a beautiful view of Jalouzie before returning to the hotel for a shower and some breakfast.

After breakfast and a morning chat as one team, we headed to Loko Nation. The Loko Nation visit further deepened my love for local businesses for both Haiti and abroad. Watching the inner workings of this shop and seeing the art made that captures many different parts of Haitian culture was really inspiring.

Gregory, the owner who is also a local artist, made me a t-shirt with the above design that depicts the Jalouzie neighborhood within the hair of a woman. The print was made from black foil on a charcoal gray shirt. He is currently trying to figure out how to scale his business and build more of an online presence, but his challenge is the lack of online transaction companies in Haiti. 

After leaving Loko Nation, we headed to the EGI office where we split into our two teams and alternated meetings with two local entrepreneurs. The first one was Auguste, a younger adult in his early twenties, with a delivery idea that has a huge opportunity to grow within Haiti. He is currently studying data analytics at a local college and goes to school full time, which is the part of the business that he is really interested in. His youth and inexperience brings a lot of gaps in his business plan, but this allowed us to provide him an impactful learning experience. Like the other entrepreneurs so far, he is quick to learn from feedback and rapidly uses it to push his business plan forward. There is a lot of hope in Auguste and I look forward to seeing his idea come to fruition. 

The teams switched and we started our meeting with another entrepreneur, Francklin, who's idea is unique because it's not something that I would typically consider as a startup. That being said, his farming idea was very well put together and it has the most potential so far in terms of low investment and high return. Francklin's company also focuses on a purely local business model where the entire process is regenerative. Since we were the second team to meet with him, he was already using the first team's recommendations in his pitch. This is a perfect example of how quickly these entrepreneurs learn and take advantage of the suggestions from us. We are all interested to see how Francklin follows through with investors and his growth plan. 

After the second meeting, we went to a hotel near the EGI office and enjoyed some more local cuisine. All of us took part in the buffet option, which included fried pork, chicken, plantains, broccoli, pasta, and my personal favorite, pikliz. This was the spiciest slaw of the week and my favorite so far. We were joined on this lunch by a fellow Notre Dame alumnus, Adam Osielski, who is working with Patrick Brun on a solar power business based in Haiti called Energy Central. He has been great to have around on this trip because he brings a unique American perspective since he has spent considerable time in both Haiti and the US.

After lunch we ran some errands with Isabelle and took in more of the local culture. We went to a shopping center at the bottom of Jalouzie and visited a high-end store that sold watches, eye glasses, and sun glasses. Next, we went to an electronics store, which would be classified as a boutique electronics store in the US. The dynamic in this area is interesting because the neighborhood is not the best yet there are high-end stores.  We had to be careful with what people see in your vehicle because of theft.  

On the way back, we passed a park in Petionville and the biggest church in Haiti, Eglise Saint Pierre de Petionville. There was recently a large memorial service held here to honor the many people that died 50 years ago during the Duvalier Massacre in Haiti on April 26, 1964. Isabelle shared her stories of family members that were killed in this massacre and why so much time passed before actually holding a memorial service in their honor.

Once back at the hotel, one team met with Carme-Souze from the other night and my team got together to provide written feedback for her.

Both of those meetings wrapped up in about two hours and we quickly loaded up and headed to a local restaurant called Mozaik where we met with the country director of Root Capital, Patrick Dessources. We spent a lot of time speaking with him about the Haitian coffee industry and the introduction of the first fish processing facility in Haiti. Most of the EGI team joined us for this event and it was a great opportunity to learn more about the positive growth opportunities in Haiti.

After leaving Mozaik we went to the hotel and discussed some of the days events, enjoyed a local Prestige (the 2000 and 2012 World Beer Cup Winner for Lager), and played a game of Yuker. The productive day came to a close and we retreated to our rooms for rest.

With each day better than the next, I can't wait for tomorrow!

- Jeremy L Forbes

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Haiti: Day 2

Today started out with an early morning breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Isabelle and Lynn picked us up and we went to the office for a while before heading to a tour of the Barbancourt Rhum Distillery.

There is no designated tour guide at Barbancourt, but an exciting chemical engineer came to take us around. This turned out to be an even better experience because Vladimir knows everything about the process and the detail we got about the rhum was exactly what we were looking for. Barbancourt is a fully regenerative distillery with its only waste coming in the form of CO2 because of the expense associated with harnessing it. They burn the remnants from the sugar cane, which produces steam to heat the fermented mixture. Then, they use the sugar cane juice left behind from the distillation to fertilize their sugar cane crops located around the facility. Barbancourt is nearly a zero waste facility and we were all impressed by that.

After the tour and tasting, we went to lunch at a restaurant attached to an art gallery and a gift shop. The art and jewelry was very interesting and included a lot of paintings with sequins on them (not pictured), which was something none of us had witnessed before. The majority of our party ordered the grilled fish, but other dishes included shrimp brochettes, conch, and fried goat. All of the dishes included a Hatian staple of spicy slaw, called pikliz, that all of us have come to love, especially me.

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel where Rory and I quickly changed clothes and took off on a couple-mile run. The hills in Haiti are some of the steepest I have ever ran, but we muscled through it. During the run, we stopped briefly for a picture of the beautiful view looking down on Port Au Prince.

I had to hurry through a shower in order to make my team's meeting with the first entrepreneur from EGI, Carme-Souze. She is a culinary master that hopes to open a restaurant in her home town where there isn't a restaurant for at least 20 minutes. Her idea would bring a unique experience to both locals and tourists as it would provide a hangout place and a stopping point on a very popular route. The total project idea is extensive, but a tiered phase approach will allow Carme-Souze to realize her idea in the short term and help her fully build her dream in the long term. My favorite part of her idea is the focus on local food with no plans to use imported products, which is not very common. This was a great talk that resulted in a breakthrough in communication, as she talked about something that Haitians do not normally open up about, and the realization of what she needs to complete in order to secure funding. My hope is that on our next trip to Haiti we will be able to enjoy some of this fine local cuisine at her restaurant.

We finished the night with dinner at the hotel and then retreated to our rooms where we prepared for tomorrow's events.

- Jeremy L Forbes

[jeremylforbes-blog]

Mod 3 and Haiti

There is always that feeling when you have an intense workout and it feels like the hardest thing you've ever done. Your body breaks down and you doubt that ability to work any harder than you just did. You find yourself the next workout and it is even harder and more intense than the last. The cycle repeats. This is the best description for module 3 of the Notre Dame MBA program this year. 

There were so many times where the voice inside me said that there is no way to get this much work done in a week. Then I completed it all and was exhausted at the end of the week. I thought to myself how that would probably be the hardest week I would ever have (at least in b-school) and then the next week was even harder. Just in case that doesn't fully explain the rigor, I spent more time with my family during finals this week than any other week this mod.

As challenging as this mod was, I must admit that I learned the most during this time. Not only did I learn the depths of Macroeconomics, Forecasting and Predictive Analytics, Strategic Decision Making, and Finance, I also learned a lot about myself. I learned just how much my intellectual side can be broken down and how to still perform at high levels when that happens. I learned how to further balance the demands of life and how to make sure my wife knows she is appreciated for everything she does. I learned so much more in this mod than I expected. Although I didn't see it at the time, I can look back and be so thankful for how thinly we were all stretched because of how much more successful we will be as a result.

Now with finals completed and another module in the books, five classmates and I are embarking on a journey to Haiti as part of our interterm intensive. It is sad to leave my family, but the opportunity to make an impact on Haitian lives is special opportunity that I am honored to be part of.

This journey is going to bee an eye-opening experience and I look forward to landing today in Port Au Prince.

- Jeremy L Forbes