Learning all about Project Management and India

The class sessions have been really great so far at teaching us about India and what it will be like to work with our client, CORD, while we are in country. I'd now like to take the time to talk about each of the classes thus far a little more in depth.

Class 1

The first week was all about getting us used to working in our project teams and helping us to understand just how much work was ahead. The night started with a session led by Jeff McMullen, Kelley's Social Entrepreneurship professor, that introduced us to IDEO's method of "design thinking". This was an amazing way to start the 7 weeks because it helped us to see exactly how important it is to just LISTEN to what our clients are telling us. We must first understand the problem from their perspective and only then can we use that perspective to form potential recommendations. The first half of the session ended with a hands on bridge building competition. Let's just say I am VERY glad my team will not be responsible for building any architectural structures while in India!! :)

The second half of the night was devoted to project management. For this half of the evening we had the Consulting academy director, John Wisneski, come in and walk us through the necessary steps to effectively manage a project. It was during this session that the reality of the tasks at hand sank in for many of us. It was also during this session that I became even more excited and ready to get to work on helping the rural artisans of Northern India!

Class 2

The second class was simply amazing! After learning in the first week what it takes to effectively perform an international consulting engagement, it was time to begin learning more about our destination of choice, India. The evening started off with a discussion led by Sumit Ganguly, Director of the India Studies Program at IU. Sumit walked us through the political history of India and how that history has shaped the current landscape. We could all see his excitement and the love of country Professor Ganguly has and walked away from the discussion very energized and excited for the rest of the GLOBASE program.

The second half of the class session was a macroeconomic case discussion led by none other than Phil Powell, Professor and Chairman of the MBA program. Phil was able to take us through the country's macroeconomic history, tieing in much of what was discussed during the first half of the evening. The most important take away for me from this session was Phil's insistence that we look at why India made some of the economic decisions they had made in the past. I was reminded that no matter how something looks, we must realize that people, as rational human beings, will always do what they think is best and that it is in understanding why these decisions are made that true insights into the economy and culture are gained.

Class 3

The third class session was pretty interesting as well. It started off with a discussion of religion led by Professor David Haberman from the Religious Studies department at IU. Because we are going to a Hindu based organization, it is imperative that we understand what Hinduism is and how we can expect to encounter it during our stay in Northern India. Luckily for us, Professor Haberman's specialty is Hinduism in Norther India! This part of the session allowed us to not only better understand what Hinduism is, but also helped to build our expectations of some the experiences and practices we will have the opportunity to view and/or take part in once in India.

The evening ended with a discussion of microfinance led by GLOBASE India's facutly advisor, Jim Wahlen. The session started off with a discussion of the book "Banker to the Poor" by Muhammad Yunus. This allowed us to better understand how microfinance came to be and the problems it was initially meant to solve. This was followed up by a discussion of what microfinance looks like today in India in general and at CORD more specifically. Given that many of the villagers we will be working with participate in the peer lending program at CORD it is very important for us to have an understanding of how it works.

Next up in Class 4.... Indian Culture and Project Specific Learnings!

GLOBASE India - Information Overload

It is amazing how much information there has been to take in over the past 4 weeks! We have learned about project management and design thinking, Indian politics and the Indian macroeconomy, and Hinduism and microfinance in our last three class sessions. On top of that we are taking Hindi lessons once a week to enable us to speak basic phrases once we are on the ground at CORD. It has not been all work however. We did take some time to have a party at Jim's house a few weeks back. As you can see, it was great getting to know each other more and the food wasn't so bad either!

All in all, it has been an incredible experience thus far and I can't wait to experience the remaining weeks until we leave for India. There are some great things coming... Learning more about the culture, hearing from a photojournalist from National Geographic that has spent a lot of time photographing India, practice project presentations... It's a whirlwind for sure, but one I am very glad to be in!

Late Night Phone Calls

Due to the significant time difference between us here in Bloomington, IN and our CORD team in Sidhbari, India, each team has started their project work with late night phone calls with our liaison at CORD, Kusum. Most of the teams have chosen 11 PM phone conference calls to learn more about each project. In the past couple of weeks, we have taken this time to ask all of our basic questions as we are nailing down the objectives of each of our projects.

For example, last week the retail team had an 1.5 hr conversation with Kusum to understand what the scope of our project is. Our project is focused on increasing the supply of finished handicraft items such as clothing, bags, paintings, etc. Our conversation taught us that the women have multiple constraints that prevent them from producing these goods on a consistent basis. Now it is our responsibility to find a way to motivate the women to produce more. Our final recommendations will help CORD continue to truly empower the women of the villages that they work with.

Kelley School of Business GLOBASE India Recognition

The Financial Times recognized the amazing Kelley School of Business and the work that the GLOBASE India team is doing with CORD. Check it out here!

Salwar Kameez

As you know from previous posts, CORD is situated in a small village called Sidhbari at the foothills of the Himalayas. The women in this village, including the women entrepreneurs who work with CORD, wear traditional salwar kameez. As future visitors there, the GLOBASE India team wants to be sure to do whatever we can to fit in with their culture, so the women on our team have purchased salwar kameez for our trip directly from the women we will be working with. The CORD women have taken our measurements and handmade the most beautiful salwar kameez you'll ever see. Take a look at these photos!

Kicking Off GLOBASE India 2011

The teams have been selected and our projects have been announced!. Starting the day we return from the holiday break (January 10, 2011), we will begin an unforgettable journey. GLOBASE India's focus will be on building the entrepreneurial capability of the women at CORD through the following projects:

• Kangra Paintings - There is high demand for Kangra paintings, but there are few artists who are willing and capable to create these paintings. Currently, the paintings are created primarily by young hearing-impaired artists who work at a studio at the CORD center. The major issue here is on supply and in getting artists to do enough paintings to meet a high demand. We must focus on how to get more artists, which requires identifying people with sufficient artistic talent and interest and understanding how they are incentivized.
• Retail including Sewing, Weaving, and Knitting Products - Currently women entrepreneurs associated with CORD are trained on how to do sewing, knitting, and weaving production in their homes. The goods that they produce are then sent to one of the 3 CORD retail sites and sold to consumers, whose revenue is passed to the entrepreneur. The students need to evaluate the 3 sites for ways to improve merchandising. Their main focus should be on increasing the supply of all merchandise and maintaining enough product in the stores.
• Microcredit Review - CORD operates a microfinance bank where their entrepreneurs are the clients. The team will focus on completing a review of the banking process and the groups utilizing the banking. A few areas that will need further investigation include the competition in the banking community and the effectiveness of the microcredit arrangements.
• Vermi Compost - There is enough supply of vermi compost products as there are several producers in the area. However, the key challenges involves supply chain and marketing. From the supply chain perspective, the team will focus on identifying the best logistical process to transport the vermi compost from the producers to the marketplace. From the marketing perspective, the team should make recommendations on how to package the product and market it to consumers.

CORD Video

Watch this incredible video clip of our partner in India, CORD.