Studytrip NL 2015

The first couple of days of the study strip were mainly about getting to know each other, the Hague and the Netherlands. Hereafter it was time for more serious matters: The business cases.

Company visits

On Wednesday all participants were spread out over the country, from Heereveen to Helmond and from Enschede to Haarlem to visit the company of their business case. Because of course you can read about a company and their business ideas and challenges, but in order to get a better sense of the background of the organization, it helps to see it with your own eyes and talk to its people. This led to company tours, firing questions and some shopping at Vlisco’s outlet.

Expertise Lab

To gain even more input for the business case several experts were invited to share their expertise and knowledge with participants on Thursday. Five PUM experts, senior volunteer experts who used to work in business in emerging markets, advised students not only on the business case but also on the Ghanaian context. A simple but very useful tip according to one expert is to learn some words in a local language to create some goodwill.

Dutch night

In order to digest the information overload it was time for some relaxing Thursday night. The Dutch participants had organized a Dutch night for some more integration, starting with the Ghana New Quizeniss Challenge. Even though they gained a lot of information on the Netherlands already, it was hard for the Ghanaians to believe that actually The Netherlands is not part of the Dutch national anthem, while Germany and Spain are mentioned. After the quiz, some typical old Dutch games were introduced, such as spijkerpoepen (nail pooping: wearing trousers with a nail and try to fit it into a bottle) and the stoelendans (chairdance, where you dance until the music stops and then sit down as soon as possible, but there are less chairs than people). The Dutch night was a great boost for teambuilding and it created even more enthusiasm among all participants.

Plan of action studytrip Accra and visit Ghanaian embassy

On Friday the teams had time to work on their plan of action for the studytrip in Accra. In the afternoon there was a visit to the Ghanaian embassy. The group was being informed on Ghanaian policy and how Ghana and The Netherlands collaborate and try to stimulate business in both countries. After gathering the last input and advices here, everyone finished its plan on Saturday morning. In the afternoon the plans were finally revealed and presented: Which stakeholders will they be talking to and what villages and organizations will be visited during field trips. Of course direct competitors could not listen, since it is still a competition.

Next stop: Ghana

On Sunday a visit was made to a Ghanaian church in ‘de Bijlmer’ in Amsterdam and the studytrip ended with sightseeing Amsterdam. Monday morning the Ghanaians flew back to Ghana. Next week the Dutch will follow. It was a week full of new impressions, teambuilding, hard work and fun. Next week everyone will take some rest to gain new energy, but of course business never sleeps so participants will also try to already plan appointments for the study trip in Accra. Because a great start has been made this week, but there is also still plenty of work to do in Ghana from August 6th.