Team Rwanda - or part if it!

I spent this past weekend in Chicago and had the opportunity to (finally!) meet Dave Ormesher, CEO of Global Relief and Development Partners (www.grdpartners.org).
L-R Elizabeth Cox, Dave Ormesher, and me.

We will be travelling to Rwanda in November to complete the last of 4 (for yr 1) entrepreneurial workshops, continue to work with orphans at Gisimba Orphanage and Faith Victory Association, and we'll have a presentation for local entrepreneurs to register for the 2011 GRDP workshops series.

President Kagame wins election

I'm a little behind on my Rwanda updates but here's some recent news on the elections from Rwanda earlier this month.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/08/201081011220514123.html

3rd 2010 workshop complete

In 78 days I will return to Rwanda to continue working with entrepreneurs in Kigali and continue supporting a couple of orphanages - however we can!

Dave Ormesher, CEO of Global Relief and Development Partners, is currently in Rwanda and here are pieces from an email he sent me this morning.

Finished another great workshop, our third in the 2010 series. I also did a module on Building a World Class Brand to Compete in the new East African Community. Big hit...

Then after lunch...Everyone got the positive impact of Free Days on relationships... But when I quoted the statistic that Coach clients who double their free days (aka holidays) double their income, the crowd let out a collective gasp.

We had an informal coffee reception the night before the workshop, and then tomorrow morning I and two other American entrepreneurs are holding back-to-back 45 min 1:1s with entrepreneurs out on the patio at the Serena Hotel. Then a swing by Gisimba and then a dash for the airport to go to Nairobi.

The election here was amazing. Very peaceful and orderly. I went to a couple of polling stations. And then I went to the national stadium at 8pm for the celebration. You may have seen a few of my Facebook pics. It was amazing. I went down onto the field which was packed with thousands of people all dancing to the live music of a series of pop Rwandan acts on stage. I got myself a bright red RPF campaign shirt the day before and wore it as I danced my way through the crowd right up to the stage. I became quite the celebrity. Or oddity. Then at midnight I went over to a private big-donor party at one of the new hotels and hung out with the celebs until about 4am. It was around that time that the gov’t declared the next day a national holiday... Good thing.

There is so much optimism and excitement here. Everyone feels like the last seven years were focused on building infrastructure, and now they feel they are ready to rock.

Thank you to the Toronto team for supporting me with the customized presentations and the detailed coach guides! You guys are the best. People love the fact that the content is in their context, and it makes it so easy to present.

Cheers!

-do