Microfranchises in Jamaica

Ya man. During the month of October I spent 2 weeks in Jamaica as an associate consultant for Fairbourne Consulting. Check out the video that the film company Good Line put together about the project. I'm only in there a few times, but just know that all this footage was taken the 2nd week we were there, in the areas where we were working.



The trip was a great experience, and I'm really hoping for the success of the project we started there. This trip was the first of many. We were doing the initial market analysis for setting up microfranchises run by youth in the inner-city neighborhoods of Kingston. We worked with the Jamaican government's program called Youth Upliftment Through Employment (YUTE).

We held focus groups in different communities, and walked the streets talking to shop owners and consumers.


We held nightly "brainloads" to share our individual knowledge from the day's work and map it on our gigantic wall of post-its. This is the boss, Jason Fairbourne:


We had to decide what products or services could best be run as a small business by Jamaican youth, and making the right choice depended on a few different things:
(1) who were our potential business partners?,
(2) how fast could we set up and do trainings?,
(3) what products or services are lacking in these neighborhoods?,
(4) what business would youth be excited to do?,
(5) what are consumers asking for?, and
(6) what would work long-term and could scale to all of Jamaica?

Those are just a few examples I can think of at the moment. In the end we reported back with 3 real potential businesses, and 2 fall-back business plans. It was great getting to know the team I worked with, and it was especially great getting to know Jamaicans. As I've come to understand the kind of lives Jamaicans live in the neighborhoods we visited, I really want this project to be a solution for their youth. There isn't much hope for them, and I hope this helps change that.



Business solutions for development, folks. It's pretty rad.

Here are some selected pics of the trip!

:)

All else of Summer 2011, and an update on the NOW

This is the last post about summer trips and fun, I swear. I can't imagine it's all that interesting, but I almost feel an obligation to this poor neglected blog. This post feels very self-focused but I'll just humor myself with thinking that whoever reads this wants to know about my life... yeah.

We took a trip to Tahoe with Justin and Melissa's family. Here's cute little Olivia doing a pose on a "chair" rock. This was during a hike down to the lake - good times!


Hopefully it doesn't make you gag, but I just wanted to show off my square toe! This was actually from the Narrows trip I posted about before, but I forgot to show off how my toe became square (while ALL toes became wrinkly) after hiking in water all day.


I went with Bryan and Steve Sahlin skiing on the 4th of JULY!! Snowbird opened the slopes on the 4th for the first time in years. I snowboarded while they skied.


While working for 'In Our Own Quiet Way' over the summer, we hosted the Ambassador of Kenya on his visit to Utah. He's the one in the middle. This is us at Utah's World Trade Center. Cool huh?


Soooo I went on the Rock Canyon hike below with my friend Micah and his dog in the spring. I think that's Timpanogos behind me but I'm not sure. We got lost on the way down (by exploring off the trail) and a 4 hour hike turned into an 8 hour hike with permanent scarring on my legs from the brush we tore through and carried the dog through...in the rain. The picture was taken before that part, and before climbing through the snow to the top. Micah was leading us so he made up for the folly with not 1 but 3 Jamba juices (because I bet him we'd get lost and I won).


Later on, Jordan and I did a sprint triathlon that his stake put together in Springville. This is us after the race. Jordan finished with a great time, even when he ran slow with me for the first bit of the race. I finished...ok. :)


Speaking of races, one of the highlights of my summer was running in the Grand Teton Relay. We had a team split between 2 vans. We ran a total of 180 miles, of which I ran something like 16 or 17 miles... I can't remember. Anyway, it was great!!
These first 2 pics are of the hand off from me to the next guy. The "baton" was a slap-on bracelet that I'm grabbing for.




It was super cool/creepy to run in the middle of the night. The bad part: my knees were killed during my second leg of the race.


The race ended in Jackson Hole.
This is most of the team in our Sunday clothes after the race. Taking in the fresh air and a good view of the Tetons before going home.


Welp, the update on NOW is that I just moved to Washington, D.C. in search of a job. In the morning though, I'm going on a 2 week trip to Jamaica with Fairbourne Consulting. We'll be doing market analysis in an area outside of Kingston, in order to establish a new line of microfranchises. It'll be great. That's the gist of what I know, and once I learn more, I'll let you know! Much love. outpouring of it in fact.

Weekend in Montana

Over Labor Day weekend we went out to do some kayaking, biking, and general enjoying of the Montana air. One day we kayaked out to Wild Horse Island on Flathead Lake. We hiked up on the island - that's where these pics are from. It was as beautiful day!

Mom and pops...

Chad...


Climbing trees...





Me and Jordan...


It was great to be out in MT visiting the Meyers and playing on the lakes. We swam on Lindbergh, and kayaked and jumped in at Holland too.

Escape to Casto Canyon

Back in April I graduated with my MPA (hurrah!) and had been planning for a while to finally run away with the family to some big open spaces. Our planned weekend turned out to be a bad weekend to leave because, among other things, grandma and grandpa arrived in town shortly before leaving (and I love them). I couldn't resist my need to finally escape the confines of towns and suburbia though, so I rebelled and took Chad with me in mom's big car and we drove to south Utah and camped out. Then we did a nice ride in Casto Canyon - which my parents later did too because our report of the ride was satisfactory.

Chad navigating on dirt roads.




There are tons of creeks to cross but that's part of the fun of it. I couldn't get a good shot of it but I thought the rocks looked like millions of easter eggs - but nature's version.
This is what a mountain bike tire should always look like, no?


Oh, this is just me in the tent at my usual business of bullying Chad. Poor guy.
Beautiful no? It was the perfect escape.


On our way home we found a cemetery of a small town with the graves of Mormon pioneers. It was amazing to think that barely anyone will ever stop there yet many who are laid to rest there are those who led the restoring of the church in modern times.

Zion National Park, UT - The Narrows

Hi hi, it's been months since I last posted something. It's time to catch up, and since this blog is supposed to be about my travels and adventures, I'll be posting about the recent occurrences of those 2 things! Here are pics of the trip Eileen and I took to hike through the Narrows a couple months ago. It was a great trip, we loved the beauty of the narrows and the park in its grandeur.

The water was way high and great for swimming sometimes (packs and all).


There were huge piles of rocks like this for sale. I bought a few different rocks because I felt they'd contribute to my science education (and to mom's rock collection for her classroom, but mostly I just thought they were awesome).

Beautiful Mormon Message

Just wanted to share a sweet video from the mormon message library. I love watching mm's and this one helped me remember today that I need to appreciate every moment.

visual treat from Quiet Way archives

Hi hi hi. I hope I don't pester everyone TOO much with the cause of Quiet Way, but they have all these videos not being put to much use. Thought you might like to see one and get a better feel of the organization I work with.



PS- I did gain weight from my period of sweets and now that school is out, I lost it. Heheh good plan WOOH! WOOHOO! WOOH!