Following on from my work in Sudan last year, yesterday I was given the opportunity to hold a workshop for the three winners of the Mashrouy programme; Houida, Abrar and Maha.
The three were over as part of the 2-week long trip that winners of the Mashrouy programme receive, which as well as a tour of the UK, includes workshops on business practice.
Once again I was struck by the innovativeness of the businesses and how different they were to those in England. The businesses are, from left to right: production of an organic tick-repellant to reduce illness in cattle from local natural resources; software for analysing mammograms with lower cost and higher accuracy; and a substance for tanning leather extracted naturally from tree bark, reducing use of imported chrome and the environmental impact of chrome.
Speaking about any aspect of business when the markets are so different is tough. I was asked to speak about tracking business progress using KPIs and OKRs (a topic we went into great detail on during Techstars) and then on how to utilise mentors and QA automation services. All candidates in Mashrouy work with mentors, but getting the most out of a mentor is a process that requires some planning. We discussed how to write short, punctual emails with clear and concise points and ‘asks’, and the best way to ask for an introduction to somebody that your mentor knows (with the help of a post by Russell Buckley).