Saying goodbye.
In the next few weeks, I will begin to say goodbye to all of my Kazakhstani friends. It is hard to believe that I have been in Kazakhstan for nearly 27 months. My last day in Uralsk is April 30, 2006. Then, I head to Almaty (a 60 hour train ride) to complete my final Peace Corps paperwork and catch a plane back to the US. I officially land back in the US on Friday, May 5th.

Yes, I will be updating my blog on my April schedule and my plans post Peace Corps. Stay Tuned.

Terry

Our Sholpan:
I have told this story many times while in Kazakhstan, but I have never put it into writing, so I think it is time that I do just that.

I met Sholpan when she was attending our BG orphanage computer training program. She was 17 and a shy, young woman. When I first met her, she would barely look me in my eyes when she talked to me. She had lived at Zhas Dauren Orphanage all of her life and, unlike many of the kids, she had no family in Kazakhstan. Over the next year and a half, I had the chance to witness a miraculous transformation in Sholpan.

As Sholpan started our computer program, she had two other positive forces in her life. A year earlier she had been lucky enough to begin to correspond with a sponsor family from the US. It took a while for the family to build a strong connection with Sholpan but, by the time I met her, her relationship was starting to gel. At the same time, Sue Scholten (another PC volunteer) unofficially took Sholpan under her wing as a little sister. These two experiences began to shape a young, shy orphan into an amazing young adult. As her confidence improved so did her grades in school and her participation in our computer program. By the end of the year, Sholpan had risen to the top of the class. She then scored a perfect score on her final computer examination and received a fully paid 4 year university scholarship from British Gas. At this point, Sholpan’s confidence and attitude had done a complete 180 degree turn. She was finally reaching her full potential.

Sholpan then took her university entrance exam (similar to our SAT) and scored the highest in her class. She was placed into the top language level in her freshman class and continued to excel with nearly perfect marks. Most recently, she applied to a special program to study in the States for one year. She competed against 5000 students across Kazakhstan and was selected for the finals in Almaty. We don’t know the results as of it yet, but she may have an opportunity to study in the States next year. Now, when I see Sholpan, she exudes energy, self confidence and always looks me in the eyes when we talk. She has become an amazing young woman, and I look forward to watching her continue to grow from afar.

A few stories from my most recent e-mail update.
In every experience (especially one as extreme as the Peace Corps), you have few moments that push you to the limit. I thought I would share mine.

My Marshuka (Kazakh Van) adventure:
I had been working at IBC Group for 2 months and I scheduled a meeting at KPO (a large oil company located two hours from Uralsk) to discuss a new social project. In order to get to KPO, you need to travel via small, public vans. You catch the van at the local train station and, unfortunately, the van doesn’t depart until every seat (13 seats) is filled. This could take 20 minutes or 3 hours, it just depends on the day. Since this was my first time to go to KPO and meet with our partners, I decided to wear nice clothes (dark dress pants, dark shirt, and nice shining shoes). Unfortunately, the weather was nearly 97 degrees, the windows on the van didn’t open and the air conditioning didn’t work (probably hadn’t worked for years).

So the day started like this. It took over one hour to fill the 13 seats on the van. Once the van was filled, a rather LARGE woman sat next to me. In fact, she was so LARGE that half of her body didn’t fit in her seat, therefore it spilled over into mine (basically, her leg was on top of my leg). Then, the gentleman on my other side fell asleep on my shoulder. I gently nudged him off, but it was just no use. Each time I pushed him away, he just fell back asleep and landed on my shoulder, my chest or wherever he fell. It was clear that neither of my new found neighbors understood my need for space and it quickly became clear that they had NO space limits. I realized my culture limits were truly being TESTED.

By the time we arrived at KPO, I was soaking wet with sweat (head-to-toe), my large friends’ legs were nearly wrapped around mine and my narcoleptic friend (maybe drunk) was sound asleep on my shoulder. Yes, the only thing going through my head was why am I a volunteer? Followed by, I have only been here for two months, so couldn’t I just go home and pretend like I never became a volunteer? I started to remember all the space in my car, sipping my Starbucks coffee on my beautiful commute to work, the amazing air conditioning system, and lumbar support. Fortunately, I pulled myself back to reality, sucked it up and shifted my thoughts to a better idea. After my meeting with our partners, I decided to propose my new idea. I explained the inconvenience of traveling by van and suggested, in the nicest way possible, that we should explore alternative modes of transportation for all future business meetings. Fortunately for both of us, the message was well received and on our next visit, they sent the company car, a comfortable, air conditioned Land Cruiser, to pick us up and transport us to their office. Lesson learned: Take a deep breathe and think of ways to upgrade your volunteer experience to a manageable level. We may be working for free but our volunteer lifestyle is only limited by our lack of ingenuity.

A grasshopper:
No one ever said volunteering is easy. After I had worked at IBC for about 7 months, the staff decided to throw a small party to thank me for all of my hard work – launch of internet division, first BG grant for the orphanage kids, and first successful MBA training. Although, I had accomplished a lot in a short period of time, I had also ruffled a few feathers along the way. During my party, the cognac started to flow, the toasts began to roll and the ruffled feathers began to talk. After a few congratulatory toasts, the tone shifted. The Director of the Business Incubator started his toast by suggesting my accomplishments were purely “early wins/beginners luck” and most certainly not repeatable, then he began to make a parallel between me and a famous Russian parable. The parable basically translated as follows – GOOD Grasshoppers know that they should stay on their own blade of grass and stay OFF of the other people’s blade of grass. He then presented me a gift – a Kazakh hand whip. I wasn’t sure if he wanted to use it on me or if he was implying that I was pushing the team way too hard. (I latter learned that it was a special handmade whip and is typically hung in all Kazakh family homes. The gift was nice but I am not sure about the timing).

In any event, I had become completely offended and definitely questioned why I was working so hard (for free), pouring my heart into the organization but yet receiving so little respect. Well, I began this story by saying, “volunteering isn’t easy” and sometimes you just have to stay the course. I realized, after a bit of investigation, that the Director’s toast was a reflection of feedback I had provided his boss about his performance and ideas for a few “performance improvements”. In time (maybe a week), I put the toast behind me and actually built a very solid relationship with the director of the Business Incubator and over the next two years we enjoyed many good times together.

Lesson Learned: Prior to being a volunteer, I had always measured my success and my colleagues’ success based on PERFORMANCE/MERITOCRACY, however that is not a sufficient success metric when you are a volunteer. Performance evaluations must be balanced with cultural sensitivity and long term relationship building. The bottom line is that as a volunteer, you are not managing people but instead mentoring them. Ultimately, you are trying to teach them new skills, help them change behaviors, and learn new approaches and techniques. Change can be extraordinarily slow, especially when you can’t leverage a typical manager’s tool kit, so patience and persistence become your best friends.

Now that I told these stories, I realized that all of them happened in my first year in Kazakhstan. I guess I just became acclimated to life here or set my tolerance a bit higher.

Next Training -- Mini MBA Effective Management
Mini MBA -- Effective Management (April 24-26):

The program covers topics that would be taught in a typical Masters of Business Administration graduate program in the US and Europe. This training will cover project management, time management and team building and all participants that successfully complete the training will receive a certificate certified by IBC Group, BG Kazakhstan and New Leaders.

Each participant will also receive a CD three weeks before the training that includes 3 pre training modules. Participants will be able to begin to learn about the topics prior to joining us for the training.

Purpose of training:
The Advanced Mini MBA Training Program is designed to help entrepreneurs as well as managers across the West Kazakhstan Oblast and throughout Kazakhstan to expand their skills in business.

Trainer:
Renee Raper MSc, Chartered FCIPD, FITOL
Director of Learning, New Leaders
Renee has over 20 years experience in learning, training and development across business and academia at regional, national and international level. Her path has led from the banking industry along an interesting route - through college and university lecturing, learning and training consultancy, education/industry liaison and CPD Development Manager - to her present role applying new technologies to enhance learning.

She holds a Masters degree in Training, SVQ level 5 in Training and Development Strategy and a Diploma in Psychology. She is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personal and Development, a Fellow of the Institute of Training and Occupational Learning and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, and she holds the chair of Aberdeen Businesswomen’s Network.

Renee is a regular features writer for the monthly “Learning and Development”, a magazine for training professionals. She has also led her team to a European Netdays award for the innovative use of technology in learning and shortlisted for a national Team of the Year 2005 Award for learning work with the Food Standards Agency in Scotland.

The training will be held April 24-26, 2006 at IBC.

Our Latest Project - KACEBI
Kazakhstani-American Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation (KACEBI)

What is KACEBI?

KACEBI stands for Kazakhstani-American Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation. The Center plans to officially open in the fall of 2006 as a part of the West-Kazakhstan Institute of Languages and Management Evrazia. Since its founding 10 years ago, Evrazia Institute has proved itself to be a prestigious institute of higher education. In 2005, the Institute ranked 7th place among 96 private and public institutions of higher education in Kazakhstan . IBC Group is an organization consisting of 3 divisions (Business Incubator, Loan Fund, and Internet Division) with the common aim of helping entrepreneurs. These two organizations recognize that KACEBI would have a positive impact on business development in the region of western Kazakhstan, and so they are teaming together with USAID Carana’s Business and Economics Education Project and international partners in order to create KACEBI!


Vision: to establish and develop a center for entrepreneurship and business innovation that encourages entrepreneurial activity and economic development in western Kazakhstan while positively impacting the business and economics education system and becoming a model center for the region.


Project Overview - for KACEBI’s first 3 years of operation

Phase I: January through July 2006 – preparation period
•Trip for Evrazia Institute and new KACEBI staff to a Center for Entrepreneurship in America.

•Visits to Uralsk, Kazakhstan by 3 American professors in spring and summer for instructors’ training and then evaluation of instructor’s knowledge.

•Course materials to be developed with partner universities abroad by mid April 2006.

Phase II: First year: pilot period – August 2006 – May 2007
•Start of program with 1 year Certificate in Entrepreneurial Management for current and aspiring entrepreneurs.

•Begin offering a variety of short-term trainings and several outreach activities to connect with entrepreneurs and companies in the region.

•Invite one full-time entrepreneurial expert from abroad to work in Uralsk for 1st year of operation in the role of Academic Director and assisting in the planning of the Bachelor’s program.



Phase III: Second year – September 2007 – May 2008
•Start addition of 4-year undergraduate degree program for a Bachelor’s of Business Administration (BBA) with concentrations available in Entrepreneurship and in Business Innovation.

•Expansion of outreach activities.

•Invite another expert in entrepreneurship from abroad to come to Uralsk and work for the 2nd half of Phase III to assist in the planning of the MBA program.

Phase IV: Third year – September 2008 – May 2009
•Begin addition of 2-year graduate degree program for a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) with concentrations available in Entrepreneurship and in Business Innovation.

•Invite an expert in entrepreneurship from abroad to come to Uralsk for a shorter-term stay.

•Two BBA or MBA students to visit an American partner university for 1 month.

KACEBI (CONT)
Why is KACEBI so unique?
KACEBI will always look to the business community for partnership and for advice on the needs of local businesses. Every course and training will contain components that get participants involved in real world business projects and solving actual business problems.


KACEBI plans to utilize technology to implement innovative methods of instruction such as distance learning and holding videoconferences for its students who are located in other nearby cities. Such methods will also be used to allow for close cooperation with international partner institutions. No need to travel to Almaty or Europe for high-quality training when KACEBI is located next door. KACEBI enables you to get a high-quality education utilizing internationally recognized teaching methods right here in western Kazakhstan!


Why create KACEBI?

Kazakhstan’s economy has been booming. The country’s GDP growth rate of approximately 9% (for 2005) ranks Kazakhstan as the 17th fastest growing economy in the world. Yet, there are still several factors discouraging the rapid development of the business sector in the region of western Kazakhstan.

One key factor is the gap that exists between the education that institutes of higher education in western Kazakhstan are providing and the needs of the local business environment. Start-up entrepreneurs, Directors of International companies, and university instructors of business and economics in the region have not had the opportunity to take practical courses that emphasis real-world business projects. (Most typical courses focus on theory.) KACEBI programs will focus on practical applications of course material to allow participants to successfully keep up with the ever-changing demands of today’s international business world. The KACEBI project will also create a mechanism that allows for continuous cooperation between Evrazia Institute students and faculty (or those of other local universities) and local entrepreneurs.

The lack of business diversification in our region is evident. There is significant opportunity for development in the manufacturing industry and the service industry. The majority of entrepreneurs (approximately 70% in western Kazakhstan) have been focusing on the common practice of simply buying and selling ready-made goods (often very small, mom-and-pop type shops that for the most part offer parity products).

Furthermore, given the likely prospect that Kazakhstan will join the WTO, this change in the country’s status will cause the level of competition in the market to increase. Such an increase in competition will force private organizations to diversify their activities in order to survive. Most of the region’s entrepreneurs are not yet ready to work under these new market conditions.

As a result, there are many opportunities for KACEBI to make an impact on the local business community!

KACEBI (Cont)
Who will benefit from KACEBI?

KACEBI will customize its short-term trainings and its long-term course programs to fit the different needs of the business community, so that everyone from the owner of the local start-up shop around the corner to high-level managers working at multi-national companies will want to participate in KACEBI’s offerings. In addition, instructors and students (the future entrepreneurs and businessmen) from Evrazia Institute and other local institutions of higher education will participate in KACEBI’s trainings and courses.


KACEBI will be designed to serve all of western Kazakhstan, including the areas of Uralsk, Aksai, Atyrau, Aktau, and Atkobe. By creatively integrating distance learning (e-learning methods, video-conferencing, independent learning modules, etc) with face-to-face interaction, KACEBI hopes to involve companies near and far. In short, KACEBI will be flexible in order to involve those from all over western Kazakhstan in both its long-term courses and short-term trainings.


How is KACEBI working with international partner universities?

From January 9 – January 18, 2006, entrepreneurial expert and representative of the prestigious Beyster Institute at the University of California – San Diego (which has started up centers of entrepreneurship all around the world, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg), Dr. Alex Liu, came to Uralsk to assist us in planning for the Center. Dr. Liu’s trip to Uralsk was financed by our project partner USAID Carana. Dr. Liu is also the Director of the RM Institute for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation in California.

We will continue cooperating with Dr. Liu and the Beyster Institute in order to allow a few of our new Center staff to visit the Beyster Institute. We also look to the Beyster Institute as well as other interested universities in America and Europe to provide us with training materials, trainers to train and evaluate our course instructors, and expert staff to work at our Center as we are starting up. Our international partner universities will provide certificates for the trainings and courses KACEBI offers. KACEBI wants to create sustainable partnerships with universities abroad in order to ensure high quality instruction, continual improvement of programs, and responsiveness to the ever- changing needs of the business world.


How can Kazakhstani and international businesses help KACEBI?

The successful creation of KACEBI will be of great benefit to the economy and educational system in the region of western Kazakhstan. USAID Carana is willing to fund the initial stages of the project. However, in order to provide the highest quality instruction, we need a significant amount of funding from other donors.

As the initiators of this project, Evrazia Institute and IBC Group look forward to receiving the support of the Kazakhstani and international community in order to overcome the challenge of creating such a center in western Kazakhstan. We hope that businesses located in Kazakhstan will recognize the value KACEBI will have on the community, and for this reason, that they will offer us financial assistance until the Center becomes self-sustainable.


How else will KACEBI stay in touch with the needs of the western Kazakhstani business community?

Besides making real world business projects a part of every course and offering research and consulting opportunities to the community, KACEBI’s organizational structure allows for the creation of both a local and an international Board of Advisors. By receiving advice from real world entrepreneurs in our region, KACEBI hopes to provide educational course and training offerings that meet local companies’ demands. At the same time, receiving advice from international university partners will to help constantly offer KACEBI new insight and ideas.


Will KACEBI always be dependent on donor funding?

Our goal is to make our Center fully sustainable without the need for continuous donor support in 5 years. By collecting revenue from its’ long-term course participants, short-term trainees, and its’ research and consulting services, KACEBI hopes to become a profitable enterprise that can continually offer more and more to the educational system and business community of Kazakhstan.

Trip around Kazakhstan
I just returned from my last trip around KZ. Sue and I took a 17 day tour from Uralsk to Aktobe to Astana to Borovoe to Almaty. During our first leg, we stopped to see our fellow volunteers in Aktobe (about 12 hours from Uralsk). There we enjoyed Sushi, bowling and monopoly (not to mention Eric’s jokes). We then journeyed 44 hours by train to Astana – the new capital of Kazakhstan. Astana became the capital around 1997 and since then has been under construction. When you look around Astana you can probably see 100+ new building being developed – high rises, office building and special monuments. The plan is for Astana to become the DC of KZ and Almaty and small New York. We had an amazing time in Astana since BG gave us the VIP tour of the city. After working with BG for two years on social projects, they repaid our efforts by showing us around Astana and joining us for some great entertainment. We then headed to Borovoe (about 3 hours from Astana) to experience the hills, lakes, cross country skiing and snowmobiling. The nature in Borovoe is truly beautiful. After Borovoe, we headed by train to Almaty for our final Peace Corps conference. At the conference, we saw the remaining volunteers for the last time, since we will now all depart KZ on different dates. Sue and I ended the week in the mountains of Almaty enjoying some excellent downhill skiing. All in all, it was great FINAL vacation in KZ.

Now, we are on the final countdown since we only have 7 more weeks until we depart KZ. I will officially depart KZ on May 5 and head back to the US.

IBC Launches First American Website
I want to give some kudos to the IBC Internet Division team for launching their first site for an American client. The site is located at www.dwacademy.com. In addition to this being the first American website, the team also used this opportunity to train one of the kids from the Zhas Dauren Orphanage in web development, flash and cms development. It was an all around win, win.

The team has come a long way in a year and a half.

This Blog and my site
First, I want to say that I absolutely had no idea how many people checked my site and read my blog until I went home for the holidays. It seems almost everyone that I know keeps tabs on me via my site. With that said, I guess I need to apologize for not being more diligent in my updates. Basically my lack of updates has been a combination of being busy with projects and just thinking that the content was boring. I guess it is more interesting to my reader base than to the writer. To say it another way, I think the things that seemed extraordinary about this experience have now become completely ordinary but I think they still give you a laugh or a smile.

So, I will try to update the blog a bit more often and I will try to add new photos over the next few weeks. I also need to finalize my final e-mail newsletter.