Getting Started

Being assigned to a Corporate Service Corps team was such a high! I whooped, did a happy dance and called my family to celebrate. What an exciting moment. I have been asked to join Team Kenya 4 - I am really going to Kenya! 

In the last year and a half, both my teenage children have gone to Africa on Global Outreach trips with their schools. Matt went to Tanzania and Kate went to the Masai Mara in Kenya. Their experiences lit a fire in me. I wanted to do this too! Lucky for me, IBM has a program called the Corporate Service Corps (CSC). If you want to learn more about the CSC, please click on the link on the right side of my blog page. We are the fourth team IBM has sent to Kenya through the CSC, and hence the name "Team Kenya 4". I am the only Canadian on the team. (Coincidentally, each of the other Kenya teams 1-3 also had a Canadian on board!)

Who are the other members of "Team Kenya 4"? Let me introduce you in alphabetical order and tell you where they are from:

Adekunle - USA (Nigeria)

Bahram - Germany

Cammy - Mexico

Dilhun - Turkey

Henriette -Denmark

Isabel  - Potugal

Kensuke - Japan

Lotem - Israel

Marissa - USA

Richard - India

Rob - UK

The first gift that has been given to me as a member of this team is a group of new friends from around the world. We are getting to know each other through our weekly conference calls, and our facebook group page. (The link to that website is also over on the right side of this page)

I have to take a moment here to comment on the really great structure of how the CSC prepares us for our mission. We have Cathy who is an experienced CSC participant who leads our team calls every week. She plans the agenda for the call, records the call so we can hear it if we missed the meeting, organizes guest speakers, and keeps us on track through our education program. (Yes there is a formal education plan and it is really well designed to teach us the right information at the right time as we prepare for our assignment)  We have an official team mentor Dave, who was on Team Kenya 2. Dave joins our calls weekly and gives us the benefit of his team's knowledge.  This is in addition to their day jobs!

Alex Mutungi and Muriuke Mureithi also join our weekly team calls. They work for Digital Opportunity Trust in Kenya. (Check out their link on the right as well) Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) has been selected by IBM as a global implementation partner for the CSC program and is implementing the program in partnership with IBM in Turkey, China, Egypt, Kenya and now in Tanzania in September, 2011.  In Kenya, will place IBM Leaders with Kenyan stakeholders from the public, private, NGO and academic sector. Working together with the various partners, the IBMers implement assignments that achieve IBM, DOT and all the partners’ mutual objectives of enhancing social and economic opportunities in Kenya.

Alex told us that we will be spending most of our time in Machakos, a town about 70 kms south of Nairobi.

What will we be doing on our assignment? The three businesses that have identified projects for our team are:

1. Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Secretariat (www.vision2030.go.ke)

2. Kenya Association of Manufacturers (www.kam.or.ke)

3. Ministry of Higher Education Science and Technology (www.scienceandtechnology.go.ke)