#54 Business

Long overdue blog post here. First, business. Second, pleasure.

Aerial photo of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua

Almost two months have passed since my high school entrepreneurship classes started up again and, during that time, lots of changes and events have taken place. Unfortunately, I do not have the stamina to go into depth for each and every change/event so I will briefly touch upon the highlights. 

Granada

Karaoke Bar in Granada

I am now teaching one school per week at one of four schools within a 30 minute bus ride. Classes did not start until about the third week after the school started because the schools did not know how many students would be attending, therefore could not make the (handmade) schedule with the correct number of sections in it until they did find out. Classes now continue week in and week out, with some far better than others.

The school system here is so ‘different’ (chaotic), from ours in the US that I find I can have several weeks where only 15% of my total time in the classroom would be considered productive. This is often very frustrating, but I have become much better at controlling my discontentment and have even begun accepting these misfortunes and not letting them bother me. In the schools, I have started acting as a second teacher to the math teachers finding a new and profound interest in mathematics, even offering extra help tutoring after classes.

Watermelons are cheap... Watermelon eating contests :)

Raffle to win the pig! 

Doing some business consulting

During the mornings, I continue to work with the Ruta Triangulo del Sur, a Casa Pellas (the richest family/business in Nicaragua) branch offering co-investments for tourism related businesses on Ometepe. I have helped make new menus for restaurants, teach business owners accounting methods, change several prices and pricing strategies of various businesses, and will be hosting business workshops/classes in the coming weeks to dozens of business owners. Working with this company, I am able to get to know the local business owners on the island and better understand the tourism industry that is growing so rapidly in Nicaragua. Plus, the guys I work with are a fun and entertaining trio teaching me new ‘vocab’ daily.

Meeting with a women's rural tourism group

Private tour of Ometepe's museum from the owner

The most recent, and by far most interesting and fun, is a new tourism project with an indigenous (more like rural) community on Ometepe. Two recent college graduates have been spending the past two/three months working with this community organizing tours, cooking classes, homestays, and several other offers - essentially opening a tourism business to benefit the community. One of their parents is a graphic designer and put together a beautiful brochure and is working on the final details of the website as we speak. The two of them, Cory and Sam, have to return this week to their seasonal jobs in Yellowstone National Park and have, thus, left this project in my hands at opening day. This community currently does not have running water nor electricity but expect to soon due to a donation from followers of Cory’s parent’s blog (blogging about being retired in Ometepe, Nicaragua). This project will, without a doubt, be a huge success and I feel lucky to be a witness to the tremendous positive effects this project will have on the community (running potable water, electricity, scholarships, nursery schools, community centers, etc…).

I attended a meeting this past week with the community members involved in the project as well as the project founders, Cory and Sam, and the community members were extremely receptive, delightful, and very interested in the services I plan to offer them.  My role will be to help the business aspects: quality control, customer service, organizing the employees, determining roles and responsibilities, management of finances, and assist with marketing techniques. The first group of travelers that were shown the new brochure immediately booked a tour and reported back saying it was one of the best experiences they had had thus far in Nicaragua. It is truly the ideal experience for a traveler of any kind – total cultural immersion embracing the native perspective.