work at AE

This post details the main projects I've been working on at AE. For a more general overview of what the different AE interns have been up to (Duke and otherwise), check out Grant's post "Mid-Project Update".

This is me interviewing Paula Diaz, one of the entrepreneurs from a computación class at CEPA (Centro de Emprendimiento Puente Alto), to gather information about how AE impacts its micro-entrepreneurs’ businesses; we are in the patio of CEPA. Specifically, judging by my hand gestures, I’m either clarifying a concept or checking my understanding of something Paula has just told me. The questions for the most part are straightforward, but occasionally there is a concept like profit or micro-factoring that needs to be explained in detail before the entrepreneur can accurately answer the question. As I've come to learn, interviewing is not just about asking question, but listening to the other person and knowing when to explain more thoroughly or ask follow-up questions that deviate from the script.

This is a screenshot from the original template web profile I made, featuring a fictitious chocolatier called CarreteChocolate that sells chocolates with unique flavors. The template was intended to demonstrate some of the different types of media that could be incorporated in a profile (photos, video, maps, etc.), as well as information about the business and the types of products they offer. For me, it was a fun synthesis of my HTML knowledge and initial impressions of Chile – I used the former to make maps display more cleanly, create bullets, etc., and used the latter to inspire the flavors, secret ingredients, and other unique aspects of CarreteChocolate. This is an example of the philosophy I've taken up while working for AE - it’s essential to ascertain a need of AE (in this case, more direction with regard to web profiles) and respond with personal initiative and creativity – rather than wait to be prompted as to what to do, step up and create something and then get feedback.

This is a photo of Ricardo Callealta in the recording studio of his business, called Academia JAM; it’s an academy of dance and music where one can learn various styles of dance and how to sing/play the instruments in a rock band. Ricardo is the first of many AE entrepreneurs that we’ve interviewed at their place of business, rather than at CEPA, because we are gathering photos, videos, and information that can be used to create web pages for the entrepreneur’s businesses. I’m consistently amazed by how skilled the entrepreneurs are – they know their industry, their competitors, and the vast majority of what is needed to make their business work. The contributions that AE makes through its courses are simple, filling in the small but critical gaps in knowledge that enable the entrepreneurs to be that much more successful. What’s really exciting about the web profiles project is that it’s given us interns a lot of creative space to feature each entrepreneur and his/her business as he/she wants it conveyed – we just made a basic outline of the content we need to gather and how the programmers should lay it out, got it approved by the higher-ups at AE, and are now in the full swing of interviews. Most importantly, this project is great because we get to introduce the rest of Chile (and the world) to the expertise and ingenuity of AE’s entrepreneurs, enabling them to tap a much wider market than before and hopefully generate more income and employment.

At this point, most of the days ahead will be spent doing on-site interviews, which will include the AE data surveys if we haven't already interviewed the entrepreneur at CEPA. Also, we will start to gather statistics on our data sample using Excel, and organize the media and text that will be used in the web profiles. Since some entrepreneurs have created mission statements, other written content, and their own photos and videos, and profiles will vary in the balance between media and text based on the needs of the business, we may end up including a sketch of the layout of each profile in a Word document, as the standard template we proposed to the programmers will likely be tweaked.

2.1: Off to Talca

This morning I am off to Marlen's farm in Talca with the other Duke students and Antonio for the weekend. During the course of this week, I will work on the following series of posts drawing from weeks 1 and 2, before I return to posting in "real time."

• Geotermia and the Chilean energy system
• El sistema de educación
• Palta, picante como pimienta, and other aspects of Chilean food
• Evolution of the projects at CEPA
• Culture shock progression: feeling "stage 2" about "stage 1".
• Tertulia with Manuel Valdes and Miguel Rogers
• Grant has done a great job of chronicling a wide variety of the experiences we’ve been having; I’d recommend all his posts, but I've found the entries on Transantiago, First week impressions, and Vamos vamos chilenos to be especially insightful.
• Jordan has most recently posted about the game and about huevón, the epitome of Chilean slang. I intend to do my own entry on some chilenismos eventually, but his post is a great place to start.

1.2: a detour into the Chilean healthcare system

The plan was for us to start at the CE's on Tuesday the 9th, and all the Duke students but I did so. On my end, as might be expected, the combination of a) a trifling throat ailment that I ignored back in the States, b) the physical stress of travel, and c) Santiago air (i.e. cold and smoggy, any breather's worst nightmare) resulted in the throat ailment stepping up its game. Monday night, Jesús checked my temperature, and realizing I had a fever, we headed over to Clinica Los Condes. After perhaps 1.5 hours wait (to be expected in winter and at the late hour we arrived), I was seen by a doctor in a visit that I would claim comparable to or better than what I would have expected in the States. Over the following week, I had to stay home, both to recover and to prevent the spread of illness.

There's a few specific things that I appreciated about the health system, most of which center around the existence of protocol and strict adherence to it:

1. Everyone in the waiting room was given a mask, especially those that were sick. Maybe this was a swine-flu-inspired precaution, but I still appreciated it.


2. When you first stepped in, there were color-coded lines along the floor leading to major areas of the hospital (Urgent Care, Reception, etc.). This was far more intuitive and helpful than traditional hospital signage can ever hope to be.


3. Beyond being at home, when I was outside of my room I had to wear a mask, and others that came near me also needed to wear one. This only was until the second round of the influenza test (48 hour incubation period) came back negative. More than just protect against the spread of infection, this also helped keep me mindful of other precautions I needed to be taking, like washing my hands frequently.


4. Temperature is checked strictly in the armpit, not under the tongue. Less messy, more hygienic, comparable accuracy, and I learned the art of shaking down the mercury in a thermometer to reset it.

But there were a few dislikes, though more minor, as well:

1. You pay with cash/credit at the time of service. Then you deal with the insurance company later. Sure, this protects the hospital financially and can reduce moral hazard, but ouch if you forgot to bring a credit card/drain your checking account first. (Moral hazard is overconsumption of medical services caused by having insurance and thus not paying for the true price of the service directly)


2. Pharmacists do not dispense bottles of pills specific for each patient; rather, they sell pre-packaged boxes with fixed quantities of pills. Tough luck if you need 7 $20 pills and they come in boxes of 6.

Thanks to everyone's well-wishes, the committed efforts by my host parents to accommodate my sudden medical and dietary needs, and other factors, I was able to recover fully by Saturday and return to work Monday the 15th. On the whole, I don't feel I missed a ton, I'm just glad to be done with it at the beginning.

For AE, I was able to work from home and create a sample profile on blogspot that could serve as a template for the microenterprise web profiles. I was able to mix together media (images, Google maps, video), HTML, and some things I had learned about Chile in the process. You can email me if you want to see it, but it's written in Spanish and you'll need an eye for humor to appreciate it.

The main Chilean event I missed was Chile's rout of Bolivia in the World Cup qualifiers (4-0); the Duke students went to see it at the Estadio Nacional while I caught all the instant replays on TV. The game was great to watch, especially the first goal (a header), and the fourth/final goal, in which Chilean Alexi Sanchez lobbed the ball over the approaching goalie's head with the instep of his foot, which bounced before spinning into the goal. For a better perspective on what it was to be there live, see Jordan's post "Fútbol and National Pride", and Grant's post "Vamos vamos chilenos".

1.1: AE projects

Check out the Duke Engage home page within the next week - our project is currently featured there.

So, those of you who might have been expecting a post any day now have been twiddling disappointed thumbs for 2 weeks - I apologize; between being sick in week 1 and working/exploring Santiago in week 2, there just hasn't been much time. Since I need to informally backdate these posts, I'll use the numbering system "week.post#" for posts henceforth. An asterisk (*) will denote any theme which I will discuss in more detail in later posts. The links to Jordan and Grant's blogs are in my first post, "Introduction".

I'll start with Monday the 8th, my first day of work at AE. At this point I had just settled in with my host parents, Paula Castillo and Jesús Noriega, on Sunday. The first day of work was light - the morning was an orientation spent introducing us to AE and to Chilean slang*, and after pizza for lunch, we received our project/location assignments. We were all assigned to work in one of the Centros de Emprendimiento, AE's community-oriented centers for providing their trademark courses, business counsulting, computer labs, and other resources. Grant Alport and Jordan Stone were assigned to design teacher's manuals for one of AE's courses, as currently, only one course has this standard while the rest vary entirely with the volunteer-professor's whim (see Grant's blog posts "The Next 8 weeks" and "Why I am here"). Liz Clipp and Rachel Hanessian were assigned to plan an AE alumni reunion and more generally work to foster a sense of community within AE and a way to share best practices; Elana Berger and I were assigned to collect information on how AE is impacting its students that have businesses, analyze the resulting data to draw conclusions, and help with the design/implementation of web profiles for the microenterprises. Grant and Jordan are assigned to CE Santiago-Norponiente (abbreviated CES), which is within the traditional boundaries of Santiago, while the rest of us are at CE Puente Alto, in the Santiago comuna/self-contained city of Puente Alto (CEPA).

Introduction

Hola! My name is Karna Mital. I am a rising junior at Duke University, majoring in Econ and Math. Currently, I am part of a group of 6 Duke students participating in DukeEngage Chile 2009. Our project involves interning with an NGO called Accion Emprendedora (AE), an innovative organization striving to alleviate poverty through sustainable entrepreneurship. Specifically, it trains budding entrepreneurs in particular facets of running a business, a curriculum that enables the entrepreneurs to be more successful. Our role is to help AE improve at what it does - potential projects for this years intern class include compiling data/designing surveys to enable AE to measure outcomes better, designing exercise banks/case studies/teachers' manuals for various AE courses, planning alumni interactions through an association and annual reunion, and retailoring an existing discussion group for female entrepreneurs.

This blog details my experiences in Chile for the 8 weeks between June 6-August 2, 2009. I intend for it to be a personal, rather than formal endeavor, so I might describe experiences at AE and interesting observations about Chile in equal measure. Some of my fellow Duke students on this trip are also blogging, below are links to theirs. I may also reference specific posts of theirs from time to time:


Grant Alport (note that Grant's blog is the official DukeEngage blog for our trip)
Jordan Stone

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my blog!