Author: travelerforgood

Well after 3 months of getting to know and love this city, I’m sad to say my time in Mumbai is coming to an end. In just about a week and a half I will leave Mumbai to travel to Nepal where I’ll get to see the beautiful landscape mostly by foot on a hiking trip.

I can’t even put into words how grateful I have been for the opportunity to live and work abroad again. Traveling abroad is one thing but living abroad is another and I remember why it’s so much more special when you really get to know a place. You become a part of it and it becomes a part of you.

My time here has been filled with new work experiences, new friendships and new cultural experiences that I will never forget. India is a place like no other with so much wisdom to offer everyday. In honor of this Incredible India, I’ve made a list of things that I find so unique and endearing about this country:

Beautiful Saris: India is the only place I’ve traveled to that has largely held onto its traditional dress. From saris to kurtas draped in different ways that are unique to different regions of India. It’s very unique and I couldn’t get enough of the beautiful colors and patterns they come in.

Humility: India is a constant reminder that for so many life is still a constant struggle. This has not only fueled my passion for social entrepreneurship and international development but it brought me back to a humble place. A constant reminder to appreciate the little things.

The Chaos: It is impossible to put into words how completely chaotic this place can be with the population booming, the number of cars, people and animals is almost overwhelming at first. This was certainly overwhelming for me. I’ve never considered myself a city person and probably never will but Mumbai definitely brought it out in me. This place keeps you on your toes whether it be running to catch the train before it leaves the station to almost getting run over by rickshaws, cars and scooters on a daily basis. This chaos definitely grew on me because while the outside may seem chaotic; when you look beyond the chaos India is a serene, peaceful place.

The Food: Yes at first I was nervous about eating Indian food at the thought of being fed something incredibly spicy. What I didn’t realize is there are so many varieties of Indian cuisine. From the delicious meat kebabs to my favorite -the dosa (cheap and delicious!) I have come to appreciate Indian food and actually can’t wait to get Indian when I get home- now that I know what to order:)

My only regret is not having had the time to see other parts of India. This country is so enormous and has so many different landscapes to offer the ambitious traveler. One things for sure, I will be back someday to explore what I didn’t get to this time. On the other hand I’m glad I spent a lot of time in Mumbai and can say I know it pretty well. Thanks to my job I’ve spent a lot of time on trains and on foot going to meetings which have really helped me get to know all parts of Mumbai.

Lastly I wanted to share a few of my favorite photos from this trip:

Recently I realized I haven’t shared much about the work I’m doing here other than I’m working for a social enterprise so I thought I would elaborate a little more.

First off, this experience has taught me that I am definitely meant for the start-up world. I love wearing many hats and not having a rigidly defined role. Not to mention its exciting to help a new company get off the ground!

So what am I doing exactly? Well I’m working for a start-up social enterprise called Enzi. Enzi is developing an education loan product that will make vocational training courses (i.e. Hotel Management, Accounting, Graphic Design) accessible to those at the base of the pyramid (BoP: the 4-5 billion people who live on less than $2 per day).

So why is this important? Because as you may know India’s population is booming and because of that India will need 500 million skilled or upskilled workers by 2022 (NSDC). Sounds simple enough…right? Entice more people to go to vocational institutes and academies?

Well India presents unique challenges to this goal. How does the population get access to skills training when 68% of the population lives on less than $2 per day?

This is exactly where Enzi and other social enterprises begin making an impact by creating innovative solutions that meet and hopefully help overcome this social challenge.

My work has mostly been in market research; meeting with institutes and academies in Mumbai to understand whether their courses and criteria fit our solution and if they would be interested in participating in our pilot.

Other pieces of my work have focused on researching and recommending mobile banking solutions that fit our BoP market.

In my final blog I hope to share more about the overall outcome of my fellowship and the future of Enzi and the education sector in India. For now I thought Id leave with these fitting quotes:

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” Mahatma Gandhi

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” Nelson Mandela

As I was walking home from the gym today I realized how much I am struck and inspired by the truly entrepreneurial spirit of India. Many times in developing countries entrepreneurship is born out of necessity however, whether it be out of necessity or passion, there are literally entrepreneurs everywhere you turn.

What inspires me the most is that these entrepreneurs have extremely limited resources but they still manage to get the products and reach consumers who are willing to buy their products.

There are literally hundreds of examples of this for instance: the guy who repairs shoes right on the sidewalk and works out of a wooden box where he keeps all of his tools (who said you needed a proper shop?). Or the men and women who sell hair accessories and nail polish to women on the train (brilliant! talk about a captive audience!). Or the woman who collects our trash and collects a fee from each apartment (since there is no standard form of trash collection here). These are just a few examples of the entrepreneurs that identify needs and develop innovative solutions using limited resources. No matter the outcome they are willing to take the risk and try new things, truly inspiring if you ask me!

What inspired me to write this blog post was these two women I came across on my walk home the other day (pictured below). I still am amazed at what people can balance on their heads here (the typical way to carry stuff in India). These two women were carrying beauty products in a box that they were going to sell somewhere. Talk about being mobile!

I just got back from Delhi this morning and I have to say I may have liked Delhi a bit more than Mumbai. Lets just say its less “in your face” than Mumbai is, a little quieter and little more organized (stress on the word “a little”).

Every time I get on a plane I get a little bit giddy at the thought of seeing a new place and experiencing new culture and surroundings. There is something exciting about imagining what a place will be like and look like and then getting to experience it. I was particularly excited about this trip because it would include a trip to the Taj Mahal, the iconic symbol of India.

I landed in Delhi in the afternoon and was hit by the thick, hot air….I now appreciate the weather in Mumbai a little more:) I arrived at my Bed and Breakfast (BNB Chrysalis for anyone who might want somewhere to stay when in Delhi) and headed to the Qutub Minar, ancient ruins dating back to 1192 AD.

After checking out Qutub Minar I wandered back to the BNB and enjoyed a home cooked India meal and went to bed early to prepare for the 5am wake up to start our drive to Agra where we would see the Taj and Agra Fort.

The drive in itself was interesting with periodic stops for random heards of cattle, donkeys and stray dogs. But eventually we made it to the Taj Mahal. There is no way to put into words how breathtaking it is, an enormous, beautifully detailed building all built for one tomb. The tomb houses the third wife of Shah Jahan who died shortly after giving birth to their 14th child (she damn well deserved the Taj! haha). Unfortunately for Shah he was overthrown by his son and would spend the rest of his days in a jail in Agra Fort where he could only gaze at the Taj through the window.

Where to next you ask?? Rajasthan in September will most likely be my last trip within India before heading to Nepal and then to East Africa. Seriously some days I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming! #lovinglife

So overall update on India living situation:

Good! I moved into my apartment with my two roommates who are really nice. It’s nice to have my own place now and not be living from hotel to hotel. I also signed up at a gym which has made life much better. Working out helps me cope with the craziness of this city!

But I wanted to focus this post on my recent trip to Kerala which is a southern state in India. I was hoping for a quiet getaway from the busy city life in Mumbai. Well I got lucky because that’s exactly what I got.

We started our Friday with a drive up to Munnar which is where most of the tea plantations exist. They scenery was amazing with the hillsides covered in tea bushes being plucked by the tea plantation workers.

Admittedly the first day I was very sick, but I decided to try to push through it to see as much as I could. The drive up to Munnar was filled with waterfalls, lush greenery and curvy, hilly roads. Although it was beautiful… needless to say it didn’t help me feel any better. When we arrived in the hotel that night I was out for the count hoping to wake up feeling better.

The next day we stopped at a tea museum and yes that was exactly my thought….how do you make a museum about tea? Well you put a lot of old antiques in a building with a few random tug-of-war photos and call it a tea museum. The best part was the warm chai tea at the end….by the way for all my chai tea lovers out there, India by far does the best!

We then headed to our houseboat which we were all excited for. I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was literally like a hotel on a boat. We got to see the beautiful backwaters of Appelley, Kerala. It was perfectly relaxing.

Overall it was a great weekend getaway with great people and new experiences.

Next trip: Delhi and the Taj Mahal….stay tuned!

I’ve probably mentioned this a few times but I love traveling  and one of the main reasons I love traveling is because I get to see the amazing things that go on outside my home country.

I was introduced to the Tiffin System on my second day in Mumbai as I walked swiftly through the Churchgate station trying to keep up with my colleague. She pointed at these long carriers that had all these little boxes in them and said “Those are lunch boxes they deliver them all over Mumbai.” At the time I thought oh that’s interesting….I was still in my jet lag fog.

The other day we had another conversation about the Tiffin System so I decided to do some research. First, let’s get one thing straight, Indian people like their lunch hot (not just spicy hot, but temperature hot)….I mean who doesn’t. So the Dabbawallahs (the people who pick up and deliver the tiffins (the lunch boxes) go to every area of Mumbai (and this city is f*in huge!) about an hour before lunch (Indians generally each lunch from 1-2pm) pick up the hot meal, hop on trains and deliver the tiffins by bike to hungry Indians all over Mumbai.

Despite delivering over 160,000 tiffins each day, only 1 out of 6 million tiffins fails to arrive at the correct destination (they were awarded the six sigma quality assurance rating by Forbes). And just to be clear there are no computers, or central dispatch systems at work here. The Dabbawallahs rely on a complex coding system that uses numbers and letters to indicate the area of pick up, the beginning train station, the destination train station, the area to be delivered in, the building and the floor…..my head hurts just thinking about it.

Not only is this system itself amazing, the tiffins are actually quite cool themselves. They are circular, aluminum lunch boxes that have various compartments that screw onto each other and that way the rice, curry,  and dessert can all be housed separately.

Can you say resourceful! This system surely tops any computer system or business process I’ve ever worked in Props to the Tiffin System!

So for those of you that have not been following the newest “trend” in shortening words….well Jay-Z and Kanye West have given us a new one…..”Cray”. I mean getting rid of one letter of the word crazy…..thats pure genius! So while they are sitting on the hundreds of millions they have raked in for a song called “That sh*t cray”, I’m sitting in a bagel shop called “The bagel shop”….haha almost as clever as removing one letter from the word crazy:)

So in an attempt to be part of this “cray” trend I thought  I would include it as part of my latest blog post. Because when I get down to it there is only one way to describe Mumbai….CRAY! In fact it might just be CRAY CRAY…yeah thats right:) Or it might just make you CRAY! Probably all of the above.

There is really no way to put into words the amount of people, animals and cars that occupy this city. Couple that with the sound of horns every couple of seconds and you are knee-deep in the city of Mumbai. What I have found is that I can handle this for a few hours before I need to return to my humble abode to get the quiet time I so badly need at the end of the day.

As in anywhere I suppose it will just take time to get used to. So far I am still fascinated by the random cows that stand at the side of the road and I still celebrate every time I cross the road without getting run over:) If anything it all makes me appreciate so much more how we have it in the US!

Fun things coming up:

Trip to the south of India with some Michigan MBAs!

Moving into an actual apartment with roomates…yay!

So I would definitely be lying to you if I said I wasn’t nervous about living in India for 3 months. Its been a while since I spent that amount of time in another country (shout out to my London peeps!). The other day I saw a quote that put it all in perspective:

“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done before.”

SOOOOO TRUE!!! Here I am in Mumbai, trying to get the experience I need to land that job I’ve always wanted (I don’t exactly know what that job is but I know its a far cry from the jobs I had before). And I also know that I wouldn’t be closer to getting that job if I was posted up on my parents couch in Colorado right now.

The one thing you realize very quickly when in another country is there are many things that were so easy back home that will need to be relearned…..such as crossing the street. I stand by the fact that in all of the countries i’ve been too, this is the hardest part! May seem silly but its takes skill to cross a street in Asia without becoming a hood ornament. Its made even more frustrating by the fact that the locals make it look so easy:/ So what do I do??…..I observe. Which is what I did this morning while eating breakfast down the street. After an hour of that I still can’t find a method to the madness but if my past experiences serve me right….there will be a day when crossing the street in India becomes second nature.

Cheers!

Erin

Hey Everyone!

Its been a while! Getting ready to go to India has proven to be more of a task than I had originally planned for. Now that I am a little more than a week away from departing I wanted to share with you some of my favorite social enterprises that are based here in the US and are doing amazing things around the world.

These social enterprises both have a fashionable product that either aid in creating jobs in developing communities or provide services to those who can’t afford them.

31 bits is an awesome company based in Costa Mesa, CA who started a business centered around empowering women in Uganda. Their jewelry is all hand-made by women in Uganda. The sales from their products are not only helping to create jobs for these women but they also mentor them through a variety of different programs from financial training to AIDS and health education.

SOLO Eyewear is a company that was started by two amazing entrepreneurs from San Diego State University. It started with a passion for helping others and has catapulted to huge success! Their sunglasses are as cool as they get and even better – they have an awesome cause behind them! Buy a pair and you can fund an eye surgery or eyeglasses to someone in need. I know I can’t wait to get my pair!

Stay tuned for my next post which will be coming to you straight from Mumbai!!

I’ve always loved traveling but there is something about traveling to developing countries that excites me the most. Maybe its the humbling experience of seeing life in its simplest forms or maybe its the excitement of getting to know a culture so different from my own. Or maybe its the realization that we aren’t really all that different from each other and whether you speak the same language or not you can always connect with someone on some level.

For this post I really wanted to share one of my favorite travel photos. Unfortunately taking a photo of something that captures your attention is far away from actually experiencing that lifestyle first hand however photos are always a humbling reminder of simpler form of happiness.

Below is my absolute favorite picture. It was right before we got to experience a bamboo train ride, a tool used in Cambodia for transporting things across the countryside. A “train” in the simplest form. This little girl happened to be walking away from us, the simplicity and blurriness of the surroundings is what I love about this picture.

The simple life

Feel free to share your favorite travel pictures on twitter @travelerforgood.

Countdown to departure for India: 22 days

Before starting my MBA I was working in the corporate world, doing the daily grind. After a few years of that I knew that I wasn’t a good fit for the corporate world and that there was something missing for me. Fast forward a few years and while in an International Business class I learned of this idea called Social Enterprise.

Currently Social Enterprise is a very vague term but that is in part due to the newness of the field. Simply put Social Enterprise is a business, organization or company that take a mission centered approach to doing business. In most instances the mission of the organization addresses a social need such as poverty, unemployment or education just to name a few.

For me the draw to Social Enterprise is simple because it combines business with doing good. After learning more about Social Enterprise I ended up writing my thesis on it. I wanted to write this blog because my time in India will be spent working with social entrepreneurs who are working hard to improve the lives of those in developing communities. I am so excited to have this opportunity and hope you find Social Enterprise as interesting as I do:)

Hey guys!

First of all thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. As I depart on my next adventure , I have decided that I would like to give everyone the chance to be a part of it!

For those of you that don’t know me that well, I recently graduated from San Diego State University with my MBA. I decided a long time ago that after I graduated I would be committed to two things: traveling and gaining hands on experience in social enterprise! By a stroke of luck I ended up getting accepted to the Frontier Market Scouts which simply put is a program that allows people to go out and get first hand experience in social enterprise and impact investing.

As many of you know this past year has been a year of rediscovering my passion for travel and as a result I think I am forever bitten by the travel bug. After a consulting project in China and a personal journey through Southeast Asia, where to next you ask? INDIA! I will be based in Mumbai for 3 months working as a Program Associate for Village Capital.

Again thank you for taking the time to read my blog and be a part of my adventure!

Cheers!

Erin