Arguably a Success Story

Over the past two months my friend Jamine and I have been organizing and implementing a business competition. The event consisted of five lessons on topics ranging from demographics to marketing. The most challenging component for the students was the budget and cost projection.

In total, there were six groups with a business proposal for each of them. At the end of the five-week program the students submitted a portfolio including finished pieces of work for each subject we covered in the program. A jury of six members read the portfolios and then each group presented their proposal in front of the jury and then defended their project. The winning group received 15,000 Meticais ($600) to implement the project over the next year.

The proposals included a bakery, pig and chicken farms, dried and canned vegetables, egg production and ornamental plants.

Overall, the competition was hit and miss but we learned a lot about what to do next year. And the students were pleased with the outcome and all of them have taken something away from the course.

I am proud to say (but before hand I should say that I was not a judge) that my two boys, Paulove and Silverio, and their respective groups took first and second place. Paulove and his group created a pork project and Silverio's designed an ornamental plant project. There was a little gossip about the irony of my favorite and closest students (os filhos de Chase) taking the top two places, but I think any conspiracy theories have been put to rest. I couldn’t be more proud of the two of them.

I wish I had some pictures to accompany the story but I made the brilliant mistake of erasing them without having uploaded them to the computer, a fitting ending to a touch and go project. For a look at os filhos de Chase, please refer to sitter shitter picture below where the two of them are cooperatively building me a toilet. Instead of relevant photos, I have included a photo of Paul and I on the beach attempting mid-air high fives.

I hope the bitter weather treats all of you well at home, while the heat and humidity can only go up on this side of the world.