Weekend in Guaramiranga, rain forest

Weekend spent in Guaramiranga rain forest. Unfortunately, it was seriously rainy during the weekend therefore all the activities were limited. At least the temperature was lower comparing to Fortaleza, only about 20°C in the evening. On the other hand there is almost nothing to do except the visit of two churches, centre of the village and light hiking which was not possible because of the rain. Also there is a nice waterfall 10km far from the village. But the nature here is fascinating around this remote village 120km from Fortaleza city.

Guaramiranga

Guaramiranga church

Panorama of Guaramiranga

Guaramiranga church

Guaramiranga's palms

Jaca (jackfruit)

Waterfall near Guaramiranga

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At the new location

Starting today, we're working from another location. Far from the incubator but close to the decision makers. we're moving to another half of the period of our assignment. Till now we have been able to review the business incubator in Fortaleza city, identify the pain points and prepare a several suggestions for improvement. We were also able to clarify our scope of work and prepare the draft of the business incubator implementation model in another campuses across the Ceara state. For me it was a challenge, but I understand that Christine is pretty familiar with this kind of elaboration. Another new experience for me. But today we did the final review of the document and forwarded to our translator Anderson. After the translation to Portuguese it will be sent to our client for review. We expect the review will take place on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday we plan to prepare the presentation for students in IFCE. They are curious about IBM, our jobs, what we're doing in Brazil and also something about our cultural identity. We're also supported by IFCE finally. We're really looking forward.

We went for lunch with our pro-rector of post gradual and innovation, Azuir Ripardo. After that, he took us to the tour of Fortaleza, showing us places where we have never been before. It was really interesting for us to see the real life of in Brazil, not the one in the tourist area where our hotel is located. There are many poor areas and of course the bottom of the poverty in Brazil - favela - but fancy one, with electricity.

For me this tour was a highlight of the day and great end of the working week. But week is not over yet. Some people from our group decided to go to Rio. I'll go there after my assignment so plan is to go to the Guaramiranga. Leaving Fortaleza on Saturday, 11:00AM.

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Seems like last day in the IFCE Fortaleza campus

In he morning we continued with development of the document describing the expansion of the incubators network. Document is almost ready for review of IFCE. We agreed that we will provide it for the review till the end of this week.

In the afternoon we were visited by Ripardo, pro-rector in IFCE and we went to a small tour of IFCE Fortaleza campus. He showed us the facilities we've newer seen before. Laboratories where students may perform practical exercises on top of their theoretical studies. It was very impressive how many ideas students have, unfortunately the resources are limited.

We were interviewed by local journalist in the IFCE and interview will be publicized soon :)

For next two weeks we will be moved to another location starting tomorrow. We're open for new challenges.

Several photos from the labs:

Just another working day

Yesterday was a free day but in the morning we started to define the structure of our work. Than Christine did a lot of the work and I finally managed to book my flights to Iguazu falls. So right after the assignment I go to Rio de Janeiro and another day to Igauazu. I'm really looking forward. I go with Mohammed and Anne. In the evening there was a weekly status meeting where we share the progress of our work.

Today we spent another day in the incubator. There was nobody from the 12 incubated companies at work, usually there is at least one person, Vinicius. On the other side we had again a very productive meeting with our client. We went through the prepared structure of the document which they want us to create. I think they were really satisfied. We agreed to finish the document on Friday this week so it will be a challenge for me. Christine is doing this regularly as her primary job so she is really good in what we're doing now.

Yesterday the team agreed to have regular status meetings every day at 7:30PM. Just 5-10 minutes to share what we did that day and what is the plan for next day. Today it was a first time and after that, almost everybody went out to have a dinner. I went to the market and bought the postcards. It is really difficult to find postcards in Fortaleza. But I did finally. There is also a plenty of cashew nuts at the market. It is a good snack when you're writing your blog. Ceara is the cashew nut country. You can find cashew everywhere. As well as Havaianas.

Havaianas

Cinquenta Sabores - famous Brazilian ice-cream. I prefer "Obama" flavour but if you don't like it, there are still 49 left.

Cinquenta Sabores - fake :)

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2nd working week just started

Today is Monday, 11:35 PM. I'm still not tired. The weekend in Canoa Quebrada really helped me. But my skin is burning.

"The coast southeast of Fortaleza) has many fine beaches, a lot of them backed by dunes, but is increasingly developed and built up. It's not until you reach the environs of Canoa Quebrada, 140km from the city, that the coast starts to regain its natural majesty. Once a tiny village cut off from the world by its huge, pink sand dunes and beloved of early hippie travelers, Canoa Quebrada today has shifted towards a more family-oriented beach spot, and it's a favorite destination of daily van tours from Fortaleza. But the craggy, eroding sand cliffs and the large dune expanses still lend Canoa that elemental, otherworldly feel for which it's famous. With numerous good pousadas and restaurants, and varied outdoor activities easily available, it's an enjoyable spot to relax for a few days." (Lonely Planet - Brazil, 2013).

On Sunday, usually Brazilian families are on the beach. All together. So why not to adapt to the local traditions? We did and it was a wonderful weekend full of fun. We're also a kind of a family now :) The Canoa Quebrada is amazing. Hippies found a really nice place for living. The place where you can see activists fighting against drugs and after twenty meters a guy selling jewelry and enjoying his joint right in the street, the one of three streets in Canoa Quebrada. The place where the beach bars are open from 1AM! Yes, that's the time when the night life really starts. The place where you can buy Havaianas in the each shop. And a place where you can meet Wandoo, beach bar manager, visiting Czechoslovakia for last ten years.

But, the second week of our assignment already started and we had to go to the work. In the morning we prepared additional questions to the customer. I'm glad I'm in the team with Christine, IBM consultant. She deals with external clients on daily basis. We were finally able to clarify our scope of work in the afternoon. This was the goal for today crucial to define next steps on our way of developing business incubator. We also offered to the IFCE the presentation of IBM, our countries similar to the one we delivered to the high school on last Friday. This would be more mature because the IFCE's students are little bit older. We met several students today in the IFCE campus and they're really curious about IBM. Hopefully, the IFCE will be able to arrange a meeting with students. We also offered a meeting to the incubated companies. We may gain more knowledge about incubation process and they may have a connection and  further contact with IBM, so both sides may benefit. It was a productive day at work again.

Most of us finished the day at the fish market, fresh fish grilled together with cassava fries and after that, with and ice cream at famous 50 Sabores.

Tomorrow is a free day again but in the morning we will prepare the structure of the SOW to be able to present it to the customer on Wednesday.

Business Incubator

IFCE's phone "helmets"



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Community service at Alda Façanha State Professional School

Alda Façanha State Professional School in the municipality of Aquirazis is a school preparing the students in age about 14-19 for their first job. 3 years education gives them the basics needed to apply for a work. Today, on top of our CSC Scope of Work, we were at this school telling them about our countries and job in IBM. Just a several slides with a pictures some explanation and that's it. This is how it was communicated to us before we went there. Pretty simple but...

Have you ever went over the red carpet? I think it was the first time in my life today. I know that Shakira is coming to Fortaleza soon but the carpet was not for her. It was for us. I have to say that students did a lot of effort to prepare everything to welcome us. They prepared some local food, decoration and also some exhibitions for us. We were welcomed really like a stars. Students were waiting for us full of joyfulness. They were also curious of course, but I have never seen so much happiness in the eyes of children.

We're 12 consultants. Students were split to the 12 classes, around 45 students each. We switched than after one our with one of my colleagues to meet also the other class. Unfortunately almost nobody speaks English therefore the translators were ready for each of us. My translator was Juliana, student from another school nearby. After the short excursion of the school facilities we introduced ourselves and and students prepared a small exhibition in the school hall.
Finally, when I met my colleagues they were also full of emotions, I would say, same as me. Again, it's difficult to explain the atmosphere by words. But it was another great experience for us to visit such a cool school.


Than we moved to the classrooms. When I entered the room one young boy asked to hug me. As soon as I agreed he run through the whole big classroom to hug me! He was so honest, happy and open. All of them were honest, happy and open. It was the same in another classroom. At the beginning there was also a small exhibition, they introduced their country, showed me some cakes told me something about the culture they were singing and dancing. Full of emotions. They were also curious about us, our countries, what we do in IBM. Wen I was talking, I've seen all the interest and hungry for knowledge. I'm sure, if the students will keep going this way, they will be really successful in their life. I thing we brought them something, but we also get something. It is difficult to explain by words, and I'm not going to try. You have to experience it. I'll never forget!

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First day on the way to the scope of work

Today, we clarified all the questions about incubator. IFCE personnel is very helpful. Meeting till 12:30PM brought us further and we think we understand the business incubator process to the very detailed level. We met Rejane, project coordinator and she explained us what will be our scope of work for upcoming weeks. It seems to be we're close to the point.

Just to explain the situation. Unfortunately, probably due to some kind of miscommunication, we we're expected to start only today and help to develop the business incubator for campuses outside of the Fortaleza city. Good thing is that we had time to evaluate an ongoing business incubator in Fortaleza campus. We went through the incubation process within two days in detail and we were able to identify many areas where we can help the client with our suggestions for improvement. It would be good to incorporate those suggestions into the current model in Fortaleza campus and also to other campuses, before the new application period.

Tomorrow, there is a plan to go to the school present our countries and job in IBM. It is a Alda Façanha State Professional School, in the municipality of Aquiraz. This is a kind of a community service for the students which were never been abroad and are very curious how other countries look like and what we do in IBM in a very high level. Together there are 500 students and to meet them, we have to leave the hotel at 6:30. So...boa noite ;)

Dinner at the fish market, (almost) all together. Fresh boiled prawns!

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Day off

Even if there is a day off due to the public holiday in Ceara state, I met Christine early in the morning, around 9:00 AM, and we started to evaluate the data which we already have from our IFCE client. We did a great job and we're ready for our next meeting with the client tomorrow.

Other CSC participants did the same, a bit of work even if there is a day off.

When you ask the locals where to go, they always tell you "to the beach". Doesn't matter which one. Ceara has 600km of coastline. One of the most known beaches (or maybe most known beach) is Jericoacoara. It is really far away from Fortaleza. So in the afternoon some of us (6 of 12) decided to go to the Cumbuco beach which is around 20km far from Fortaleza city to discuss a bit about the projects, share knowledge and opinions and help each other with a projects.

It sounds like a cliche cliché, but I have to say it is the great experience and a pleasure for me to deal with the people from so different cultures. I'm really glad that I'm working with such a tremendous team full of professionals from almost all over the world.

Me and Berna from Turkey (after the very productive days and this morning, we're sharing project experience at Combuco beach).

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Scope of Work (SOW) not clear enough yet!

Today it was a very productive day and we finally managed to found out what the Business incubator means for IFCE. It is a program for all current and former students of IFCE developed to help them start up their business, increase the level of their business to the higher level. The current incubator model in Fortaleza consists of these stages:

• Pre incubation
• Incubation of the company
• Association of the company
• Developed company

The company may apply for incubation at any of those stages. Last application period was in 2009. 12 companies were selected and till that time all of those companies are incubated.

Originally, our goal was to evaluate the incubator implemented in Fortaleza and create the model of the incubator in other campuses of IFCE across the Ceara. IFCE already started with this project 6 months ago. We have to find out the what is the current status and adjust the SOW slightly, therefore there as a meeting scheduled on Thursday with the project coordinator.

The people at IFCE are were helpful, translator is doing his best but still there is a communication barrier. At least, we're learning Portuguese very quickly. Tchau! 

Me and Christine with our IFCE colleagues. From the right side: Anderson, Vinicius and another Anderson :)

Me at the IFCE chemical laboratory performing water purification process.

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1st day at the client's location

Finally, the first day at the client's location. Very impressive how IFCE (The Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Ceará) works. IFCE is public academic institution but it's not just the school or university. It is a educational and social institution offering a variety of bachelor’s and master’s degree programs. In the Students spend the all day at the institute, attending the lessons, there are lots of sport activities including inside and outside pool, there is also food for them and social activities as well as arts (theater, painting). Everything is for free!

First day of work we met also all the clients and all the sub-teams, we introduced each others and our scope of work. Me and my team mate Christine are going to develop a Business incubator outside of the Fortaleza city which will be a kind of educational model of Business incubator already implemented in Fortaleza.

From left: Antonio Moises Filho de Oliviera Mota (General Director of IFCE), Francisco Gutenberg Albuquerque Filho (International Relaitions), Chhristine (in the middle), me and the the very right Anderson Vercosa (our new teammate, newcomer at IFCE.

Business lunch with our hosts


Connection at the hotel is very limited (at the client's location it is really fast) and we were really busy by activities organized by our PIXERA friends. Therefore let me share with you the weekend highlights now
On Saturday we were at th famous beach, Praia do Futuro. It was a nice team building as most of the team arrived just on Saturday night. Water was so inviting... :)

On Sunday afternoon we made a team building session organized by PIXERA were we went through the agenda for the upcoming week.

Martina and Yi

Ying, Janka and Mohamed

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Arrival at 2:56AM local time, Fortaleza

24 hours travel but finally I'm at the hotel. 2 hours of sleep and now waiting for the others to come. Cloudy weather due to the rainy season, however, only in the morning.

On Sunday we will meet our local CSC consultant and till that time we will have some time to accommodate, a discover the city.

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Ready for CSC experience

We went through the 3 months pre-work activities, all educations are behind us and we're ready for CSC assignment. After the initial call with the client, we have a very good impressions. Our client is the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Ceará (IFCE). I'm in the sub-team with Christine, IBM consultant. We're really looking forward!

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