After a weekend of last moments well spent and heart felt goodbyes, slightly tear filled I boarded the late plane from Cape Town to Johannesburg with my boss Nico. Depressed to see my friends go, I felt quite reassured when I experienced a true sense of relief and excitement when I arrived late last night. This coming week, December 3-7, the London Business School program that I mentioned in my last post will finally be taking place after months of preparation.

My enthusiasm for our project escalated to even more when Nico and I arrived in Alexandra township this morning. I by no means know the area or the people well, but after my last visit, it was so cool to come back to a familiar place and familiar faces. And since I am one of the few mlungus that has been wandering the streets of Alex lately- I was familiar to them too. The next few days will entail Nico and I ensuring that all of the logistics are in place for things to run smoothly once the 125 business students arrive. Obviously due to the size of the group and the challenges of working in this community there is little room for error, but more importantly we owe it to the client, and especially the entrepreneurs/ the community of Alex, to ensure that we create an enabling environment that will promote a positive impact on all parties involved.

Also, the more impact full this experience is, the better the chances are that these Inclusive Consulting missions will become more frequent and include MBA students from all over the world- not just LBS- generating more space for organic growth and innovation in the Base of the Pyramid. I will be updating the blog more frequently this week so that you can read my account of the program as it happens. To learn a little bit more about what we are doing and the incredible history of Alex check out the website we made- thanks to iWeb- for the mission. You will also be able to watch short clips of the entrepreneurs and navigators we selected after an extensive interview process we did last time I was here. If at the very least check out a few of them because their stories are fascinating. I also wrote the entire “Meet your client” section so now you don’t have an excuse!

Enjoy learning a bit more about the program and put a face, a voice, and a story to the people that I always talk about. In a way I left my Cape Town family to be welcomed back to my Alexandra family and I can’t wait for what next week has in store!