Tag Archives: ibmcsc

The End-User Experience ( #ibmcsc )

Today we had the opportunity to drive out Isan-Ekiti, which is considered one of the rural areas of Ekiti state. The drive took us about 45 minutes from our office and even the ride itself was a mixture of paved roads and roadworks under construction. The purpose of the visit was connected to our Citizen Information Management System (CIMS) project. The felt that it was be a good idea to talk to the people who would be impacted by the project that we want to implement – elderly citizens. We were specifically interested in understanding their experiences with the process today and what they thought about some of our proposals to introduce some technology-related solutions into the payment process. We also wanted to get a sense of the different types of towns where our solutions would be implemented in terms of infrastructure and communities.

We were scheduled to meet with 5 of Isan-Ekiti elderly residents, but we ended up meeting with about a dozen. Thanks to our local host team (Yemi and Ayo) we were able to speak to them (the residents spoke Yoruban so we needed translation support), I think we were able to have a great conversation and learn a lot about the process from the End-User perspective including what issues were important to them (trust, convenience, security, ease of use, amongst other criteria) as we work on the alternatives. What I can say here now is that the use of biometrics was a clearly preferred option! That was fantastic to know because it shows that technology can be adapted to the environment, instead of the other way around.

I think the team and I left with new energy. We have faces now to the work we are doing. I am committed to make this important part of their lives more convenient, more secure, and the more efficient. One of the residents we had the privilege of speaking with prayed for our success. I have no intention of letting her down.

And of course the pictures 🙂

IMG_0629 (Small) IMG_0627 (Small) IMG_0674 (Small) IMG_0666 (Small) IMG_0663 (Small) IMG_0653 (Small) IMG_0645 (Small) IMG_0643 (Small) IMG_0639 (Small) IMG_0633 (Small) IMG_0631 (Small)

Church and Golf

This morning I woke up and went to church, which I have to say is the first time in a very long time. However, I really wanted to participate in a church service in Nigeria as I had heard that they were very intense experiences with lots of prayer and singing. About half of the group went to the services and I have to say that I am very glad that we did go! The church was welcoming of us all, and even took a few moments out of the service to mention that we were there, what IBM was working on in the community, and then the minister asked the congregation to pray for our success. It’s really hard to describe what we experienced. In some places, it was about solemn reflection. And in other parts of the sermon, it was only what I could describe as “violent prayer.” Not violent in the sense where people were hurt, but in the sense that there was a lot of shaking, shouting our prayers and asking for redemption, and holding hands. If the roles of ministers are to whip the congregation into a frenzy of devotion and unity of message and purpose, then the mission was accomplished. The congregation seemed to hang on their every word. At the end of the service, the congregation gave us some small gifts and told us we were warmly welcome back. It was hard not to smile leaving the church. Next week we hope to visit a traditional Yoruba church as well as a mosque as Ekiti seems to be a multi-religious society.

IMG_0585 (Small) IMG_0550 (Small) IMG_0586 (Small) IMG_0592 (Small) IMG_0597 (Small) IMG_0601 (Small) IMG_0607 (Small) IMG_0610 (Small) IMG_0615 (Small) IMG_0618 (Small) IMG_0544 (Small) IMG_0545 (Small)

After a morning of prayer (the service was 3 hours!), we had a an afternoon of golf thanks to the kind auspices of the Chief Security Officer (CSO). There were 3 of us who met up with the the CSO who took us to the golf course in Ekiti. I have to say that it was a great experience and it was great to spend the afternoon being a bit active and working on improving my horrible golf handicap! Towards the end of the game we were joined by a couple of other colleagues and just then it started to rain. So back at the lodge area, we had some beers and started talking with people around it. It was a great way to end the Sunday! I also realised that I am a long long way away from being anywhere close to Tiger Woods.

I don’t have golf pics at the moment, but promise to add them later!

Ikogosi Springs Resort and Arita Waterfall ( #ibmcsc )

Today we had the pleasure of visiting the Ikogosi Springs Resort and Arita Waterfall as a team. The resort at Ikogosi is in the final stages of Phase 1 development and not ready for the public, so we were grateful to be able to see the resort as it is in its final stages of Phase 1 development. We were also honoured to get a tour of the facilities by the Managing Director of the property. From what we saw so far, when the resort opens in a few months time it should be very impressive! Besides have great lodging options, pools, etc, the resort is surrounded by beautiful nature and hot and cold springs which make for an interesting and beautiful experience. Of course, the Managing Director was friendly, welcoming, and was eager for our feedback. I really do hope that the resort is a success. It has everything going for it!

IMG_0414 (Small) IMG_0413 (Small) IMG_0543 (Small) IMG_0541 (Small) IMG_0539 (Small) IMG_0538 (Small) IMG_0535 (Small) IMG_0534 (Small) IMG_0525 (Small) IMG_0524 (Small) IMG_0523 (Small) IMG_0521 (Small) IMG_0457 (Small) IMG_0456 (Small) IMG_0455 (Small) IMG_0454 (Small) IMG_0453 (Small) IMG_0451 (Small) IMG_0450 (Small) IMG_0448 (Small) IMG_0446 (Small) IMG_0443 (Small) IMG_0438 (Small) IMG_0436 (Small) IMG_0434 (Small) IMG_0426 (Small) IMG_0415 (Small)

After our tour of the resort, we made a short drive over to Arita Waterfall. The waterfall itself is relatively small, but it definitely is in a scenic and location and as part of a trip to Ikogosi is well worth a visit. The team took a lot of pictures in the water and a few of us even climbed up towards the top of the waterfall.

IMG_0485 (Small) IMG_0479 (Small) IMG_0476 (Small) IMG_0519 (Small) IMG_0517 (Small) IMG_0514 (Small) IMG_0512 (Small) IMG_0509 (Small) IMG_0504 (Small) IMG_0501 (Small) IMG_0496 (Small) IMG_0493 (Small) IMG_0490 (Small) IMG_0489 (Small) IMG_0487 (Small)

So by the late afternoon, I think most of us were ready to head back to the hotel. It was a nice day out. And I am looking forward to attending church service tomorrow. I heard that they do it differently here in Nigeria.

Market Experience ( #ibmcsc )

So last night the team went out to the market to see the different style of cloth that get used in making the traditional Yoruba style of dress. It was great to finally have some contact with the population. Although we are here for a work assignment, another element of an experience like the CSC is the ability to have cultural immersion experiences and changes like the one we had at the market night.

We look forward to going to the market again! In the meantime, here are some pictures from the market.

IMG_0228 IMG_0250 IMG_0174 IMG_0175 IMG_0178 IMG_0188 IMG_0189 IMG_0191 IMG_0193 IMG_0195 IMG_0198 IMG_0201 IMG_0206 IMG_0208 IMG_0210 IMG_0213 IMG_0218 IMG_0221 IMG_0223 IMG_0226 IMG_0245 IMG_0243 IMG_0240 IMG_0238 IMG_0236 IMG_0234 IMG_0230

An early night, but visit my friends’ blogs ( #ibmcsc )

Today you all get a blogging day off from me! 🙂 Outside of work and dinner, it was quite an early night for me. The anti-malarial pills I started taking before I came to Ado Ekiti have a side effective of giving me a sore throat and making me generally tired. So I am going to see what a night of forced rest can do to fix this. Quite a shame to because the hotel is having a giant huge party (I can hear it from my room) and the party seems really awesome!

But fear not! This team I am on is like super social-media aware (finally, kindred spirits), so sometimes instead of me always posting, I will refer you to the blogs and photos of my team instead.

Christina’s Blog: http://www.christinahu.com/

Kelsen’s Blog: http://kelsenr.blogspot.com

 

Good night Ado Ekiti and friends. Despite the loud pumping music, I can feel my eyes getting heavy and I will soon sle..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Time to get to work! ( #ibmcsc )

Press conferences, official meetings, and other formalities over, today is the day when we roll up our sleeves to get to work. Everyone across all of the sub-teams are eager to start. Our day of course begins with one more meeting, but this is the kickoff meeting where we discuss the overall vision and goals of the projects we are working on, as well as the statement of work. The kickoff meeting is good and we meet with our contacts in order to try and understand the nature and scope of our project in more detail.

In the sub-project I work on together with Leslie and Kelsen, I have to say that we are very fortunate to work with a person from the local team who has done a lot of thinking surrounding our project and has a clear vision of the future. That clear vision has translated into a very good Scope of Work (SoW) document which we will be using as the base of how to move forward with our project over the next 4 weeks. Because the SoW is so clear on the long-term goals, we think we will be able to deliver on a roadmap which will help get them on the path of implementing the long-term vision. In the team we decided on the approach to update the SoW and get agreement from our client. So far so good as a team.

So what is it exactly that we are doing? The project in a nutshell comes down to a question of identification. The challenge in identifying people is how does a country/region go about identifying its citizens so that they can ensure that they are providing the services that the citizen’s need? It’s a simple set of questions, but the way to go about those solutions can be complex. Our job is to design and develop a framework which makes this possible. It’s a really cool project and we’re committed to doing a really great job.

So in addition to our tweets and blogs, the team decided to put together a few more ways interested people can follow along:

IBM CSC Nigeria 6 Team Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/IbmCscNigeria6

Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/groups/nigeria6

Lights, Camera, Action! ( #ibmcsc )

So today was a pretty action-packed day!

Our day began with a press conference in the morning where we presented ourselves, the mission of IBM’s Corporate Service Corps, and remarks from various government officials and our partners during the next 4 weeks. There was also some time for questions from the press. I was really proud of the way our Corporate Affairs representative handled the questions and spoke about us the work that we are doing.

Following the press conference, we then were taken to the Palace of the Ewi Ado Ekiti (Ewi = King). After presenting ourselves and our objectives, the Ewi spoke to us about the history of Ado Ekiti, gave us his blessings and prayers, and was gracious enough to take a photograph with us!

Posing with the Ewi for a photo
Posing with the Ewi for a photo
The Ewi sitting on the throne
The Ewi sitting on the throne

After our meeting with the Ewi, we then had a formal opening meeting with the His Excellency Governor Fayemi. Who explained how we came to end up in Ekiti State (even if it is the smallest state in Nigeria, it is larger than 15 other African nations in terms of population), his expectations from us, and his blessings for successful engagements across all of our projects.

After our meeting with the Governor, we went to have lunch at Chicken Republic before heading back to the hotel. Note here that one of the pictures here shows our securty convey who are nice enough to escort us around the town. In this case,

IMG_0166 IMG_0167

So…today was a day filled with pomp and circumstance and it was a cool experience. And tomorrow will be all about work and meeting our clients and getting our project started. I am really looking forward to it!

By the way, more pictures will come soon I promise. Consistent reliable internet has been a challenge, but I hope that we solve this in the next couple of days. Ciao for now.

Ado Ekiti on a map

Orientation and Ado Ekiti Tour ( #ibmcsc )

Today’s fun adventure included a security orientation, an orientation on health services, and the last free day before the kickoff activities and work begin tomorrow. We also did some ice-breakers to get to learn some more about each other. The team continues to get along really well and that is nice. And working with my sub-team is also great. We have similar thoughts on most issues and have good discussion for a great exchange of ideas. So what can I say? So far so good 🙂

The hotel also has internet and a fairly nice restaurant. I don’t really have a lot of reason to complain. The hotel staff is just fantastic and they are so warm and friendly. That is going to be a recurring theme over the next weeks. I can’t really overstate how welcoming and friendly each and every person I have met has been.

In addition to briefings and orientations, we also had an opportunity to visit a local private university, the Afe Babalola University. The university was not in session unfortunately so we made a promise to make a return visit, but the University is notable because it is funded by private investment. In addition to several colleges within the University, they also have their own bakery, electricity station, access to water, and a mango farm. It will be exciting to make a return visit to see the University when it is in session and hopefully get a chance to talk to the students.

 

IMG_0099
Bianka, Ming-Hai, and Cinthia
IMG_0094
Afe Babalola University vehicles
IMG_0090
Chancellor of the University speaking to us about Afe Babalola University
IMG_0089
One of the colleges at the University
IMG_0104
Law College

IMG_0101

As normal, we end our night back at the hotel and make sure we are ready for our big day tomorrow – our press conference, meeting with the Ewi (King) of Ado Ekiti, and our formal reception with the Governor.

The weekend to acclimatise has been a great idea. I suppose we could have been dropped into the middle of it all and just left to run with it, but the structure and set up so far have served us well. The only wish we have: more opportunity to interact with the local population at some point in the trip. I feel perfectly safe in Ekiti and statistics and other measurements really do bear out that the State enjoys a relative peace and calm, but I also understand that we have to take reasonable measures. Our security team could not be nicer and friendlier, and our local hosts assigned really do go out of their way to accommodate us. But just the same, we’re already ready for some visits to market, etc, etc. However, one of the things you can easily see in Nigeria is the enormous opportunity to develop tourism (particularly on the sustainability and eco-tourism sides). So maybe our eagerness to buy local crafts will help kickstart that as well 🙂

Nigeria Assignment – Day #1, Part 2 ( #ibmcsc )

Today we had the fun task of driving 6 hours from Lagos to Ado Ekiti.

We piled into the van which was very cozy for the enormous amount of people and luggage we had and eventually made it to our hotel. We saw many things along the way and took several pictures. One of the things you get really impressed by is the fairly large amount of nature that is visible, if not available for hiking and trekking just yet because the tourist areas are not yet fully developed).

Once we got to the Delight Hotel, we were welcomed with a refreshing drink and we checked in. If I had to describe our hotel, I would describe it as cozy enough to meet the needs that we have. I feel safe and secure in the hotel without a doubt. There is hot water and a shower and air conditioner. The hotel is of a good standard so I really can’t complain. The free internet leaves something to be desired (we only get 100 MB complimentary – yikes!), but otherwise that is my main thing. Dinner tonight consisted of jollof rice and chicken, which was probably my first Nigerian-themed dish. It was spicy. I mean sweating-in-my-shirt-and-mouth-on-fire kind of spicy. But it was good and a nice introduction to Nigerian food. During dinner we received a notification that the Governor of Ekiti State, His Excellency Dr Kayode Fayemi, invited us to his birthday party as an unofficial welcome at his residence. His generosity was greatly appreciated by us all. Not a bad way to spend our first night in Ekiti state!

Slowly but surely some pictures will start making their way into my posts. At the moment the internet connectivity isn’t always as consistent as I would like it to be, so I will add posts and pictures as often as I am able.

 

Picture with His Excellency the Governor of Ekiti State
Picture with His Excellency the Governor of Ekiti State
Delight Hotel - from the outside
Delight Hotel – from the outside
Mosquito net over the bed...it reminds me of my G.I. Joe tent as a child :)
Mosquito net over the bed…it reminds me of my G.I. Joe tent as a child 🙂
Jollof Rice with chicken and plantain. Nigerian food is kinda spicy :)
Jollof Rice with chicken and plantain. Nigerian food is kinda spicy 🙂
Ado Ekiti on a map

Nigeria – Day 1 ( #ibmcsc )

Yesterday I arrived into Lagos after what I can only describe as pleasant flight experiences. I flew with Lufthansa and I have to say that I usually always enjoy it. I felt under no pressure or stress as I had finished packing around 20.00 the night before and was able to have a nice and calm evening.

So after 12 hours traveling time (2 hours to from Stockholm to Frankfurt, 3 hours of layover, 1 hour of delay, and 6 hours of flying), I finally made it to Lagos, Nigeria. The first thing I noticed upon arrival? The heat! Glorious, comforting, 25-degree heat. The sweat underneath my eyes at the thought of not needing a winter jacket again for 4 weeks were actually tears.

Going through immigration was painless enough, if not a bit lengthy. I got my immigration stamp rather quickly (as it would turn out, the stamp needs to be re-done because they only stamped until 07 March and I will stay until 09 March, but this is being solved for us). The fun part was trying to find the people waiting for me. As it turns out we walked past each other quite a few times, and in the height of hilarity, after 30 minutes (and both parties making a few calls to our local coordinator), we were standing back-to-back to each other…literally. So that sorted, we head over to the bus and additional police escort and wait to collect more of our colleagues who are also arriving. A couple of hours later (in retrospect the time went by quickly…I was just cranky for a hot shower) and we were at the hotel, meeting the rest of the group who had arrived. Some dinner and socialising and everyone was in good spirits. If you had walked past the group, you would have thought that we had known each other for years instead of having talked over the phone for a few months and hadn’t met face-to-face before. But that in some way is the typical IBMer: we tend to bond really quickly when placed in groups 🙂

Our local IBM, NGO, and Government contacts are all awesome and amazing people – we are so fortunately to be working with them over the next 4 weeks.

This morning was our briefing about logistics and other matters before we set off to Ekiti. The Sheraton Hotel by the airport is a nice place to wait to depart 🙂 No time to dip into the pool unfortunately, but I am satisfied with the fact that there is not a snowflake on the ground to be seen anywhere.

We haven’t been anywhere in Lagos or other places to take pictures, so the only pictures I can offer are the ones I took on my flight from Frankfurt to Nigeria. The first picture is snow-capped mountains, and second one is beautiful desert. I’ll look forward to complimenting future blog entries with more pics and less words 🙂

2013-02-08 13.22.24 2013-02-08 14.26.51

#ibmcsc Nigeria