News!

Once again i have reached the end of my holiday. Its been good and i think that when i get back to Punta Arenas there will be a lot of work to do. While i was away i was offered participation in two separate licitations. I sent my cv, but have not heard anything since....ill see soon enough. I still have loads of other things to do anyway.

So what did i do on holiday, well, i was in Buenos Aires and i went to salta. Both where really great. I'm on my way back down south now. Visiting argentina is always great. I love it to bits, but you do have to be prepared to confront strange situations. Buenos Aires is changing. Although i didn't feel the insecurity personally, on the news you hear about all sorts of crimes that are going on, and not even so far from you.

Inflation is up. Prices of products rise on an almost daily basis. Some more than others. If you have foreign currency obviously your safe, but remember the dollar is also devaluating! Besides this the supermarkets have less products on their shelves as producing companies start speculating about the price rises. This really sucks, as it puts even more pressure on prices. I just hope things will be sorted out......

Salta was relaxing as usual. It rained quite a lot. Well, actually i have to say it has rained loads this summer. Apparently more than other years. I feel sorry for my sister that came for only 2 weeks to argentina, and in salta it rained for about 3, out of the 4, days she stayed. Then when she got to Bs As, there was a huge storm and the city flooded!

Well, i still got in the pool, and still loved it! When i was in salta i visited Fundacion Impulsar. I have visited them before but in Bs As. I wanted to see what there projects where like, so one day i went with the director of the salta office to a presentation she was doing to invite entrepreneurs to participate in their program.

The meeting was attended by about 35 people, and was pretty successful. Comparing their system, to the system used by SERCOTEC, it is much more relaxed. Its different though, Although there is an evaluation process of the presented business ideas, the main indicator they use to allocate funds is whether the entrepreneur has experience in what he, or she, is proposing. The chosen entrepreneur has to attend a course to develop the business plan. The most motivated entrepreneurs finish the process and start their project. those who don't, don't get funding......After that they get a monthly guidance for 3 years.

Similar to SERCOTEC, but sometimes no the best projects get funding, because in the end, it is a government tool, and must reflect government policy in certain areas such as gender issues, and age.

Very good!

In Bs As i met up with three very interesting people. One has made a very popular CSR Blog in Argentina and has found the way to make it economically sustainable through doing training courses. I also visited Siemens, (the company), to see what kind of CSR they were doing, and why. I also met up with Matias Rosenberg. I suppose you could call him a Social entrepreneur whom has a great idea and wanted to meet up and talk about it.

Well, very interesting all of it. Now back to Punta Arenas, and see whether things can get started again. Sharon is already there!

The silver lining

So, i never knew there was order in chaos. I thought it may be a good idea to go off on holiday during february and march. Its been a year after all. According to the planification this wouldnt be possible, due to my contractual obligations of the work i am doing. However, due to x, y and z reasons its seems that i can take a whole month! Yipee! Im off. Indeed i am. The 15th im going to Buenos Aires and then the 21st to Salta. Laze around the pool and take in some sun....lovely....i cant wait!

So, i have a week left, and lately i have been back on the questionnaires. Mainly at the airport and with tourists. This is for the Sendero de Chile project. The idea is to estimate the potential demand for the trail. I have done 46 questionnaires, and i still have 4 more to do.....initial results indicate that about 60% have never heard of Sendero de Chile, and 99% have never heard of the existing sections in the 12th region. Oh, and i had to go to the airport because in Punta Arenas itself everyone ignored me when asked if i could do a questionnaires with them.....you guys wouldnt do that? Would you?

Well, so there is that. The follow up with the entrepreneurs is going well. At the moment i am between contracts. You see, my initial contract was for 3 months. This job was given to me directly. But the consultant that was to take forward the following 4 months, had to be decided by public tender. So i prepared my proposal......and won! It was difficult i have to say, it was the first public tender of the year and about 8 other people and consulting companies from Santiago applied!

A new volunteer will be arriving soon. Her name is Sharon Hesp and she will be helping me out on strategic development. I think its pretty cool, and shes willing to stay for a long time! Lets hope she doesnt change her mind when we get into the lovely patagonian winter! She should be here the 9th of march.

The new name of the organization is Sustento - Corporacion de Emprendedores Sustentables.....tell me what you think, but keep your criticism to yourselves....hahahha, its too late to change it now....but yeah, thats the new name and i hope you like it. The new logo is also pretty cool. Ill see if i can post it.....So thats what well be working on. I just hope it all works out.

To this end i am also looking for new members of the corporation and i have actually found some interesting ones. Pati is included! So now she really will be our mother.......

Alright im off to Isla Riesco for a BBQ!

I went to Williams!

I went to williams! I was there for about 3 days in total. I have to say that it wasn't really enough, but still. I saw jaqueline whom is doing quite well. She made a whole proposal for the company hurtigruten, (the cruise ship company - remember?). She did this with the different entrepreneurs of the island. The ones that were interested where asked to think about there product and form that that make a tour which could be offered to the passengers of the visiting ships. This included gastronomic delights with pati, a tour with luis tiznado, and walking tours within williams.

For all you people that are interested, the latest news from williams is; the gobernacion provincial is now a two-storey building, there is a new fire station, (behind the muni), navarino has a new floating pier, (thank god), ushuaia boating now is now renting the coiron, there is a new bridge to the airport, the museum is almost finished, (just a few more weeks), pablina has a baby, pati is back on the island, (after about 6 months of absence), hostal pusaki has bought new furniture, there is a new pizza parlour, (hmmm - the owner is carlos soto and his son), and denis has made such a beautiful house out of enviu house. I was going to take some pictures but i forgot in the end. He painted it and it looks so bright in the house now....its amazing what a coat of paint can do i tell you! There is a new internet place in town, (and its quite fast)!

Anyway, it was good to see everyone as well! Do you know that omora students are now occupying all of our families. Good idea hey?!

Ok, besides that I'm just working away here in punta arenas. Still working on the follow up work with the micro entrepreneurs. Little by little they are making their investments and slowly beginning to implement their business. Until now i have no runners! I think i have seen them all twice, and i do have to say that popi has a brilliant idea!

Also still working on the sendero de chile project. As most projects, it is all very delayed, but i finished most of what i have to do, (develop the imagen - objetivo of the trail in magallanes). I'm still wondering about the next step......