The adventure started with a cheeky email...
I am part of Margaret Hirsch's Women of Worth (WOW) supper club. Fay her assistant sent through an email to say that the September 2018 dinner needed to be moved out by a couple of days as Margaret was traveling to Côte d'Ivoire. I sent Margaret a note in jest, asking, "Can I come with...?", and didn't really give it a second thought after pressing send. Boy was I surprised when I received an affirmative email a couple of days later and asking whether I could speak French!
It doesn't help to put things out to the universe and then not acting on it when the opportunity comes your way. For some time I have been wanting to expand Reputation Matters into Africa, and the expansion plan is definitely in motion, Botswana earlier this year, now Côte d'Ivoire. As the saying goes, if your goals don't scare you, they are not big enough!
The wheels were in motion for this leg of the African adventure... basic French podcasts downloaded, [I can confidently remember how to tell you what my name is in French and that I speak very basic French from my matric third language classes, but the pawpaw hits the fan when people actually start talking back.] Travelstart trawled for the best travel deals and accommodation via AirB&B scoured. I am not a fan of staying in hotels, my preference is to live like a local; it's the best way to experience a place. I also think it helps to authentically connect with the place, especially if you want to do business there.
Not knowing anyone in Abidjan, I reached out to the local Rotary Club for advice on where best to stay and whether I could attend one of their Rotary meetings. When things are meant to be, everything falls into place really quickly; the Past President reached out and invited me to stay with them.
I got a really good deal with Ethiopian Airways, it was a bit of a trek, East Coast / West Coast, but, not being deterred by an excessively long layover, I decided to maximise my time while I was there.
Ethiopia is an hour ahead of South Africa, we landed at 22:00 (Ethiopian time); something that I thought was incredibly well organised, was that if your layover is longer than (I think), eight hours, the airline organises accommodation for you at a local hotel for the evening, including dinner and breakfast. It is so much better than having to camp out at the airport.
You don't need a visa, all you need to do is present your boarding pass, hotel voucher and passport at passport control. You do need to weave your way through the painstakingly slow queue. Your passport does not get stamped, only the boarding pass, so apart from the photos there is actually no proof that I was on Ethiopian soil.
Cape Town has not had a hint of Spring warmth yet, so the warm sweet Addis Ababa air enveloped me as I walked to the waiting area for the minibus to collect us to go through to "Top Ten" hotel, and I just had this incredible feeling that this feels right and that I am on the right track.
The two photos above are of the view from my room on the third floor. It was rather amazing, humbling, to see the sunrise on the East coast of Africa (Addis Ababa), and then sunset on the West coast of Africa, later the same day in Abidjan.
Earlier this year the Cape Town team and I went to an Ethiopian restaurant in Long Street, I absolutely loved the Injera, it's a large spongy pancake; was absolutely thrilled it was on the breakfast menu! (pic above; bottom of the plate)
My friend Mikias Sissay, Communication Strategist and Advisor for the World Bank joined me for breakfast. We bounced around ideas of communication and reputation management as well as chatted about our Awesome AfriCAN initiative. I do realise that each country will have its own set of rules and challenges; the low literacy levels of the informal job market that we want to do business with in Addis Ababa is something that we will need to include in our planning.
After another hour and a half in the passport control queue, and three other queues, we were heading West. At around noon, I looked out of the window, and it was the weirdest scenery I had ever experienced, it was midday, but there was no sun, no stars, only this navy blue presence contrasted by white clouds, it was rather eerie, yet magical, a sign of exciting things to come...?
Part II tomorrow
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