Two enlightening weeks conducting BI training in Ghana

The group consisted of ten students, with ages ranging from 20 to the early 50s.  Olav: “They came from all the corners of the country, even one from neighboring Gabon. Their knowledge level varied significantly, and there were substantial differences in their socioeconomic background. Some trainees showed up with very old laptops that barely functioned.”

Olav and Etienne had carefully planned the structure of the training beforehand. Etienne: “We spent the first week covering the basics of BI and the Power BI tool. In the second week, we were able to work on a concrete project that provided valuable insights to the foundation. We kept track of several aspects of the program, such as the number of donations collected, number of projects executed, number of trainees who completed a course, and how many have now a job. This way the foundation can demonstrate its achievements to its donors.”

These weeks were also profoundly educational for the two consultants. “The first few days, we were still working at a Dutch pace,” says Etienne. “But we quickly learned how to adapt to the circumstances and respect the cultural differences. We had to get used to occasional power outages and the fact that not everyone was able to punctually arrive for the lessons at 9AM. After a few days, we realized that we often get stressed over minor issues at home. In the Netherlands we complain about politics, I've done it too, but I realize that things are exceptionally well organized in my home country. Even people with almost nothing seem to be happy. We can learn something from that.”

Despite the big cultural differences, there are also enough similarities in the end.

Olav: “Everyone enjoyed going for a casual drink on Fridays. En just like me, it turns out a few trainees are really into playing FIFA videogames. We all might be more alike than we initially think.”