First week in India

As we start the second week of the venture I am amazed at how time has flown! It feels like the consultants have all barely had a chance to catch their breath and its time to dig back in.
The week was great! It was exciting getting to know our clients and their businesses meet their families and see how the Indians intertwine work and family. In quite a few cases, the businesses are family owned and run by the husband and wife. Some of them have amazing testimonies of what they’ve experienced in their businesses and could probably write best selling biographies of their businesses.

My client on this trip is Sitara music. Sitara music is holds sole publishing rights for EMI music in India. It is one of the family owned businesses mentioned earlier and has done quite well since it was started 12 years ago. The business model is an embodiment of the principles taught by rēp, the organization I am here in India with. There is a strong focus on empowering people to get out of poverty and one way they do this is by employing people who could otherwise not change their lot in life; 8 of their 15 employees are from various slums in India and just love what they do.

The other consultants have equally amazing clients and a common theme on this trip is actually how well integrated most of the businesses already were with their life focus. I think this venture will end up being an adrenaline shot for most of them to excel in what they were already doing great at. I can’t wait to hear and share some of the great stories I know will come out of this time.

India has met and exceeded my expectations in so many ways. It is just as I dreamt up in terms of hustle and bustle, the people and their genuine warmth, and the cacophony of everyday life here; auto-rickshaws, bicycles and motorcycles all vying for their place on the road alongside regular cars, overstuffed buses and an unbelievable mass of pedestrians, the incessant honking which is not a sign of aggression but more of an acknowledgement of the other users of the road, the noise and smells from the street vendors peddling a wider variety of sweets, foods and snacks than I have even seen in my life!, and the variety in people and languages that all somehow are related. What a thrill ride!