Retro-Direct Drivetrain Working!

Well, after food poisoning incapacitated Becky and I and longer-than anticipated power outages at the factory slowed our progress, we've finished our first retro-direct rickshaw drivetrain! Mostly finished. We haven't built the clutch lever yet, that's tomorrow's task. But the drivetrain works! For more details, check out our blog.

Ainal, Rickshaw Bank bike mechanic and master of many things mechanical, rode the rickshaw around, much to the amusement of local children. Check out the expression on the kid in the red shirt.

The gang's all here

James, Rayshawn, and Elizabeth have finally arrived in Ghana and we are now back at KNUST in Kumasi. Tomorrow is a full day at the Intermediate Technology Transfer Unit (ITTU) shops and the Central Market. More news and picture coming soon!

A Proposal "Tres Poetique"

**This was started a few days ago, but posted today because typing on
the iTouch is not that fun. Today I borrowed Preeta's computer, thus
the finished post!!**

Kate here. What a great day! Team Morocco is on day 5, je pense, and
fully into the swing of things! A few big things happened today that
absolutely must be mentioned.

First off, today we had a meeting with the logistical director of
Maroc Telecom. This man is responsible for buying all the phones that
Maroc Telecom sells. Needless to say he was a pretty big deal. This
meeting came as a bit of a surprise/shock to us, having only found out
about the meeting a few days before. We weren't really sure what his
expectations for us were or what we should ask of him (Basically none
of us dreamed we'd be able to the this meeting so we just hadn't
really thought about it). But after spending most of Monday in
Internet cafes drinking beaucoup de the a la menthe (lots of mint
tea), we prepared a presentation that we thought would suffice.

We talked a bit about the ADE program, the background of the problem,
and our proposed solutions. Then we pitched a solutions that we had
earlier ditched because we thought it would be impossible to obtain
the resources. He seemed to agree with us about the
problem/opportunity and agreed to put us in touch with some of his
contacts (one of whom is a guy who is trying to start a phone
manufacturing business in Morocco). Unfortunately he was expecting a
new phone prototype for that meeting. So right now we aren't really
ready to be talking to partners like him, but the most exciting thing
was that he genuinely seemed interested in the idea, that if we had a
phone, they might agree to work with us.

The whole experience was very eye opening. We found ourselves squarely
in the world of business, being asked for a detailed business plan.
It's a perfect example of the variety of skills and experiences this
course demands. You have to have conversations with the street vendors
in the medina and walk into a board room and sell a detailed business
plan. Very hard, but very cool. The other thing that I got out of this
experience was a change in perspective on what is possible in ADE and
how it can be achieved. Many solutions in ADE seem grassroots focused,
work with this community first and expand later. We've seen this work
in places like Ghana, and I personally really like this way of trying
to create change. But there is another alternative... if we were able
redesign the entire mobile phone, find a manufacturer, and get the
phone distributed, think of the impact we would have. Especially if
our initial conversations seem to indicate that the "higher ups" are
interested. Anyways, it's an exciting possibility to consider while
moving forward.

Well I was going to write about the medina but I'll let some other
people blog about that for now. Time to meet up with our teammates
now!

-Kate

Morocco Bound!

Hey everyone, Kevin Simon ('12) here. I'm part of team Morocco, a new ADE team working with farmers in rural Morocco to increase their economic performance and working to increase cell phone accessibility for illiterate mobile users. We are in Tangiers now, and are looking forward to two productive weeks of kicking a**, taking names and refining our venture ideas to combat the conditions of poverty!

This adventure began two days ago with a glorious 2.5 takeoffs. Our first flight took us from familiar Logan international in Boston to the more foreign Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. There we enjoyed the French cuisine of macarons, quiche, and croissants during our five hour layover safely from the inside of terminal F while we rested and planned more for the weeks to come. Takeoff 1.5 came when we came into land in foggy Rabat. Our pilot realized that we were closer to the ground than the pilot anticipated and we flew to Casablanca for a safer landing, bringing us to 2.5 takeoffs. I was sound asleep for the last landing and a half, but according to the others on this plane it was quite frightening. Fortunately, the pilot assured us that it was 'normal' procedure.

A bus ride from Casablanca to Rabat and a few hours of delay later, we made it into our hotel and regrouped with some of our awesome partners at ENIM (l'Ecole Nationale de l'Industrie Minerales) for a later dinner including shawerma and tagines.

An olive shop (yum!) inside the old medina at Tangiers

Today we took a cultural excursion. We were invited by one of our Moroccan teammates to Tangiers for a phenomenal home-cooked lunch and her sister's wedding. On our way to lunch, Preeta and I managed to get ourselves kicked out of a cemetery we wandered into and took pictures of. It turns out that 'sacre' means 'this place is sacred, you shouldn't be wandering around here like dumb tourists.' Who would have thought? Because the wedding was not mixed gender (yes, some things are indeed done differently in other parts of the world) the women on our team had a rich cultural evening that they will be posting about later. This left Bennett, Oscar and myself to explore the city of Tangiers to soak up the local culture, do some market research and drink mint tea at the top of the kasba (castle) before retiring to bed later than we would like.

Oscar, Bennett and me enjoying tea on top of the kasba

The architecture and landscapes of this country are nothing short of magical. These next couple of weeks are going to be great!

NOTE: Post a bit delayed due to technical issues (curse you, iPhoto)

Progress Made, More to Come

Tomorrow, I leave Rabat after several full weeks here with my new colleagues at ENIM. There are some signs of success and some lessons learned for future iterations of ADE: Morocco. An important observation is that folks at ENIM are indeed interested in continuing this Olin/Babson/ENIM collaboration. Though there still remains a long way to go before our structure of cooperation is automatic, our two current projects are under way in encouraging fashion.

The project to improve the performance of rural cactus farming cooperatives has benefited from two site research sessions. First hand exposure to processing techniques and interviews with a thoroughly knowledgeable co-op president have detailed our vision of the local state of the art.

This unusual crop, the Barbary Fig or prickly pear, is mean on the hands with its tiny spines but can turn steep, rocky fields into fruit, jelly, animal feed, and the prized cactus seed essential oil. This oil is loaded with vitamin E and other compounds of great appeal for cosmetics from creme to shampoo. Although other parts of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region such as Tunisia have developed the crop, the countryside of Morocco is still ripe for a much larger development of cultivation and processing. Ideas are already brimming for tailoring solutions for processing and marketing to the local context.

Our second project is simple to name but delicate to pursue. We seek to create a telecommunications solution for the illiterate. Notably, we're familiar with the frequent challenge that illiterate Moroccans face when trying to dial a phone number. The usual scenario is to find a family member, friend, tele boutique worker or total stranger to dial a number from a pre-written list of contacts. There's got to be a better way! Now in the earliest stages of user research, we've only scratched the surface of who illiterate Moroccans are, how they communicate or try to, and how they feel about communications tools which currently seem all but inaccessible.

Complications at play here include the hazy continuum of literacy skills and the number of languages which one might want to use in Morocco. First language first, one would probably target literacy in Darija, or Moroccan Arabic dialect. But Fus'ha standard Arabic has its importance, as the official language of law, politics, and the like. And don't forget French, which though not essential is definitely pervasive throughout the country and opens doors to a lot of international exchange. The breadth of potential stakeholders and personal nature of daily communication leave a clear need to apply user oriented design techniques to effectively respond to the tapestry of human issues.

As I depart the capital, I leave two established international teams of students, now in regular contact and having an emerging work process and shared goals. We have problem framing and user research underway, and I've had the opportunity to share a few choice lectures from a core Olin design course. Coming up in just two short weeks, some of our Moroccan teammates will be visiting Olin and Babson thanks to a grant from the Moroccan Fulbright Alumni Association. There's still risk in the air and challenges to overcome. There aren't enough time or financial resources to do it 'perfectly.' But to my entrepreneurial senses, that smells like something worth doing.

As is often the case, it is now at the end of the visit that I feel the most connected to a productive daily rhythm. The minutiae of knowing a place add up to operational effectiveness: here are some examples.

1. The best time to go for a jog is before 7 am. As soon as morning traffic starts to move, the pallor of diesel exhaust makes aerobic
   exercise more like a pack of cigarettes than a work out.
2. You can pay 12 Dh for 0.5 L of water in a restaurant, or 9 Dh for 5 L of water in a corner store (epicerie).
3. The same epicerie sells bread for 1-2 Dh. A jar of apricot or fig preserves will set you back 20 or 30 Dh. Why pay 60 Dh for a breakfast ever again?
4. Some cafes have reliable internet (mostly
   in the Agdal quarter). Good cafes have internet and outlets. The best cafe's also give you a free bottled water with your cafe au lait. (I was proud to have frequented the same establishment enough times to be called 'mon frere' by familiar server as he shook my hand on his way out after his shift.)
5. The better you can specify the landmarks around a taxi destination, the less winding of a route the cabby seems inclined to take.

In parting, a panorama of Moulay Idriss, hillside town in our cactus producing region.

Au Début: 10 Days In

Rédigé le 14 Octobre, 2011

Ten days have passed since I arrived in Morocco. It has been an unusual pace compared to most of my travels: something not frantic but yet not wandering and relaxed. Gradual persistence granted by my physical presence has built what I hope to be an adequate basis for cooperation with our partners here in Rabat. My primary activity has been to spend as much time as possible with the project team: whether it's talking shop after a User Oriented Design tutorial, or grabbing a tagine in the evening, I take what I can get. Having worked in a distributed fashion before, I feel establishing a tangible and personal impression of the project will enhance its chances for success. Yes, there are real people on the other end of that Cat-V line!

Welcome to ADE Fall 2011, from Morocco

It's a new semester and ADE is back with another season of socially positive international venture design. One of the new locations being added to our list of project communities is Rabat, Morocco.

As an alumni Visiting Designer, I've been sent to Morocco to develop relationships with our new partners at l'École Nationale de l'Industrie Minérale and start making progress on our projects with them. I've just hit the ground here in the Moroccan capital of Rabat and have begun meeting ENIM faculty, students, and the streets of the city.

Look for more missives from this new frontier of ADE throughout this semester and beyond.

Bon voyage,
Bennett