Having breakfast by the pool
Life is good ;-) 26 degree and Geneva airport closed…
Posted from Mbour, Thies, Senegal.
Tag Archives: ITC
Last day of 2009. How was it?
For me (us) it has been a great year.
It all started in December 2008. Nuria got a new job at The Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. A considerable jump in her career in a place where most of us would love to work for what they do, which is to save lives. 4.9 million to be precise.
Once we learnt that, I was working at Shelter Centre where I was the Web Communications Chief, I asked for leave without pay, so we could have a dream trip around the world February and March. They accepted. The new Drupal website was up and running now it was just a question of fine tuning it.
We bought a round the world ticket with roundtheworldflights.com very nice people (thanks Jarvis) and very good price.
We did Geneva, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Tahiti, Auckland, Christchurch, Hong Kong, London, Geneva. All flexible. In Tahiti we bought internal flights to Moorea, Bora Bora and Huahine (see photos at http://norai.net)
Well we blogged every day in our TDM (tour du monde), so you can see our adventures, skydiving, and 9000 km driving in New Zealand. 
There we conceived Kai. Our Christmas present for 2009.
Once back in Geneva Nuria started her job, and I was called by my former employer (the ITC) where I worked nearly for 5 years as a consultant and they asked me to join them, so I finished the site at Shelter Centre and joined ITC in July, where I have been an Advisor in Export Strategy and Competitiveness up to present, traveling extensively to Africa (Liberia, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Rwanda…).
When kai was born, 23 days ago, we also got our new car. We said bye to the 1989 red Golf GTI and said Hi to the new Fiat 500.
Now I can go to work in the car rather than in my Ducati. It is pretty cold and rains often. I’m very happy with my new little car too. Pack of technology by default (bluetooth for mobile, reads mp3 from USB key, vocal commands, … etc…)
So as you see, even if for most of the world it has been a bad year, not for us.
My brother lost his job. Nuria’s brother’s too. The economy is in pretty bad shape, but 2009 has been a very good year for us.
Now it is coming to an end. In less than 6 hours in fact. It is also the end of a decennium.
What happened this decennium technologically speaking?
This decennium has been a huge change in technology. Internet has changed the world. We carry our computers in our phones, specially since the iPhone came out. Internet is fast web2.0 has brought us video and ajax. The web experience has reached unthinkable limits. Google has become bigger than General Motors and one of the most profitable companies in the world… and it is in internet… who could have imagine something like that 10 years ago! They are even on the phone industry!
Information is now at the tip of the hands. Mobile phones have spread like mushrooms and have given Africa a huge step towards development and poverty reduction.
Now the big media companies (CBS, CNN and so) are not that big. Internet has provided real time news and information has been democratized with tools such as twitter or Facebook. We know what it is going on firt by social media tools than from BBC or CNN. We are the writers and we control the content with tools such as digg or delicious. Now we have millions of people feeding the news. It is a user generated era, even companies have started to learn that they should have API’s or be open source (google). Look at the contribution in kind done to the iphone platform! nearly 100.000 apps!
The hardware has progressed a lot too. My iPhone 3GS has 32Mb. Solid state memory has increased at huge steps too. Who could think 10 years ago that a mobile phone could have 32Gb or/and a 8Mp camera? 10 years ago we had 3Mp with a terrible screen. Now cameras like canon 5d mark II provide video at a HD quality with the plus of professional lenses.
What else have we seen… the web… the web has gone from a showroom to a two-way collaborative tool making our live more efficient. We buy all via internet now. I bought not only my car via internet but most of the stuff I own. And I have been doing that for a while already. My 42 LCD TV I bought in ebay in 2003. In my house, the shower with sauna, the massage chair, all the kitchen appliances and most of the stuff I bought via internet.
Last that I can think of for this last decade, having kai and Nuria sleeping on my right, is that finally the LHC (at CERN) is working! I am proud as I worked for 3 years in the conception phase of the LHC 10 years ago. To see it now running is great, specially when I contributed to it.
What can we expect in the next 10 years?
Obviously the hardware will continue to explode. Hard disk, processors, screen technology (LED or something new, ebook readers, tablets), internet speed and connectivity (wimax, 4g)… that will make information easier to access and to share. Now a smartphone has GPS, accelerometers and a lot of sensors. I foresee a step towards this sort of uses: location, using the camera of the phone to take a photo from anything and have image recognition, reviews, who is there, where is cheaper, banking, payments… all!!. Search engines will go one step further and they will have other ways to search than text, photos videos, voice… everything indexable. With my phone I will be able to see where my friends are, what they are drinking, etc… reviews are important. I use internet to review and read reviews of what I buy, the hotels I go (tripadvisor), google, tell me where, etc… so location, location, location.
But not everything are flowers… I think that because Internet is going to be so big, Internet Governance is going to be a big issue. Now the US controls ICANN and a lot of other stuff. Internet Governance is going to be a difficult topic. Also Internet as a human right. ISP (internet providers) will try to get the maximum out of it, by capping, limiting connectivity, filtering content (like in China) and so. If this is the case, Internet could be in danger. It should be a 100% open platform. No restrictions. I hope governments intervene to avoid this sort of issues that we are already starting to see in the US with ISPs. Access to Internet should be unlimited and unrestricted. Government should be careful also not doing like in Finland where they are going to filter content at ISP level… a biiiiig mistake.
Privacy is also going to be an issue, but I guess we will be living in public. There is no problem for me, but privacy should be seriously managed. Specially when companies are outsourcing for instance email to google apps, or google docs and calendars…
Cloud computing will be big, and I don’t know if computers will trend to be more like terminals and run all the programs in the cloud. I do use google docs a lot I must say. Online photo services, backups, etc… I can’t wait to see how it progresses. The combination of cloud computing and terminals with strong browsers with offline technology could be a way. If you think about it, why not log in at any computer/terminal and have your files programs and so? Well this could be achieved with good connectivity and good cloud computing. But again, if this is where we go, we will start to see issues of compatibility and standards. Exporting things from a cloud to a computer or to another cloud… it should be standardized.
But the I wonder… when I bought my fiat 500, I printed out the price I was getting in internet and went to my local Fiat dealer. The salesman was furious. He said he could not compete with that. They have cost of personnel, stocks, training, etc… while the guy in internet buys bulk and gets incredible prices… so it made me think. There is no point in having shops or car dealers. They are simply not competitive with internet. So where is the business? Well, services I guess. Garage to repair. Warehouse to collect parts. Advise… but not in selling goods. I told the guy in Fiat that his business model was condemned to die.
There is another ethical question you could ask yourself. If you could buy cheaper 98% of people would buy cheaper. What about paying extra if it manufactured at home, or uses organic stuff, or is environmentally better? It is a difficult question. Specially for our generation. I hope next generation will think differently. Developed countries can not live from services alone, and the rest is more expensive than to do it abroad. So what to do? Free trade has given a lot of opportunities to developing countries, but we have seen with Doha failure that one size does not fit all. What about free movement of people? Goods and people are not strangers. If I am a farmer in France and all farming goes to … China (just a stupid example), then what happens to the french farmer? Should he go to China? Move to something else? Should we cluster activities wherever they are more productive? I don’t know. That would not be sustainable for the environment. Look at Indonesia, they have destroyed the forest to put palm oil plantations. It is so sad. Al fauna is dead and most of the country is monocorp…. but this is where we are going! Look at the farmers in the US. Maybe it should be studied where the environmental impact is lower and do it there.
If you go to Africa you will see how developed countries have destroyed. We imposed the capitalism there. The richer continent in earth is the poorest. Before people there did not have to work. If they were hungry they would take it from the trees. No effort. Simple and happy life….
The end of it is that we can not avoid to spread wealth with this model, meaning that developed countries will have to lower their living standards, otherwise I don’t see how this is sustainable. Closing borders? Big mistake… Anyway that is whole new story.
Happy new year!!!
Flying Back home
I write again from the plane. Now having Tripoli on my right at less than 4 hours flight from Amsterdam. This time I use my old friend laptop (sony vaio) who comes with me in all the trips I do. I must say that aside of being noticeable old, it is starting to finish my patience every time that I bring it back to life (from hibernation, that should be quick) and takes ages to be operational. I really don’t know what it is wrong with it but it is very slow. Well I might have an idea, and it is that I keep putting stuff on it and the programs get saved on C and the space left there is nearly over. Anyway.
Today is a long day. After the week in Kigali (I am not going to give details on my work), yesterday being the last night, we went out for pizza. Close by the hotel there was a decent pizza place. Yesterday it rained most of the day. I asked the waiter which of the 100 varieties of pizza (seriously) was she recommending, and I went for it. After eating and having a chat with one colleague that just landed and had to have meetings all day today, we went to the hotel. I must have been 11pm. I managed to sleep pretty quickly (that is normal on me) but only for 2 hours. A one the “alert” alarm from my iPhone made me jump from the bed. It is like a nuclear attach sort of alarm, but an alarm that guarantees that you do wake up.
I went downstairs (I had to pack before going to bed) and waited for a couple of colleagues that are now traveling with me.
Our taxi driver (Peter Safari) was there. Like a swiss clock. As usual, one of the most reliable people out there. He took us to the airport. It was still raining. It took less than 30 minutes to go. We were a bit worried because yesterday, during the day, we heard a thousand versions of a story (that was real) that happened yesterday on the same day: fist that a plain just crashed in Kigali airport. All dead. The pilot tried to take off and he notice something wrong in the engine, he went back, they took a look and gave the green light, took off again and the engine go on fire, and in the attempt to return to the airport it crashed. Soon this version was changed. Only the pilots died. That they managed to land but they crashed with the VIP lounge and the pilots died. Then latter in the day a different version: that no body died but there were injuries, so an ambulance went to the airport, and the ambulance crashed with the pilots and they all died in the accident. Then that the CEO of Rwandan air (the company of the little plane) died in the crash of the ambulance when going to the airport, and finally, the one that looks the right one is that the ambulance killed a couple of people in its way to the hospital.
Anyway, there was an incident in the airport with a plane and we were a bit worried of encountering a crashed airplane.
The reality was somehow different. There was this accident and the little Kigali airport was pretty busy. When the little plane landed on an emergency landing it collided with the control tower, smoke started coming and the plane at 100 meters from this one had to evacuate (a bigger plane going to Nairobi), so in the airport we had the real version from all this people trying to get a place in our plane,which was the next one to Nairobi. At the end we manage to get our boarding passes (just on time) and here I am.
I don’t want to talk about the job we did during the week. I wonder if I am allowed and I would rather keep this personal, even if this is an official mission, I explain the personal experiences.
As I said it is going to be a loooong day. I woke up at 1am (11pm in Europe??) and I will be landing at 7.30pm. A friend will come and pick me up. Nuria is seek. She got the results from the hospital and she has the Swine Flu, so I feel terrible by being so far from her. She is in bed and because she is 8 months pregnant she cannot take any medications. I have tons of things to do in the office but I will try to get Monday off to be with her.
This stupid laptop wants to reboot every 5 minutes because it downloaded some stuff. Why all the stupid updates from Mocosoft require you computer to boot? Mac does not require you to reboot on every update!
I should consider studying the market for a substitute for my dear old sony vaio t. The main requirements are: small (11 inches or so) great battery (more than 10 hours with wifi) and light. May be I should wait for January and see what Apple releases as a tablet. There are rumors that apple patented a pen touch screen with a pen (fingers cannot write…). I will have to wait. The vaio is old now. Is it from 2004?? Definitely one of the best investments. I have friends with netbooks and this is not the same… a high end ultraportable laptop is a different story.
Anyway, I am going to save this and let it reboot. I will continue listening to the latest audiobook of Malcom Gladwell, what the dog saw. Ciao.
In my way to kigali (4th time)
Here I am again on board of a plain typing in the little iPhone keyboard. I am in Nairobi. Now the plain is goin to take off to Kigali (Rwanda) where I will go to the hotel, which will be suprise surprise because every hotel was full due to a confernce that it’s taking place now. The one I booked for the 8 of us costs only $29 compared with the $300 of the Serena. I found it in tripadvisor and reviews are ok. I will report later on that but I thin it has no Internet.
I met one of the 8 traveling in Geneva. He has been traveling with me today.
It is goin to be a hard and long day because we arrieve to Kigali at 8:30am and we start working.
On Monday morning before going to the airport I went to the office to have a meeting with an NGO who can help us writing the DTIS. I felt terrible (stomach ache) so wnt home. Then when going to the airport it was going worse and worse. Nuria was in bed all day. She went to the hospital to Have analyses for the A flue. I started withe sam symptoms but after entering in the plane in amsterdam I slept from min one sweting like a pig.
Now I’m feeling better I will have breakfast as I haven’t eat in the last 24 h.
Serving food now. Ciao.
Kigali. and babies
Well well, here I am again, at many miles over the sea, well actually over the desert probably, in my way to Rwanda, Kigali to be precise.
Again, I was planning to go with my ducati to the airport, as I have done for the past few times. This time, though, the flight was at a more than reasonable hour, at 8.20am. Well, I was about to leave the house around 7am when I realized that the ouside temperature was –2. Dammed. I was already cold… and of course going to Kigali with hand luggage it makes no sense to be carrying the big motorbike jacket and trousers…
Nuria was awake so finally she drove me… :-)
Once in the plane they announced that in Brussels there was only one runway open for take offs and landings due to the wind. Well that means that we had to wait for nearly one hour in the plane in Geneva. Honestly we thought we were not going to be able to catch the connecting flight, we only hoped that the delays would apply to all flights, including the one going to Kigali.
That was the case, so here I am, in the first row of business class, after reading part of my ton of documents, had a great lunch and watched what was probably the last movie I had left to watch from this route. Now I was expanding my readings to some documents I have not printed but that I have on my Vaio.
I will be going back home on Saturday night. The flights this time were busy due to a One UN conference that it is taking place now in the Serena Hotel in Kigali.
Well, I don’t want to talk about job in my blog, just about my trips and my passions (technology, internet, social media, photography and so).
Photography it has been a while since I don’t add photos to my norai.net site. In fact it is a bit sad but when I come here, one of the most beautiful countries in Africa, I do not even take the camera… but believe me, the only thing I see is the Iris Guesthouse and the Ministry of Trade.
Well if I don’t want to talk about job then I can talk about other things:
I am going to be a father for the first time in December. Nuria and I are attending this courses in the Hospital to learn about the x day, and everything. Pretty interesting. Yesterday we did the breathing thing.
A couple of weeks ago after a lot of research looking for the perfect prawn we finally bought it.
The choice was taking into consideration a set of issues:
- All our friends, they started buying fancy kits, like the bugaboo, but after 6 months most of them ended buying one of this umbrella prawns, like the mclaren.
- Size and weight are very important, as well as the fact that they can last as long as possible, preferably from 0 to 3 or 4 years.
The conclusion was bebeconfort mila, a 2009 model of this brand. An umbrella sort of prawn, which weights less than 7 kg, that you can fold with one hand and standing, and that is less than 1m so you can take it in the cabin of an airplane. Also where you can attach a maxi-cosi for the car (that we also bought) creatis.fix and eventually the other one that it is like a small bed for newborns (that I bought two days ago on ebay at a third of its price, second hand but used one month).
So now we have everything to take him around.
We also went to Ikea where we bought a lot of stuff.
Monrovia – Meeting the Minister of Trade
Today we had a productive day. We met the Minister of Trade and her Chiefs.
Here you have some photos: the toilet in the floor of the Minister (they have no water and no electricity, only own generators), the Ministry of Trade Building and stairs, the bullet hole in the glass in the Minister’s meeting room… and a beer in the best spot we found in Monrovia, all in our UNDP 4×4.
Monrovia National Holiday
Sunday. We had the day free after a meeting with our local guy here. We did plan the week and then Francis took us with his crappy car to have a tour around the city.
What can I say about it. It is a post conflict zone. The few big buildings that are still standing are all burned and destroyed. There are visible signs for war everywhere. Poverty is everywhere.
This is the poorest country I ever visited. I can not complain of not having hot water or no choice for food.
Judge for yourselves:
Liberia, day one
Here I am, in Monrovia, in the Corina Hotel. A 5 stars hotel… I’m joking. There are no 5 stars hotels here. This in fact a place with clean sheets, and free wifi. That is good enough.
The flight was long. Flying economy within Africa and in a 5 or 6 hours trip, with stop over in Accra is not the same as flighting in Europe.
Anyway, we had no problems to get into the country. We had no visa but we had a letter from the Minister so we just got it.
I would like to post pictures but it takes like ages to upload. I will try to put at least one.
Well, today is Saturday. It is a long weekend here. Monday is holiday. We work though. Tomorrow we might go to the beach but the weather is not that nice. It is cloudy. Not too hot.
I will write again tomorrow. I try to upload a photo that I took in the airport.
Nairobi
Nairobi. I am posting this from Monrovia in Liberia because I had no internet in Nairobi.
I arrived on Thursday, pretty late at night. There was a guy waiting for me. I had no problems to get into the country without visa with the Laisser-Passer.
The hotel was a bit crappy but OK.
On Friday when I woke up I went and have breakfast. Owen and Isaac came around 9am when we left to the Export Promotion Council. We had meetings all day. Eventually Mr Matanga (responsible for EPC) took us for lunch to the Intercontinental Hotel, then we went to the ministry of Trade.
I remembered I had been there before when I came for the WTO meeting. We met the PS (Prime Secretary) of the Ministry of Trade. Simone (a colleague from the the ITC) was also meeting the PS for the Ethical Fashion project.
We exposed our methodology and we are in. They want us to starts asap. The earliest we can start is September. They did not want to create a new body to oversee the process of the National Export Strategy development. The task will be managed by EPC which has a 50% representation of the private sector.
Anyway, I don’t want to go into work details. I had no chance to see Nairobi. Work only. Until late.
As an anecdote, I would say that in London there was a group of people with a guide. The guide was traveling with them from London, and yeap, they were also traveling in Business… they were going for a safari… nice!
Going to Kenya and Liberia
Well, here I am at gate B37 Terminal 5 in London Heathrow airport. This time on my first trip/mission with the ITC, that I joined 2 weeks ago.
I am now using my iPhone and we are ready to board.
I will be arriving to Nairobi late at night and tomorrow I will be meeting a couple of colleagues. We have a pretty busy agenda for Friday. On Saturday we’ll be flying to Monrovia (Liberia) where we will spend 8 days.
Now I am boarding. Next post from Africa ;)
Recent Comments