March 17th - Eitan Kahn

Tuesday was our first day working with the entrepreneurs. This was what we came to do: help entrepreneurs in San Juan del Sur grow their business. Excitement was in the air and after a delicious breakfast of beans and rice, the groups quickly got cracking.

Most groups scheduled to work with the new entrepreneurs Tuesday, Wednesday and with the graduate entrepreneurs Thursday. This was to allow more time with the businesses who haven't received assistance and consulting before. Many groups spent the day traveling to their entrepreneurs' businesses. Whether it was seeing the kitchen where Condimentos was being made, meeting with the founder at Hotel Villa Isabella, or getting massages at Sol Y Luna (which of course was part of learning about the business.)

My own group was supposed to meet with Ivo Lopez from Click!, however, Click! was undergoing heavy construction work on their office and was unable to meet with us. So, being the flexible travelers we are, the rest of the group visited Richard Morales' office across the street from the hotel, and I joined the Pablo team for a ride down to the Costa Rica border.

Pablo is trying to start his own customs agency to help importers and exporters deal with the complicated legalities and paperwork of the process. He used to work for the government but was laid off earlier this year. However, he is not defeated by any means, and quickly found a small office space down by the Costa Rica border to conduct his work and meet with clients. It was about an hour and a half drive down to the border from the hotel and we got a feel for the Nicaraguan country side. We passed many farms with mainly horses and cattle. At one point, a huge group of cattle was being herded up behind us by ranchers. They streamed into the street and looked like a stampede. Curiously enough, we also passed by numerous large wind turbines. It felt out of place to see such green technology located in such a poor country. Someone said that wealthy private companies placed them there for personal interest.

When we arrived at the customs border, we noticed that it felt like a small town. There were kiosks and small stores and many people walking around and seemingly hanging out. We met up with Pablo and he showed us his office. It was two dusty rooms, almost completely bare except for a desk and a couple of chairs. He didn't even have his laptop there saying he prefers to leave it at home. We asked Pablo why he needed the office space when he could just work from his laptop at hoe, and he responded that the location was key to meet with clients and drop off paperwork at the appropriate place. The rest of the morning consisted Pablo telling us the details of his company and his biggest challenges. We learned that his core strength was expertise in the maneuvering of the importing/exporting process. However, he only had two clients at the moment and we realized we really had to develop his brand and offer to attract more clients and more work from the clients he currently has. Pabo also pulled a couple magic levers to convince the customs officers that we weren't American spies and we were able to see the inside of the customs area. After taking some pictures of Pablo for his website we set off back for the hotel.

We spent the majority of the afternoon creating a brand for Pablo. We came up with a name for his business, designed a logo, and drafted emails for him to send out to potential clients highlighting the skills and services he offers. After a long hot day of working with limited Wi-Fi, a bunch of us jumped in the back of a pickup and set off for the relaxing beach.