Marrakech II

Sunday - another excellent breakfast at our Riad - which i would definitely recommend.
Today was our day for Marrakech city exploration. 15 is a fairly unwieldy number, so I was an honorary Canadian and set off with Karen (from Ottawa) and Janelle (from Saskatoon) - first stop the Bahia palace. Lots of courtyards,and tiles, stained glass and art, lots of orange trees. A lovely place.

We then kept up the culture with a visit to the Saadian tombs...

And then some lunch and a wander around the souks.

Marrakech Part I

The CSC Morocco 8 team talk a break from work and traveled to Marrakech at the weekend. We stayed in a very nice Riad - Riad ben Said - conveniently located for Djemaa el-Fna.
We arrived at about 8pm and headed out to the square for some local ambience.

 And then a great breakfast at the Riad and enjoying the roof top views.

 We then headed out on a day trip to the Atlas mountains - very stunning scenery and an exciting walk up to the Ouriks Falls.

In the evening we went to a very glamorous restaurant, with local entertainment. I had an excellent Tagine with beef and figs, with a local red.

Working hard !!

Here are some photos from our first three days of project work.

The official kick-off was on Monday at the IBM Innovation Centre in Casablanca:

 And then we have started work with our client NGO in El Jadida which is about 110Km South of Casa,

Kick Off

Much excitement and perhaps some nerves for the CSC Morocco 8 team as we headed out on our bus trip to the IBM Casablanca office, for the official Kickoff of our CSC projects. Can you spot me? in my business suit :)

We had a very warm welcome from the IBM Morocco Country General Manager and Corporate Relations Manager. Then each client presented, and then the four IBM teams.
We were made to feel so welcome !

Below is a photo of the lovely Dina presenting for Subteam 4 "Sunshine team" on our project scope for Micro-franchising:

 In the afternoon, we had a very productive meeting with Near East Foundation and we are starting to understand more about the issues. We look forward to the exciting challenges ahead !

On y va

A very full day - and hey !! 16000 steps to prove it !!

After breakfast at the hotel we walked to Hassan II Mosque - the third largest mosque in the world - for a guided tour. Very impressive and the IBM party took 100000000s of pictures !!

We then had a bracing walk along the seafront to La Sqala for an excellent lunch, followed by a stroll in the Medina.

Back to the hotel and back to work !
First face-to-face meeting for the Sunshine team - and a spirited discussion on Micro-franchising. I am so enjoying working with my wonderful team-mates Krishnendu, Dina and Jack. Each brings individual skills and perspective to the issue and a tremendous passion and commitment.
I am truly grateful to be working woth such terrific colleagues.


Tomorrow morning we have the formal Kick-off and meet our client for the first time. On y va !!!

Crashing into Casablanca

I arrived in Casablanca on Friday evening, 4th March.
I was pleasantly surprised that the flight was 15 minutes early and baggage and Immigration were hassle-free. I was having a pleasant drive into the City when we were rear-ended by another car! No-one was hurt but there was a lot of shouting and gesticulating and hanging around... an hour later another car picked me up and i arrived at the hotel after 11pm. I have to emphasise my driver was not at fault, and he was wonderful. Just an unfortunate incident that meant an even later arrival.

On Saturday morning we had a briefing with DOT talking about Morocco and what to expect over the next four weeks; followed by a very nice lunch at the hotel .

We then ventured out to discover the nearest supermarket and shop for essentials such as biscuits and fruit - oh and pringles and tonic water...

One more sleep...

Hard to believe that this time tomorrow I'll be at Heathrow waiting for my flight to Casablanca !

I've done a test pack and I think I will squeeze in under the 23Kg which is all I have London to Casa. I have doubtless overthought it, with lots of little Aussie gifts, formal work clothes, spare office supplies, any number of cables & adaptors, informal clothes, sports clothes, paperwork, boots, sandals & enough toiletries to sink a ship !!! Rod believes I have a kitchen sink in there somewhere...

I am now contemplating whether to get some family photos printed to take... Perhaps I will let that go...

We had our last team call yesterday. Jamie asked "Any questions?" - my mind was blank - I am sure there should be lots of insightful questions - but just not in my head.

I say "one more sleep" but I am wondering if i will get any sleep, so much is turning through my mind - where did my Arabic phrase book get to? What if no-one meets me at the airport? should I try and print some papers on micro-franchising to take? Should I just stop worrying and have a drink !!

Micro-franchising is the area that Jack, Dina, Krishnendu and I will be working in. Youth unemployment runs at 51% in Morocco and is a big area of focus for government and NGOs.
The majority of the Moroccan economy is informal and small business. Micro-franchising could be a wonderful method for youth to enjoy employment and create further opportunities. I hope so; and I hope our team can make a valuable contribution in planning this.