Blog written by Sean Soni
Here it is, CAP South Africa! 120 hours left before I board my plane for Cape Town – this is the point of no return.
Project Overview & A Snapshot of Our Last Five Months Before Cape Town
Over the past five months, me and my 17 talented fellow-MBA candidates have been sprinkled with the most exciting, jaw-dropping pieces of information regarding our assigned CAP Assignment – Cape Town, South Africa. It is now the time for all of our preparation, research and collaboration to play out. To say that we are ‘excited’ is an extreme understatement.
Upon learning about our placement into this beloved country, we learned that Cape Town was going through a water crisis and a contentious election of a new president. I could tirelessly discuss the Cape Town drought and Jacob Zuma’s exit in great detail, but the ultimate moral of the story was that our CAP class held it together and remained even more committed to our respective consulting projects on our path to Cape Town.
I would first like to mention that the process of CAP has been excellently designed by the GWSB and the Global & Experiential Education team to create 1) excitement, 2) deliver real-world consulting experience, and 3) offer unparalleled graduate-level work from industries for which GWSB students genuinely have a passion for. Ultimately, this allowed for the natural matriculation of students into groups which showcased their talents in the right industries. This was tied together by our knowledge guide and mentor, Professor Abdullah Akyuz.
At first, we had two main industries to choose from within our CAP South Africa Cohort, these industries were: The Commercial Cleaning Industry and The Energy Industry within South Africa. It’s probably worth mentioning that both of these industries are booming in South Africa and both have their own significant contributions to the recent economic growth of South Africa, so naturally it was a very tough choice and put many of my classmates between a rock and a hard place. Refrigeration and Residential-Solar Expansion were on the table, pertaining to the Energy Industry project. On the other hand, Geographic Expansion along with Service Offering Expansion were the hot topics for the Commercial Cleaning Industry Project within South Africa.
Within these two industries, four various projects would draw on the strengths of our group to expand, optimize, or diversify the offerings of two companies – Sweep South and Energy Partners.
For some of us, consulting was second nature and we had been given adequate training to handle the unexpected situations that could arise while engaging in Pro-gratis consulting with a client. Throughout the lifespan of our project work beginning in January, none of us would be able to anticipate some of the obstacles, successes, and experiences that we would face.
Stay tuned for my next post on May 25th which will discuss what is happening while abroad in South Africa.
Thanks for following along on our journey! ‘Til next time.
Below I’ve included the team photos of your very own, CAP South Africa Consulting Group. Please note that they are consultants, not models!
