Meet the passionate and dreamer Rassidatou Konaté / Rencontrez la rêveuse et passionnée Rassidatou Konaté

There are some people with who you get along from the second you meet. This was the case last with Rassidatou. Manon, one of the co-founder of Musana, told me about a girl she met at Berkeley. She said: “she is from Burkina, she is muslim and wearing the hijab like you, but there is more than that.” Indeed I realized when I met and listen to Rassidatou, what Manon was talking about. Rassidatou and I are both passionate about entrepreneurship and education. She was part of a panel that came to talk about social entrepreneurship, during a networking event for Musana Carts. In few minutes, she captured all our attention. I laughed while watching her talking with big gestures. She speaks and breathes her passion. For her, we heard for too long that the youth is the future of the country. Why shouldn’t the youth participate in the development today, right now? Why should we wait for tomorrow before accomplishing great things? Rassidatou is an alumni from the African Leadership Academy in South Africa. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor in Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley. Her dream is to help the Burkinabe youth to create ventures. With her project iwili, Rassidatou wants to allow every young person with a business idea to realize it, but also to gain a professional experience with entrepreneurs. Rassidatou blew our mind during that event and I hope you will understand why by watching this video. 

Rencontrez la rêveuse et passionnée Africaine Rassidatou Konaté 

Il y a des personnes avec qui le courant passe sans même que vous ne fassiez d’installation. C’est exactement ce qui s’est passé avec Rassidatou. Manon, l’une des co-fondatrices de Musana m’a parlé d’une jeune fille qu’elle a rencontrée à Berkeley. Elle m’a dit « elle est Burkinabé, elle est musulmane et voilée comme toi, mais il n’y a pas que ça » Effectivement, ce jeudi en rencontrant et écoutant Rassidatou, j’ai compris à quoi Manon faisait référence. Comme moi, Rassidatou est passionnée d’entrepreneuriat et d’éducation. Elle faisait partie d’un panel venu nous entretenir sur l’entreprenariat social, au cours d’un évènement de networking pour Musana Carts. En quelques minutes, elle nous a tous suspendu à ses lèvres. Je riais en la voyant s’exprimer avec de grands gestes. Elle parle et respire sa passion. Pour elle, on a assez entendu que la jeunesse est l’avenir du pays. Pourquoi est-ce que la jeunesse ne participerait pas au développement aujourd’hui, maintenant. Pourquoi est-ce qu’il faudrait attendre demain pour accomplir de grandes choses ? Rassidatou est une ancienne élève de ALA, African Leadership Academy située en Afrique du Sud. Elle poursuit actuellement des études en Santé Publique à l’Université de Californie, Berkeley (University of California, Berkeley). Son rêve est d’aider la jeunesse Burkinabé d’entreprendre. Avec son projet iwili, Rassidatou veut permettre à tout jeune ayant une idée de la réaliser mais également d’acquérir une expérience professionnelle auprès d’entrepreneurs aguerris. Rassidatou nous a époustouflé au cours de l’évènement et j’espère que vous comprendrez pourquoi avec cette vidéo. (En anglais malheureusement)  

Keisuke and The business of changing the world

Version française en bas :)

Before eating in Japan, you say "itadakimasu" (let's eat!) but it literally means I'm going to take your life :)

March was ready to leave the stage to April when his plane landed in San Francisco. His mind was full of dreams without any idea of how things were about to go. He only knew one thing: he wanted to meet Marc Benioff. The day he turned the last page of The Business of Changing the World, Keisuke realized that he wanted to be one of the people whose everyday act would make a difference in someone’s life. He left his country for the hub of technology and social innovation to meet someone he knew he could not have an easy access to. When he entered into the headquarters of Salesforce and asked to see the CEO, the negative response did not surprised him that much. After all, he was just a stranger coming from Japan to San Francisco, just because he has read a book and wanted to meet its author…

While staying in San Francisco without a specific idea about what he wanted to do next, Keisuke came across Hult International Business School and discovered its Master of Social Entrepreneurship. He already knew that he wanted to change the world but he never thought of going back to school. Hult was advertising a program full of people from different parts of the world having the same passion. Since he understood that he needed to learn and work with other people, Keisuke decided that the next months of his life would be spent in learning how we can do business while still taking care of people and the planet. 

Today, with two classmates from the MSE program, Keisuke founded Musana. The team is competing for the Hult Prize 2016, and wants to offer an efficient infrastructure to street vendors allowing them to conduct and grow their business in a safe, legal and innovative way. It could have been just another story about three guys claiming that they want to change things. But Musana founders are not just dreamers and talkers, they are also doers. Few weeks ago Keisuke, Manon and Taliey went for a trip to Kampala, to test the prototype of their solar powered carts and receive feedback from their future customers. Seeing their pictures during that trip to Uganda and learning more about their personal stories made me realize again how blessed I am to be surrounded by amazing people. I strongly believe that Musana carts will help thousands of people living in slums to improve their living conditions. Learn more on their Facebook page and help them to reach their goal.

Although he initially came to San Francisco to meet one person, Keisuke is now sharing a journey with more than sixty people. He is currently one of our representatives in the student association, and I can assure you that he loves taking care of others. Talking about him, Manon said “He is very supportive and never get upset about useless things. While I can get upset very easily, he helps me to balance. I can be fire, and Keisuke would be the water.” 

Keisuke knows that he will not go back to Japan soon because other places of the world are more in need of social entrepreneurs. Of course he loves his home country for the safety, the food, and the soft culture, but he wants to be out of his comfort zone and the adventure just started…

Oh I almost forgot to tell you! He met Marc Benioff at the starbucks on the other side of Salesforce offices. So keep in mind that being said no doesn't have to stop you from achieving whatever you want.

Keisuke et The business of changing the world

Mars s’apprêtait à laisser la place au mois d’avril lorsque son avion atterrit à San Francisco. Il avait des rêves plein la tête sans la moindre idée sur la façon dont les choses se passeraient. Il était sûr d’une seule chose : Il voulait rencontrer Marc Benioff. Le jour où il tournait la dernière page du livre The business of changing the world, Keisuke réalisa qu'il voulait être l’une de ces personnes dont les actions quotidiennes améliorent la vie des autres. Il a quitté son pays pour la capitale de la technologie et de l'innovation sociale pour rencontrer une personne à laquelle il savait ne pas pouvoir accéder facilement. Il ne fut donc pas trop surpris lorsqu’il alla au siège de Salesforce et qu’on lui répondit qu’il ne pouvait pas rencontrer le CEO. Après tout, il était juste un étranger qui avait quitté le Japon pour San Francisco, seulement parce qu’il avait aimé un livre et qu’il voulait rencontrer son auteur ...

Someone loves taking care of kids :)

Pendant qu’il séjournait à San Francisco sans savoir quelle serait sa prochaine étape, Keisuke découvrit Hult International Business School et son programme de Master en entrepreneuriat social. Il savait déjà qu'il voulait changer le monde, mais il n'avait pas envisagé un retour à l'école. Hult offrait un programme auquel participait des personnes venant des quatre coins du monde et ayant la même passion. Etant donné qu’il savait qu’il avait besoin des autres pour apprendre et travailler, Keisuke décida de consacrer les mois suivants à étudier comment allier business et social. 

Aujourd'hui, Keisuke a fondé Musana avec deux étudiantes du programme de MSE. L’équipe participe au Hult Prize et veut offrir une meilleure infrastructure aux vendeurs de rue pour leur permettre d’accroitre leur entreprise de façon sûre, légale et innovante. Cela aurait pu être une autre histoire à propos de trois jeunes qui veulent changer les choses. Mais les fondateurs de Musana ne sont pas juste des rêveurs, ils agissent pour faire bouger les choses. Il y a quelques semaines Keisuke, Manon et Taliey sont allés à Kampala, pour tester le prototype de leur chariot alimenté à l’énergie solaire. Ils ont collecté des commentaires et recommandations de leurs futurs clients pour améliorer leur produit. En regardant leurs photos pendant ce voyage en Ouganda et en apprenant davantage sur leurs histoires personnelles, j’ai réalisé à quel point je suis chanceuse d’être entourée par des personnes incroyables. Je crois fermement que Musana aidera des milliers de personnes vivant dans des bidonvilles à améliorer leurs conditions de vie. Suivez-les sur leur page Facebook et aidez-les à atteindre leur objectif. 

Alors qu’il est venu à San Francisco pour rencontrer une personne, Keisuke voyage à présent avec plus de soixante personnes de différentes origines. Il est actuellement l'un des représentants de notre programme dans l'association des étudiants de l’école. Je peux vous assurer qu'il aime prendre soin des autres. Manon sa coéquipière disait: «Keisuke est une force calme. Il est d’un grand soutien et ne s’énerve jamais pour des choses futiles. Alors que moi je m’énerve facilement, il m’aide à m’équilibrer. Je pourrais être le feu et Keisuke serait l’eau… »

Il sait qu'il ne retournera pas au Japon de sitôt parce que d'autres endroits du monde sont plus besoin d'entrepreneurs sociaux. Bien sûr, Keisuke aime son pays d'origine pour la sécurité, la nourriture et la justesse de sa culture, mais il veut continuer à sortir de sa zone de confort et l'aventure vient juste de commencer ...

Oh, j’oubliais presque! Il a rencontré Marc Benioff dans un Starbucks de l'autre côté des bureaux de Salesforce. Gardez donc à l'esprit que vous ne devez pas vous empêcher d’atteindre vos objectifs parce qu’on vous a dit «non ».

Challenge the slums with the Hult Prize!

“If you can create a real business, the beginning of a prototype, you can change the world.”

Muhammad Yunus - Nobel Peace Prize Winner

Last Saturday was the internal competition of the Hult Prize at the San Francisco campus of Hult International Business School. In case you never heard about the Hult Prize, it is the world largest student competition for social good. It was initiated in 2009 by Ahmad Ashkar, a former MBA student of the Hult International Business School. Every year, the team with the best idea (chosen by the judges) to tackle a specific global issue receives $1 million to develop a social enterprise. This year, the challenge is Crowded Urban Spaces. 

Started at 9:15am, the competition saw the participation of sixteen teams of three or four members from undergraduates to MBA students. The teams where divided into four groups and presented their innovative ideas to “build sustainable, scalable, and fast growing social enterprises that double the income of 10 million people residing in crowded urban spaces, by better connecting people, goods, services and capital.” The public could not have access to the first pitches of the day but after that round he judges chose a winner per room for the finals. 

One of of the final four with the idea of using dechets to create building blocks: Team Jengo

After the lunch, the jury announced the winning team per room and right after hearing their name, the members of each team had 10 minutes to convince all the judges that they were the best to represent the school at the regionals. At that point, every detail could have made a difference and it actually did… I was glad to see that two of the teams in the final round were from the Master of Social Entrepreneurship program and that the winning team was one of them. Composed of students from France, Uganda, Japan and India, Slum Dunk made the difference with their Musana Carts. 

Taliey Bita facebook account

Slum Dunk developed the idea of providing simple and affordable, modular and solar powered business carts to street vendors in Kampala, Uganda. The goal is to provide street vendors with access to energy, capacity and mobility in order to double their income and empower them by facilitating infrastructures within the informal economy. 

Group hug for the winning team: Slum Dunk

I believe that one of the reasons why Slum Dunk won the competition was the considerable amount of researches they have done and the feedbacks they got from their targeted population. As I already mentioned in my previous article also about tackling the issue of slums, it is not just about providing a solution, it is about bringing something that people would be interested in. And in order to have an effective solution, the people directly concerned have to be part of the process to find that solution.

Winning Team: Slum Dunk

The other teams also had great ideas that they can proofread and present again online for a chance to continue the journey. If you want to learn more about the Hult Prize, previous challenges and winners, or how you can participate, please feel free to check the website.

One the final four, all from the MSE program: Team Synergy

The most energetic team and holding the second place: Team Chakravyuh

Hello San Francisco !

CDG Airport

The last two weeks, I had both great and bad moments. From my flight’s delay of more than 10 hours in Paris to my quest of apartment in San Francisco, I tried reminding myself that “things are what they are, and whatever will be, will be” (from the book of Jonas Jonasson The hundred-Year-Old Man who climbed out of the window and disappeared). By the way, although I will not make a summary of this book I definitely recommend it to you. It was difficult to stop worrying but this book helped me to keep in mind that things will happen no matter what we do, so let’s go without the worries…

I will start with the great moments. I just moved to San Francisco for my one year master program of social entrepreneurship at Hult International Business School. As the name indicates, my school is very international because we have people from all around the world. For example in my team work, there are people from Norway, Indonesia, United States, Colombia and Cote d’Ivoire (myself). Add the fact that other students in my program are from Nigeria, Brazil, Senegal, Belgium, France, Japan, Mexico, India … With one of my teammates, we are already planning on exchanging language skills; so who knows what third language I will be speaking by the end of the year?

Another great moment was when I visited the city with my father and brother who happened to came in US for their work, few days after I arrived in San Francisco. With my older brother, we got a chance to do a nightly big bus tour and see this incredible city by night. It was windy, but it was worthy. 

Third and last pleasure was the great books I bought at a big book sale event. I am planning to offer these books before leaving San Francisco but for now I wish to spend unforgettable moments with them. 

As I said at the beginning of this article, everything was not pink and flowers. I am now coming to the bad side of the last days… When people tell you that San Francisco has high rents, you may not actually assimilate how high these rents are, at least I did not. I spent almost 2 years in Atlanta, renting an apartment at a price that most of my friends qualify high compared to other parts of the country. Therefore, I thought that the rents in San Francisco could not be far from those in downtown Atlanta. I was so wrong…

Atlanta

I will spare you the details of my quest but I will just share the lessons I learned while looking for an apartment. The first one is that if you have to live in San Francisco (and probably in other parts of the world) you should do your best to secure an apartment at least a month before you have to start school (in my case) or work. Although I did not find anything suitable there, Craigslist might be a good way to find an apartment or roommates (if you are not afraid about living with complete strangers you meet online). For those with a higher budget, you can also check Zillow.com. However, I have to tell you that studios, not even 1bedroom 1bathroom apartment, are ridiculously expensive for their size. LOWER YOUR EXPECTATIONS! You want to live on the west coast? Experience life in San Francisco? Great! But do not expect to have the same comfort as back home unless you are willing to put a lot of money in rent.

Another advice is that if you can’t find an apartment to stay - especially because it’s difficult to rent a place you never visited - I would recommend that you book a room with some housing providers like Vantaggio that are much cheaper than hotels. I have experienced both so trust me when I tell you that they are great deals! Of course, you also have to book many weeks in advance because they get rapidly full, especially when students and workers are going back on track.

Despite the difficulty of finding an apartment, San Francisco is an amazing place to visit. In addition to the fact that it is one of the most walkable city in the world, there is always something going on. There are many networking and learnings opportunities available. Last week for example I went to one of the dreamforce events where Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube and Jessica Alba, co-founder of The honest company were both panelists and talk about their experience as mothers and successful tech and business women…

I did not publish since a very long time ago but change will come in chaa Allah :) I am eager to share everything I learn here. So, see you soon!