ERISP BPO DAY 1
On this day the ERISP team of Stella, Moses and Peter departed from Kisumu International Airport at 8:30 am via Kenya Airways to Nairobi and arrived at JKIA at 9:30am. We were picked by a 8 seater taxi van and taken to Henessis Hotel in Parklandswhere we checked into our various rooms to freshened up and enjoyed a sumptuousbreakfast at the hotel dining area. Our briefing meeting which was to be held at 11:30am was pushed to 2:00pm as two other team members Susan and Spencer who hadnot traveled with us in the same flight were not available and could only join us later.Spencer however joined us in the hotel at 11:30pm and the four of us happilyreconnected with each other as we awaited Susan's arrival at 12:00 noon as she hadtaken a later flight.
The four of us departed the Henessis Hotel at 1:00pm for the Enablis head office inRiverside Park and experienced the wonder of the newly built Thika highway at theMuseum hill flyover. It was an exciting experience and we barely noticed the heavy trafficas we marveled at this new creation which we had previously only seen on TV and inthe local dailies. The van pulled into the ultra modern Riverside apartments which housethe Nairobi chapter of the Enablis office and we walked up the one flight of stairs andinto the impressive front office which at the moment was unmanned. The ever smilingand stunning Stella Sagini, the project intern, then warmly welcomed us into the officeand gave us a brief tour as we awaited Susan's arrival from the airport. Snacks anddrinks were in plenty and I could barely handle another bite as I had overindulged atbreakfast.
Susan finally arrived at 2:00pm extremely hungry and harassed by the ordeal she hadundergone at the airport but glad to have made it in one piece! We happily welcomedher and Joan ordered a quick meal of mashed potatoes and minced meat to satisfy herhunger and help her settle down. The briefing meeting finally began at 2:30pm with theERISP five team as well as Joan, Betty, FK, Palmer and Stella Sagini in attendance.Agenda was simple and straightforward and included the ERISP team trip to India,Objectives and expectations. We individually talked about our current projects and whatwe expect from the India trip and were surprised by the level of grasp the Enablis teamespecially FK and Palmer had on BPO and its business sense. What stood out in thismeeting is the need to form formidable partnerships/consortium's, making use of ourvarious strengths in order to build sustainable BPO centers offering world-classprocesses and projects. The meeting ended at 7:00pm with Joan handling varioushousekeeping issues which included accommodation, food and transport costs as wellas basic etiquette and rules to guide us in this strange and new environment and culture of India.
We departed the Enablis office at 8:00pm feeling very exhilarated and ready to face theworld. Conversation in the van was highly animated as we shared our visions, dreams,expectations and innermost thoughts. We arrived back at the hotel in a flash andimmediately went in for Dinner while still extremely excited. After the wonderful meal, weall bundled up into Spencer's Mercedes (but do I say!) and went into town for a littlesightseeing and basic shopping in the Mega malls of Nairobi. Being simple folks fromKisumu town, we wanted to experience the wonder of shopping in Nakumatt lifestyle inthe middle of the CBD. Susan, Moses and me stocked up on toiletries and some giftitems for our hosts while Peter and Spencer, typical macho men, did not see the needto buy any toiletries. Peter reckoned that “Kwani Wahindi hawaogi? Wako na sabunihuko....”
We returned to the Henessis hotel at 11:00pm, dropped off our minor shopping andproceeded to a nearby pub to enjoy some mugithi music which Moses and Susan reallyconnected with and were happy to translate the unprintable words of each song, at thetop of their voices! We finally retired to bed happily exhausted at a little after 1:00 am inthe morning, each looking forward to a new dawn in India.
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