Category: Middle East
The day has come . . . our final presentation.
We wrapped up both decks and made our way to the office. The temperature is certainly hot now. . . so hot that we had to resort to a cab.
Well, this is it.
The end of the Dubai trip. The end of the Rise General Trading project. The end of my MBA program. Everything culminated in one day.
As I walked out the doors of the offices, I was keenly conscious of the fact that I hadn't just finished a presentation; I had, indeed, finished an entire chapted of my life. Frankly, the whole thing felt anticlimactic and left me reflective and melancholy.
So our deck is 113 slides.
If there is one thing they teach you in business school. . . keep the slides simple and keep them short . . . in the famous words of Gregg Silver “oh boy”
We have had several meetings with the executive team over the last week since our initial pitch, and they are very interested in seeing a detailed, tactical approach to the strategy. As we are wrapping up from a content perspective we are really struggling to skim down the material, and rightfully so as I believe the team has really worked to develop a comprehensive implementation plan.
The RISE team has done a lot of thinking about food over the last 10 weeks working on our food-related project. We've spent hours learning about the US and UAE restaurant industries. The strange thing about Dubai, however, is that the food choices here, particularly in the tourist areas we frequent, mirror those from home. There's a Caribou coffee in our building along with two Starbucks and two Subways within a 5 minute walk.
The UAE team is really struggling here in Dubai . . . dropping left and right. Certain people we are assuming ate at the wrong shawarma shop . . . enough said, I somehow managed to develop a head cold in 100 degree weather, and now Travis.
During our recent road trip to Oman . . . Travis, Gregg and I decided to venture ashore to check out the views. I failed to mention that when Travis and I first got out of the water. . . he looks over at me and asks if he is bleeding. . .