A few intense, fun, challenging, roller-coaster-like yet magical months into my year at INSEAD, my friends back home ask me; “Louise, how is it going? Is the experience what you expected?” My reply is standard: “Oh, it is amazing. I am learning so much, the opportunities are fantastic and the people so incredibly inspiring”. It’s … Continue reading
As I prepare to throw myself into my next life challenge, a year at INSEAD Business School, I plough my way through piles of books on corporate finance, accounting, economics. 100 pages into the graphs and theoretical concepts of microeconomics, I am hit by a thought. Professors in microeconomics devote their time to study how … Continue reading
My mentor Trevor always says to me that the most successful people have one common trait: regardless of how big they become, they always see themselves as humble students of leadership. In the constant flow of information, busy-ness and noise of every day life, they seek to learn 3 things every day that inspires them. … Continue reading
“I am as young as the most beautiful wish in my heart – and as old as all the unfulfilled longings in my life…” Having experienced more in a year in Africa than I expected to see and learn in my lifetime, a cacophony of moments of glorious joy, unexpected connections with random strangers and … Continue reading
Imagine this scene: Dandora, nicknamed “the dark side of Nairobi”, one of the Kenyan capital’s most notorious slums. The largest dumping site in Kenya with a size comparable to Hyde Park in London. Pigs, street dogs, storks and even humans wade through the trash looking for eatable leftovers. The toxic waste pollutes the ground, water and air. … Continue reading
The view on sub-Saharan Africa is changing. No longer do stories of tribal wars, starving children and endemic diseases dominate the updates from the region. A new, more hopeful and optimistic picture is emerging; a reality of solid GDP-growth, more widely practiced reasonably free and fair elections, and a wealth of natural resources that range … Continue reading
“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place? This: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. When one can no … Continue reading
When I write this, I have just arrived in my new hometown for the next four months, Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. Slowly I am getting used to being in one place for more than two consecutive weeks after having spent the past few months travelling over three continents to twelve countries with more than … Continue reading
My last project before Christmas is to run a leadership programme with primary and secondary school teachers in Uganda. I arrive in Entebbe, located on the stunning shores of Lake Victoria, the second largest lake in the world. My partners in Uganda is the Hope Restoration for Vulnerable People NGO, a wonderful group of people, who … Continue reading
I am back to my base in Nairobi after more than two weeks on the road. Slowly settling into African big city life. Hustle and bustle, constant chaos with traffic and people everywhere, but I am completely in love with the energy and vibrancy. You never know what to expect when you get off your … Continue reading
louise.emerging 