Introduction

Hi everyone, my name is Christopher Burch.  I’m a 2008 graduate of Babcock’s full-time MBA program.  The amazing experiences I had developing and leading business seminars in Nicaragua and Benin as a Babcock student, have led me off the beaten path of the average MBA student.  I accepted a position with MBA Enterprise Corps working with small local businesses in the oil industry in Luanda (above), the capital of Angola.  Over the next 15 months, I will be helping Angolan businesses to improve quality and capacity in order to secure bids from the major oil companies.   The office I am working out of is called Centro Apoio de Empresarial - CAE (Centro for Business Assistance).  There are 7-8 Angolans working in the office and only 3 North Americans.  I am currently one of two MBAs working at CAE.  Jeremy Hastings from Thunderbird and Danica Reno from Colorado are my roommates and co-workers.  It is expected that two more MBAs will be joining us over the next few weeks.  On July 24^th, Jeremy and I are going to fly to a city called Benguela to attend Portuguese classes for a period of 4-6 weeks.  Once we finish our language studies, we will fly back to Luanda to be thrown to the wolves (maybe lions is a better fit for Africa).  I am not sure what type of internet access I will have in Benguela, but I will try to update my blog once or twice a week.