Zebunniso
Solieva from Tajikistan
Community Connections Program: Small and Medium Enterprise
January 2008
Zebunniso
Solieva visited Kalamazoo as part of a Community
Connections Program focused on improving business
practices in Tajikistan. Zebunniso and nine other
participants spent five weeks learning management
and smart business practices at local businesses.
Zebunniso
is the Director of Development and Quality Management
for the Transport Forwarding Company Babilon in
Tajikistan, which her father owns. She spent time
at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Kalamazoo and thanked
Derrick Ricca, Senior Sales Executive, and the
rest of the hotel staff for all that she learned.
“Several
days spent in Radisson changed my understanding
of the management philosophy. The knowledge you
gave and books you recommended have changed every
person
in our company from the owner to the cleaning lady."
Since
her program in Kalamazoo and her placement at the
Radisson Plaza Hotel, she has adopted many of the
hotel’s management practices to make changes
in her father’s company. She and her management
team have developed missions, visions, and values
for their transport forwarding company, Vavilon,
and their vending company, Express Pay. They have
also adopted employee practices from the Radisson
like Service Excellence Workshops, Brilliant Cards
for best associates and will be organizing the
Best Worker and Best Manager of the Year awards
in January 2009.
Inspired
from their group’s visit to the Kalamazoo
Rotary Club, Zebunniso and other program participants
organized Khujand Rotary Club’s first meeting
in September. The meeting included presentations
and discussions on several topics including effective
energy saving methods (insulation, isolation etc.),
effective management tools, and professional advisory
services for small and medium enterprises. The
meeting received very good feedback, but Zebunniso
worries about coordinating everyone’s busy
schedules. “I'm sure with Manzura and Ardasher
(other Community Connections participants) it is
possible,” she says.
“Indeed
we have seen another America, discovered another
world full of love and care, devotion and acceptance.”
Lutfiya
Safarova from
Uzbekistan
Community Connections Program: Support
for Disabled Groups, Organizations & Societies,
August 2008
Lutfiya Safarova was a part of a Community Connections program aimed at educating
professionals working with groups with disabilities in a country that has
limited services and programs in this area. She is the Coordinator for
the Education Center for Children with Disabilities in Uzbekistan. Her
Kalamazoo program included eight other participants, who, as a group, spent
three weeks in Kalamazoo visiting two to three organizations each day.
“We
saw how your organizations work with [people with disabilities]
and we transmitted our experience to our communities,
and colleges.”
The
program and the knowledge she gained from the various
organizations in Kalamazoo has also helped her pass
another
important program dealing with preferential
microcrediting for vulnerable levels of population.
She helps parents become more informed of these programs
and has created new and accessible conditions for parents
to receive these small loans.
“Thanks
to USAID, Colleagues International and other American
partners who have helped us during our program in USA,” says
Lutfiya. “Also, this program helped me to find
new friends in USA. I have a good contact with my dear
host family... They are the best host family in the
world!”
Jamshed
Bafaev fromTajikistan
Community Connections Program: Small and Medium Enterprise
January 2008
Jamshed
Bafaev, a Community Connections program alumnus from
Dushanbe, Tajikistan, purchased new equipment and opened
a separate unit in his auto shop to provide service
to American cars after his returning from the study
program in th
e United States.
As
a program participant, Mr. Bafaev worked for a repair
shop in Kalamazoo, Michigan where he became more knowledgeable
and confident in his work with American cars.
“My
business is growing,” Mr. Bafaev notes, “and
Community Connections contributed to this growth.
However, the biggest benefit of program participation
is the
new friends among program participants, who I meet
with and do business with, and friends in the US.
My (U.S.) host family is dear to me and is going
to visit
me in Tajikistan next year.” During program
follow up meetings, Mr. Bafaev distributed his business
cards
to owners of American cars, such as U.S. Embassy
personnel, and many of them now utilize his workshop
for their
car repair needs.
“It
was amazing to see how American people appreciate their
country, heritage, friends, and neighbors, they
work hard and try hard to improve America.”
He
was touched to see the commitment of so many people
working to make their country a better
place. “I learned this life lesson from them
and, after this experience; I came back with a different
attitude towards Tajikistan.”
