August 28, 2009

In order to catch a night flight leaving for Paris, one of the destinations of my backpacking trip to Europe, I packed my bags as soon as we got back from the award ceremony. As I took a good last look at my Murano dorm, a rush of memories replayed themselves in front of my eyes...the numerous pickup games of football in the rain, talking into the wee hours of the morning about anything and everything in life with Matt, Chris, and Frank on the freshly wet lawns, and our frustrating yet rewarding effort at creating the best and most unique business idea - Coco Forest, which own the Best Business Plan Award.

 Outside Carbon w/ other Edgers

Work - We wanted to create Glasgow's first chocolate drink shop in Glasgow. When we picked something that is renowned for its antidepressant properties and its culinary range, we thought we had a great idea. Little did we know that the devil would be in the details. There were a lot of things we didn't want Coco Forest to be. We didn't want to create another chic bar that feels contrived and ostentatious. We didn't want our hot chocolate to be oversweet, too thin, and lose the deep bitterness that makes chocolate so enchanting. There were also things we also wanted Coco Forest to be. We wanted it to be fun and stylish in an entirely sincere way. We want our menu to be filled with chocolate from different countries made from cocoa beans that transgress the cultural rainbow. Coco Forest would be a place to let go and be adventurous. The night before the day of the presentation, Colin and I made our last effort to perfect the presentation, making everything consistent, using fonts and colors that would grab attention. We made chocolate strawberries and licked every trace of remaining chocolate in our bowls, paying delicious homage to the chocolate in our own way and making ourselves little chocolate aficionados. Presentation day comes, and, standing in front of the four dragons, I felt like a helpless object going under x-ray examination by four wizened wizards of chocolate gastro-temple. With every frown, smile, and crinkle in the corner the Dragons' eye, I felt momentary panic, joy, and sweat. When triple all nighters have been pulled, endless revision of the presentation speech have been made, and hours of memorization of pre-written scripts have gone into a business plan, we can no longer look at a business pitch as another thing that just had to be done. We wanted Coco Forest to be the one.

 A pyramid on Loch Lomond

Party - The EDGE experience would be incomplete and one-dimensional without its social aspect. The last club that we went to was the Glasgow Union Student Club, an art-and-gathering space where the décor is clearly aimed at hipsters, and a place where blueberry lager is served for girls who don't like beer. But the students are not just there for the alcohol and dance; they were there for the scene - both interpersonal and aesthetic. Watching projections of random birds, butterflies, and triangles, the union was not unlike Ratatat concerts where the audiences literally have their eyes glued to the projection ceilings. Partying it up with some of the most casually elegant people I've ever come across who are cool in a retro kind of way made me think of the clubs in New York I've been to. Perhaps bit fewer uncoordinated loud thuds and more soul would help.

EDGE award ceremony with Matt and Sylvia

EDGE - where I laugh till I cried, talked as if our day was never going to end, and played pickup soccer with such passion and intensity not felt since high school soccer state finals. All this I could not have done without my fellow Edgers, the greatest witnesses to all our unflattering splendor.

Having spent six weeks in Scotland, it's starting to really feel like home. On one of our weekend outings to Dublin and London, I actually missed Glasgow. I could not wait to get back to my homey dorm on Murano Street. I could not recall a single city that has made me miss it after a mere six weeks. I only realized it after arriving in my Murano dorm that it's the people that make it such a homey place. Whether it's the nonconfrontational style of their body language, or the soothing Scottish accent, my interactions with the Scots have always left me feeling relaxed and joyful. I continue to be awed by the Scots' cordiality and self-deprecating humor.

Coming back to Glasgow after a four-day weekend in Ireland and England, I stepped onto the Glasgow subway and was quickly reminded of the uniqueness of the Glasgow subway system. Dubbed Clockwork Orange for its brightly painted orange exterior, it is the third-oldest underground metro system in the world after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro according to Wikipedia. The system is unusual compared to other metro systems in that it has never been expanded from its original route, which was laid more than 100 years ago. The subway trains are tiny. Even a moderate five-foot something man has to duck when boarding. The subway carriages have never failed to remind me of Mickey Mouse trains. Not knowing the history of the Scotland Subway system, one might wonder which Oompa Loompa designed the minisubway. Unlike the New York subway system which may seem like a maze even to New Yorkers, the Scotland subway system only has two loops, an inner and an outer loop, so it's practically impossible to get lost in it.

For our consultancy projects, we are currently researching trade routes of second-hand mobile phones in China once they reach Hong Kong. China is one of the biggest markets for secondhand mobile phones. However, it is also one of the least transparent. Foreign phone companies often export phones to Hong Kong and then to Shenzhen, one of the electronics hubs of mainland China. However, no one really knows where the mobile phones go after that. Part of our job is to track the trade routes of these mobile phones. We have had to call a dozen or so secondhand mobile phones suppliers in China. However, without the proper "Guanxi" or connection, it is extremely difficult to convince importers to divulge any form of useful information on their suppliers and customers. With only about two weeks left, teams are getting down to business as the teams compete to produce top notch consultancy reports.

Entering into the fourth week of the EDGE program, teams are getting more intense, and workloads are getting heavier. In addition to the two consulting projects, each EDGE team is given the opportunity to create their own business plan. As my team brainstormed ideas for our business plan, we set two key criteria: that it has to be unique, and that it has to be the best. The list of ideas that we generated includes shoes with removable heels designed for the busy businesswoman, a tracking device that can be attached to keys, wallets, and other small items that people often misplace, and a smoothie stand. However, most of the products and services we came up with were either not unique enough or were too challenging to create given our limited technical know-how.

At last, we agreed to the idea of a café that serves chocolate drinks. Admittedly, few legal substances exert as strong a pull as chocolate.  Perhaps it was this pull that quieted all dissension and convinced all six members of our team that a chocolate café was the best plan.  As Scotland's biggest city and one of Scotland's more prominent cultural centers, Glasgow teems with shops, restaurants, and cafes. However, it does not have a single chocolate café that caters to the needs and wants of the Glaswegian chocolate lover. We set out to create Glasgow's first and only chocolate café. As we did our research on chocolate cafes around the world, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the idea is still a relatively new one. While the major chocolate shops such as Godiva, See's, and the local favorite, Thornton's, all stock chocolate bars and candies, only few cafes specialize in chocolate drinks. Some of the cafés that specialize in chocolate drinks include Max Brenner's and Chocolate Soup. To scout out competition, we made a plan to visit Chocolate Soup, which was conveniently located in Edinburgh, the next stop in our weekend day trips.

As the capital of Scotland and host of the world's biggest festival, the Fringe, Edinburgh is a city of elegant stone amid rolling hills. With a whole day to spare, we decided to sample what the ancient city has to offer before checking out the local chocolate cafe. We first set out on a whiskey tour. After a whiskey ride in a whiskey barrel, we were given glimpses of the world's biggest whiskey collection, the Whiskey Room. Locked behind glass doors stood 3,400 different types of whiskeys, each in its unique bottle, glittering like diamonds in a jewelry store. Next, we stopped at the National Galleries which houses works by Renaissance, Romantic, and Impressionist masters. My favorite was an octagonal room with Poussin's entire Seven Sacraments.

Saving the best for last, we finally came upon the unique Chocolate Soup. From the outside, Chocolate Soup seems like just another coffee shop. However, as soon as you step in to the chocolate heaven, you immediately realize the uniqueness of the shop as one scans the menu full of exotic names of a dozen different mouthwatering hot chocolates. As we made our orders of chocolate drinks, one of the chocolatiers in the shop showed us their secret ingredient, "chocolate soup." It turned out that chocolate soup was not just a name but an ingredient used in many of the hot chocolate drinks served in the shop. As I ordered one of the hot chocolates on the menu, I became overwhelmed with the diverse number of chocolate offerings. Perhaps the most impressive was the chocolate sandwiches made with layers of brownies, vanilla ice-cream, and pieces of chocolate. Instead of the overly commercialized chocolate culture I had always experienced, Chocolate Soup offered a different setting. I felt at home. The easy-going ambience of the chocolate café contrasted with the fast and business-like environment of coffee shops like Starbucks. People did not come here to get their coffee and get out. People came to stay, to enjoy the different flavors, intensities, and textures of their chocolate.

Walking out of the shop, I was more reassured about our business idea and could not wait to get my hands on our own chocolate café the next day.

While the naturally queasy may balk at the sight of a haggis, those with heavily girded stomachs experience thunderous rumblings. Contrary to my preconceptions, haggis turned out to be a Scottish delicacy that is made with finely chopped sheep lungs, heart and liver mixed with oatmeal and onion and stiffed into a sheep's stomach bag instead of an animal that freely roams Scottish mountain peaks, glens, moors and shooting estates. It took a group visit to Mario's, a local restaurant, for some of us to find out what a haggis really is, and it was surprisingly tasty.

If eating my first haggis taught me anything, it taught me not to be afraid to step outside of my comfort zone.  To stimulate our creativity and encourage us to try new ideas and push our boundaries, the EDGE program encouraged us to think outside of the box. To start things off, each team was invited to design a new product in honor of Robert Burns, Scotland's favorite and most famous bard. Teams set out to work in creating the Burns Bear, the Burns Chia Pet, and of course the memorable whiskey flavored and tartan colored Burns condoms.

At the beginning of the week, we were assigned to different teams made up of 6 students. I was assigned to the same team as Colin Sullivan, another student majoring in political science from Columbia University, Richard, an Irish student majoring in psychology studying abroad at the University of Glasgow, Satu, a Scandinavian student, and Ross and Tayyaba, two local high school students. As a team, we met with the CEO of the companies we would be working for. Luckily, we were assigned to DADA, one of the most successful marketing companies in Glasgow headed by the famous young, rich, and famous Oli Norman. Working solely with consumer-facing brands, DADA is retained by the likes of Hilton, Domino's and Whyte and Mackay. We sat in the board room with Oli as he talked about his business. It may be the innocence of youth, but Oli Norman oozes confidence when he talks about the prospects for his marketing, events and PR business. While headlines scream about closures, bankruptcy and close downs, the 31-year-old is talking of expansion. When asked why his team is so darn creative, Norman attributes the creativity of team to youth. Most of his employees are young, recent graduates. He says that there's a fearlessness that comes with youth, which allows you to try things others won't. There is less worry about the recession and more focus on what opportunities it will bring.

I applied to the EDGE Program because I wanted to try something new. I wanted an environment that would force me to adapt, adjust, learn, change, and grow. Scotland made me step outside of my comfort zone to meet new people, challenge my expectations, experience an entirely different culture, and work for a company that challenges traditional ways of thinking. If one can attribute the success of DADA to any one particular characteristic, it would be DADA's open approach to experimentation and Oli Norman's openness to new ideas. Although the EDGE group have only been in Scotland for a week and a half, I am already seeing some small transformations, whether it's picking up the local accent, calling fries "chips", using the local lingo like "a wee bit," saying "cheers" at every occasion possible, and replacing "yes" with a reassured "aye."