I've had the good fortune, in my 30-odd years of life, to have seen and experienced a large part of the world. I left Canada after leaving university, and except for a few visits over the years, I haven't been back. That's why I knew coming into the MDDE program that I wanted to focus at least some of my attention on international issues, and specifically on the country that I call home: China.

And so I was excited when I received my first opportunity to focus on this topic of interest in my first course, MDDE 601. Specifically, creating a business proposition allowed me to focus on the place where I live, China, and how I could potentially improve the lives of the people around me through my studies. I focused on an issue of vital importance to Chinese well-being: The education of the country's rural and blue-collar laborers. This is a massive segment of China's population, and one that is increasingly finding itself marginalized by development and opportunities given to other segments of the populace. Without access to an adult-education program that allows them to complete their secondary school education, this group is without options.

When designing my plan, I made sure to pay special attention to the unique challenges faced by this segment of society, namely low income, long work hours, and limited access to technology. This last challenge, in particular, caused me to change my opinion of how best to reach the people of developing nations. I decided upon the idea that pre-existing infrastructure should be used whenever possible, regardless of its discongruence with western practices. The idea being that local populations should find solutions that work best for them, not that are imposed on them. More on that in my next VIEW.

I have to say in hindsight, thought, that this business plan looks somewhat amateurish, although it's not without its positive aspects. To contrast it against a later production, I've included a business plan I created in MDDE 605, which I feel is much more complete. It includes, for example, a mission and vision statement, and details much more specifically the concrete actions needed to be taken in order for the business to succeed (6.2 - 6.5). The plan I had outlined for MDDE 601, meanwhile, was much more theoretical and pre-supposed several agreements and conditions I could not guarantee in the real world.