Monday, December 26, 2011

Day #7 & #8 - Amman, Jordan


Yesterday, we traveled to the Dead Sea for a Christmas Day dinner, and it was a terrific experience. On the way there, it was raining in Amman, but the closer we got to the Dead Sea, the warmer it got, the fog lifted and the rain disappeared. We discussed it perhaps as a sign that God was happy that it was Christmas Day, and at the Dead Sea, he was sending the good weather just at the Dead Sea as a sign or statementJ.  We had a wonderful buffet lunch at the Movenpick right above the shore of the Dead Sea. I’ve never seen a location/resort/spa so beautiful as this one. To relax, this would be the place to be to just unwind and decompress in numerous relaxation pools. Probably over 10+ relaxation pools, and healing salt pools from salt water. I got to feel the water, and it is very oily, and I can see why these products are used on a large scale for the benefit of skin and hair condition. Upon entry you are given Arabic tea, a very sweet and herbal tea, which is very flavorful, and Arabic coffee, which was very nice and intense also.  We were given an extensive tour, which was very gracious of the guard at the spa, who was dressed in traditional Jordanian cultural dress. This resort and spa is magnificent, and there really are no words to describe. On the way to the dinner, we saw many camels on the side of the road, which was neat to see, and I’ve included pictures of several-I have never seen one so close before.  The Jordanian culture is such a giving culture, especially concerning guests, I am thoroughly so warmed and welcomed by the graciousness and giving to make sure I have paid for food, drinks, and such genuine concern with how else I can be assisted by the people, it is so gracious and kind. Shadi’s family who treated me as a guest, we so generous, and I am very appreciative.  I have never experienced a culture so giving to guests and that show such hospitality, it is so admirable, and I aim to adjust my personal hospitality to do the same, when I have company and guests, it is so inviting, and really makes guests feel so welcomed, as people to go extensively out of their way to make sure you are having a good time, and are provided with everything.  I am also told, “you are always welcome here in Jordan,” which to be honest, I was not expecting, and is so comforting for me to hear. I’ve been very touched. This Christmas Day, I will always remember fondly.















I met with the gentleman who will be organizing the Middle East fraud forum in 2013, for another discussion on the topic, and asked how I may assist, perhaps in a panel discussion at the forum in 2013, or in perhaps engaging American professors to let them know that the forum will take place in the Middle East, and to see if they would like to attend we discussed. He is interested to have the collaboration within academic American universities and with professors being involved, because as I stated before America does not train our college auditors, accountants, and future fraud professionals well at the academic levels or at all in fraud prevention and detection, there is little training in fraud in universities if any, as is the same in the Middle East universities, and I strongly agree with his approach in wanting to change this in both regions. We need strong young leaders, who are equipped to detect, prevent, and prosecute fraud and corruption, with steel backbones. Sometimes there will have to go up against executives double their age, to audit them, and investigate them, this is not easy to do this, when dealing with a high level and even C-Suite executive, you must be trained and know what you are doing, and it is incredibly stressful for someone ½ the age, investigating a senior level executive, talking about this, made me remember those days, they were very trying personally. Fraud and corruption shouldn’t be allowed in governments or the private sector in any country, and perhaps its up to us with the anti-fraud experience to be the champions for this through education and higher training standards, through massive education, and in writing articles and case studies, and being the fire-starters for change. I hope to be able to assist how I can in the future and with my own personal contacts that may assist.  Fraud fighters in the Middle East need to be supported fully. 

I also met a member of the BPWA today, and she mentioned how she works with Jordanian youth at universities speaking about entrepreneurship & business, and she inquired more about social entrepreneurship, when she heard why I was here in Amman.  She relayed to me that there are many Jordanian young people who want to start businesses, and want to do something to help the world, but many have never thought about combining the two concepts into one; something we call “social entrepreneurship” and “social enterprise” in America and Europe, but there isn’t much knowledge of the concept here in the Middle East. Her thought was that the university students would love to hear more about social entrepreneurship through a presentation, similar to the one I’m providing to the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship on Wednesday now.  She was very interested in this topic, and wanted to learn more, so I will be keeping in contact with her, and sending my presentation to her, so that perhaps I can assist further in this area in the future, even beyond leaving Jordan. I haven’t heard anything about any social enterprises in Jordan yet that do exist, so it will be very interesting to see how the topic gains momentum in the Middle East, and it is my hope that many students will be interested and will start their own social enterprises in the future, and that the fire will start in their local communities and then globally to effect change, by learning about the concept; a concept that many young people with a passion to help the world are very excited about, when they hear about it for the first time.

















Social Enterprise Presentation:




Friday, December 23, 2011

Day #4-12/22 - Amman, Jordan



Early this morning, we drove to the Ahliyyah School for Girls in Amman, as I was to give a presentation to the 12th graders on human trafficking, in response to an invite by Mrs. Haifa Najjar, the Superintendent of the School. It was a 45 minute session, with probably about a 1 hour Q&A session with the girls. They had many, great and thoughtful questions about trafficking, and how pornography creates a demand for it.  I was very impressed by the thoughtful questions. Although they were aware of trafficking, they did not know it occurred in Jordan, and had not seen videos and weren’t aware of the extent of the problem around the world. Their guess was about at a max maybe, 1 million slaves in the world when I asked them to guess the number of human trafficking slaves in the world today, nothing near 27 million was guessed.  They were astonished by this number. I also informed them that there were many groups in the U.S. who were fighting to bring clean and family friendly media to the world, and they even applauded loudly when they heard that the Playboy Club television show had been taken down. That should send a very loud message to NBC and Alta Loma Productions (arm of Playboy that worked with NBC to produce the show) and the pornography industry that your extreme junk is not wanted or welcomed in Jordan even among the youth. This thrilled me, as their response, and to be able to enable these girls with the knowledge and information in knowing this is key, and was my main objective, and would be up to them to take this information and do what they can to investigate and to be a change maker, which I encouraged them now to do.  Many, many questions were asked after the session, and several girls came up after the presentation to ask me even more questions and find out what they could do to get involved in the fight. This warmed my heart.  Many positive comments were received by the teachers and the head of the school afterward, and it seemed like it was very beneficial to them. We also discussed body image for girls, and what the media portrays continuously, making girls feel that they must be a certain type of body, in order to be accepted, and had a discussion around anorexia and bulimia, as several of them had struggled with this in the past.  The girls continued to follow us around the school as we met with other teachers, and school administrators, and we even had an impromptu discussion around Mylie Cyrus with the girls, as the girls seemed to love her, and we discussed who is and who isn’t a good role model for girls in American media. The girls are very influenced by these younger girls in Hollywood, they look up to them and will even defend them and their bad actions. This aspect did surprise me. It makes it even more important to have good, values-centered younger girls as rolemodels in Hollywood, because the whole world is watching them and what they do, and young girls worldwide imitate these teenagers in Hollywood and really would like to be like them and have their lives.

A very fulfilling day, and I hoped that the girls would always remember this day, and what they were told and shown about pornography and human trafficking and all the little girls in the world who live in torment on a daily basis as sex slaves, and I hoped that I instilled in them a sense that each and every one of them can change the world, and that just one can make a difference, to have a passion in life and to help the greater world with something that is important to them as a cause. I was very impressed by the thought that went into their questions. This was probably one of the main important reasons why I was in Amman, and the one event that would matter the most to influence these young girls, and to take away that their values are very important and not to forget their values because they might be unpopular or may not mesh with what Hollywood is telling them, and I included the quote by Ghandi which I’ve always felt sums it up best: Be the Change you want to see in the World….

Day #3-12/21 - Amman, Jordan


The Executive Director of the BPWA coordinated a quick meeting for me for the following morning, on Day #3, with a Palestinian businessman, after learning of my experience developing anti-fraud programs for corporations in the U.S. as a fraud and IT auditor. She scheduled a 10a.m. meeting the next morning with this businessman who is working on anti-fraud programs in the Middle East and Africa. I was delighted to hear that there were fraud fighters in the Middle East like me, as I had just spent 10 years in American corporate business as a fraud and IT auditor, a very tough arena and one where auditors don’t always have many friends, and it takes someone that accepts this. I discovered he is also a CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner), and member of the ACFE in Austin (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners), and is a board member on their Advisory Council, as am I. A very small world indeed!  We discussed fraud theory, and global actions to combat fraud for about an hour, and I asked him how I could help him combat fraud in the Middle East, using the knowledge that I had, and in developing Honeywell’s preventative fraud program for travel and expense. His team is very qualified, and have deep knowledge of the anti-fraud field, he himself is a CPA, CFE, and also has an MBA.  He is planning to have an international fraud Forum in the Middle East in 2013, which absolutely thrilled me. I could barely stay in my chair! Due to the high levels of corruption in the Middle East, and in Jordan, there is a push and mandate by King Abdullah for increased investigations of potentially fraudulent officials. This is good progress forward, but the investigators who are doing the fraud investigations, must be qualified, and be able to know how to “sniff” out fraud. I know even in the United States, the universities do not have mandatory classes on ethics or fraud detection in most business schools even-I was never taught this as an undergraduate business student. I had to learn fraud detection on my own time through independent study and through my work on-the-job in the audit roles I obtained. This is something I always wanted to change about the U.S. business programs at universities, because graduates are left on their own in the corporate arena to figure out where fraud is, if they go into the auditing profession, it is not taught. This is another element that he and I discussed, as he wants to implement fraud trainings at university business programs in the Middle East and even in the U.S. and has contacted an American professor about doing this, and is trying to line up trainings where he can speak on this at American universities. This was a delightful meeting, and I was invited to come to the Middle East, to assist with this Fraud Forum in 2013, and would like very much to do so if possible. The fraud fighters of the world certainly must stick together, and learn from each other, and share and spread the knowledge to anyone interested, because to me, ethics are crucial and its not negotiable, and to see that there is a concern for ethics worldwide, gives me some hope about the world on a global scale. We scheduled a time to meet again this next week to discuss next steps, and how I may perhaps be able to assist at the Forum.  So topics so far covered and that I’ve been working on in the Middle East: Social Entrepreneurship awareness, Anti-Fraud/Money Laundering Education, and Pornography & ties to Trafficking Awareness and Education – more than I expected to be working on here J. 

We also had lunch at a lovely French style bistro, and I met another acquaintance. What I’ve discovered is how small of a city Amman is in relation to how interconnected people are here, and how truly it is a “small” city in this sense, much different from America. We also ran into my roommate’s cousins at the Amman Marriott, when we visited to see the Christmas tree, and they had a Santa Clause with brown hair (Santa must be coloring his hair these days;)) visiting the children at the hotel, in which we had a very nice dinner with them after, and it is very common to have this happen, where one may run into many different people they know being an established resident of Amman.

The traffic in Amman has given me several heart attacks. There was almost a five car pile up the other day, and we couldn’t tell what in the world caused this, as anyone can make there “own lane” in the road at any time-there was nothing in the road, and no barriers, that would cause someone to suddenly stop. Drivers do not use turn signals, and may not even look when they are turning onto another main road, they just drive unto the road, with no regard to oncoming traffic. The police do not seem to be concerned about this, and there really are not many consequences for this. If an accident occurs on the road, if its in the middle of the highway, the drivers cannot move their vehicles, they must stay put, even though they are blocking all lanes of traffic, until the police come and take the report. 

The BPWA offices have been extraordinary to work with everyday, and the Executive Director and staff, have been so nice to me, and I am enjoying working with them immensely.  The Executive Director, has gone out of her way to accommodate me, and to establish connections for me with other organizations, organizing presentations on the topics of anti-fraud, human trafficking, and social entrepreneurship. Many people are not as aware of social entrepreneurship I’ve discovered also, so spreading this knowledge to students I hope will be very valuable, and provide them with new ideas for implementation and hopefully will provide a different way of thinking about how businesses can be started, and can help change the world!

Christian churches in Amman, where generally only 2% of the population is Christian:






Day #2-12/20-Amman, Jordan


BPWA's Executive Director, who has an MBA from the University of Jordan, and who runs the organization and trainings for the underprivileged women to get skills training in starting businesses and business plan writing, setup an appointment for us to speak with the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship at the Jordan-German University in Amman.  When speaking to Mohammad, who runs the Center, he expressed that there is a lot of funding for the students in starting specifically tech companies, provided by Intel, and other multinational companies, which I was slightly surprised to hear but very glad to hear also, but he said that this funding and focus for the students is on tech companies, and there was one social enterprise, that was started and makes goods and then sells them online to fund social justice initiatives, but that students were widely not aware of social entrepreneurship and what it was. Mohammad knew of it of course, and also provided contact information to a Jordanian Ashoka Fellow, in which I later contacted to see if I could also meet with all of the Jordanian Ashoka Fellows in Amman while here, to brainstorm on how we could spread the word more widely in Jordan on social enterprises. I was also able to connect with an organization that provides microloans to underprivileged women and we inquired with their director to see if a presentation on social entrepreneurship would be beneficial to the women who received the microloans, but I also wanted to find out if these were sustainable businesses the women had started, or if they were just making enough to be able to feed themselves and their families. The goal is to connect with many other organizations, that will perhaps benefit from social enterprise knowledge, and trafficking awareness. My roommate and I, Rasha, will also be speaking at the Alhiyyah School for Girls tomorrow morning, on trafficking spreading awareness to the 12th grade female students on this topic, along with topics on body image, and American media, and a discussion around this, which I’m really looking forward to. I got a chance to meet several of the girls who go to the school at their Christmas luncheon, that Mrs. Haifa Najjar invited us to graciously, and they were lovely girls. Its so important at that age, that they are equipped with knowledge, and that they have a sense of self confidence, to know that they too can change the world, and that they don’t have to look like anything that is portrayed in American media, which many at this age in countries around the world, struggle with I was told, which causes anorexia, and causes them to be less conservative at these ages, in a culture that is widely conservative by nature, but American media has a very strong presence in the Middle East, so this is something I feel Americans must address more, what we export to other countries is so important, and what these little girls will see could detrimentally effect their lives, and their beliefs, and eat away at the positive things that their culture tries to instill in them, like decency and modesty. My heart breaks to know that American media has been and continues to negatively affect these girls, by what they see our American celebrity women doing and unmodestly wearing. It gave me an even greater passion to implement a project I devised working with the Christian Film Commission and people in L.A. around clean media on TV. Hollywood must evaluate what they are producing and how large of an impact it has on girls around the world detrimentally, and to be educated on porn and indecent materials ties to trafficking and poor body image of girls, and a conscious and unconscious change in their values that occurs.

The executive director of BPWA also happened to ask me if I had any information on fraud programs, as the Jordanian government has been pushing initiatives to help detect fraud in all areas, preventatively and in anti-money laundering programs, because of the previous corruption. I had to laugh when asked this, as I’m a former corporate fraud auditor, and developed Honeywell’s travel and expense fraud program, that catches executive fraud, and never thought that this knowledge or these skills would be used here at this time, but perhaps this is another avenue I will be able to assist Jordanian businessowners and fraud fighters in. This included a meeting with some private Jordanian businessmen this morning at 10am, to discuss how I could assist them. 

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Day #1 Amman, Jordan


Day #1-12/19:

I arrived later in the morning at the Business & Professional Women’s Association-Amman, which is a USAid funded organization. The Executive Director, Mrs. Tharwat Jaber, was very gracious, and we went over some projects that I could assist them with, working on proposals for more funding for them, being a native English speaker, as the proposals for funding being written by a native English speaker may assist them, and also conducting presentations for the underprivileged youth, in how to start a social enterprise, in using social media to promote your business, and in grassroots organizing as potential topics. There would be a language barrier I was told, so working through the translation process would be key to be able to provide these to the youth. I found out also, that the next morning day #2, Mrs. Jaber setup an appointment for me to meet with the team at the Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship, to discuss with them some projects to promote social enterprises. I left the BPWA office early as I received a phone call from the assistant to the Director of the Ahilyyah School for Girls, and member of the Jordanian Parliament, inviting me to the school’s yearly Christmas luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel. I will be speaking to the 12th graders at the Ahilyyah school on Thursday 12/22, so it was a very gracious gesture for Mrs. Najjar to invite me to this luncheon which I attended with my roommate, Rasha, who first introduced me to Mrs. Najjar.  There was Arabic singing (I love Arabic music, its so pretty to me), and the teachers of the school got up to dance traditional Arabic dances. I am so touched by the warm culture of the Jordanian people. To extend an invite to me, someone who Mrs. Najjar had just been introduced to, not that long ago, at the hospitality that the Jordanian people show, I think America could learn something about hospitality from the Jordanian culture. Everything is centered around how someone can assist someone else or a guest, or in accommodating others. I was not expecting this, and found this overwhelmingly refreshing. I believe I will miss the warmness of the Jordanian people, and the hospitality that is always exuded. Even visiting family members homes with Rasha, my roommate, I was invited to parties, and get-togethers, and invited out to events, or to dance an Arabic dance at the Girls School Christmas party. Much consideration is shown to others, as a foundation culturally, in which you can’t help but be warmed by, and in having a renewed sense of hope about the world. 

The culture makes you feel like everyone somehow knows each other, even in a city with 2 million people, because of the relationships and interaction among people, which is very friendly. We passed by the Jordanian CIA, and the American Embassy today, which takes up 4 blocks, and is fenced, and has armored guards with trucks with machine guns surrounding the whole building.  I was enamered with the extent of security around the building and even signs while driving by stated that no photos were allowed of the Embassy. America has a very strong presence in Amman I could see, even with just our Embassy.  It even scared me a little to think of having to approach the Embassy for any needs, its very intimidating the way it appears, with armored vehicles and guards with automatic weapons. I would include a picture if I could have taken one.  If someone says things about the King, they could be taken to the Jordanian CIA headquarters and questioned, so as we passed the headquarters, our voices were very low.  Upon driving into the Four Seasons Hotel, before being allowed to proceed to the hotel entrance and parking, steel tire stoppers were inserted in front of us to block our car, while guards searched Rasha’s car for any bombs in the trunk, and after we were checked only then were we allowed to pass through the gate and the steel stopper was removed. This is when the surrealness of security hit me. I have never been in a car, where it was searched for a bomb before. I had to really comprehend this for a few minutes, as this is something we take for granted in America I believe, as we don’t take these precautions, but in the Middle East, they have to. Especially after the well publicized bomb explosion at a Jordanian hotel a few years ago.  We aren’t in Kansas anymore Dorothy…. I learned in speaking with one of Rasha’s relatives, who works for an NGO, that assists prostitutes who are sometimes trafficked, mainly Iraqi, that these women are forced, and threatened to prostitute themselves, and even though it is reported that the Middle East doesn’t have a trafficking problem, it seems that much of it goes undetected or even underreported, because her organization searches these women out, and they find many, and then try to educate them, assist them, and provide them with vocational training to get them out of the situations, while also working with their pimps or madams.  I was very intrigued by our conversation and really wanted to see how I could help with this problem too while I was here, perhaps in training the women in sewing skills, as a tool and mechanism to keep them earning a living and out of continued prostitution if they are able to get out. 


Largest Starbucks in Amman, Jordan





Arabic Dancing at Girls School Christmas Party

Mrs. Haifa Najjar, Superintendent Alhiyyah School for Girls-Amman, and Upper House Member of Parliament (Jordan) @ Four Seasons Hotel

Rasha & I at the Alihyyah School for Girls Christmas Party, at the Four Seasons Hotel-Amman

Starbucks in Amman, the largest Starbucks in Amman that is....

Arriving in Amman, Jordan - December 2011


Travel to Amman, Jordan:

My trip to Amman was much longer than I thought it was. The next time I fly to the Middle East, I think I will do a direct flight, after 3 different legs, and over 15 hours! No amount of caffeine can keep you going at that pointJ.  Landing at the airport was an experience, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I consider myself a very knowledgeable person when it comes to culture and countries, with a worldly view and a degree in International Business, as cultures are a passion of mine, but the Middle East is so different from the U.S. and even Europe, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Traveling with my pink luggage and purple and black bag probably exuded “American” to most people at the airport, so could work on blending in a bit better of course, I spent about an hour waiting to get a visa, and may have been one of the very few in this line that was an American. I noticed immediately the predominate cultural difference when seeing many covered Muslim women at the airport, and my wonderful roommate from Pepperdine who lives in Amman, waited for me for awhile without knowing I arrived at the airport, since there were such long lines at immigration and passports and in obtaining a visa. I finally made it through, and found my friend Rasha and her boyfriend Shadi waiting for me patiently on the other side.  Although most signs are in Arabic, which I have no knowledge of, it was nice to see that there were English translations below everything also, it was very helpful. 

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Business & Professional Women - Amman Association


The Business and Professional Women - Amman Association, believes in strengthening the skills, education, and business training of women in Jordan, so that underprivileged women have the opportunity and tools they need to be able to start businesses. The BPWA also serves underprivileged youth, ages 18-24, in conducting training, mentoring, and education on entrepreneurship to improve their socio-economic stability.  

BPWA's Core Values:

It stands to all that we hold these beliefs as non changing tenets:

  • Newness, Creativity, Innovation and our deeply rooted belief in our heritage, are the dynamic core of our association.
  • Collective energies create unlimited potential.
  • Gender partnership increases overall productivity and thus the competitiveness of our national economy.
  • The differentiating factors to anyone joining our efforts are, passion and commitment to our mission.



The BPWA is a NGO, started in 1976, by businesswomen and pioneering women in Jordan.  Their mission and vision are as follows:

BPWA's mission is to open pathways and create platforms for women in business to move beyond barriers and utilize their unique energies, talents, and capabilities to make a difference.

The Association's long term vision is to be a vital contributor to the prosperity of the Jordanian Business and Professional Society. It serves as a gateway to promote leadership, education, and job-linked training. It is engaged in a wide range of developmental projects that aim to improve the quality of women's participation in the labor market in Jordan. It also aims to develop a formula to create a balance between the professional and personal lives of working women.


BPWA Projects


BPWA implements projects that improve the status of women in Jordanian society. They aim to increase the number of working in the work force, and partner with private and public sector entities to do so.  They increase the professional skills of underprivileged and underutilized women to help them reach their potential, through trainings, work/life balance assistance, and mentoring.  

Committees

The BPWA currently has five different committees which are the Membership, Youth, Business Education  & Capacity, Building, & Events Committees.


Business Mentoring/Entrepreneurial Training

Young Entrepreneurs Business Training

  • Creating Sustainable Training Modules to Empower Young Entrepreneurs - "How to Start Your Business" - in partnership with the Young Entrepreneurs Association, a grant has been provided through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), to implement "Empowering Young Entrepreneurs" training.  This training will provide skills for young people on how to start their own businesses, who are currently in college. The goal is to empower youth, in particular marginalized youth who may be limited economically, due to educational structures, status, and their gender.  This training will enhance the youth's skills to be able to launch out into the business market while enhancing their skills. This will involved mentoring youth, training students on business skills, and obtaining funding by loan providers. 

Reflections

The BPWA provides a terrific mix of educating women and marginalized youth, and shows them through business and entrepreneurial knowledge, how they can change their circumstances, their socio-economic conditions and status in Jordanian society.  These skills are especially needed by marginalized youth, and women, so that they feel empowered. When women are business owners, they are less susceptible to accept conditions of domestic violence, to be trafficked, and add even more value to their families,  and can then obtain further education and opportunities that they may normally never receive otherwise.  The BPWA is very structured in that it establishes programs for trainings, provides guest speakers, and mentoring opportunities for women and youth, and leverages the resources of women in existing businesses, to be able to assist and mentor those women and youth who need assistance in starting an enterprise, or in obtaining a loan, or in basic business skills and acumen. This is something that every business owner would like to have, a mentor, an organization to go to for assistance for funding, guidance, and knowledge in order to have a successful business, especially to be able to change circumstances of individuals. To be able to assist underprivileged youth and women start enterprises is a great service and honor, and to provide them with the tools to be successful is enriching to their lives and the lives of their families.