The End of the Beginning
Last week I marked the end of my 7 year long engagement with the GIZ SME development program. Never expected to stay for so long anywhere!
The past two years I played a dual role as CEO of Hatch and Chief Disrupter at GIZ which allowed me to experience the epitome of agility, being a bridge and node between many different worlds and building the future of work. There’s much to write about all the learnings and experiences encountered in those years which I will, separately.
From the very start of my journey in GIZ I was nurtured to step out, where all of the conventional and normal ways of growth within the organisation were not considered by me or (my friend, mentor first and then boss) Marton. Instead, the hardest bloody challenges were served and my butt was kicked to look outward and grow out of my comfort zone. And the prime result of it is GoodLife X, which is about to enter into a new chapter, marking another milestone of what lateral thinking and open ways of solving problems can bring about. Expect a fresher update on the next chapter of GLX very soon!
I was never drawn to private or corporate work, there’s nothing that bores me like routines to follow and ladders to climb! Development practice on the other hand gave me so much to dream towards, the potential of change I could directly be part of in creating equal opportunity, a purpose to live by which is the core of anything I do, to date. But of course my starry eyed millennial bubble burst when I experienced how conventional and bureaucratic the development sector was. Which actually made me leave the system a little over a year after joining, since the mismatch to my ideals were so apparent, and my presence was just loud, disruptive and unwelcome. Not by all, but some.
What made me go back was the opportunity that came about to open a new chapter of change. To create and lead a new pillar in the project, innovation and entrepreneurship. This new chapter where my official title was “Cheif Disrupter” was also the start to a rapid and beautiful change of a most conventional organisation and the beginning of many adventures. I’m still overwhelmed by how a couple of people in leadership encouraging this change created so much possibility to all those who benefited from our programs. Marton who has done eons for the German and Egyptian startup ecosystems coming in was the real game changer and trigger for all of this troublemaking..and I found myself in the most luxurious place to add fuel to his fire, by the gallons! And learnt the best lessons of how NOT to play safe ever!!
In this blip of the Universe, where time and space felt frozen, systems were changed and so were mindsets and culture, and even how we worked. Our team of 20 in Jaffna and Colombo where all this took place, had such a mix of demographics, where the oldest was 60ish and the youngest was 26. This team became a bunch of rockstars shifting from outlook to SLACK, all walls and cubicles came down at offices, and hot desking and flexible working was introduced, and NO not now, this was back in 2017, way before coworking was a thing! And no, none of this was a part of a grand plan that came out of a “transformation strategy”, it was just a couple of us who dared enough to push boundaries, who didn’t wait for confirmation, and just went ahead knowing that showing and telling is stronger than approval and execution. Whatever that came after we were ready to face together.
This for me was one of the biggest points of change and the reward was seeing the many lives transformed through the work we did.. Introducing the concept of traveling university, initiating University Business Linkage Cells and its circular, finding extended family in Jaffna with Yarl IT and creating its space for community as well as the life long friendships i discovered across Sri Lanka and over the world, leading me to many adventures including building the FabLab at Hatch, jamming with Disrupt Asia, all these experiences helped shape the me that stands here today.. During the last few years I’ve noticed that the Germans are quite a non boasting, non-self promoting bunch, and much of the work and the many ripples of change that resulted from 6 decades of work that may go unknown or unnoticed by the masses, but through them I learnt a beautiful lesson that the number of people that know and recognize you it does not define the depth of the impact you create — and this lesson will define my ways of working for many more years to come.
This was quite an unusual chapter and experience especially from the development sector.
So, This is me saying a longass thank you to everyone who believed in this journey and to everyone who didn’t see any sense in it! Each of you made it possible!
Picture credits — Sanch Silva