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Stacy Deming
Internship with: Affinity Logic, South Africa

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5
Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

Week 1 (Posted on June 19, 2000)

My first week in South Africa has been full of wonderful people, intriguing experiences and many 'firsts'. South Africa is a country that is a bit independent of the rest of the African continent. They are a young country in the building of a nation since the ending of apartheid in 1994. It is a country with 11 official languages and many different kinds of people from the Zulus, which make up a majority of the population to the Afrikaans.

The people of South Africa have been very welcoming and I have been able to attend a braai (an Africaans word meaning barbeque), eat biltong (kind of like a beef jerky only made here in S.A.) and drive on the other side of the road (the steering wheel is on the 'wrong' side of the car!). Though it is winter here in South Africa, it is nothing like the winters we have in Chicago, with their lows getting about 40 degrees in the evenings and the highs during the day of 65-70 degrees.

I'm working at an e-commerce company here in S.A. that is about two years old, Affinity Logic. If you are interested, you can see the company website at www.affinity-ec.co.za They are a company that provides a number of customized solutions which enable efficient and effective trading to occur between trading partners in the FMCG retail marketplace. Though S.A. is considered an emerging country, they are making great strides in building a presence on the Internet. The industry is very young here, but you can see that they are being taken seriously on an international level with investment of companies like Microsoft, PriceWaterHouseCoopers, Lotus, and Andersen Consulting having offices right down the street from where I work. I'm sure I'll be learning a bit more within the next week, I can't wait!

Week 2 (Posted on June 26, 2000)
Now that I have been here for a bit I'm starting to get settled in to work and the South African way of living (or at least as much as I can in the little amount of time that I'm here).

Work has been very busy the past two weeks. Affinity Logic has several main clients, one of which is Makro stores, which is a bit like a Sams Club in the U.S. Currently, I am working on a research project to determine value-added components for a B-to-B and information exchange on two websites that the company currently has. I am incorporating some of the marketing aspects that we have learned in class as well as doing feasibility studies as part of the research, which incorporate the finance aspects. I'm learning a great deal about e-business and bringing a lot of the academic learning I've had at DePaul to a 'real-world' situation.

This weekend I had a chance to experience what is probably the most widely watched sport in South Africa-rugby! We went to a pub to watch the game for the afternoon. They are as fanatic about it as we Americans are about American football. South Africa has a very good team and won the World Cup a few years ago (it is only contended for every four years). This game was particularly exciting because they played the second of a three-game series against England, the first game of which, South Africa won. On Saturday, however, England gained an advantage and went on to win the game. Next week will determine who is really the winner of the series and they are very serious about the games and their outcomes since it gives the country 'bragging rights' until the next meeting.

I visited one of the most famous markets for tourists called the Rose Bank Rooftop Market. They sell everything from African curios (which is another word for small knick-knack items) to clothes, furniture and food; it is quite the festive atmosphere! I listened to some natives playing drums and dancing around as well as doing a bit of shopping. It was quite fun!

Week 3 (Posted on July 3, 2000)
Happy 4th of July weekend! I continue to work on my research for the B-to-B and information exchange projects for the Makro stores. We are actually doing some primary research of our target market and it is interesting to find that market research is a concept that few have used in South Africa to date (or at least the companies that I have been in contact with here). Most of the people have never done surveys before, where in the States, I believe we have all either been stopped in a mall, called on the phone, mailed a snail mail survey, or have filled out a survey on-line. Though the market is 'small' in S.A., the research is providing very good data and insights, and we will certainly incorporate our findings into the recommendations.

This weekend I had the opportunity to have a fellow IMF student, Beth Towner to visit. Beth is working at a healthcare insurance company in Bloemfontein (four hours away!). We ventured to a part of the city called Melville. It is an eclectic part of town with fabulous restaurants, jazz clubs and most predominantly, wire art. They made everything from globes to helicopters. We also went on a tour of SOWETO (and acronym for south-west township). This is where Nelson Mandela lived for some time and his former wife, Winnie currently lives. They have transformed his former house into a museum. This is also the area where they had the student uprising when several children were shot in 1976 by police for protesting, truly a horrific event. Today, there is a national holiday called Youth Day (June 16) to bring attention to the history. This was the first time that I visited other parts of the city and saw that Johannesburg (affectionately called 'Joburg) and its surrnounding areas, or the area called Gauteng, is a lot larger that I anticipated, with an estimated population of seven million people.

We also visited Gold Reef City, where the first sighting of gold in Johannesburg. They have transformed that area into an amusement park complete with roller coasters. You can also take a tour of the old mine and see first hand where they used to mine gold and the processes that they used to use. We only went to level five (a little more than 300 meters into the ground), but the mine eventually goes 57 levels or more than 3300 meters. Whew, can you imagine how long it took them to get to work! Next to this amusement park is one of the newest additions to South African entertainment, Gold Reef City Casino.

Week 4 (Posted on July 10, 2000)
It is so hard to believe that this trip is breezing by and I only have five more weeks left! Yikes! I've been very busy at work these days.

Now that my research project is completed, I am in the process of doing a site analysis and recommending changes for the site from both a 'marketing' standpoint as well as a functional standpoint based on information that we've been collecting for the past few weeks. We'll introduce these changes in a phased approach within the next month. In addition, I am helping update the site charter that establishes and documents information about the website. I have also begun what I am calling a 'training program' where I'll meet with folks from various aspects of Affinity Logic, hear about their area of expertise, how it relates to development and the e-commerce structure. I'll meet with everyone from the CEO to the HR Director, CIO, and various other executives as well as with the people who are developing a new dot com b-to-c section of the company. I'm really looking forward to this, as it will provide a broader view of the company and the functional areas outside of the direct contacts that I have on a daily basis. We'll cover topics including (but not limited to) project management in an e-commerce environment, strategy development, the broad company vision, hiring and retaining talent in and IT industry, project methodologies, SAP, and e-architecture.

This weekend I went to the country or 'to the bush' as they say here in South Africa. It was a few hours away so it gave me the chance to see the countryside. And quite an interesting trip it was…we were going all along on the highway, a fairly busy highway mind you, and off in the distance we saw a plane. A small plane, probably a 4 or 6-seater and it seems to be having a little trouble. It was very plain to see because it was coming towards us and it the wings kept teetering from side to side and it kept getting closer and closer to the ground. Soon enough it flew right over our head, maybe a few hundred feet in the air. We watched it get closer and closer to the ground. It landed, but it landed ON THE HIGHWAY!! I thought this kind of thing only happened in the movies! As far as we know it was a safe landing and the only thing that was hurt was probably the ego of the person flying the plane. This is not a common occurrence here, but one I thought I would be interesting to share nonetheless. Once we arrived we stayed on a private game farm and I finally saw some wild game; a few wildebeests, giraffe, springbok, and zebra. There is nothing like seeing animals like these in their (somewhat) natural habitat. It is a completely different experience than seeing animals in the zoo, not even a comparison.

Week 5 (Posted on July 17, 2000)
To this point I have been working on a proposal for the Makrorep website, which is one of the b-to-b/information exchange websites for suppliers to Makro stores and the buyers for the stores. I'm happy to report that on Monday I had a very successful meeting with the client and they approved all of the changes that we recommended. Now we meet with the graphic design expert to make it look more 'webesque' and manage the changes so that they can all be completed as they are specified and meet the deadline of the Project Manager so we can launch with all of the changes within 6 weeks. Along with the change management, I'll be preparing a roll out plan that will include marketing and advertising the site. It will be interesting to see how marketing differs here in South Africa (or if it really doesn't).

This weekend I was joined again by my travel (and class) mate, Beth and we went on a Safari! What a treat! We entered big five territory and saw some of the most amazing sights (unfortunately not all of the 'big five' which includes lions, tigers, wildebeest, rhino and giraffe-I guess that is what happens when you are dealing with nature). We did however see hippos sunning themselves on the grassy beach of the lagoon, a troop of baboons, and zebra grazing on the countryside. We had lunch in an open-air restaurant overlooking an amazing view of the valley with mountains on the background and warthogs grazing as well as an occasional impala leaping by in the foreground.

That evening, tired, a little sunburned and a bit dusty we journeyed another three or so miles into what ended up being an oasis in the vast ruggedness of the wild, Sun City. Sun City is the home of the "Palace of the Lost City" which according to the legend it boasts, was once the home of a nomadic tribe from Northern Africa that had set out "centuries before tall ships were ever dreamed about, long before the dawn of a western civilization…to seek a new world, a land of peace and plenty… (and) they were rewarded with the legendary valley of the sun, known today as the valley of waves" (which today is a huge wave pool). There was a destructive earthquake that left the valley in ruins (hence the name "Lost City"). It was found and restored by archeologists centuries later to its former glory and is today arguably one of the most magnificent and luxurious 5-star hotels in Africa (according the most recent issue of Frommer's book on South Africa). I'm not sure how much of the story is true, but it was certainly a divine setting to visit and spend time. If you are interested in learning more about The Lost City as Sun City visit http://www.suninternational.com , once there use the menu in the upper right hand corner to navigate to Sun City (and The Palace of the Lost City).

Week 6 (Posted on August 8, 2000)
This entry is going to sounds a little like 'what I did for my summer vacation' rather than internship related information as I was on holiday last week. I had the pleasure of traveling around the country for the past week. I was accompanied by my (now) fiancé.

We started out the week by venturing off to Zimbabwe for a three-day excursion to Victoria Falls. There has been a lot of information about Zimbabwe in the international news lately because of the political issues created between the government and the farmers. Had I not read about it or heard about it on the news I would not have know about it because we were not really in a farming area. We did however notice the small number of tourists in the area, even for the off-season.

We spent the day on a game drive to Chobe National Park in Botswana (a short 1 ½ hour drive from where we were staying). We spent the morning on water in a pontoon boat and saw a myriad of birds, crocodiles (they don't have indigenous alligators here), cape buffalo, hippos, salamander-looking things (there were about 3 ½ feet long!), and various waterbuck, antelope, and deer-variety animals. For the afternoon we got our land-legs back and drove in an open-air truck to explore the rest of the park. Chobe is very well know for the amount of elephants in the park and there are so many of them, they are actually destroying part of the park by rubbing on the trees which removes the bark and the trees then die. Along with the elephants we saw lions, giraffes, and various other animals. We ended our trip with a hydrolyte ride over the Falls, which was one of the scariest rides of my life (I say one of, because later in the trip we also had another 'experience' in the mountains) because it was so windy but as well, one of the most awe-inspiring sights of one of the natural wonders of the world.

We decided to fly down to Port Elizabeth, which is a port city on the southeast side of the continent and drive the 'garden route'. This route has been compared to Route 1 in California because is a ocean-side drive along the Indian Ocean along on the southern part of Africa. It was stunning! We spent a few days going along the route stopping along the way to visit one of the longest pedestrian suspension bridges in the world, ostrich farms, the Cango Caves, and ended up in (the second natural wonder of the world we saw on our trip) the port city of Cape Town.

On the drive from Knysna to Ootsdooren (where the caves and ostrich farms are) our guesthouse recommended we drive through Swartberg Pass, which is the mountain range between The Klein ('little') Karoo and The Great Karoo. They mentioned it was a gravel road (this should have been our first clue) and that it would take a few hours (should have been our second clue) and that the view of the mountains is incredible (should have been our third and final clue). So with this information, our trusty map, gas in the car, and high spirits as we headed out. We saw a few logging trucks along the way and thought that it was interesting that our host had recommended such a 'back road', but still we ventured on. After about an hour on the road going through thick forests (mind you only going about 30 miles an hour) the terrain started to change and we were going through rolling mountains that ended up turning into massive mile-high mountains. Our hosts were right, the views were magnificent. But again, let's not forget the road was gravel, at times we were driving on a 40% grade and there was no guard rail along the edge at all, so one false move and we would have been, well I don't even want to think about it. To add to the 'adventure' of the drive through the mountains it was getting dark and we ended up driving about 45 minutes in pitch-black darkness of the mountains. Whew! If the driving instructor could see us now! We did manage to make it to the other side at which time we peeled our fingers off of the steering wheel one by one breathed a huge sigh of relief and vowed never to take a trip on a gravel road through the mountains again.

Once on the other side, we made our way to Oudtshoorn (as difficult to say as it is to spell), which is the ostrich capital of the world. This place was very popular in the 1880s as the Victorian fashion craze took off. You can see, touch, eat, and (even) ride them. I admit, abstained from being tossed off the back of a kicking bird. Today they still make most of their money from the birds, but they don't have the market cornered as much since ostriches are found all around the world these days.

We ended our trip with a few days in Cape Town, one touted as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And it was true to form. And the view from Table Mountain and Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela spent most of his time incarcerated as a political prisoner) provided some breath taking sights.

Week 7 (Posted on August 8, 2000)
It is amazing how some things that were so startling when one arrives in a country can just become a way of life after a while. Not only the simple things, but also the much deeper issues that a country such as South Africa deals with every day. The country is beautiful and certainly has a lot to offer, but there are many things that remind you that though there are many people here that are making it a better place to be, they are still a developing country. They have some pretty difficult issues here. For example, there was a worldwide AIDS conference in Durban a few weeks ago. It is startling how much of the population is HIV positive. Estimates are that 2 in 10 adults are infected with HIV. One of the headlines of the local newspaper read some thing like "Life Expectancy to Fall to 35". This is what they say if there is nothing done within the coming years about this AIDS epidemic. Quite a chilling statistic. Another big issue here is crime, it is fairly high here, and as a result cars are equipped with immobilizers and the homes have electrified fences to keep them safe. Putting these issues aside, South Africa and its surrounding countries are full of wonder and beauty and breathtaking scenes. Some areas along the Garden Route even reminded me of the Cape Cod area. In addition, business is growing since the ending of apartheid and large American companies are coming back to do business here. Though economic indicators are not extremely strong at the moment, I certainly think South Africa to keep an eye on for growth in the new millennium if it can be strong enough to hold up some of its neighboring economies.

In the work that I have been doing there are a whole other set of rules when it comes to marketing to a country of this size and with some of the aforementioned issues. For example one of the sister companies of Affinity Logic is creating a dot com that (among other things) delivers groceries to you. However, because crime is such an issue and there are fences around everything, delivery to the home is next to impossible. The country also has a small Internet user base, which makes marketing to those that do surf the 'net, an even more challenging and important venture. Though there is a small amount of users here, companies are pushing to e-enable their business processes and practices.

I spent the weekend in Swaziland, one of the neighboring countries to South Africa and one of the smallest countries in the southern hemisphere. It is in this lovely country. While there I visited the Mkhaya Game Reserve, which contains one of the largest Rhino populations in Swaziland. This park is also mass conservation effort by the locals to bring back the rhino after poachers in the 1980s nearly wiped out the population. A terrible battled ensued between the poachers and the rangers culminating in a shoot-out at Mkhaya and another at Big Bend (neighboring town named after the bend in the Lusutfu River) where poachers were killed. Poaching started to decline and the last rhino was killed in 1992. Today rangers still stand ready with their rifles protecting the rhino.

Weeks 8-9 (Posted on August 15, 2000)
As the last weeks of my internship draw to a close, I have been finishing up the projects that I started a little while ago and have continued my meetings with various members of the Affinity Logic team.

This last week I met with Richard Newton, the man (or one of the men, at least) behind the vision that is Affinity Logic. He is the Managing Director and is helping take the company into the new millennium with new and fresh ideas and ideas on how to leverage the Affinity strengths of talent, retail and technology. Because Affinity Logic is a partially owned company of the Wooltru group, they know retail and are hoping to go into various ventures to facilitate the relationship between retails and the suppliers (among other things). There are so many new ventures underway, and many of them are hoping to possibly spin off into their own entities and try to make it on their own. There is a lot of energy, a lot of talented people and strong backing from an established company. It will be interesting to track their progression as they move forward within the coming months.

This last weekend was my last weekend to be here in South Africa. I decided to stay at 'home' and try to get things organized and try to relax a bit. This was one of only 3 weekends I actually spent in Jo'Burg the whole time I've been here. I've been able to see much of the country and spend most of the weekends traveling. Friday night I treated the family that owns the guesthouse where I've been staying (who have adopted me as their older daughter) to a truly American evening, pizza, beer and movies. It gave me a sense of what I've been missing in the States and was it ever great! Amazing sometimes how you don't realize how much you miss something until you have it again. I spent Saturday shopping on one of the main roads here called the William Nichol. It is actually quite a busy street (two lanes each way) and the shops (which are everything from trinkets lined up on newspaper to tents) are lined up along the street to sell their wares. One thing I learned the first weekend I arrived was never, never pay the quoted price and everything is negotiable. So I'm happy to say that my negotiating skills have gotten quite a bit better since I've been here and I've been able to save a bit of money along the way. There are so many hand-made curios here and they are inexpensive. I might even leave some clothes here to make room for more!

Saturday evening I was invited for dinner at a friend's house and had a delightful dinner. We then decided to 'cut a rug' and went dancing at a local club into the wee morning hours. They seem to get a lot of their club music from London, so it was fun listening to the new and different music (the music may have also sounded new because I haven't even been to a club in quite a long time in the States!)

Weeks 10 (Posted on September 7, 2000)
So, as quickly as it came about, my stay in South Africa has come to a close. I've spent the last few days getting things organized and ready for my departure. It is amazing how many things you incorporate into your life when you are in a place for 10 weeks!

At work, I've finished the projects that I've been working on. One of the major projects I was working on and was able to provide for the company is being implemented and we should see the finished product mid-September. I have also put together a PowerPoint presentation to send out to all of the people I worked with, showing them a few photos of my trips and thanking them for everything. The people I met truly made my stay an unforgettable experience! Putting together the presentation was actually a pretty fun project to do because I looked through all of the photos that I've just been putting aside and realized how much I did, learned, and how much fun I had during my internship. I will certainly miss everyone and the experiences that I've had. I really developed a lot of friendships that I hope to maintain even after going back home. I also learned a great deal about life in a developing country and the challenges that businesses face, especially those like e-commerce companies. I will, perhaps, be back to visit (or even work short-term) in South Africa, only time will tell.

Since it has been very chilly in South Africa, I'm hoping to enjoy some of the warm weather back in the States and some time off before heading back for one of our last two quarters. Woo Hoo!

 

 

 


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