Monthly Archives: September 2008

Starting a business in Cusco, Peru (ICPNA I-12)

Posted on by under Life in Peru, Teaching ESL

Since I’m teaching about business in my current class at ICPNA, I decided to start a class project to open a coffee shop on the Plaza de Armas in Cusco. We already have a McDonalds in Cusco and will soon have a Starbucks, so let’s give them some competition.

Our fictional business will be a fancy coffee shop with yummie breakfast, snacks, etc. We will have wireless internet, friendly service and a hip atmosphere.

Here’s what I need from my team, that is, the class:

  • Ideas for names.
  • Ideas on how to set the place up (decorations, themes, uniforms, ….)
  • What kind of things we will sell.
  • Legal stuff: how to set up a legal entity (EIRL, SA).
  • Financial plan and accounting policies. Let’s not get in trouble with SUNAT or my uncle Alan Garcia.
  • Marketing plan.
  • A good location in anywhere in beautiful downtown Cusco Peru.
  • Employees, employee manuals, policies, procedures, …
  • Ideas on how to reward our employees.
  • Policies / ideas to prevent theft from customers and employees.
  • Suppliers: where to get good food, coffee, drinks, ice cream,…. Also furnishings and furniture to open our place.
  • Lobbyist to have lunch with the mayor and governor of Cusco once a month.
  • Business plan.
  • Exit strategy, meaning, what to do if our business doesn’t work out.
  • Any other advice or items I’ve overlooked.

Write at least 2 or 3 comments before the end of our class next Friday 9/26!!!! Any thoughts and ideas are welcome, explain/justify your ideas.

Ward

My I-12 class at ICPNA

My I-12 class at ICPNA

Consulting, CIS, aviation

Posted on by under Life in Peru, Trabajo - Work - Werk

This month I’m going to take a big leap of faith and finally start my own business down here in beautiful Cusco, Peru. I have a lot more inspiration than money – but that’s never stopped me before. If all I wanted was a comfy job somewhere I would have stayed with GE…

Speaking of corporate America, watching what is happening in the US tempts me to seek consulting work back in the corporate world. I always felt that some corporate culture in the US dangerously drove people to fudging their numbers. I often had the outside opinion on a lot of issues, which typically got rejected quickly because we all stayed inside a certain comfort zone. I don’t claim to have a silver bullet, but at the same time all the big shot bankers and corporate executives that are now making excuses are the same people who led their companies down the primrose path of self-destruction in the first place.

Ward Welvaert

turnaround consulting
aviation/airline consulting
CIS applications

Visit to Copacabana, Bolivia!

Posted on by under Travel in Latin America


We had some trouble getting back from La Paz to Cusco due to the transportation strike in Cusco last week, so we spent a day in Copacabana waiting for the next bus back to Cusco. In my opinion this was the best part of our trip to Bolivia. Copacabana is a touristy spot on lake Titicaca, with fantastic scenery and a lot of laid-back little bars and cafes. We took a nice boat trip on lake Titicaca and visited the “Isla del Sol” where you have great views of the lake and surrounding mountains. The same afternoon we crossed the border back into Peru and took the bus back to Cusco…

– Ward Welvaert

Visit to La Paz, Bolivia

Posted on by under Travel in Latin America

We made a trip to Bolivia last week to pick up my new Peruvian visa at the Peruvian consulate in La Paz. Archaic government rules mean that a visa typically grants permission to travel to a country, so in most cases you have to pick it up outside of the issuing country.

We took advantage of the opportunity to take a little vacation, stopping in La Paz, Copacabana (Bolivia) and Puno (Peru). La Paz is a fairly typical large Latin American city, located in a canyon made by the Rio Choqueyapu. The center of the city is at an elevation of over 3,600 meter (~12,000 feet) above sea level, but the outskirts of the city reach over 4,000 meter (13,000 feet) in El Alto. I’m not a huge fan of big cities, so I enjoyed Copacabana more than La Paz.

In Bolivia poverty is more visible and widespread than in Peru, and right now there is also civil unrest between the middle class and the poorer ethnic Indian population. La Paz is a stronghold of support for the ethnic Indian president Evo Morales, while the richer cities in Bolivia such as Santa Cruz are more opposed to him. Support for “Evo” is very visible in La Paz, on billboards, grafitti and public demonstrations.

– Ward Welvaert