Tuesday

With Tuesday, our second day at CEOLI, we got the chance to really get into the bulk of our project content. To better facilitate our work, we broke down into three groups: one speaking specifically with the people involved in the CEOLI cards project, one working on CEOLI's water filtration project, and one learning more about CEOLI in general, interacting with students directly, and looking for other potential areas of interest. I spent most of the time working on the water filtration project. In Cochabamba, water scarcity is a significant issue for all business and households, which many companies seize as an opportunity for business. Selling bottled purified water can be a profitable business in Cochabamba, and CEOLI decided to get in on this market when they received a filtration and bottling system from a donor. The employee working with the water system walked our team through their operations and challenges. We learned about current production capabilities, limited by a number of factors, and optimal production capabilities. Through this conversation and a later talk with Ronald, we got more details into estimated demand, client base, costs and pricing, the competitive environment, and marketing goals and challenges. While their market is very competitive and challenges are significant, the opportunities within the water filtration space are bright and could make a positive impact on CEOLI's overall position. Our team will be doing some more research and analysis to provide advise for CEOLI to improve their water filtration business. I additionally spent time with the group working on the cards during our conversation with Ronald. Within the cards business, CEOLI's current strategy leaves room for a significant amount of positive impacts. Our initial assessment is that CEOLI can price their cards competitively in the United States and capture strong margins to bring money into CEOLI for support of all their operations. We will continue our work on both these projects throughout the trip and make recommendations later. Following lunch at a Bolivian buffet and a short break at the hotel, we were ready for an interesting and fun evening. First, we took a tour of the Convento de Santa Teresa, a centuries-old cloister convent. Currently under a restoration process, the convent had beautiful relics and interesting architecture to separate the cloistered nuns from the rest of the community. We also visited the attached church, newly restored and one of the nicest in Cochabamba. For our evening activity, we were treated to a football match between Cochabamba's own Wilstermann and a team from Uruguay called Penarol as part of the Copa Libertadores tournament. An electric atmosphere filled the stadium as the home team came away with a 6-2 victory in a very exciting match. We all had a great time as newfound Wilstermann fans fully embracing Cochabamba's team and culture.