From the land of fire to the origins of coffee

Baku is a place where you see what happens if architects don’t have budget restrictions. The buildings are impressive, yet elegant and not disturbing the historic substance of the city. Still, challenges remain for the country between the Caucasus and Iran to tackle unemployment, economic and financial development and investment climate.

Both, the actual and the investment climate changed when I continued the journey to Addis Ababa, the political capital of Africa, which basically consists of many construction sites. Here I helped a different client in a similar quest: to gain insights from a huge variety of stakeholders in public administrations, the private sector and civil society. The challenge is always to create a safe and sound atmosphere where different perspectives and mindsets work together towards a common goal. Thanks to a high degree of exchange and a dense and diverse program we achieved substantive results in a short period of time. I also had a personal learning: Too strong coffee does actually exist.