Springboks, Bunnies, Sharks, Owls, and Horses - South Africa's Big 5?

Those of you who know what South Africa's big five is (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) probably think I'm a little crazy right now, but after this week's events I think I have reason to alter the list of big five. This week was another exciting work week at Mr. Price. I have finally gotten to a point in my project where I can actually visualize the end product. Tomorrow I will try and post a brief outline of what I have done so far and what I am going to do the rest of the time I am here in South Africa. For now, lets talk about this week's big 5!

Springboks

The springbok is a medium sized brown and white gazelle, but I'm not talking about this type of springbok. A lot of you might have heard about South Africa's National Rugby team, the Springbok's, who made sports history when they won the 1995 World Cup (There is a great film, Invictus, that highlights not only South Africa's victory in the World Cup, but also the end of an era of segregation that everyone should watch, however, whatever you do, don't tell anyone in SA that you enjoyed the movie because they get a little upset about the level of Rugby in the film!). This is still the wrong springbok. The Springbok I'm talking about is named after the rugby team, green, fits into a small glass, and is amazing! haha. My birthday was Wednesday so there was a small group of guys that went out for dinner and drinks and we finished the night off with a springbok shot. While we're talking about birthdays, there is a long list of friends, including my brother, that just had a birthday, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY everyone!

Bunnies

I haven't actually seen a bunny in South Africa yet, but I'm sure they have to have some type of bunny somewhere, right? The type of bunny I'm talking about is probably only famous in Durban, I for one had never seen or heard of it. After hearing a lot about this "bunny" a group of guys from work decided to take me out to lunch Friday to try one of Durban's most well known dishes. A Bunny Chow is a traditional meal in Durban that the Indian merchants started serving years ago as a takeaway dish that can be eaten on the road. To make a bunny chow you simply start with a loaf a bread, scoop out the middle, and then pour in the curry. The bread doubles as a box to carry the curry and a delicious utensil to eat the bunny, after all you HAVE TO use your hands. Below, is a picture of my bunny and two of the guys that went.



Sharks

In my last post I spoke about the Mr. Price Sharks, Durbans' Rugby team, making it to the playoffs. Well, this time I don't have any good news to tell you about their first, and only, playoff game. They traveled to New Zealand to play the Crusaders Saturday morning and got beat up pretty bad. The Crusaders are one of the best teams in the world so they shouldn't have too much to be upset about. I am a little upset that their season has come to an end because I was really starting to get behind them.

Owls

Even I was surprised to see these "owls" in South Africa. I am on the other side of the world and there is a Hooters just blocks away from my apartment. Of course I went, I had to! Guys, just so you know it may look a little worn down on the outside, but it's just like your American wonder inside! haha. However, I was a little disappointed in the wings and ranch. The wings were even smaller than the wings you would get in the US and the ranch was nothing like the good fattening ranch that I have become acquainted to.

Horses

Horse racing seems to be a pretty big deal in South Africa. This weekend there is a big race, The Durban July, that I will unfortunately miss because I am leaving for Cape Town on Thursday. But, that's not the same type of horse that I am talking about. I am talking about raw horse power. I have seen more Lamborghinis and Ferraris in the last 2 weeks than I have seen in my entire life. We were out walking one night when we passed this red beauty below. Jason wanted a picture with it so I stepped out into the street to take a picture and almost got hit by another Ferrari. After taking the picture we walked 50 yards and saw a Lamborghini. Durbanites love their Horse Power! Unfortunately, not everyone in the city can afford a car like this. :(

So, you might not think these 5 classify as South Africa's BIG 5, but they all made for a very interesting and exciting week. This week will be pretty short as Jason and I are heading to Cape Town on Thursday to do a little work and a lot of sightseeing. I will be sure to take the camera and fill you in on what happens. Have a great week!

First week completed, whew!

What an exciting week it has been. Getting to know everyone at Mr. Price, getting oriented in the city, learning how to adapt to a new culture, and doing a little sightseeing has really wore me out this week. Everything has been absolutely amazing, though. The people at Mr. Price, really the people in South Africa, have been overly friendly and helpful to Jason and me as we get settled in.  Before I get into the details about this week there is one thing I need to: Happy Father’s Day!

Below, is the most recent picture I have with all of my family.  It was taken last winter around Christmas time. From left to right: Me, GF - Lindsey, Mom – Liza, Dad – Chuck, and Brother – Chris.

So, the week started off with a tour of Mr. Price’s Home Office. It was cool to be able to see all of the different departments and learn how they contribute towards the overall goal of the company. There is a lot of work that has to be done behind the scenes that as a customer you never know about (That is, as long as everything goes as the consumer believes it should. Only when there is a problem do consumers learn about all of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes).

While we are talking about hard work behind the scenes, it’s probably a good time to introduce Justin Bodill. Justin is the New Talent Specialist at Mr. Price and has put together the entire program for our summer abroad. You can tell that Justin has put a lot of thought and effort into the program and I look forward to all of the adventures we have in front of us.

Thanks for all the hard work, Justin!

As I mentioned before, I am working with the Sheet Street (SS) Division of Mr. Price Group. The environment is great to work in. There is a young, energetic feel to the team and it seems that everyone’s input is taken and considered when making decisions for the company. Roger, the MD, has a passion for retailing and has led the SS team to completely turn around their business.  It will be great to learn what steps were taken to have this success. Below, are a couple of pictures from work.  The first, is a picture of my desk. The second is a picture of Joe, he sits catty corner to me. The last, is a couple of other co-workers, Shaun, Laurice, and Ndumi in the back.

On Tuesday, Jason and I took a tour of Mr. Price Group’s Distribution Center. It was really neat to see how similar the DC was to one of Walmart’s that our MBA class was able to tour before starting the program. Yes, Walmart’s DC was a lot more automated, but that only makes sense with the high cost of labor in the U.S. With relatively inexpensive manual labor, Mr. Price employs a lot of people to unpack, sort, pick, and load the trucks to allocate products to specific stores. However, the overall flow and idea of moving products in and out of the DC remains the same.

On Wednesday, I was able to sit in on one of SS’s product reviews for the upcoming summer. This was just a dry-run for the actual run through that will occur next Thursday, but you could still tell that there was a lot of tension in the air. The buyers have spent a lot of time travelling the world to analyse the current trends and after a long process of determining what they think will sell in South Africa it comes down to this one meeting to see if the company’s leaders agree with them. The run through went really well and to celebrate the majority of the team decided to go out for drinks at a pub called Billy’s. It was really fun to see everyone outside of the work environment just relaxing and not worrying about work. William, the National Operations Manager, made sure everyone was having fun. He is definitely the life of the party and a little dangerous to be around some times. haha. I am really looking forward to our next night out! Below, is a picture of the team at Billy’s.

Thursday was a public holiday, so Justin, Jason, and I took the opportunity to do some sightseeing. The first two pictures, below, are of the Moses Mabhida soccer stadium. Some of you might notice this from the South African World Cup. It was a great tour and really cool to see some of the behind the scenes areas such as the President’s Box. I am going to return to the stadium in a few weeks to jump off the top of the arch. Cross your fingers that I make it through alive! The last photo of Jason and me was taken on the SunCoast beach just North of Durban. It was a beautiful day and there was a ton of people out walking the beach.

On Saturday, Jason and I decided to take a trip to Ushaka Marine. This is a great area for families to come and spend a day. They have tons of water sports, a Sea World, and a water park. We decided to spend the day at Sea World and really had a blast. The picture below is from the seal show.

To finish Saturday, Justin’s family invited us to their home to have a braai and to watch the Sharks play their rival rugby team, the Bulls. The game was packed full of action and had a great outcome, the Mr. Price Sharks won! This means that they will move on in the playoffs next week. it's only been a week, but I am really starting to understand and like watching rugby. For those of you wondering what a braai is, it is the Zulu word for barbecue. The food was great and the company was even better. Pictured below are Justin and his wife Claire sitting in the middle, Justin’s parents standing above, and Claire’s parents sitting to the left.  It was a great night and a real treat to see how crazy South African’s are about their rugby. Thanks again to Justin and his entire family. We had a great time!

Wow, this was a long post. In the future I will try to post more frequently so I do not have to write about the entire week at once. But, if you can’t tell I have had a great first week.  Next week will be a little more work and a little less fun, but I’m sure it will be another adventure.

Mr. Price

Today was my first day at work for Mr. Price. Therefore, I thought this would be a good time to talk a little bit more about the company and what I will be doing for the next 10 weeks.

Mr. Price started as an apparel manufacturer, but over the years has transitioned into a fashion oriented value retailer.  In the 26 years since they started, Mr. Price has opened nearly 1,000 stores and has over 17,300 employees. Their group now consists of 5 separate stores selling everything from everyday apparel to sporting goods. These stores include Mr. Price, Mr. Price Home, Mr. Price Sporting Goods, Miladys, and Sheet Street. One of the really neat parts about Mr. Price is that they manufacturing the majority of the items that they sell. Since the Southern hemisphere is one season behind the Northern, they are able to track the latest trends and fashion and incorporate the designs they find into their own line of clothing. The tricky party about the whole thing is they will only have appx 4 months to design, manufacture, and the prepare to sell them in the stores for the upcoming season. This allows Mr. Price to be fashionable and priced at a value for the consumers. This is probably one of the reasons they have really been so successful in the market. Another reason has to be their young, energetic, and entrepreneurial environment they have in the home office. It was inspiring to walk around and watch everyone at work today.  Even though at some points it seemed quite chaotic, you could really tell that everyone was passionate about what they were doing and really enjoyed their job. No wonder Mr. Price has been named the best place to work in South Africa and South Africa’s most loved brand. They really have something going here!

Hopefully, in the next 10 weeks I’ll be able to learn just a little bit about what makes this company so special. At the same time, I hope that I will be able to contribute to the team. This summer I have been assigned to the Sheet Street division. Sheet Street is a store that sells bedroom, living room, and bathroom products. They have currently had great success over the past few years and want to make sure that they continue in the same direction. This is where I come in (hopefully! haha). It is my job over the summer to analyze their strategy over the last couple of years. More importantly, I need to identify what parts of the strategy have made Sheet Street so successful and what parts need further development. I’ll look at areas such as the product, marketing, people, locations, systems, suppliers, and logistics. Wow! It’s going to be a big task, but I know I can do it!

Lucky more me, I won’t just be working all summer. Mr. Price has put together a fun-filled itinerary for Jason and me. This includes going to Mr. Price Pro (a world-wide surfing competition), various trips across South Africa, going to a game reserve, and maybe even going to a rugby game! Mr. Price sponsors the local professional rugby team, the Durban Sharks, and if they continue to the playoffs I might just get to go to a game. I’ll keep my fingers crossed! Below, I have put down just a few of the events I will have the opportunity to go to over the summer.

1^st week

Tour the Home Office and Distribution Center

Get oriented in role and begin working

2^nd week

Meet the CEO, Stuart Bird!

Begin work on the summer long project

3^rd week

Travel to Cape Town

Meet with the former CEO of Mr. Price, Alastair McArthur

Explore the city and surrounding tourist destinations

4^th week

Continue working on the project

Mr. Price Pro – week long surfing competition

5^th week

Travel to Johannesburg

Tour stores throughout area

Continue working on the project

6^th week

Continue working on the project

7^th week

Continue working on the project

Travel to Nambithi Hills game reserve!

8^th week

Continue working on the project

*Possible trip to the Drakensberg

9^th week

Continue working on the project

Tri-Nations international rugby game

10^th week

Wrap up and Farewell L

Durban, South Africa

Durban is the largest city in the KwaZulu-Natal province and the third largest city in South Africa. I believe it is the largest port in Africa which provides for quite a site at night. It is extremely fascinating to sit on the balcony and watch the line of ships slowly make their way across the ocean line to the port entrance.  Mr. Price is lodging us in a nice condo north of the city in a suburb call Umhlanga Rocks. This area is quite beautiful and I feel very safe. The picture, below, was taken from the balcony of the condo. Look closely and you can see a few of the ships I was talking about and a huge rainbow in the distance above the coast.

Umhslanga Rocks is a very nice and well-kept high-end part of Durban. Just blocks away from our condo is a market area that has everything from restaurants, shops, Dr’s, and spas.  There are 2 really nice malls, that have everything one could ever want, just minutes away from where we are staying. Overall, the city and the accommodations we were given went well beyond my expectations. It doesn’t even feel like I am in South Africa, but rather a booming metropolitan in the U.S. or Europe.  It truly is a great place to be. Below, there is a map of South Africa. You can see that Durban is on the Northern part of the East coast of South Africa.

O ya, I forgot to mention, South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, instead of experiencing summer time in NWA I am actually entering into another winter. L Don’t feel too bad for me, though. The coldest the weather gets during the winter is about 50 F. This makes for a great time walking on the beach or just driving around. However, it does get a little cold at night with the wind. 

A short introduction

Hello, my friends! My name is Alex Kieslich and over the next 3 months I will have the privilege of writing about my experiences working abroad with Mr. Price Group in Durban, South Africa. Before we start talking about what I am doing here, I thought I would start off with a short introduction about myself, just to let you know a little bit about who I am.

I am originally from Joplin, MO, a small town of roughly 50,000 people. Usually, Joplin is a very quiet city with not a whole lot going on; however, Joplin has recently received a lot of attention due to the largest storm in U.S. history destroying nearly a 1/3 of it in mid-May.  In total, over 140 people lost their lives, appx 7,000 houses were flattened, and over 1,000 businesses were destroyed. The destruction was overwhelming, but the city’s pride and determination will overcome it. It is amazing to see everyone supporting each other through this crisis and I know when I return home that Joplin will be recovering from this disaster.

I graduated college from Missouri Southern State University, also in Joplin. Luckily, the university was not harmed by the storm and it became very useful in staging recovery efforts. At MSSU I pursued a BSBA in Management and 2 minors in Total Quality Management and HR.

After I graduated from MSSU I continued to work with my family in several small businesses. However, I wasn’t working long before I realized that I wanted to continue my education so that I could pursue a career with a large CPG company, preferably out of Joplin.

That is when I decided to apply to several MBA programs. After visiting each of the schools, I felt that the University of Arkansas really stuck out from the rest. It turns out, I was right! I had a great time at the U of A and had lots of opportunities I do not believe I would have had elsewhere, including this internship. I will talk more about the University of Arkansas and the experiences I had there later on.

This spring, while searching for a full-time position to start after graduation I came across this opportunity with Mr. Price Group. With several great opportunities for full-time employment in the works, I, at first, blew-off the email from Heather Sprandel, the director of the career center. In fact, I wasn’t even planning on applying until I ran into Heather in the commons and she really made me see the advantages of pushing back the job search and applying for this internship with Mr. Price Group in Durban, South Africa. After all, when is the next time I will have the opportunity to work in South Africa? So, that night I wrote a cover letter and applied for the position. A couple of short discussions and a Skype interview later, I had decided to take the once in a life-time opportunity. A few days after I had accepted I learned that another student at the U of A was also offered the opportunity. Qiaofeng ‘Jason’ Wu, a 1^st year MBA student studying logistics, had also decided that this opportunity was too good to pass up and joined in on the trip to South Africa. Later, I will get Jason to post his thoughts on being an international student at the U of A and his position at Mr. Price.

We arrived in Durban a few days ago and thus far everything has been great! The next time I post I will talk a little bit about Durban, Mr. Price Group, and the day to day life of living and working overseas.