It was a hungover Saturday, of which we're all familiar, and the blunt ache the rum had left behind made thinking like wading through quicksand. Quicksand filled with thorns. Last night at Maisha club was entertaining enough, with illuminated dancefloor that demanded a strutting John Travolta to complete the scene, enough lasers to power a fusion experiment or a techno rave, and obligatory pole dancers to make one feel like a pimp, especially on going outside where the ladies of the night flocked around. So, my bleary eyes tried to make sense of a computer screen, because I was at work, having swapped a couple of weekdays off for Saturdays (see, you lot think I have it easy eh?)...
...but I wasn't fed up because of my interesting new assignments. Here I feel like my readership is going to split into two diametrically opposed camps. See, after two months, no longer am I going to be shadowing loan officers from place to place and playing walk-on parts as the rent-a-foreign-boss to impress clients (and put the fear in bad ones). Now I have projects and analyses to carry out, a fact that I couldn't be more excited about: for a start, do you realise how hot it is out there? And as a corollary, how pleasant it is to look out over the baking city, swaying palm trees and colourful roofs, from my 3rd floor office, aircon dialed down to 18 degrees? I've enjoyed the time outside, using such skills as looking out for a certain large tree near which a client's house lies (addresses being basically non-existent here), but a respite complete with some nice mental exercise is a definite plus. So, when I say that today I'm going to be doing econometrics, perhaps my geekier friends are going to perk their ears up as I throw out teasers like 'binary logit', while the rest of you may start nodding off. I'll keep it simple though.
See, the practice of microfinance is somewhat like an AK-47 assault rifle of which my mercenary acquaintance is familiar. Bear with me. An AK is the most famous assault rifle of them all, and a potent symbol of anti-imperialism or terrorism (whatever floats your boat), of partisans and revolutionaries. This is because it's rugged as hell, can be dragged through mud, mountains and Mozambique (look at its flag) and it still works. It's not particularly accurate, but the chief purpose in its design isn't sharp perfect accuracy, it's resilience. And killing people, but hopefully that's where the analogy ends. Similarly, our methods are pretty rugged, needing lots of guesswork and judgement with little proper documentation (from the client side) and other niceties. Someone is doing financial ratios and even using the normal distribution, but that's not the crux of the method and is filled with approximation. Consequently, using advanced econometric techniques on this morass of data is like field-stripping an AK through an electron microscope. Take what you will from this slightly dodgy metaphor. Of course, being trained in economics, I'm well used to performing bizarre number rituals on made-up data, and making the end result looking like whatever I (or my boss) require. At this point I am exaggerating my cynicism for comic effect (and if you're reading this, boss, all the characters and events portrayed in this blog are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental). In fact I'm sure I can come up with some useful findings, but it's going to take a lot of patience and interpretation. The great thing about this role is, I'm free to tackle the problems in whichever way I choose and bring in resources from the bank as needed, so I'm also going to make like a sociologist and ask people to fill out some surveys or whatever, and maybe get some trainees to walk around collecting data. It may involve going outside again, but I'll be well rested by then and nourished on the Africafe. It's going to be great.
In other news, I'm headed out to the countryside on Thursday for four days: the Tanzanians love their public holidays, and we're celebrating the Zanzibar revolution, of course. Hiking, wildlife and so forth, should be fun. Catch you all next week.
...but I wasn't fed up because of my interesting new assignments. Here I feel like my readership is going to split into two diametrically opposed camps. See, after two months, no longer am I going to be shadowing loan officers from place to place and playing walk-on parts as the rent-a-foreign-boss to impress clients (and put the fear in bad ones). Now I have projects and analyses to carry out, a fact that I couldn't be more excited about: for a start, do you realise how hot it is out there? And as a corollary, how pleasant it is to look out over the baking city, swaying palm trees and colourful roofs, from my 3rd floor office, aircon dialed down to 18 degrees? I've enjoyed the time outside, using such skills as looking out for a certain large tree near which a client's house lies (addresses being basically non-existent here), but a respite complete with some nice mental exercise is a definite plus. So, when I say that today I'm going to be doing econometrics, perhaps my geekier friends are going to perk their ears up as I throw out teasers like 'binary logit', while the rest of you may start nodding off. I'll keep it simple though.
See, the practice of microfinance is somewhat like an AK-47 assault rifle of which my mercenary acquaintance is familiar. Bear with me. An AK is the most famous assault rifle of them all, and a potent symbol of anti-imperialism or terrorism (whatever floats your boat), of partisans and revolutionaries. This is because it's rugged as hell, can be dragged through mud, mountains and Mozambique (look at its flag) and it still works. It's not particularly accurate, but the chief purpose in its design isn't sharp perfect accuracy, it's resilience. And killing people, but hopefully that's where the analogy ends. Similarly, our methods are pretty rugged, needing lots of guesswork and judgement with little proper documentation (from the client side) and other niceties. Someone is doing financial ratios and even using the normal distribution, but that's not the crux of the method and is filled with approximation. Consequently, using advanced econometric techniques on this morass of data is like field-stripping an AK through an electron microscope. Take what you will from this slightly dodgy metaphor. Of course, being trained in economics, I'm well used to performing bizarre number rituals on made-up data, and making the end result looking like whatever I (or my boss) require. At this point I am exaggerating my cynicism for comic effect (and if you're reading this, boss, all the characters and events portrayed in this blog are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental). In fact I'm sure I can come up with some useful findings, but it's going to take a lot of patience and interpretation. The great thing about this role is, I'm free to tackle the problems in whichever way I choose and bring in resources from the bank as needed, so I'm also going to make like a sociologist and ask people to fill out some surveys or whatever, and maybe get some trainees to walk around collecting data. It may involve going outside again, but I'll be well rested by then and nourished on the Africafe. It's going to be great.
In other news, I'm headed out to the countryside on Thursday for four days: the Tanzanians love their public holidays, and we're celebrating the Zanzibar revolution, of course. Hiking, wildlife and so forth, should be fun. Catch you all next week.
Very good experience for you.
ReplyDeleteLike the weapons-financial products analogy. That would make my savings account an empty magazine, and swaps would be biological weapons.
ReplyDeleteThen I guess the bank bailouts were like a large-scale amnesty for gunmen, while the Basel III accords were like the UN adopting as their sole peacekeeping strategy repeated performances of John Lennon's 'Imagine' in downtown Mogadishu
Delete