What’s a venture capitalist, anyways? “Someone who provides the capital for your adventure”, one of our workshop leaders explained. Coming up with descriptions like this, to clarify business terms that often have a dozen connotations attached to them, each of which requires thoughtful elaboration, is one of the most interesting problems even experienced professionals are facing when training North Koreans in business. "Testing my consulting methods in this unique environment was an invaluable opportunity”, one of our former workshop leaders said after his trip. And it's true: No matter how well you know your stuff, once you’re in Pyongyang, it’s time to reconsider everything.

During our Women In Business workshop last month, explaining elevator pitches and venture capital wasn’t the only challenge. From “SWOT Analysis” to “Sustainable Competitive Advantage”, and from “Business Model Canvas” to “Key Performance Index”, the March team used plenty of creativity to clarify concepts and make them applicable to the local context. A workshop on good leadership skills completed the visit, a topic that everyone who’s ever had a boss can relate to.

“What was the most important concept you learned?”, we asked the Korean participants afterwards. “All of them!”, someone said. Alright then — we’ll be back in May with more.

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