They don’t call it a pilot program for no reason. I think doing something for the first time gives you a lot of space for mistakes, for trial and error. It´s tough not to know what´s going to come. No guidelines, no experience to build upon. There is this exciting fresh path, like when it just snowed and you’re the first one to leave your footprints on the ground.

“Do you want to go to Colombia as a maker of Impact Hub Stockholm?“ they said. “Yes“ I said. Facing my most hated and exciting feeling – uncertainty – I travelled freshly from Italy with a short stay in Vienna, my hometown, back to Stockholm and then off to Bogotá, Colombia. Thanks to Impact Hub Stockholm and the Swedish Institute, I was taking part in the very first ImpactXchange program to send two entrepreneurial people from Impact Hub Stockholm to Impact Hub Bogota and vice versa.

The goal of this project? To not only strengthen relationships that could help improve both countries Sweden and Colombia in a complementary way, but also to see: what are the challenges of today? And how can two countries, different in so many ways, help each other through innovation and business?

 

“Those three weeks were impressive, a lot of high and lows that left memories for a lifetime. I’ve never seen a city so diverse. Where people of extreme wealth live next to people of extreme poverty. Noisiness, crowds of people, and emissions under the gaze of the mountains. No seasons – a day with sun, wind and rain all in one. People much friendlier and more outwardly curious than I experienced in Sweden. A country where you can still feel the tension of history and the traces it left behind. But a developing one nonetheless.”

 

Before I left, a lot of people warned me about things to be careful about. None of them happened. Did I feel unsafe? In the beginning yes, but the more time you spend somewhere, the more comfortable and normal something feels for you and I would even say we developed a routine within those few weeks.

Spending such a short time somewhere only allows you a glimpse into the culture. But it was enough to have a greater picture and understanding of something that goes beyond simple prejudices. What I take away is that every country lacks something that another country has. That´s where there is opportunity for trade and cooperation. And wealth and security do not guarantee happiness or warmth. Having had the chance to visit an organization in Soacha, outside of Bogotá, where girls of all age are being taught how to be proud of being a woman and how to live a life without fear, it made me realize how important early education is. How much of a difference those workshops have for their lives. And how children lack that skeptical and judgmental way of differentiating between skin color and origin. I wish more people had that way of looking at strangers.

Knowing how not to do something can be beneficial and valuable information. In this case, coming back with a clear understanding of do´s and dont´s for the next project or trip was as invaluable as the trip itself. If you give yourself the time and space to make mistakes, you give yourself the opportunity to learn about the intricacies of how and why things work – oftentimes way more valuable than simply repeating something that has been done before.

Author

Sarah Lilly Steiner is a globetrotting Impact Maker with a background in business management and entrepreneurship. She has worked at Impact Hubs in Italy and Sweden.