Spring Semester has started at Kalu Yala and our interns have arrived ready to be immersed in study and practice of sustainable development. This semester we are pleased to introduce two new faces to the KY Business Program:
Aki Saunamaki:
Hailing from the nation of Finland, Aki studied at Helsinki Metropolitan University of Applied Sciences. Since then Aki has developed valuable work experience with international companies Johnson Controls, Inc. and Agilent Technologies, Inc. as an engineer and logistics specialist. As one of our most experienced interns, Aki brings a significant measure of acute technical experience, strategic planning and forward thinking to the spring Business Program.
Sebastien Brunet:
Currently finishing his Bachelors of Business Administration from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, Sebastien Brunet is originally from Bordeaux, France. Being multicultural (French and Venezuelan), Sebastien is eager to experience Panama and gain valuable business development experience. With significant experience in marketing and overall operations management, Sebastien seeks to focus on the study and application of locally sourced entrepreneurship and tourism.
The Kalu Yala Process
As former interns we understand that the degree of success Kalu Yala achieves in becoming a Launchpad for creative solutions is directly related to the environment and culture we establish for our interns. So, it is of the utmost importance that we establish a unifying aim, approach, and vision to our programs.
Additionally, we must place our programs in the position to apply our visions to real work. By allowing our program visions to be concretely expressed through a set of project commitments and semester goals we ensure that we not only learn from our local work contexts, but also achieve real work that sows goodwill and multiplies our local investment. In short, we seek to research, apply, and achieve success.
Our Unifying Aim: Health
“The most important possession of a country is its population. If this is maintained in health and vigor everything else will follow; if this is allowed to decline nothing, not even great riches, can save the country from eventual ruin.” Sir Albert Howard
Health is defined as the physical or mental condition of a being. We at Kalu Yala define it as harmony between nature and it’s human contexts. Health is the most frequent and constant output of our world.
Everything is connected, nothing operates within a vacuum, and the context of everything is everything else, so as we approach the standard of health we believe our community must be created as an analogue of the natural world that most abundantly provides health. We must subject our buildings, businesses and lifestyles to the ecological pattern that the earth has proven bountiful, diverse and extravagantly profitable.
Health is qualitative and quantitative; it requires both sufficiency and goodness. It is comprehensive, and it leaves nothing out. It is uncompromisingly local and particular; it has to do with the sustenance of particular places, creatures, human bodies, and human minds. Our aim is to take responsibility for the health of our local place and local constituents; this is all departments’ critical standard of success.
The Renaissance approach
As our unifying aim is clarified, we must understand the approach to pursuing this sort of sustainable development. We must take an approach that is modeled upon individual liberty and variety of expression.
The Renaissance approach starts with creating an environment that encourages our interns and staff to employ an interdisciplinary approach. Regarding health as the ultimate standard, we want our interns to be “renaissance people,” creating and expressing in a variety of ways. We will set up workshops in Panama City and San Miguel that allow our interns to follow a Renaissance approach to solving problems and creating solutions within their work in development. Our Business interns will be exposed and encouraged to participation in expressions that may include:
- Design
- Feasibility studies and Pro Forma creation
- Painting
- Sculpting
- Anatomy
- Recreational Studies
- Environmental Studies
- Elements of Mechanics
- Architecture
- Literature
Principles of the Renaissance approach:
- Always remain a novice and seek to learn first:
- Always enjoy and take pleasure in your work
- Seek to express yourself within your work as much as possible
- Seek to express your work in as many ways possible
- Always maintain a standard of professionalism and excellence in reporting.
- What you have learned, strive to share
Semester Commitments:
If you are interested in learning more about our visions or partnering with Kalu Yala Business, email me at [email protected].
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*For full content on our Research Vision for 2012 please see uploaded pdf entitled “Kalu Yala Business Program: Strategic Vision, Goals, Roadmap to a Business Incubator and Genuine Progress Indicator”.
*For full content on our Application Vision and Tourism Development, email me at [email protected], as the content is not for public dissemination.