13 SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy – Solarpack

Group Reflection

As solarpack started from a group of people from Getxo (Basque Country, Spain) in order to obtain solar energy, as an innovative and new project, our story also starts with a group of people joined with the aim to make the most of our project.

We first started selecting the business Solarpack, in which our selected interviewee Álvaro Zarauz works. Solarpack was founded in 2005, and their main goal was to achieve affordable and clean energy for everyone (Solarpack, 2017). We felt as this was the perfect company for our project as it integrated development, construction, innovation and most importantly it also works with people all over the world, having growing markets all over Europe, Asia and North America (Solarpack, 2017). As us, being a group of 6 people from different countries, we also liked that it worked cross culturally, and Álvaro could give us information about this aspect which is crucial.

When we talked with our interviewee, we realized that working in such an interesting company and being able to provide energy to others in an innovative, affordable and clean way was so much more than just “creating solar panels” (Solarpack, 2017). We want to point out that working cross culturally is no easy job to do, but he encouraged us to do it, because the benefits it provides are much more than the inconveniences. Relating the interview, we also came across that all we learn in our business courses such as, economic growth, accounting standards, cross-cultural communication and so on, are indispensable to work successfully in a company. We even identified some gaps in our knowledge regarding the solar panels system which is much more complex than we first thought. Álvaro explained that the process to select the zone, decide whether it is profitable or not, install the panels, and then to get profit from it, is a lot more extensive than we thought.

We also understood the importance of solar panels or any other ways of renewable energies as scarce resources, as they are getting even scarcer (Solarpack, 2017). So after having the story, we concluded that we all need to work on making small changes in our daily habits in order to pollute the least as possible, recycle and not waste resources.

We all thought that this experience and getting to interview someone who works in such an amazing business has been unbelievable. We all see each of us working in such businesses, mainly because the purpose is to help society and the world, making the least harm to the environment as possible and making the most out of the natural resources.

Regarding the questions of what we learnt in practice after having obtained knowledge in our previous courses about cross- cultural experience, we came to the conclusion that it is quite difficult to agree, to set a time to meet that suits all, miscommunication problems. However, we were all capable of putting in extra effort and working outside of typical hours due to different time zones, and have been able to manage this project in an adequate manner. Although everything was well planned, there were certain weeks that some colleagues had a tough schedule due to exams, projects and so on, meaning they could not collaborate as much that week. Nonetheless, when this would happen that certain colleague would put in more effort the following week when someone else wasn’t able to. It was not always 100% effort from all, but the key was to maintain it balanced, and we have for sure achieved that successfully.

As mentioned before, other circumstances that affected our workflow were the time zone differences and the 1 hour time change that took place during the semester. This disrupted when our meetings would take place due to miscommunication between the group. However, we were capable of fixing this issue.

In regards to the distribution of tasks and assignments, we did the following. We first would do the zoom meeting so that everyone had a clear idea of what their task was for the week. In the case of the story each pair was assigned a part and we all corrected it after. On the other hand, the poster was done by the members who had creative ideas and we all proposed any changes to improve it. Overall, we managed to have a due time for each assignment so that we had enough time to correct it.

Finally, what benefited most for our progression of the assignment and as a group was the decision to make the zoom meetings in the first days of the week, consequently having enough time to even meet again to solve any doubts or change any assigned part if someone was more keen on. In addition to this, the selection of our company was based around the accessibility to information that we would have. As Álvaro (our interviewee) is the brother of Iñigo Zarauz, this meant he was capable of getting the interview with ease, and also could gain more information or access to new developments about the company if this was needed.

Overall, this group project has a been an extremely enjoyable and smooth process, where all the work, collaboration and contribution has paid off to a cohesive and impactful end result.

Individual Reflections

Iñigo: In regards to my personal involvement in the AIM2Flourish project, I can mostly say that it has been a very good and interesting experience. This journey that I have been given the opportunity to be involved in, has had its ups and downs as it should be. First of all, the opportunity to be able to work with other university students and be able to collaborate with them in order to spread useful information about companies that want to make the world a better place, has been a very pleasant experience. Through this project, I have made new colleagues from different countries and cities, which has also made me more interested in their culture. On the other hand, although it is a very interesting experience, it was also difficult to manage all of the varying time schedules and time zone differences. Since every single student had a different time schedule, we were never able to join a zoom call all of us together except certain times. This time zone difference also made it difficult for contacting each other and being able to do certain tasks on time. However, aside from this slight misconvenience this project was a very pleasant and useful experience.

Moses: As a member of this project team, the experiential activity was both challenging and rewarding. At first on my part it was so challenging that I didn’t even know what the project was all about but thanks to my colleagues who helped me understand everything. Navigating cross-cultural dynamics required open-mindedness, active listening, and cultural sensitivity. Communication presented challenges due to virtual interactions, but regular check-ins and utilizing various communication channels helped address this. Communicating across different time zones posed challenges such as delayed responses, and difficulty in real-time collaboration. Coordinating meetings became tricky, and asynchronous communication became slowed to the exchange of information. Collaborating with students abroad on an SDG project offered me diverse perspectives, fostering a richer pool of ideas. It promoted cultural exchange, enhancing global awareness and understanding. The collaboration leveraged a variety of skill sets and expertise, contributing to a more comprehensive approach to problem-solving. Additionally, it provided an opportunity to share best practices and innovative solutions, creating a more robust and impactful project outcome. Managing multiple time zones required flexibility, and scheduling became crucial to ensure everyone’s participation. Overall, adapting to these dynamics strengthened our teamwork and contributed to the project’s success. Above all, the organizers were the best.

Lochlann: In this project I was a member of group six that chose Solarpack as our company. Our group consisted of 2 members from Canada, 2 members from Spain, and 2 members from Kenya. Overall this whole experience has been really fun and interesting, it has many perks but also limitations. Working with people from different countries wasn’t all that different to the people I interact with on the daily. Our group was filled with nice welcoming and helpful people who I really enjoyed working with. We were all understanding and accommodating and each member had their fair share of great ideas and input. Our cultural differences didn’t play a big part in our communication. Working with nice people doesn’t make you think about their culture, but more just who they are as a person. There was one limitation within the assignment that made it difficult, time zones. The difference of time zones was 6 and 8 hours. That means mid day for me was either dinner or night time for my group members. Having such a big difference in time zones made scheduling meetings everyone could attend pretty hard because we all had school or work that we had to account for. In the end we always found a time we could attend a meeting together and made it work, we each took turns alternating who would have the butt end of the meeting time. Whether it was really early for Ambika and I in Canada or much later for Moses, Blessing, Ingo and Maria in Kenya or Spain respectively. Overall I think this assignment was a huge success, definitely a unique experience I won’t easily forget. For all the people in my MCS class that switched to DE really missed out.

Blessing: I was a member of team 6 in this project. I totally loved the experience despite its perks. I really enjoyed that I got wonderful teammates who were very collaborative when it came down to getting the work done. It made the whole experience a lot easier since they are all pretty reliable. Working with students from different universities was such a beautiful experience because we always had different opinions and yet we’d consider all of them and still come to an agreement. The different time zones, however, proved to be quite a hustle, hence it was quite difficult for all of us to find suitable time to meet without interrupting our school work or personal schedules. Luckily we found a way to make it work whether it meant it would be very late for some of us and very early for others.
Overally, I think the diverse perspectives and the different ideas all contributed to this project being a great success.

María: Personally, I have really enjoyed the experience of being able to work with foreign country students. As of all, is probably what I would be doing in a few years as soon as I graduate. I mean, as economics or business students, we are mostly gonna work with people all over the world and I strongly believe this is good practice for our future selves. Nevertheless, meeting times due to different time zones has been more difficult than I thought, as Canadians were waking up, we were having lunch and Kenyans were probably at class. Difficulties apart, we have all put in a lot of effort and tried to contact each other at the times we all could, trying to make it easy for everyone. We chose Solarpack for the business we had to work on, as Iñigo’s brother works there and we had plenty of information. I personally have really enjoyed learning about this business as I find it inspiring and fascinating. Overall, it has been an enjoyable experience from which I have learned a lot. I strongly believe this is going to prepare us for our future jobs in which we will certainly work with people which we have not met in person before.

Ambika: Working in such a diverse group has been both enjoyable and a significant personal development for me. With 2 members from Canada ( myself being one of them ), 2 from Spain, and 2 from Kenya, we were able to allow all different perspectives to intersect, which sparked creativity and enriched my personal understanding of various subjects. Through our meetings each week, and working and brainstorming collectively allowed for the exploration of ideas that would have been difficult to consider on my own. This form of collaboration led to more developed knowledge and subsequently winning one of the best posters, which is the well rounded outcome we were looking to achieve. The system that we had developed in terms of the distribution of tasks, was very efficient. On our weekly meets we were able to discuss who was working on what. Our whatsapp groupchat served as a platform for us to communicate otherwise, and touch base when needed. I believe that the diversity of our group enabled us to capitalize on individual strengths as each member brought a unique set of skills to the table improving the overall quality of the project. I feel that all of our teammates had supported each other and helped each other out when there was confusion, or other commitments. As group work can at times be nerveracking, this group has honestly been the most pleasant group I have worked alongside, and I am lucky to be able to say this experience has extended well beyond the completion of the project.