July 24, 2009

Oxford University MBA Students—Nine centuries of worldwide education supports Roots of Peace model

Oxford MBA students from the Said International School of Business have joined the MINES TO VINES initiative. Ms. Anna Blackman, Ms. Elena Andonova, and Mr. Rahul Upadhyay, have selected Roots of Peace as an innovative social entrepreneur model to be replicated worldwide. Napa Valley vintners, Shirley and Paul Dean, Owners, Spiriterra Estates, are generously hosting the students at the homes in San Francisco and Howell Mountain vineyards. Their efforts will focus on development of an innovative business model which will raise both funds and global awareness for Roots of Peace—expanding the vision to DEMINE/REPLANT/REBUILD.

Heidi Kühn, Founder/CEO, Roots of Peace, was selected as the recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006. See www.skoll.org. This prestigious award was presented by Jeff Skoll, co-founder of eBay and President of Participant Films; Sally Osberg, Executive Director, Skoll Foundation; Sir Ben Kingsley; and Robert Redford at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. The award honors the social innovation of Roots of Peace—replacing the scourge of landmines with bountiful vineyards worldwide. “The grapevine is an icon for peace—whether fermented or not—it represents the choice of the vine,” states Founder, Heidi Kühn. “Once the landmines are removed from the earth, it creates fertile grounds for peace.”

Oxford students visit "behind the scenes" of a live broadcast at ABC7 News in San Francisco, California. Cheryl Jennings, Anchor, is Co-Chair of the Roots of Peace Penny Campaign founded in 2003. Over 30 million pennies have been raised for peace.

Oxford MBA Strategic Consulting Project—Week 1

A team of three MBA students, we flew all the way from Oxford to Napa Valley, California to help a vision grow, one that began with a simple toast for “Mines to Vines” back in 1997. This vision of the Kühn family that led to the creation of Roots of Peace is simple: to turn “seeds of terror” into “seeds of hope” by replacing millions of landmines around the globe into vines and ultimately bring peace and prosperity to those who deserve it- all human beings. Heidi Kühn, Founder & CEO Roots of Peace and recipient of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship in 2006, is pleased to offer this Strategic Consulting Project to our Oxford MBA program. This inspiring initiative prompted us to take off for a six weeks journey that would spread the roots of peace across the world. So the journey begins.

Week1

We landed at the San Francisco Airport on 11th of July, 2009. Surprisingly, just as we were crossing the Golden Gate Bridge we were welcomed by two rainbows, a rare sight in San Francisco. We saw this as a good omen.

After spending a relaxed Sunday, overlooking the bay in San Francisco from a beautiful house, courtesy of Paul and Shirley Dean we headed off to Napa. There we received a warm welcoming from the family of Gary and Heidi Kühn who established Roots of Peace twelve years ago. We all gathered at the Dean’s Spiriterra Vineyards for a small celebration of our arrival. A friendly welcoming from friendly people in friendly California.

Spreading the vision of Roots of Peace, we hold a special vintage bottle, a donation from Napa Valley in tribute to the 10th Anniversary of Roots of Peace.

After couple of days of hard work in the office, we are out in Napa for a brief wine tour, with educational purpose. Our first stop is at the CIA, or otherwise called Culinary Institute of America ;). Here we learned about the history of Californian winemaking. In the Vintners Hall of Fame, accompanied by Shirley Dean, we pose next to the copper image of Mike “Miljenko” Grgich, the famous Croatian winemaker and an early, strong supporter of the Roots of Peace cause.

Our next stop was the world renowned Chateau Montelena Winery, where Mike Grgich crafted the 1973 vintage chardonnay that beat the best white wines in a competition in France in the now famous “Judgment of Paris” tasting that brought the Californian wine industry into the international wine league.

We then stopped at the old and prominent Beaulieu winery, originally owned by the French born Georges De Latour, where Andre Tchelistcheff from Russia and Mike Grgich created fine wines.  

The last stop of our tour was at the historic Inglenook winery, founded by Finnish sea captain Gustave Niebaum, then owned by legendary vintner John Daniel Jr. later to be known as Inglenook-Coppola, owned by the famous film director, and now known as Rubicon. Here we had a formal wine tasting, trying varietal Cabernet, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Syrah wines as well as some blended ones.

Napa is famous for its wines. However, many people are unaware of the Hospital for War Veterans, hidden adjacent to a beautiful vineyard. Here we stand at war memorial, a bitter reminder of the consequences of mines.

We are now looking forward to our second week with Roots of Peace, which promises to be action packed and demanding but also full of energizing experiences.