One day in May, Qian Dan flew to the furnace of the world, Khartoum, the capital of Sudan.

Look for "Sudan" on "Google" before you go, and the Sudan you see is the largest country in black Africa, one of the hottest countries on earth, and a country where human activity has been around for 4,000 years.

Khartoum, on the other hand, means "elephant's trunk" in Arabic, because the Blue Nile and the White Nile merge here, and the river divides and encloses the city in the shape of an elephant's trunk.

The war between North and South Sudan has been going on for more than two decades, and it has been described as the longest-running, most complex and most difficult civil war in the world today, with millions of people killed. As a result, Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world.

However, four months ago, the North and the South signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the civil war had just ended, and the dawn of peace was dawning in the country.

Chandan was in transit from Dubai to Khartoum.

The Emirates flight at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, four hours after the clouds, was already Khartoum under its wings, but the plane circled over the airport and could not land.

Qian Dan glanced at the small screen on the back of the chair in front of him, saw an orange color, and thought that there was something wrong with the camera.

Half an hour later, the cabin radio sounded, but it was to inform everyone that they could not land because of the sandstorm and that they had to land in Jeddah on the other side of the Red Sea.

Jeddah is a port city in western Saudi Arabia. The outside world was brightly lit, but they were locked in the cabin and waiting.

Waiting was really boring, Qian Dan walked to the back cabin to find the flight attendant to practice speaking, and by the way, he inquired about the news. As a result, everyone shook their heads and shrugged their shoulders at him, saying that they didn't know what to do next.

Seeing the beautiful face of an East Asian girl, Qian Dan went up to talk, a Korean flight attendant from Seoul. Interestingly, the only Chinese she will say is "I am not Chinese", is it because there are too many Chinese on this route, and there are always Chinese guys trying to talk in Chinese?

The cabin radio finally sounded again, and the bored flight attendants got busy. They were in their places, but Qian Dan was even more at a loss, because he heard that the plane was about to fly back to Dubai.

At one o'clock in the morning, the finish line was back to the starting point, and they went to Khartoum and back to Dubai.

Qian Dan followed everyone off the plane suspiciously, wondering if a hotel would be arranged for everyone to rest for one night?

As a result, as soon as they walked into the arrival hall on the first floor, they were urged to go to the departure hall on the second floor, changed planes, changed crews, and they set off immediately, and then broke into Khartoum.

The second flight went well, and at nearly six o'clock in the morning, they landed safely.

When the plane was taxiing on the runway, Qian Dan saw the plane and white vehicles painted with "UN" on the tarmac through the porthole, and the place where "UN" haunted would not be a peaceful place.

Through the haze of dawn, they entered the arrival hall and found that the long journey was not over. The customs office where the visa on arrival is handled is old and messy, and the staff is slow, and they get up and disappear for a while.

At first, Qian Dancheng stood in front of the counter and waited, but it didn't take long for him to become numb, so he simply leaned on the bench outside the door and dozed off.

After sleeping on a bench for an hour, he was finally awakened by a loud call by his name. The visa on arrival is ready, and you can enter Sudan.

The local driver arranged by the company sent Qian Dan to the dormitory, a three-story small building that is common in the urban-rural interface in China, and "Weizhong" rented a suite on the second floor, with two bedrooms and one living room, and lived for four people.

A layer of red dust in the yard, stairwell, and balcony is a memorial to the sandstorm of the previous day.

Qian Dan is not considered to have a habit of cleanliness, but he has developed a habit early, and even in the coldest winter, he will take a bath every day. Unfortunately, after being in the dust for most of the day, I walked into the bathroom and found that there was no water in the faucet.

Fortunately, the air conditioner hanging from the window in the bedroom looks weather-beaten, but it can still blow some cool breeze. He didn't care about being covered in dust, sweat and grease, and as soon as he took off his clothes, he fell asleep.

After sleeping for two or three hours, Qian Dan was woken up by the heat. The sheets were soaked with sweat, the air conditioner stopped working at some point, and the power went out. Qian Dan has no interest and no ability to sleep anymore.

When I walked out the door, the sun was scorching, and it was like standing by the fire, and the hairs on my arms were about to be roasted. A colleague in the dormitory wore a watch that could measure the temperature, and he pointed to his wrist and told Qian Dan that the outside temperature was 43 degrees Celsius.

Before 2005, Weizhong received zero sales orders in Sudan, and in May 2005, the visible contracted sales had exceeded 100 million US dollars.

Their customer "ST Telecom" is about to build a new wireless communication network, and the first phase of the contract "Weizhong" and "Company F" each get half of the share, and whoever delivers the project quickly will have a favorable position in the subsequent expansion contract.

When Chandan arrived in Khartoum, their software service engineers consisted of just four new local recruits, two of whom didn't even have computers.

His first day in Khartoum was an exceptionally fulfilling one.

He spent the morning liaising with the country to secure the human resources needed for the project. The headquarters replied that it could meet his demands, and made it clear that a "veteran gun" of technical service from China would be sent to Sudan for permanent residence, and a R&D expert would be arranged from the Nanjing Research Institute to support the project, and both of them could be in Sudan after a week.

There were still not enough people, and he also needed to lease two engineers from a domestic subcontractor. He called two companies in Guangzhou and Nanjing to ask about the progress, one said that there were no suitable spare resources, and the other said that the employees themselves refused to come to Sudan for business trips and could not do their jobs.

He called a cooperative company founded by a former "Weizhong" employee in Hebei, and the other party's interface was a little hesitant: "Mr. Qian, last time you showed me our project prediction, the business in North Africa and the Middle East will develop greatly, our company is very interested, and immediately began to recruit people, ready to support our business." However, they are still being trained, and now only two brothers who have just received their employment permits can come to Sudan. ”

Qian Dan was overjoyed: "It's just a person!" It doesn't matter if you're a new employee, come over quickly, I'll arrange for someone to take you. ”

"Mr. Qian, there is one more thing, now 'Weizhong' requires us to get the PO (purchase order) before entering the market, and we can't cut it first."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that, I'm going to push the procurement side." Weizhong's someone here set off from Beijing a week later, and you arranged for your brothers to go together, and Sudan was on arrival. ”

In the afternoon, he didn't have time to eat lunch before he went to survey the client's machine room. As the first software service person to parachute here, he has to do everything he can to do everything he can.

In the evening, he hurried back to the dormitory to change into a suit and accompanied his sales colleagues to the Hilton to have dinner with two key figures in customer management.

In those years, some overseas customers couldn't stand the point of "Weizhong", a guy who had just pouted in the computer room and worked, turned around and put on a tie to meet his management, and even CXO, in their concept, these are two roles that are completely unequal.

The Arabs had a late dinner, and they didn't start serving the food until after nine o'clock, when Qian Dan, who hadn't eaten lunch, was so hungry that he fainted. The two customers took their wives, and Qian Dan forced Sven to eat slowly, and put down the knife and fork from time to time to listen.

Halfway through the meal, the leader of the Sudanese subsidiary, the general manager Lao Zhong Shiran, came.

That night, Lao Zhong didn't talk much, and he always had a very sincere smile on his face.

After eating, sending the customer to the car, Lao Zhong turned his head to Qian Dan and said: "As a technical service person, you will come to meet the customer with the product sales manager as soon as you arrive in Sudan, which is good!" Project delivery should have an end-to-end vision, we should integrate sales and services, and pre-sales and after-sales should be connected. What do you think? How do you feel when you meet the customer here? ”

Qian Dan had heard that Lao Zhong was the first batch of people in the company to go overseas, and he had great achievements, but he had a violent temper. He still said frankly: "I still have to practice English, and I didn't understand some of the content just now." ”

Lao Zhong was not irritable, and said calmly: "Then you hurry up and practice." If you don't understand, you will first smirk at the customer, and smirk desperately, at least to make people feel that you are very sincere. ”

Qian Dan understood Lao Zhong's so-called "smirk", which he often saw in "Weizhong".

When I was working in the domestic office, I once introduced an account manager to an account executive who had a lot of dealings with him, and they walked to the door of the customer office and looked at it, and the big hand inside waved: "No time, no time, I'm going to go out soon, you guys will come back next time." ”

Qian Dan turned around and wanted to leave, but the colleague next to him stood still: "Five minutes, five minutes is not good for three minutes?" ”

He had that smile on his face, too.

They stood at the door for ten minutes and were allowed to enter the client's office, where the client spent five minutes scolding "Weizhong", and after the scolding, the two sides talked happily and before they knew it, a morning passed.

Another time, before an important bidding, a key client said to Qian Dan seriously: "To be honest, I hope that you will get the contract in the end, because every time I see you smiling so honestly, I think that behind this honesty is your sincerity and your belief in doing things well." ”

Late at night, before going to bed, Qian Dan was looking at the "North Africa Middle East Software Service Human Resources Table".

It was a table he had compiled by himself, and all the personnel information was listed by the molecular company and the sub-product skills, and he would look at it almost every night and think about what everyone was doing. Think about which subsidiary needs to prepare resources in advance according to the market dynamics that you have mastered? How can the overall staffing be optimized?

They have recruited 50 local employees throughout the "North Africa and Middle East", and the bold use of local employees is the most communicated between Qian Dan and various subsidiaries during this time, and it is also the most conflicting point. The leading brothers of the subsidiary always feel that the Chinese are easy to use, and hope to have more Chinese to support them.

He received an email from Liu Tie, the leader of their team in Iraq.

Liu Tie said that the two local employees recruited by the Iraqi team in October 2004 would not be able to work independently until January 2006, saying that "local employees are not as smooth as Chinese employees in communication" and "local employees are not as hard as Chinese employees", and declared: "If the regional department is not satisfied with this training plan, just change me!" ”

Qian Dan was so angry that he spent more than half an hour writing a long email to Liu Tie to engage in a war of words, explaining to him why he had to boldly use local employees.

"Weizhong" did not become an international company overnight, it is still a Chinese company that has just begun to expand overseas, and a large number of data documents, coordination with headquarters, and thinking logic rely on Chinese.

The next day, Qian Dan, stimulated by the "diehard" Liu Tie, spent a whole day with four local Sudanese employees, vowing to prove that the local employees were usable and cute.

In the morning, they were trained, and for the first time, he gave a serious lecture in English.

In the afternoon, chat with them one by one to find out how each of them is doing.

In the evening, they took Qian Dan to a restaurant where locals frequented, where they ate pizza and smoked shisha.

The big man Ganfas took great pains to say that the Egyptians would add contraband to the cigarettes, and that the hookah in Sudan would be healthy.

Not long ago, I met Ganface at a training course for local staff in Cairo, and he was the one who was overwhelmed by the nervousness of the defense. When he returned to Khartoum, he regained his self-confidence, and the night was light-hearted, humorous, and logical, which made Qian Dan look forward to it more.

A week later, reinforcements arrived.

The leading Beijing guy Cao Song was born in 1980, with a strong figure and clever conversation, and he looks like a shrewd and capable brother at a glance. It was just a continuous transfer and flight, and when he arrived in Khartoum, it was dusty again, and his face was mixed with sweat, greasy and dust, and it was black.

The two who arrived on the same plane with him were Xiaowei and Xiaojun, who were leased from the cooperative company in Hebei.

The driver who picked them up pulled them directly to the office, and Qian Dan was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he saw the reinforcements, Cao Song spoke: "Leader, when can I go back?" ”

The reinforcements were airborne and did not fire a single shot, and the first sentence was not to ask where the enemy was? How to fight? Rather, I asked when to withdraw? Qian Dan's heart was cold, and he quickly confirmed his eyes with Cao Song, feeling that he was the kind of cheerful, simple and happy fat man that he would always meet in the college boys' dormitory.

Qian Dan was a little relieved, and glared at Cao Song: "Don't call the leader, I'm not the leader, what?" What difficulties do you have? ”

Cao Song said: "Leader, I have no difficulties myself, but my parents are worried and have to give them a reply." ”

He hesitated, and then said: "Old Weituo, let me say hello to you, Lao Wei said that I will support you and return to Beijing in half a month." ”

Qian Dan scolded Cao Song's former leader Lao Wei in his heart, didn't he come to stay in the country because of the good communication? How did it become a support for half a month? It seems that the family is really short of human resources, and he was urged by him, and even coaxed someone to appear in Sudan to say the aftermath.

He tempted Cao Song: "What are you going to do?" Seventy dollars a day in Sudan is a hardship grant. I will call Lao Wei tomorrow, you quickly transfer the personnel relationship, and calculate the resident time from the day the relationship is transferred, and there will be 150,000 settlement expenses after three years. ”

Cao Song knew in his heart that there were tigers in the mountains, so he nodded innocently.

Qian Dan was about to take out the breath he was holding back, and Cao Song spoke again: "There is one more thing, I have never done a 'CIN' project. ”

The most important wireless communication network in the 2G era is the "GSM" and "CDMA" two standard systems, the former such as the system of China Mobile at that time, and the latter such as the system of China Unicom at that time. Cao Song has been working on China Mobile's projects in China, and is proficient in the prepaid software system "WIN" on "GSM", but has never done the prepaid software system "CIN" on "CDMA". However, the network of "ST Telecom" is "CDMA".

Qian Dan almost turned his back on his anger, and in order to compete with "Company F", the subsidiary asked them to call within five days after the customer had the power supply ready. This project contains a lot of software products, "CIN" is the most important of them, must be the first to deliver the highlight, he asked the headquarters for the "old gun" of "CIN"!

At that moment, Lao Zhong came out of his small room, stood in the middle of the office and shouted, "Damn! I just got the news that the goods of 'Company F' have been cleared, where are our goods? Is there a spy of 'Company F' in the supply chain? Lao Huang, are you kid doing sabotage? You TMD hurry up and give me a way to go! Within three days, our goods must appear at 'ST Telecom'. ”

Lao Zhong looked around: "If we do this project slower than 'Company F' and worse than 'Company F', brothers, I will take the lead, and we will collectively jump into the Nile!" ”

Qian Dan pointed to the old bell and said to Cao Song: "First, don't call me the leader again, the real leader is there." Second, don't let people know that you've never done a 'CIN' project, because a real leader should know that a novice will tear us up like spies and feed them to the wild dogs outside. 'CIN' and your favorite 'WIN' are not much different, now the goods have not arrived, the power supply of the customer room is not ready, the three of you hurry up to learn, from today on, you are the chief expert of the North Africa Middle East 'CIN'! ”