Kunal Ambasht
Organization: Asha for Education
I had never imagined that my summer internship with Asha for Education would be such a transforming experience. As an Intern Consultant, I was involved with the administrator and teachers for two schools in a rural village in India. Initially, my scope was limited to implementing a new action-based teaching method but soon I became an inseparable part of the community and got involved in other areas of school operations as well. During the two months, some of our key achievements were a new routine that had the right balance between internal needs and external standards of the new method, improved teachers' training's effectiveness, and library's utilization.
The internship experience brought out my consensus building ability to the forefront. I worked with Software Engineers and Business Analysts - getting them on the same page was child's play compared to aligning the focus of emotionally charged parents, teachers, and administrators.
I am thankful to Professor Kristen McCormack for showing her confidence in me and nominating me for the PNP Internship Sustainability Fund stipend.
***
Gertjan Flikweert
Organization: Hope Alive!
I had the privilege to intern this summer with a Christian mission organization in Uganda called Hope Alive! Hope Alive! works with orphans and children from impoverished families providing them with everything they need for a better future (including by not limited to education, housing, emotional/spiritual support, etc). My main task with administrative; but I was able to work with the children on a regular basis, tutoring them in math, and assisting with the weekly Saturday program. The rest of the time I worked on the financial statements (or rather created them, because they were not there). I was able to get their finances in order for the first six months of 2008 and prepared budgeting templates, so the different sites (Hope Alive! has four sites throughout the country) will be able to start budgeting for each upcoming month. I also trained the administrative assistant, so he would be able to keep the books up-to-date and produce the financial statements himself when needed. Overall, I had a great experience, especially since I am looking to find a job in development in a developing country!
***
Kezia Koo
Organization: Mercy Corp.
I spent 2.5 months in a poor rural area in India called Assam which is the largest tea producing area in the country. Starbucks sources about 90% of its Indian teas from this area. They have partnered with Mercy Corp to improve the lives of the laborers working on the tea plantations. These tea workers support entire families on less than $2 USD per day and are living in poverty. Starbucks has set aside money to be invested in micro-enterprises under the direction of Mercy Corps to improve the well-being of these people. The people receive micro-loans from Mercy Corp which along with training allows them to start their own micro-business which supplements their income from picking tea leaves.
I had three projects while I was the there. The first was to determine the feasibility of a new poultry company that would help the farmers establish their own chicken businesses. The company opened it doors in August and is currently working with 30 farmers. The second project was developing an excel-based model to track the financial performance of the micro-businesses so that Mercy Corp could ensure that businesses were healthy and provide further assistance as necessary. Most of the entrepreneurs haven't been keeping any financial records so this involved training them on bookkeeping as well as training Mercy Corp staff on making sense of the financial data. For my last project, I was analyzed the value chain of the domestic patchouli oil industry to determine what part of the chain Mercy Corp should get involved in. I did a business plan for this project during my Starting New Ventures Class this past Fall and the business will be funded this upcoming summer.
***
Taline Lorensian
Organization: Wall Street Without Walls
Taline spent her summer interning with Wall Street Without Walls (WSWW www.wallstreetwithoutwalls.com). WSWW’s mission is to fill a finance expertise gap in the nonprofit sector.” By matching volunteer financial experts with community development organizations, WSWW uses education and access to services as a way of empowering these organizations. During her internship, Taline researched financial models related to the securitization of community development loans and wrote project case studies on WSWW projects. This internship allowed her to learn about the world of structured finance as well as the challenges involved in running a small nonprofit. She also had the opportunity to learn directly from financial experts volunteering for WSWW. Those interactions have proved invaluable as Taline completes her MBA.
No comments:
Post a Comment