Daiki "Taji" Tajima

Location / Country: Kigali, Rwanda
Organization: Africa Entrepreneurship Collective

SONG: "This summer, I did my summer internship at African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC). AEC is an American NGO which supports entrepreneurs in Rwanda and Tanzania. AEC was founded by Ms. Julienne Oyler (CEO, Yale MBA) and Ms. Sara Leedom (COO, Oxford MBA) in 2012. Under AEC’s umbrella, there are three organizations; Inkomoko, the affiliate for providing business consulting in Rwanda, AEC Rwanda Trustee, which provides low-cost loans to entrepreneurs by collaboration with KIVA, and Anza, the affiliate for providing business consulting in Tanzania. Strictly speaking, I did my summer internship at Inkomoko among these three organizations.”

“Supporting entrepreneurs in Rwanda has three different stages. For the first stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs provide workshops for training basic business skills such as setting vision, mission and goals, building effective team, and basic accounting. During the first stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs also conducts initial meetings with the clients. For the second stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs analyze the business of entrepreneurs in terms of sales and marketing, operation, people, finance and accounting. During the second stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs also deliver the business assessment reports with recommendations to the clients. For the third stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs set the priority of the consulting service based on the feedbacks from the clients. During the third stage, AEC/Inkomoko staffs also provide actual consulting services such as developing market strategies, making financial projections in order to get external funding from banks, providing advanced accounting workshops, etc. As a summer internship member, I mainly involved in the second stage, i.e. delivering the business assessment reports. “

Responsibilities & Accomplishments

“I was in charge of supporting four Rwandan entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs are chosen by Bank of Kigali’s entrepreneurship support project. Under this project, the eight winners among fifty entrepreneurs will be provided the interest-free loans by Bank of Kigali.”

“Although there are many challenges for entrepreneurs in Africa, international organization, governments, and private companies are cooperating each other to unlock the great potential of entrepreneurs in Africa in order to create more jobs and achieve sustainable development of the continent.”

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Conclusion

“My summer internship at African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) / Inkomoko was an amazing experience for me. I learned a lot from the NGO and people in Rwanda but at the same time I tried to do my best for contributing through supporting clients of AEC through business assessment reports, providing internal training about Japanese economic growth and developing networks with IFC and JICA. I would like to contribute more to the beautiful country, Rwanda, as wells as the amazing African continent after graduating from Fletcher.”

Miran Song

Location / Country: Mbale District, Uganda
Organization: Discipling for Development (D4D)

SONG: "As a Blakeley fellow this past summer, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to Mbale District in Uganda as a research intern with Discipling for Development (D4D), a department of The Navigators, an internationally recognized NGO. D4D is a community-based development organization focusing on empowering people in rural villages with sustainable knowledge and skills. Their mission is to help community people grow in their ability to solve their own problems in various aspects of their lives. As a catalyst for development, they assist the community people in identifying the resources they don’t realize that they have and building on those resources for improving their lives. Their approach is unique and sustainable in that it helps people stand on their own feet by taking ownership of the resources, knowledge, and skills that they identify themselves.”

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Internship Goals

“My main goal that I wanted to achieve during my internship was to experience first-hand how sustainable development is being lived out in rural Uganda and to help the D4D team document impact through my research. Other goals included:

• To learn about Ugandan and East African culture

• To actively engage in the communities with development perspective

• To observe how D4D transforms communities

• To document the impact of the D4D projects with a focus on how women in the communities have been empowered by D4D

• To hone facilitation/leadership skills ”

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Responsibilities & Accomplishments

“For the first half of my internship with D4D, I was given the chance to give workshops on the phases of a D4D program to the staff and visitors. The five phases of a D4D program (preparation phase, exploration phase, mobilization phase, empowerment phase, and reproduction phase) have been the foundation for the work of D4D community development. Learning about the phases and teaching on them myself was a good learning opportunity to get a better understanding of the organizational vision and values and enhance my facilitation/leadership skills. I also could learn more deeply about the work of D4D through attending community workshops, trainings, and project follow-up meetings in the villages.

For the second half of my internship, as a research intern, my main task was to do an impact study/research on how poverty has been alleviated and lives have improved in the communities that D4D has been working with. The research was conducted mainly through formal and informal individual interviews and group discussions over the period of one month. Through my research, I was able to get a vivid picture of how the people in the rural villages have been transformed and impacted holistically by D4D over the past three decades. My research focused on areas of environment, agriculture, and health, with a focus on women’s empowerment. “

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Conclusion

“Overall, my internship with D4D was a very rewarding and enriching experience that changed my view of development. Professionally, my experience working with Ugandan locals for 10 weeks dramatically changed my narrow, pre-conceived notion of what development truly means to local beneficiaries, thus helping me refine my definition of development. And through my encounters and interviews with local people in Mbale, I made the conclusion that health issues in Uganda and other Sub-Saharan African countries are what I want to devote my future career to and where my passion lies. Personally, I feel privileged to have been able to develop meaningful relationships with the staff and local people in the villages. I still have much more to learn, but I am sincerely thankful that I got a glimpse into what it means to put myself in those people’s shoes that I am trying to help. I am beyond grateful to the Blakeley Foundation for this incredible, life- changing opportunity that I had this past summer!”

Marli Kasdan

Location / Country: Kigali, Rwanda
Organization: Hands of Mothers

Kasdan: "Overall, my internship experience with Hands of Mothers (HOM) was extremely rewarding for me. I learned a lot about development at the local level though the lenses of women’s empowerment in business, capacity building, and project sustainability. In addition, I feel that my work with HOM centered on deliverables and impact to our program participants. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the three cooperatives that HOM supports: Twiyubake, Baho, and Ejo Hazaza. I appreciate and recognize the many challenges they face, and I think that the HOM summer team was able to lay the groundwork for a sustained upward trajectory for each cooperative. My hope is that our team’s focus on capacity building through a series of trainings and workshops and our emphasis on promoting sustainable income generation has put in place the foundation for each cooperative to become independent from HOM and sustainable in the long run.”

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Hands of Mothers

“HOM worked with three women’s cooperatives in Kigali, Rwanda:

• Baho: raises kuroiler hens and sells eggs

• Twiyubake: makes hand-crafted leather sandals

• Ejo Hazaza: makes hand-crafted jewelry; applied for a grant to start a project to grow and sell oyster mushrooms”

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Deliverables and Impact to Program Participants

“During the internship, my deliverables and impact on program participants mainly focused on my work with the women in the cooperatives that HOM supports. Throughout the summer I ran a series of trainings and workshops along with my team members in order to help the women in the cooperatives improve their record keeping skills, sales skills, cooperative management and organization, and cooperative accountability structure. “

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Conclusion

“I thoroughly enjoyed my internship experience with Hands of Mothers in Kigali this summer, and I hope that I had a positive impact on the women we worked with and HOM. I gained valuable field work experience this summer, and I want to extend my most sincere thank you to Jerry and Yunie Blakeley for the fellowship.”

Ankit Grover

Location / Country: Zimbabwe
Organization: TechnoServe

GROVER: "It is often said, “You can have it all. Just not all at once.”

My summer experience as a Blakeley Fellow working with TechnoServe and the African Agriculture Fund (AAF) was nothing less than a “have-it-all-at-once” opportunity. In my ten weeks in Zimbabwe, I was afforded the chance to delve deep into each of my interest areas – small and medium enterprise development, private equity, business strategy and impact investing. ”

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About TechnoServe and TAF

“TechnoServe, whose mission is to find business solutions to poverty by connecting farmers to financial markets, recruits Fellows (or Volunteer Consultants) to work on short-term assignments in developing countries with high impact opportunities. As a Fellow, I was drafted to work with AAF’s Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) (managed by TechnoServe) in preparing a business plan, market strategy and financial projections for a Zimbabwean agribusiness company in the sesame crop value chain. TAF supports AAF’s portfolio companies in improving linkages between smallholder farmers (SHFs) and the companies, to increase local household incomes and enhance food security in communities where the Fund invests. This lays the foundation for sustainable long-term growth and developmental impact for both the portfolio partner and the community it benefits. “

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The Experience:

“It is one thing to study value chains and another to actually start from the base of the pyramid and follow the trail of the grain. A thorough analysis of the sesame business required engagement with SHFs on the ground, away from the hustle and bustle of Harare. In late July, I had the opportunity to travel to one of the remotest and most water-stressed villages in Zimbabwe, some hundred miles from the capital. I had the chance to study first- hand the various predicaments from the farmers, as well as brainstorm some quick-fix solutions for their problems. My education in agronomy came full circle when I could finally validate and tie the smallholders’ income statements to the financial model I was preparing.“

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Conclusion

“My biggest takeaway from my fellowship is to never discount the power of the value chain. It is what drives synergies in achieving developmental impact, and without it, no business can remain sustainable in the long term. I'm grateful to the Blakeley Foundation for affording me this opportunity and look forward to helping the Foundation accomplish its objectives in the future.”

Dristy Shrestha

Country: Tanzania
Organization: BRAC Tanzania

DRISTY: "BRAC is the world’s largest non-governmental development organization measured by the number of employees and the number of people it has helped. It is dedicated to empowering people and communities living in poverty, illiteracy, disease and social injustice through its various programs in areas ranging from microfinance, agriculture and food security, education and more. It currently operates in 11 countries across the globe.

BRAC started its work in Tanzania in 2006 with microfinance and livelihood development programs. In just less than a decade with multiple programs in various sectors ranging from agriculture and food security, education, empowerment and livelihood for adolescents, microfinance and small enterprise program, BRAC has become one of the largest financial institutions in the country.

In June-August 2016, under the supervision of the Program Manager of Microfinance Program, I had the opportunity to work as the Summer Research Intern at BRAC Tanzania. In this role, the main task I was entrusted with was to i) assess the services offered by BRAC Tanzania tailored towards smallholder farmers in the country, and ii) make recommendations to the Country Office based in Dar es Salaam on how to better address the needs and challenges of smallholder farmers in Tanzania."

"Personally, I had an incredibly rewarding summer filled with new challenges, new experiences, and learnings. BRAC is an organization that development practitioners such as myself study a lot about, both inside and outside class. Therefore, the opportunity to experience its activities and inner workings first hand and be a part of its team was a special treat for me. In addition, it was refreshing to explore Tanzania and go beyond my comfort zone into a country, region and continent that I had never been to."

Nashwa Khali

Organization: Vodafone Farmers Club / Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSMA)
Country: Ghana

NASHWA: GSMA1, working with a wide range of mobile network operators and civil society organisations, is launching a series of nutrition-focused m-health and m-agriculture initiatives in South Asia and sub- Saharan Africa, called mNutrition. The objective of mNutrition in mAgri is to create and scale commercially sustainable mobile services enabling smallholder farmers to improve their nutrition, yields and incomes. The product to be delivered and evaluated is the Vodafone Farmers’ Club. The service is a bundled solution offering agricultural information in addition to voice and SMS services. In order to measure the causal impact of the Farmers’ Club product, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) will conduct an external impact evaluation of the mAgri programme in Ghana in November 2016. A randomized encouragement design will be implemented. Specifically, some communities will be randomly assigned to receive additional marketing and promotion of the Farmers’ Club product and some communities will not be assigned to the additional marketing and promotion. The additional marketing and promotion will consist of price discounts, advertisement scripts, and gender targeting.

Rationale for Intervention

The rapid expansion of mobile phone access to populations at the base of the income pyramid presents an unprecedented opportunity to expand coverage of nutrition and agriculture services to this previously overlooked segment of the mobile market. Mobile phones and computer centers are the most targeted channels to provide not only technical and scientific information on crop production and nutrition, but also to support the marketing of products that can help level the playing field between small producers and traders. Agricultural extension services delivered via mobile phones can in theory promote ‘nutrition-sensitive’ interventions by creating competent and efficient farmers who are able to increase productivity by making effective use of knowledge and information which is delivered to them.

Broadly speaking, nutrition-sensitive agriculture is aimed at improving the nutritional status of a population by maximizing the impact of food and of agricultural systems, while minimizing the potential for negative externalities regarding the sector’s economic and production-driven goals. In the last few years there has been a visible trend in agricultural policies and programs to become ‘nutrition-sensitive’ by leveraging agriculture to maximize nutrition impact. Yet there is an identified need to better understand the linkages between agriculture and nutrition, and to decipher the ways in which agriculture can contribute to improved nutrition. Despite the potential of mobile services coupled with agricultural change to improve nutrition and diet quality, very few studies exist that critically assess the application of mobile phone technology for nutrition in resource-poor settings.

Farmers’ Club

Farmers’ Club is a bundled solution offering farmers agricultural and nutrition information in addition to voice and SMS services. The target market Vodafone expects to attract is about 450,000 Farmer Club users by 2016/17 across 8 regions in Ghana: Eastern Region, Western Region, Ashanti Region, Central Region, Northern Region, Volta, Brong-Ahafo, and Greater Accra. Researchers from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) are conducting a rigorous mixed-methods evaluation to estimate the impact of mNutrition and to understand how the context and the components of the mNutrition intervention shape its impact. To estimate the casual impacts of the product on farmer’s behavior, knowledge, nutrition, yields and income, a randomized encouragement design is being implemented where some communities are randomly assigned to receive additional marketing and promotion of the Farmers’ Club product and some are not assigned to the additional marketing and promotion. The additional marketing and promotion will consist of price discounts, advertisement scripts, and gender targeting.

The goal of the impact evaluation is to measure the causal impact of Farmers’ club on behaviors and outcomes linked to nutrition and agriculture. But before a full scale impact evaluation is rolled out; which is resource and time intensive IFPRI decided to do a pilot, which is the leg of the project that I was brought on to do. Essentially the purpose of the pilot was to test the assumptions of the evaluation and related encouragements before they are rolled out for the study and to test willingness to pay for the Farmer club product. As soon as I landed in Ghana I had three priority areas to work on:

1. Build relationships with potential implementing partners and all the involved stakeholders; including Vodafone, The University of Ghana, and ESOKO2

2. Collaborate with Vodafone to do user feedback surveys for existing Farmers’ Club customers. This would help the research team at IFPRI understand the rates of take-up of the service as well as the perceived benefits of subscribing.

3. Set up the IRB3 protocol, as well as pilot evaluation that would allow us to answer the following research questions:

   •   How effective is the Farmer Club at increasing the knowledge and changing the behavior of farmers?

   •   What are the impacts and cost-effectiveness of the Farmer Club product on household’s dietary diversity, agricultural income, and production?

   •   Does targeting women increase impacts over and beyond the impacts of a non-targeted Farmer Club product?

  What is farmer’s willingness to pay for Farmer’s club?

The preliminary data gathered while I was in Ghana evidenced that Farmers’ Club positively enhanced the livelihoods and quality of life of smallholder farmers by improving access to information, financial services and supply chain solutions, delivered via mobile phone. Furthermore the mNutrition component of the intervention promoted behaviour change around key farming decisions and practices via mobile nutrition content.

Mark Karugarama

Country: Rwanda
Organization: Zamura Feeds LTD

MARK: "Over the summer, I had the opportunity to work with a young but promising social-enterprise in Rwanda’s growing Agri-business sector. Located in Musanze District, Northern Rwanda, Zamura Feeds LTD operates in the commercial livestock feed industry. It is a relatively new industry, formerly subsidised by the government, but slowly becoming more and more commercialised, to effectively cater to the growing needs of farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs in the region."

My responsibilities revolved around 2 major activities; i) working directly with cooperatives and small-holder farmers to assess their needs and ii) designing a marketing and distribution plan to use a similar business model to reach parts of Southern and Eastern Rwanda, as well as neighboring border towns in Uganda and the DRC. This model will be used in conjunction with distribution centers to determine the most cost-effective way to get the product to market and to reach even those farmers in the most rural areas.

"We worked with farmers on two fronts; i) farmers who purchased the feed for their farms/animals and ii) farmers who supplied all the input (i.e maize bran, whole maize, cotton seed cake, sunflower seeds, soybean, limestone, shells, and a multitude of other inputs). An effective distribution channel would therefore be helpful not only for selling the product, but also in sourcing input--which Zamura pays competitive prices for, to ensure the farmers are making enough to support themselves and their families. Gaining an understanding of the farmers and their families’ economic goals and aspirations--and how the company is working closely with them--had a deep and lasting impact on my entire internship experience.

Two of my colleagues and I traveled off-site, twice a week, to meet with smallholder farmers and small businesses in the border towns of Goma (Congo) and Kabale (Uganda), some of whom are clients of Zamura Feeds. In discussions with farmers and cooperative leaders, we were able to get further insights into people’s overall perception of the product, and note down any challenges; access; price, effectiveness, etc. My experience was greatly shaped by thought-provoking conversations with farmers and the cooperatives they work with, which help them get their produce to market. I have learned a lot both from the businesses perspective and from the farmers who seek to lift themselves out of poverty. Challenges abide, but the agribusiness sector is ripe with opportunity and potential."

"Production success stories were told across the livestock production sector in other neighboring villages we visited for not just dairy farmers but broiler,layer and swine farmers whose goals intersect at one point: increasing yields be it of eggs, meat or milk/dairy products. It inspired a feeling of hope in me, that simple but well-organized animal husbandry could have such a tremendous impact on people and help them lift themselves out of poverty, especially in a country where around 67% of the population depends on agriculture for their sustenance. Overall, the internship experience was for me a learning opportunity unlike any other."

Lauren Jencik

Country: Malawi
Organization: Project Concern International

LAUREN: "I accepted an offer as a Humanitarian Assistance Fellow with Project Concern International (PCI) in Zomba, Malawi this past summer. Prior to Fletcher, I had lived and worked in the Washington, DC area for years. I studied international affairs in college, held a nearly two-year internship with the State Department, and worked for both a development and then management consulting firm. In other words, my life revolved around the workings of the Beltway both in an academic and practical sense. Part of my why I came to Fletcher was to fully immerse myself in my studies, particularly given the breadth of human security courses. More importantly, I knew that as a full-time student, rather than a part-time student in Washington, DC, my summer would offer the perfect opportunity to finally work overseas. Having worked in the public and private sectors in DC, I was especially interested in working with a non-profit organization that dealt with a complex array of issues around development and disasters; PCI offered the perfect opportunity.

PCI is a mid-size non-profit organization, founded in 1961 by a doctor from San Diego (where the organization is still headquartered today). Per the organization's website, PCI's mission is "to empower people to enhance health, end hunger and overcome hardship." The organization has expanded over the years and covers an array of issues in the increasingly integrated fields of development and humanitarian assistance. One area in which PCI has expertise in humanitarian assistance is Disaster Risk Management (DRM). DRM is led by the notion that communities can be empowered to reduce vulnerability to future shocks and stresses created by disasters. Disasters may include earthquakes or floods or prolonged events including droughts—they can also be the result of conflict or political turmoil. In the case of Malawi, many communities are vulnerable to environmental shocks and stresses due to a combination of factors some of which include economic status, health and well-being, gender, and livelihood. This has been particularly the case more recently as the country has been experiencing a severe drought, brought on by El Nino, and was previously experiencing severe flooding."

"While three months is not enough time to have a major impact within any organization, but especially in a development and humanitarian assistance one, I left PCI at the end of August confident that my work was well-received among my supervisor, fellowship coordinator, and project leadership. During my last week at the office, I was asked by the Chief of Party to provide a debrief to him and the Country Director because both valued my feedback on my experience and wanted to understand the extent of my work for the purposes of ensuring continuity within Njira. Furthermore, as referenced above, I am awaiting a follow up email from my fellowship coordinator, who just wrapped up a visit to Zomba to begin start up of a newly awarded emergency response project. I am optimistic that the conversations that will take place will include discussion of further developing the food security assessment tool and best practices and lessons learned document, as well as ideas for how I can remain engaged on Njira throughout the coming year."

Paroma Husain

Country: Uganda
Organization: BRAC Uganda

PAROMA: "During the last summer I spent almost three months working with the Microfinance programme of BRAC in Uganda. BRAC is an NGO that started as a small post-war rehabilitation operation in the newly born Bangladesh in 1972, and grew to be one of the largest NGOs in the world. BRAC now operates in 12 different countries across Asia and Africa; taking its years of experience from Bangladesh in implementing successful models in various development programs such as health, education, microfinance, and community empowerment into other developing countries.

Uganda is BRAC’s largest and fastest growing operation in Africa. In the last decade, Uganda has grown consistently, at an average rate of 6.4 per cent. It has made significant progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals and is now focusing on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. But approximately 20 per cent of Ugandans still live below the poverty line and they are mostly concentrated in rural areas. While there are a number of financial institutions providing financial services to marginalised groups, they have limited operations in rural areas. With 147 branches all over Uganda and more than 180,000 borrowers served, BRAC Uganda’s microfinance program is one of the biggest in the country and it reaches out to the poorest in both urban and rural areas.1 Besides microfinance, BRAC currently operates programs in small enterprise, agriculture, poultry and livestock, health, education, youth empowerment, adolescent livelihood, and the Karamoja Initiative in Uganda. To date the programs have served 4.4 million people, which is almost 12% of Uganda’s population.2 Before Fletcher, I have been working in BRAC’s microfinance program in Bangladesh. This summer I had the wonderful opportunity to work with and learn from my colleagues in Uganda."

"My three years of experience with BRAC Bangladesh had made me curious to find out how well BRAC can apply its learnings and program models from Bangladesh in a starkly different country context. Working with BRAC Uganda gave me an opportunity to assess the success and failure of BRAC’s international scaling efforts. My overall conclusion is that while there are some things BRAC is doing quite well in its country offices, it can do a much better job in many other aspects. For instance, there is a clear cultural divide between Bangladeshi expats, who generally occupy higher management posts, and the local staff. While the highly standardised operational models were so crucial in BRAC’s amazing success story of scaling in Bangladesh, strict compliance of these standards can overlook the contextual operational needs in a different country. There is also a resource constrain in the mostly donor-depended programs of BRAC International that BRAC Bangladesh does not have to face. As a result,

many effective client oriented programs and monitoring tools that have proven to be effective in Bangladesh cannot be implemented in other BRAC countries. Based on several of these observations, I can make the following recommendations: (The suggestions made in this section are mostly based on interviews with clients and staff members and observations from field visits – which are often anecdotal and not grounded in rigorous studies.)"

Ananth Ganesa

Country: Sudan
Organization: World Food Programme

ANANTH: "My internship was with the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) unit in Khartoum, Sudan. VAM collects and analyses data from thousands of households every year – particularly in rural, poor and food insecure populations – to provide WFP program managers and the broader humanitarian community with information, analysis and advice. VAM’s information has direct consequences on programming, and could translate into activities such as food distribution - which could in very literal terms decide the fate of a household’s survival."

"My role involved travelling to field offices across the Darfur states. I learnt a lot about on-the- ground realities during such missions. My last such trip was in June, I was in El Fashir in North Darfur interviewing program staff and brainstorming on how the VAM unit can help them make better program decisions. During such discussions, I learnt extensively about the process of WFP’s programming in Sudan – from how project proposals are submitted by NGO partners to how they are reviewed, and how projects are implemented over a specific timeline and within a certain budget based on several contingent factors. Part of VAM’s role is to help identify the “who, when, where” in targeting programs, so I spent time learning how such targeting decisions are made – which gave me a good macro-understanding of WFP’s operations. Field offices in general are a great place to learn the harsh practical realities of the humanitarian experience and

I believe Sudan provided ample training ground to do so. Since my role involved extensive cross- departmental collaboration where I had to work together with several of our staff for days and weeks at a stretch, I would say my inter-personal and communication skills helped in the process. To have clarity of thought and express ideas effectively was important in my role, and this is a strength that I used to my advantage. Further, the ability to digest large amounts of information, diagnose what the issues are and creatively design solutions, is something that I have used throughout this internship . Finally, technical skills in analyzing data, writing food security reports and software such as MS Excel and SPSS helped magnify my impact in the project as well."

Fumi Tataki

Country: Rwanda
Organization: African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC)

Fumi: "The purpose of my summer internship is to earn an experience of working in Africa to find approaches to achieve economic development through business. By working as a mentor and consultant for clients of African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) in Rwanda, I developed strong interest in working in human capital development for small medium enterprises (SMEs) in the future.  

After working with SMEs in Rwanda, I started to develop a career interest in human capital development, particularly skill development and change in awareness toward professional environment. I was intrigued by the need of that human capital development that can tremendously make positive impact to development of the country. Besides my work at AEC, I also had a chance to work with AIP, a program that provides training to students. With another Fletcher student, I presented Business Canvas Model to university students across Rwanda. It was a wonderful experience to interact with students and help them develop their own business ideas. After Fletcher, I would like to
pursue my career in SMEs sector to help their business to make development impact to their lives and country’s well being."

Justin Sullivan

Country: Rwanda
Organization: African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC)

Justin travelled to Kigali, Rwanda as a Global Business Mentor for African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) at Inkomoko, AEC’s pilot program. AEC’s model has already helped create more than 700 jobs, while contributing to the country’s economic and social development.  

Justin: “I found the opportunity to work so closely with young, driven African entrepreneurs incredibly valuable. Not only was I able to refine and put to practice many of the lessons from first year foundational business courses at Fletcher, but I was able to do it a part of the world that I consider a second home, and in a sector that I am truly passionate about and believe will continue to bring a significant social impact to Africa in the future. Honestly, my experience this summer far exceeded my expectations. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity that the Blakeley Fellowship has given me. With this experience under my belt, I look forward to a long future career in the East African tech business."

Nathaniel Rosenblum

Country: Rwanda
Organization: African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC), Inkomoko

Nathaniel spent the summer working for Inkomoko, a business acceleratory run by the African Entrepreneur Collective (AEC) based in Kigali, Rwanda. AEC through Inkomoko works with hundreds of entrepreneurs in Rwanda to help them move from start up to fully‐fledged business. They are not specialized in a particular field, and rather reflect the growth spaces of the Rwandan economy

Nathaniel: “the most important accomplishment of my time in Rwanda has to do with refocusing my career interest. I am now much more aware of the challenges of financing development in agriculture through the private sector. These challenges are not insurmountable, rather without a concerted effort to deal with them they will continue to hamper ambitious and deserving entrepreneurs. In whatever my next steps are I plan on addressing those problems thanks to this summer’s glimpse into the Rwandan agribusiness landscape.”

Catherine Klepacki

Country: Rwanda
Organization: Resonate

Resonate inspires women and girls to become leaders and individual agents of change in their families and communities by teaching them to leverage their personal stories to build confidence and realize their own worth and potential. 

Catherine: "Working with Resonate provided an incredible opportunity to gain experience at the local level in an unfamiliar international context. I learned important lessons about the challenges a small start‐up or NGO may face as this type of organization works to create a sustainable platform for lasting and impactful social change. I gained a unique appreciation for program implementation and evaluation challenges associated with the push by donors and foundations to provide concrete data reflecting a measure of organizational success. These insights impacted how I think about program structure, the importance of clear and measureable goals, and data collection and analysis. The impact of local stakeholder partnerships on organizational success was also clearly demonstrated. Although I learned a great deal from this experience, the opportunity to work in a post‐conflict context with local stakeholders provided greatest personal impact. I am extremely grateful for the Rwandan women with whom I worked who imparted a wealth of wisdom and insight. The opportunity to work with Resonate this summer was extraordinary. Sincere thanks to the Blakeley Foundation for making it possible!"

Braden Weinstock

Country: South Africa
Organization: Endeavor South Africa

Braden Weinstock’s consulting project was with Endeavor South Africa. Endeavor is a leading non-profit accelerator with offices in about 20 emerging markets. He had three objectives for his summer experience – to learn about South Africa, to test his skills at supporting entrepreneurs, and to develop himself as a leader.

Braden: “My experience in South Africa was very enriching on both professional and personal fronts. Professionally, working in a non-profit I got to experience the culture and struggles which are both very different from a Fortune 500 firm. On a personal front, I learned I would love living in South Africa, and am pursuing career opportunities there now.”

Owen M. Sanderson

Country: Kenya

Organization: Ushahidi

Owen M. Sanderson worked in one of the fastest-crowing tech centers in the world: Nairobi, Kenya. He focused his summer on two objectives: supporting Ushahidi’s business development team as they think through their current business model and conducting several in-depth training seminars for a small cohort of young African entrepreneurs at Nairobi’s celebrated iHub.

Owen: “After two months in East Africa, I left feeling every optimistic about its future. I embarked upon my summer with the goal of investigating the unique link between technology and development. My summer in Nairobi underscored the widespread allure of technology and its potential to uplift millions.”

Heather Lemunyon

Country: Rwanda

Organization: AEC (The African Entrepreneur Collective

Heather Lemunyon’s role at AEC (The African Entrepreneur Collective) was to serve as a Global Business Mentor, or and entrepreneurship consultant who worked one-on 0one with AEC’s clients in business planning financial planning, developing strategies for growth, market and sales analysis, and and strategic vision.

Heather: “In every way possible, my time as a Global Business Mentor with AEC was outstanding. Not only did I fulfill all of my personal goals for my internship experience, I was allowed great opportunities to directly and positively impact the growth of East African companies that I hope will continue to grow, increase employment, and continue to develop this region of the world with such large opportunities and potential.”

Manisha Basnet

Country: Uganda

Organization: FIT Uganda

Manisha Basnet worked as an Economic Consultant for FIT Uganda. The eight week project involved field research on market information system, cost-benefit analysis and market trend analysis of agricultural commodities.

Manisha: “This internship has helped spur my interest in strategic management consulting. It has also helped reinforce my interest in financial inclusion as a tool for social and economic development.”

Anisha Baghudana

Country: Kenya

Organization: MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth / Institute of Business in the Global Context.

Anisha Baghudana completed a research fellowship with the MasterCard Center for Inclusive Growth and Institute of Business in the Global Context (IBGC) at the Fletcher School. MasterCard and IBGC piloted a new initiative for Fletcher graduate students this year to support original research touching upon the themes of private sector innovation to promote inclusive development in emerging and frontier markets.

Anisha: “I am indebted to the Blakeley Foundation for providing me the opportunity to pursue my career interests and am hugely thankful to Jerry Blakeley for giving me the flexibility to do a research project instead of a traditional internship”

Jennie Vader

Country: Kenya

Organization: Vera Solutions

Jennie Vader began her internship with Vera Solutions by designing and conducting two assessments of the company’s overall effectiveness and client satisfaction. She contributed to blog posts, information templates, and provided internal knowledge of DM&E processes. She also had the opportunity to assist on a client project, developing theory of change, indicators and assessment tools for Generation Citizen, a nonprofit dedicated to introducing action citizenship into US schools.

Jennie: “I learned so much more than technical skills; I learned a lot about myself, the state of the field, and where I want to head on my career path! Thank you so much for this unique opportunity and for continuing to support Fletcher student. We appreciate all you do!”