Rachel Bass

Country: Myanmar

Organization: Golden Rock Capital

Rachel Bass worked as a summer associate for Golden Rock Capital, a newly launched private equity fund focused specifically on Myanmar and generally on the ASEAN region. She hoped to gain insight in the demands and processes of private equity, leveraging her background in Microfinance, further explore finance skills acquired through Fletcher coursework, and contribute to a rapidly growing and evolving Myanmar

Rachel: “I learned more about my own intangible skills while gaining a much greater sense of appreciation for my good fortune. I believe this awareness will help me infinitely during a long career grounded in social service.”

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”

Tommy Galloway

Country: Myanmar
Organization: MasterCard, MDRI-CESD (Myanmar Development Resource Institute, Center for Economic and Social Development)

Tommy Galloway travelled to Myanmar with the goal of identifying lessons about the financial habits of rural and urban communities in Myanmar that could aid in developing better financial tools to improve Myanmar citizens’ financial stability. He partnered with MasterCard to co-author a report that identified ways in which these lessons could be developed into points of market entry as well as ways that MasterCard could contribute to ongoing reform in the region.

Tommy’s research team was able to successfully reach a range of communities in Myanmar, helping to create important connections amongst local organizations that work on social and financial reform. In his second partnership with MDRI-CESD he developed qualitative survey questions and conducted interviews to identify themes about the financial habits and needs of Myanmar’s communities.

Tommy: “Given my abiding interest in Myanmar before arriving at Fletcher, and my intention to focus on the crossroads of development economics and business while there, this summer work was perfectly situated to allow me to step closer to my long term career goals.”

Yasuhiko

Country: Bangladesh

Yasuhiko developed recommendations for the top management of ASA, an MFI whose models has been introduced in more than 117 countries, to address the issue of overlapping borrowers and the overall loan portfolio quality.

Lily

Country: India

Lily held focus groups and interviewed members of farming communities to evaluate the efficacy of programs implemented by the All India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), an NGO working throughout South Asia. Developed crisis mapping scenarios, held financial literacy classes and prepared proposals for dealing with major urban disasters.