My Experience
During my summer I performed analysis and made recommendations regarding a potential follow-on investment into a solar company in Tanzania. I spent the month of June performing an in-person analysis of the company’s finances and operations, which built upon the work I had been doing on company from New York in the spring. My role included both due-diligence and portfolio responsibilities given the fact that the company was already an existing portfolio member. I worked with the company’s management to understand and address weaknesses in their supply chain management and inconsistencies in their financial statements.
Additionally I also spent a good portion of my time building an a perspective on the pay-as-you go solar market in East Africa for E+Co. This involved researching innovative technologies and business models, assessing their feasibility, and presenting recommendations to E+Co’s management.
I believe my efforts were quite valuable for E+Co. Solar in East Africa is a very important part of E+Co’s overall portfolio, and my ability to provide an objective analysis of opportunities in the market was well received.
I performed many analytical tasks that leverage my MBA coursework and experience, such as: sensitivity analysis measuring the impact of currency fluctuations on profitability; cash flow forecasting for multi-month solar projects; feasibility analysis of new technologies; and portfolio allocation recommendations.
Relating to the actual work of my project, it was often hard to get accurate or complete financial and operating data from the companies I was working with. There were typically multiple sets of financial accounts, with inconsistent reporting policies, making it very difficult to perform an informed analysis of the companies. Outside of work, I encountered challenges with the language, given my limited Swahili.
This experience was very relevant to me personally and professionally. I had spent a year working for an NGO in South Africa before school, and it was very rewarding to be on the ground doing meaningful development work. Working directly in clean energy investments was also a great opportunity for me to deepen my understanding and experience in a field that I hope to eventually enter after a few years in consulting.
