"This summer I interned at TechnoServe as a fellow for the organization’s Catalisa Program in Mozambique. The goal of the Catalisa Program is to support economic inclusion in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado region by developing the private sector. In my role, I was responsible for conducting financial analysis on Catalisa’s pilot horticulture and poultry programs to help my team determine the viability of the horticulture and poultry industries in the region. Based on my analysis, I presented recommendations to my team on which horticulture and poultry products I thought would be the most promising for smallholder farmers in Cabo Delgado. My work was a direct extension of TechnoServe’s mission to “work with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses, and industries.” By helping my team understand the financial outlook for the local horticulture and poultry industries, TechnoServe should be able to translate my findings into actionable business recommendations for local entrepreneurs unsure what products to invest in.

I relied heavily on the skills I learned in my core curriculum classes. As part of my project, I was tasked with building detailed financial statements and free cash flow models from scratch, similar to the assignments I had completed in Accounting and Corporate Finance. Due to the time difference between Mozambique and New York, Portuguese language barrier, and the spotty internet connection in Cabo Delgado, I was not always able to connect with my team immediately. This required me to be adaptable, which is a skill I learned through the leadership positions I’ve taken on during my time as an MBA at Columbia.

The challenges I previously mentioned sometimes made it difficult for me to communicate with my team in a timely fashion. Another challenge in my work was working with limited information. Prior to the Catalisa Program, there was very little market data available regarding the poultry and horticulture industries in Cabo Delgado. As a result, I often had to rely heavily on assumptions in my financial analysis and investment recommendations. However, as the program progresses and TechnoServe continues to collect data from its private sector partners, I am confident that market information available will improve, which should hopefully attract additional investors and entrepreneurs into Cabo Delgado’s private sector.

My experience as a fellow at TechnoServe was important in helping me achieve my post-graduation goal of joining an international development consultancy full-time. Prior to Business School, I worked as an equity research associate at a boutique asset management firm in Boston and had no experience in the social enterprise space. My time at TechnoServe reaffirmed my interest in social enterprise and provided me with firsthand international development experience that should translate well into my full-time work after graduating this spring. "