My main goal for this internship was to launch Plentify in the B2C market via a D2C (direct to consumer) campaign and also further their mission in the B2B space. I worked on four different projects to help Plentify reach their goal of providing clean, safe, and reliable energy by increasing the number of users.The first project I worked on was to increase Plentify customers by understanding the customer buying process and price sensitivity, which resulted in a 50 percent increase in user conversion post implementation. My second project was to improve the customer experience by taking ownership of product feature enhancements in the HotBot app, which increased customer satisfaction for heavy users. My third project was to acquire 100 users for HotBot as a pilot program in the South African municipality of Hessequa, and my fourth project was to define a long-term Freemium strategy for Plentify in order to increase average revenue per user (ARPU), which paved the way for Plentify's long-term strategy.

My courses in Management Science and Engineering helped me to achieve the broad goals set for Plentify. I was able to use what I learned at Columbia in Product Management and Behavioral Economics to help all of the projects succeed. I was able to perform the cost-benefit analysis thanks to the finance courses I took at Columbia. Also, having a thorough understanding of operations in various markets (South Africa, the United States, and Europe) from my Operations Strategy course was extremely beneficial. Through my technical courses, I learned how to collect data and make informed decisions. My courses' in-depth knowledge and practicality definitely aided me in furthering the company's mission.

Because I was working remotely, one of the most difficult challenges was coordinating with other teams and customers. The entire team is based in South Africa, and the nature of my projects necessitated a high level of interaction with other teams in order to delve deeply into the problems and their root causes. However, I had full support from the team to conduct calls during my and the team's working hours. I conducted customer interviews in South Africa Standard Time to better understand their usage and behavior. I had some difficulty understanding the day-to-day operations of the support team because I was unable to work in South Africa and in-person. However, I held daily check-ins to get an update on project implementation.

Throughout my internship, I was given complete autonomy in working on the four projects, and I was assigned resources as needed. My main goal was to improve the brand's image and user base in South Africa. As part of my projects, I had the opportunity to collaborate with designers on wireframes, engineers on user stories and product development, and management on long-term strategy development. I learned critical skills from the stakeholders on the job and was able to assist them when necessary. Furthermore, I had the opportunity to interact with various stakeholders and customers in order to gain a holistic view of the business and understand customer pain points. I had the opportunity to do some meaningful work that would have an impact. My internship work was actually live to customers and had a measurable impact. Overall, I had an amazing internship and was fortunate to be able to work at such an amazing company. I was also honored to have received the fellowship for my work on sustainability issues and catering to the pain points and needs of those in society who need it the most.