Elisa Kerr Joia ’13
My Experience
I-Dev’s mission is to improve the standard of living and empower local communities at the base of the pyramid (BoP) through sustainable market-based development. During my internship at I-Dev Peru, I worked on three main work streams: (i) assisting I-Dev's business development, (ii) assisting ongoing projects and (iii) setting up a strategy for I-Dev's expertise of market research. The first responsibility was where I spent most of my time, helping put together four project proposals for different clients. All proposals were very much aligned with I-Dev’s missions, ranging from an impact evaluation of SMEs on the lives of the poor to the implementation of a marketing strategy for a company that brings wind energy for the BoP. I also worked on a workshop sponsored by the Avina foundation between social entrepreneurs, SME entrepreneurs, corporate managers, and representatives of the government and foundations to discuss in which ways they can work together to bring market based solutions to poverty. I was responsible for organizing and producing most of the material to be presented and distributed. Finally, I helped I-Dev design the strategy for developing businesses in their strong areas of expertise, like performing market research on topics such as the Fair Trade Coffee Market in the US or the Potential of Sesame Seeds in Europe and US. I identified the key players and potential clients in eight countries in Latin America, and helped define the different demands and fits I-Dev would have with each of them.
I believe most of what I have learned in the Social Enterprise Program was extremely useful during my internship. Innovative concepts, such as impact investment mechanisms and different types of social enterprises were very helpful when designing proposals for I-Dev or even during brainstorming sessions. In addition, I also applied skills in marketing and strategy when working on I-Dev’s strategy in order to identify useful and positive players with whom I-Dev could work with based on their aligned with I-Dev’s value proposition. Moreover, because I was able to meet many players in the space, I kept in mind what I had learned about Social Capital in my leadership class, to manage better my future network.
During the time I was there, unfortunately, a serious mining conflict rose, concerning the construction of the gold mine "Conga." Because of that, not only there were many strikes and conflicts on the streets, but also some of I-Dev's planned projects, such as an incubator supported by the Regional Government, were put off. This was a big challenge as I was not able to fully work on concrete projects and had to focus my energy to I-Dev’s business development, which consisted of smaller and more fragmented initiatives. It was also a challenge in the sense that not only the city was extremely poor and rural, but it was also suffering the impact of several strikes. Furthermore, another challenge was related to the level of autonomy I had during the internship. Coming from a background in consulting I was quite used to taking over entire work streams and being fully responsible for my work. But because I-Dev is still small and growing, its founders are still very much involved in every small aspect of the work. I felt like I did not have the autonomy I was used to and that the team wasn’t as empowered to improve their own work. This was an issue I even discussed with the managing director, because I believe is one of the keys to successfully expand I-Dev’s team.
I think my experience in I-Dev was valuable and eye-opening. I spent 10 weeks working in their office in Cajarmaca, Peru. Cajamarca is a very rural and poor city of Peru that is also under several mining conflicts. During the time I was there, and being Brazilian myself, I was able to understand the key problems and, at the same time, the diversity of Latin America. Being colonized by Europe and full of natural resources, Latin America still suffers from very recent fragile democratic institutions coming from oppressing governments, bureaucracy, corruption, and everlasting income inequality perpetuated by the same fragile institutions. However, each country has found it own engine of growth and has a vast cultural diversity.
I was also able to strengthen my knowledge on all the main trends occurring in the development sector, from the key investors, funders, and policy-makers to the on-the-field implementation. As I plan to go back to Brazil and work in the public sector and social sector consulting, I believe this knowledge will be very important to my future work.
