Since 2015, the William Davidson Institute and its partners have provided NGO Leadership Workshops to non-profit leaders from across Central and Southeastern Europe. In October, 25 NGO leaders from across Ukraine attended the interactive management training sessions in Warsaw, Poland, designed to empower Ukrainian civil society amidst the ongoing war.
This marked the 13th NGO Leadership Workshop and the fifth held in Poland, offering critical support at a time of immense challenge. Participants traveled from across Ukraine to represent NGOs addressing critical war-time challenges, including documenting war crimes, human rights advocacy, veteran support, civic engagement, justice reform, policy change, memory preservation and emergency aid for internally displaced people.
Sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, in partnership with WDI, the workshop was organized in partnership with Hekima, a Slovakia-based NGO dedicated to empowering civil society leaders and activists, with a focus on addressing gender-specific challenges through entrepreneurship and education.
The five-day program in October began with an opening networking reception in downtown Warsaw. Throughout the week, training sessions focused on leadership, conflict resolution, social media strategies, resilience and preventing burnout. A cultural excursion to Warsaw’s Wilanów Palace allowed participants to explore the historic museum and gardens, offering time for reflection. The week concluded with a closing dinner at the picturesque Villa Foksal, attended by Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski.
Amy Gillett, WDI Vice President, Education, said for more than a decade the workshops have provided a unique experience for participants to network, learn and collaborate with instructors and fellow NGO Leaders. The focus specifically on Ukrainian nonprofits coping with the incredible strain of Russia’s invasion, highlights WDI’s commitment to providing professional education even in the most difficult of circumstances.
“These workshops go beyond just training – they’re a lifeline for leaders facing extraordinary challenges,” Gillett said. “The week also offers participants a much-needed respite from the war, providing a chance to recharge and reflect away from the daily stress and uncertainty in their country. We’re continually inspired by their resilience and determination, which motivates us as organizers to ensure these workshops provide meaningful support and opportunities for growth and networking.”
The next workshop will take place from May 26-30 in Bratislava, Slovakia. That program will be open to NGO leaders from 16 countries.
Learn more about the NGO Leadership Workshops here and download the full report on the latest workshop here.
Members of the WDI Energy and Mobility team meet with faculty and leadership at a lab at the Technological Institute of Monterrey—Chihuahua campus.
The next big energy and mobility technology breakthroughs can come from anywhere in the world, and many have their roots in university labs and research centers. Building on more than three years of collaboration, the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan (WDI) is partnering with multiple stakeholders in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico to create new pathways for energy and mobility tech innovations to leap from the lab to commercial application.
In partnership with the Chihuahua Secretaría de Innovación y Desarrollo Económico (SIDE), and nonprofit organizations Desarrollo Económico de Ciudad Juárez (DECJ) and Frente Norte, WDI will support select universities and research centers, working collaboratively to create customized commercialization roadmaps for each institution, as well as evaluate prototypes related to energy and mobility with commercial potential. These institutions initially will include Autonomous University of Ciudad Juárez (UACJ), Autonomous University of Chihuahua (UACH), Technological Institute of Ciudad Juárez (ITCJ), Center of Advanced Materials Research (CIMAV), and Technological Institute of Monterrey (ITESM) – Chihuahua and Ciudad Juárez campuses.
The commercialization project builds on the WDI/Chihuahua Charging Forward project. In that initiative and related work, WDI’s Energy & Mobility team and local economic development organizations worked with companies, researchers and innovators to identify opportunities related to the electric vehicle value chain. Through the collaboration, WDI facilitated multiple delegations from Mexico to U-M’s Ann Arbor campus as well as innovation hubs in Detroit. For example, in July 2024 WDI hosted engineering faculty from six different universities and research institutes in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, as part of the Zero-Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) academic partnership implemented by WDI with support from the U.S. Mission Mexico Public Diplomacy Section.
“It’s important for us to support local innovation and we are interested in novel approaches to help to commercialize promising technologies and solutions to energy and mobility challenges,” said Cynthia Lopez, Executive Director of DECJ. “We’re excited to again join forces with WDI to co-develop new collaborations with our local universities and research centers to help innovators and entrepreneurs advance their ideas, while helping our region compete.”
In addition to leveraging assets and resources already existing in Chihuahua, WDI brings substantive experience supporting commercialization of multiple technologies in low- and middle- income countries, and will draw on expertise and experience from the broader University of Michigan network. WDI previously has worked with faculty to commercialize clean energy innovations as well as with organizations such as Technological Institute of the Philippines, which recently partnered with WDI to develop a strategic roadmap for commercializing technologies produced through funded research and special projects.
“Commercializing technology innovations within university labs unlocks the potential to improve so many lives,” said Dana Gorodetsky, WDI Program Manager, Energy & Mobility. “WDI has a great track record in breaking down barriers, while also building up new networks to catalyze innovation and business development. We’re excited to begin this next phase of our partnership with the State of Chihuahua to support researchers looking to develop prototypes into products.“
WDI and the partners in Chihuahua will undertake the project in phases, starting with assessing what is already happening in Chihuahua and generating a state-level mapping of key academic commercialization activity, resources and gaps. WDI will support select universities or research centers by working collaboratively to create customized commercialization roadmaps for each institution, as well as profiles of relevant prototypes. Finally, WDI will work closely with innovators developing these prototypes to advance their commercialization, developing commercial feasibility reports and recommended next steps, involving students, faculty and researchers in the process.
Beyond advancing the commercial goals, WDI will apply a broader learning lens, working with participating universities and research centers to unlock new learning opportunities for all involved.
“The goal is to create new networks and expand capabilities at both the institutional and state level—regardless of the market outcomes of these technologies,” Gorodetsky added.
About WDI
At the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, unlocking the power of business to provide lasting economic and social prosperity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is in our DNA. We gather the data, develop new models, test concepts and collaborate with partners to find real solutions that lead to new opportunities.
About SIDE
SIDE, a government office of the State of Chihuahua, fosters and facilitates the economic development of Chihuahua, in coordination with economic actors, increasing the competitiveness of business through innovation, to generate wealth and employment, and enhance the quality of life for the people of Chihuahua.
About Frente Norte
Frente Norte is a smart specialization strategy for Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, intended to help the city focus its efforts and resources on a limited number of ambitious and achievable priorities that can promote economic competitiveness, as well as the well-being and integral sustainability of the region in an increasingly complex and uncertain global context.
Despite some cooling of electric vehicle sales in the U.S. market, emerging markets around the world are creating their own hot spots on the electrification journey. Whether it’s new educational initiatives to prepare future EV business leaders and automotive workers to new policies and investments designed to create new EV innovation and manufacturing hubs, there’s a lot to learn from a new generation of leaders and innovators across geographies. The William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan (WDI) invites you to a learning webinar featuring EV leaders in Costa Rica, Mexico and the Philippines. Each with a different market perspective, this public WDI discussion will reveal how emerging actors and new collaborations are energizing the EV value chain.
Octavio Jimenez
Founder and Current Executive Director of the CEA Institute and Motoschool in Costa Rica since 1999. Graduate in Educational Administration and Master’s in Business Administration in Costa Rica.
Cynthia López
Executive Director of Desarrollo Económico de Ciudad Juárez, a non-profit organization formed by the leaders of the top-performing companies in the region, aiming to enhance the quality of life for its residents and boost the economy of the Juárez-El Paso region. Cynthia is also a leader in the sustainable urban mobility movement in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
Audie Vergara
Executive Director of Apl.de.Ap Foundation International (APLFI), leading efforts to strengthen middle-class communities in the Philippines through workforce development and education aimed at advancing skills in electronics, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and electric vehicles.
Diana E. Páez
Senior Director, Energy & Mobility at WDI, helping energy and mobility businesses and stakeholders in low and middle-income countries take advantage of business opportunities and adapt to changes brought about by the energy transition. To do so, she leverages more than a decade of global development experience working with partners across government, private sector, academia, and civil society.
IKEA Foundation, KCIC, and WDI staffers meet waste management entrepreneur Muhammad Iqbal at his company, Green Shizuka, in Limuru, Kenya. Image courtesy of KCIC.
Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC) is a World Bank initiative spearheading the role of the private sector in climate change mitigation and adaptation in Kenya. The initiative includes an incubator and accelerator, supporting early-stage companies seeking to safeguard Kenya against the impacts of climate change. These businesses focus on renewable energy, agriculture, waste management, commercial forestry and water. Its Sustainable Waste Innovation for a Future in Transition program, or SWIFT, also targets small- and medium-sized enterprises in the waste management sector. Waste management is a climate change mitigation strategy; for example, diverting organic waste from landfills reduces the production of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Funded by the IKEA Foundation, the SWIFT program kicked off in November 2023. It provides business advice, financing, mentorship and technical assistance to 110 enterprises across Kenya. KCIC will also collaborate with the national government and five key counties, including Nairobi, to strengthen waste management policies and incentivize private sector participation in circular economy practices.
KCIC is partnering with the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan (WDI) on a three-year, quasi-experimental study to measure the impact of the SWIFT program. “We’re trying to solve compelling and complex problems. And there is always uncertainty when making grants regarding the quality of the intervention and the outside factors that may intervene,” said Nic van der Jagt, monitoring, learning and evaluation manager of employment and entrepreneurship at the IKEA Foundation. “By generating the evidence on the effectiveness of project interventions, we can reduce the risk in our grant making.”
As a research partner in many different sectors and geographies, the Performance Measurement and Improvement (PMI) team at WDI helps businesses and nonprofits harness data to improve operations, inform their strategies and measure impact to achieve commercial success. “Climate-related projects are an increasingly important component of our project portfolio,” said Heather Esper, Director of the PMI team. “We’re well-positioned to apply expertise across sectors, industries and contexts to the complex problems associated with climate change.”
WDI is applying principles of systems thinking to this evaluation by collaborating with entrepreneurs, funders, and senior and junior leadership in the design of the evaluation, and engaging in learning. During the research study design phase WDI incorporated perspectives, interrelationships and dynamics of various stakeholders in the theory of change, conceptual framework, indicator selection and survey development.
The process includes speaking with entrepreneurs about what outcomes matter most and limiting the administrative burden on businesses that are already stretched thin. WDI is working to ensure businesses are not burned out from answering too many survey questions — since these businesses often rely on multiple incubators or investors — each of whom make their own unique requests to provide data. Clear communication, conscious analysis of power dynamics, and an eye for bias are integral to a successful decolonized evaluation. To start, however, investors, accelerators and researchers need to shape their goals and practices around the people who will most benefit from these studies and the people from whom the data is requested.
Together, KCIC and WDI are working to develop an evaluation process that is culturally sensitive, stakeholder-inclusive, and accessible. “We are consistently focused on the needs of the enterprises we support and the goals we have for our communities. They are at the center of everything we do,” said Joseph Murabula, CEO of KCIC. “That must also be the case when it comes to research and evaluation, and this partnership with WDI, with their expertise and diligence, is making that happen.”
It’s critical that this research will contribute to the ecosystem and that the knowledge gained from these studies is widely distributed to anyone interested, versus kept behind paywalls. WDI commonly shares its experiences with other research, investment and development stakeholders. It co-creates research with a range of stakeholders, integrates lessons learned into its programming and other active and future projects, and hosts learning sessions that draw a global audience. As an example, WDI recently hosted a free webinar on decolonizing research — with members of this KCIC research project. In the webinar WDI shared practices to break down colonial research structures, empower local voices, and foster true collaboration and inclusivity for groundbreaking impact measurement.
We are consistently focused on the needs of the enterprises we support and the goals we have for our communities. They are at the center of everything we do. That must also be the case when it comes to research and evaluation, and this partnership with WDI, with their expertise and diligence, is making that happen.
An often under addressed challenge is ensuring adequate and engaged participation from the comparison group. This group consists of businesses that are not part of the SWIFT program but from whom we request data to measure impact. WDI and KCIC are actively incentivizing such enterprises to join the study and share their data. WDI understands the power of partnership and it turned to the KCIC communications, program and evaluation teams, all together, to collaboratively identify what would motivate businesses not in the SWIFT program.
It’s important that participating enterprises also gain something from the experience; in this case, they will get access to a slew of data that we hope will help them shape their business. For example, all participants received a benchmarking report based on the first tranche of data collected in April 2024. Additionally, KCIC is aiming to produce quarterly newsletters that tell stories about entrepreneur journeys and host in-person and online events.
Research into whether a particular accelerator and incubator program is successful typically relies on three indicators: revenue growth, job creation, and the ability to raise more funding, among participating companies.
However, on the SWIFT program, WDI’s impact measurement focuses not only on the jobs created but the quality of the jobs generated, compensation, including worker safety and other benefits supporting workers and their families. In addition to revenue, WDI is measuring skill development among workers, customer growth and innovative products and practices. Within capital raising, WDI is digging deeper to understand the financial instruments and investor networks that companies rely on. Additionally, WDI will explore how these outcomes differ by gender given that women are a key stakeholder in the waste management sector.
Ultimately, when research shifts to a more inclusive, comprehensive structure, everyone benefits. Researchers get the most rigorous and truthful data, allowing them to provide more useful analysis. Investors and funders watch their investments grow in the places most ripe for development. Incubators and accelerators find where their efforts create the greatest impact providing them with key insights to inform future strategies to grow businesses in this sector.
“What is really exciting about our research is that we are going beyond key performance indicators to understanding how companies are impacting their local economies and communities,” explained Yaquta Fatehi, program manager, WDI and lead researcher of this project. “Bringing this data to light will help unlock innovation and impact.”
Over the past 40 years, economic reforms and global trends have pushed Vietnam’s economy from one of the poorest in the world to a middle-income economy, according to the World Bank. In line with its continual and steady development, the country expects 5.5% growth in 2024, up from 5% in 2023. This expansion has put Vietnam well on its way to achieving its goal of becoming a high-income country by 2045.
WDI has managed programs in Vietnam for the last 20 years, as part of the Institute’s mission in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In 2004, the Institute hosted a six-week management education program for executives from Vinacomin, Vietnam’s national mining country. In 2017, MBA students from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan worked with Vietnam Partners LLC to develop a Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and a venture capital fund focused on start-ups. Another group of MBA students joined Solagron, a high-tech agricultural company that relies on solar energy to cultivate and process microalgae, in 2024 to build a market entry strategy.
“Vietnam has all the characteristics of a market perfect for WDI’s involvement,” said Amy Gillett, WDI Vice President of Education “Its economy is an innovative one. Its players want to diversify, support start-ups, and strengthen managerial skills, so it’s the ideal time for us to be there. There is massive potential.”
Over the last three years, WDI has been elevating Vietnamese business leaders’ skills through its Advanced Mini-MBA Program at the FPT School of Business & Technology (FSB). This partnership brings together educators and business leaders to expand participants’ management skills, bolster business education opportunities and encourage economic growth in the country.
“Helping countries transition from centrally planned economies to market economies is WDI to its essence,” Gillett said. “When you make that transition, you need to cultivate and rely on a new level of management skills. WDI is perfectly equipped to train business leaders in these important skills, whether it’s in Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa or Southeast Asia.”
Not only has the government supported economic growth in the country through improved infrastructure and healthcare, but the nation’s businesses have pushed for inventive ways to accelerate their industries. The country is experiencing a steady increase in GDP per capita and improved infrastructure access.
“Vietnam is an interesting setting for management training because of the unique characteristics of the business environment. The high degree of government participation in the economy, for example, means that a company’s go-to-market strategy must respect this government — or, even better, leverage the government participation for competitive advantage,” said John Branch, clinical associate professor of business administration at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. He teaches in the Mini MBA Program in both Vietnam and in Riga, Latvia.
The certificate program was co-developed by Gillett and David Estrada, WDI Education program administrator, specifically for the Vietnamese market. It digs into how to leverage these government relationships and requirements, and it also covers critical lessons on foundational business skills. WDI-affiliated faculty and FSB instructors teach executive students about strategy, sales management, marketing, finance, operations, entrepreneurship, leadership, negotiations, human resources and more. Through a combination of in-person and online sessions, the program pushes participants to focus on digital transformation, leadership expansion, practical decision-making and organizational-level thinking.
“The program is mutually beneficial,” said Nguyen Viet Thang, Dean of FSB. “WDI has brought us new values and perspectives, and having top WDI professors participate in teaching is a great benefit for Vietnamese students and faculty. Conversely, we hope WDI gains significant value in understanding the corporate management culture of Eastern countries in general and Southeast Asia in particular.”
Pictured from left to right: Dr. Nguyen Viet Thang, Dean of FPT School of Business & Technology of FPT University; Paul Clyde, Former President of WDI; Dr. Truong Gia Binh, Chairman and CEO of FPT Corporation; Bradley Lalonde, Co-founder and Chairman of Vietnam Partners LLC; Ha Nguyen, Academics Head of FPT School of Business.
WDI has brought us new values and perspectives, and having top WDI professors participate in teaching is a great benefit for Vietnamese students and faculty. Conversely, we hope WDI gains significant value in understanding the corporate management culture of Eastern countries in general and Southeast Asia in particular.
This year’s program will run from July through October 2024, and each module is deeply connected to real-world dilemmas and solutions. At the end of the program, participants complete a final group project around current management challenges they face in their own businesses. Participants are asked to consider a specific issue, analyze it, and formulate a practical solution. Groups then present their project, which includes market analysis, implementation plans and feasibility decisions, to the class. At the program’s culmination, participants receive a co-branded WDI-FSB certificate — emphasizing the deep value of these global relationships and cross-cultural educational opportunities.
“The WDI and FSB partnership is a win-win situation. It fosters knowledge exchange, expands access to valuable educational programs, and ultimately contributes to the development of a strong and globally competitive business community in Vietnam,” noted Bradley Lalonde, co-founder and chairman of Vietnam Partners LLC, in a recent business newsletter. Lalonde, a private equity and fund management expert who served as the first CEO of Citibank Vietnam, played an essential role in the development of the partnership program.
This unique FSB partnership program was created to strengthen both individual business skills and the larger economy. To achieve that goal, the curriculum is directed toward those in leadership roles – in many cases, the people driving the evolution of their industries. Participants in the program must have at least five years of management experience, and their expertise and sincerity show in their dedication to the course.
“What I admire in any learner is curiosity, and the Vietnamese learners in this program are especially curious,” Branch said. “They always ask questions. They try to dig deeper into the concept theories, and they want to see direct application to their own situations.”
For students, the program is an opportunity to learn from some of the best business faculty in the world, build a network of global business leaders and transform their own skills. For WDI, the program is a chance to bring its connections and educational prowess to a newly booming nation — an effort that aligns perfectly with its mission of unlocking the power of business to provide lasting economic and social prosperity.
“From my perspective, the partnership between WDI and FSB holds significant value for both institutions and, ultimately, for the business landscape in Vietnam,” said Lalonde.
ANN ARBOR, MI – The William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan is hosting a group of 12 engineering faculty from six different universities and research institutes in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, as part of a study visit to Michigan this week. The visit is part of the Zero-Emissions Vehicle (ZEV) academic partnership implemented by WDI with support from the U.S. Mission Mexico Public Diplomacy Section.
The shift to ZEVs means educational and training institutions around the world must adapt their curricula to better respond to the evolving talent needs of the automotive industry. Educators will need to develop new courses in emerging areas, update lab equipment and facilities for hands-on training and testing, and identify new research areas, WDI research shows.
With ZEV production growing across North America and around the globe and with many new players entering the industry, preparing the workforce that will enable this transition becomes crucial. In the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, which has a robust automotive manufacturing industry, several universities are interested in integrating ZEV-related content into existing courses and creating new ones, launching new areas of research, and establishing ZEV innovation centers to propel the state toward an electric future. Partnerships are vital for educational institutions in reaching these goals.
“We recognize that the ZEV industry requires a new generation of workers with different skills and competencies,” said Fernando Alba, Undersecretary for Energy, Mining and Industry of the State of Chihuahua. “Just as we provide the talent for the traditional automotive industry, we will be well positioned to support this shift to electrification in Chihuahua, a region known for its strong manufacturing base and skilled workforce. The ZEV academic partnership and our broader engagement with WDI are helping us access world-class expertise from Michigan and develop new academic and business collaborations.”
Within academic institutions, this shift is being felt in the classrooms, in the labs, and beyond—and key to the success of new endeavors is the faculty teaching, researching, and innovating in this space.
Before arriving in Michigan, ZEV program faculty participants completed a virtual program over the course of six months, which was designed by WDI and provided an overview of Michigan’s approach to developing ZEV talent, highlighting programs and initiatives from U-M and other players across the state.
The visit is providing an immersive experience for faculty by sharing teaching and research related to ZEVs in Michigan, with the goals of deepening their knowledge and seeding future collaborations in this area. Throughout the week, the group will tour the University of Michigan’s Battery and Auto Labs, the Ford Robotics Building, Mcity, and other U-M engineering facilities. The visiting faculty also will meet with students, including teams and clubs such as the U-M Solar Car team, U-M Electric Boat, Michigan Mars Rover team, Supermileage club and Michigan Climate Ventures.
“Universities and other educational institutions working to update their existing curricula or create new programs to develop ZEV talent will need faculty with the knowledge to teach this new content, said Diana E. Páez, Senior Director, Energy & Mobility. “This means that upskilling is not limited to industry—academia too must invest in preparing educators and researchers to teach and innovate around ZEV technology.”
Beyond U-M, the group also has the opportunity to learn about ZEV training programs offered at Washtenaw Community College and to connect with faculty and experts at Macomb Community College and tour its ZEV lab. Finally, the group is connecting with ZEV startups in Detroit and visiting Newlab, a hub for entrepreneurship and mobility innovation in the city.
Capping off the study visit, the participants are completing a technical training on vehicle electrification and battery systems taught by U-M Engineering faculty and organized by Nexus at U-M Engineering, delving deeper into the most important aspects of these technologies and acquiring relevant expertise and sample lessons to incorporate in their own teaching.
Equipped with enhanced technical knowledge on these topics and with the insights gleaned from their week in Michigan, faculty participants will next develop proposals for new project ideas or collaborations within and across their universities and with interested Michigan institutions. The proposals will focus on training, research or innovation related to ZEVs.
Participating engineering faculty hail from the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Universidad Politécnica de Chihuahua, Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Chihuahua, Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados, and Instituto Tecnológico de Ciudad Juárez.
The ZEV academic partnership builds on WDI’s ongoing collaboration with the Secretaría de Innovación y Desarrollo Económico (SIDE) and Instituto de Innovación y Competitividad (I2C) from the State of Chihuahua to help a wide range of stakeholders navigate the transition to electrification in the automotive industry.
With a growing middle class, early-stage frontier markets, enormous demographic advantages, and its ongoing digital transformation, Africa continues to grow in both economic and geopolitical importance. In “Demystifying Africa’s Risk Perception Premium,” Paul Clyde and co-authors make the case for a stronger U.S.- Africa trade and investment relationship, one that changes the narrative around doing business on the continent.
Time: 9 AM EDT / 4 PM EAT
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Location: Zoom
Incubators and accelerators play a critical role in the startup ecosystem by helping entrepreneurs become investment-ready and develop viable businesses. In this must-attend session for accelerators, incubators, entrepreneurs and their funders operating in the Global South, join us to discover how rigorous research fuels innovation in program design, supercharges operational improvements, and attracts more funding to this sector.
In this dynamic session, representatives from IKEA Foundation (Netherlands), William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan (WDI, USA) in collaboration with Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC, Kenya) and African Management Institute (AMI, Kenya) will share the following insights:
Please submit your questions in advance.
Patrice Gopo (left) and Minah Koela (right), who served as an interpreter in Cape Town for a WDI-funded project, with handbags made by local women business owners in South Africa.
Patrice Gopo knows better than most how deeply we’re all connected. Growing up in Anchorage, Alaska, the child of Jamaican immigrants, she spent a lifetime navigating the tensions of that experience. She lived for years in the Alaskan cold, surrounded by people who could never quite understand what it meant to be different in the way she was. She vacationed in Jamaica, playing with family who would never manage the complex social dynamics she did. She belonged in both places — and in neither. On top of that, her life “didn’t always align with the typical experience that Black Americans are handed in the U.S.,” she explained. This multiplicity formed her foundation and brought unavoidable questions of belonging, place and home — ones she’s been grappling with all her life.
She’s carried these questions through her Master’s degrees in business and public policy from the University of Michigan, through a global internship and an MBA project supported by the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan (WDI), and into her current career as an author.
Gopo grew accustomed to feeling like she belonged nowhere and everywhere all at once. Eventually, instead of seeing division in the differences, she started to find connection. She sewed these complicated layers into the fabric of her life, personally and professionally. She built a career across borders, joining cultures and communities to form her foundation. She wove together a family whose arms reach around oceans. She spent years finding ways to bring people together, lending the skills she learned as a student at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business to South African business women and giving voice to the experiences of cross-culture children through her writing.
With her childhood as her guide, her education at U-M as a bedrock and her passion for service as her North Star, Gopo has grown into an accomplished author. Her books cover global communities, racial identity and compassionate growth — and a fortuitous internship supported by WDI helped get her there.
Becoming a writer wasn’t a path Patrice envisioned for herself at the start of her career. She focused her first collegiate experience in science and earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. She spent a few years working as a development engineer at Eastman Kodak Company, working on some of the company’s technology products. Although she was in a creative occupation, Gopo (then Harduar) did not feel connected to the work.
She’d inherited a need to “add something beautiful to the world,” and she was still searching for her addition. Her father was a teacher and a principal; her mother was a school nurse. Both dedicated their lives to helping others thrive, and it was important to Gopo to find a path that did the same. “There was always this tug. How does this matter to others in the world?” she said. She didn’t feel it in the engineering world, though she sees how it’s possible now. “At the time, all I felt was this beating in my heart. I wanted to be doing more than just technical problem solving, and that’s what drew me to graduate school.”
She enrolled in the Master’s in Business Administration program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in 2004. While there, she added on a Master’s in Public Policy, set on using her degrees and skills to improve the lives of those struggling in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). “I was intent on working in microfinance and micro-entrepreneurship,” she said. “I was interested in the ways we could use business to alleviate issues of material poverty in the world.”
She was determined to make a difference in a substantial, lasting and thoughtful way, and she understood that this change wouldn’t come out of solutions placed on communities by outsiders. “In the past, we’ve approached addressing some of these issues in ways that didn’t empower people to take over their own destiny,” she explained.
At the time, WDI was providing student grants to support socially focused business endeavors in LMICs. Gopo was searching for a way to contribute to self-determined development, and she discovered it in South Africa — and then applied for WDI funding.
While still completing her studies, Gopo took the initiative to propose a WDI-sponsored internship with the nonprofit organization ServLife in 2007. Her assignment explored what women-owned small businesses needed as they grew their enterprises. She was asked to share her newfound MBA skills to help the group improve gender equity and economic development in the region.
In what felt like a powerful vote of confidence to Gopo, the Institute approved her request. She flew to Cape Town after graduation to join the effort and spent eight weeks meeting with women to build out their business plans. Together, they considered revenue plans, laid out expenses and navigated the critical business-building requirements of entrepreneurship in LMICs. “I was part of something larger,” she said. “It was something that was already organically happening within this country and this community. I was invited to come and take these skills I had in running a small business and help empower these women.”
I think the people who show up in business school, particularly those doing projects with WDI, have a desire to make a difference in the world, and that desire is going to follow people. It doesn’t always mean you have to stay in one space doing the same thing.
That moment, when Gopo was awarded funding from WDI, changed the trajectory of her entire life. It was more than a two-month internship. In South Africa, she saw what real impact efforts look like. She experienced, yet again, how deeply the world is intertwined. In a country far from where she was born, Gopo found a passion, a husband and, eventually, a career.
When she officially moved to South Africa to live with her husband, a Zimbabwean who was studying in the country at the time, she couldn’t work in business.
“I had all these skills. I had an MBA. I had a Master’s of Public Policy. What I didn’t have was a work permit. I wasn’t able to do any of the work I was trained to do at the time, and that’s when I started writing,” Gopo said.
It was a slow grind at first, finding spaces where she could lend her words. Eventually, she started to lean into the topics she knew best: identity, community and global connection.
Her first published work, All the Colors We Will See, dives into questions of intersecting heritages, race relations and complex identities through conversations about marriage, divorce, beauty and faith. Her second, Autumn Song: Essays on Absence, includes personal stories of loss, from dreams left to the wayside to older versions of ourselves who have disappeared. In it, she explores how she’s navigated grief, healing and change. Both compilations are deeply informed by her experience as a woman with intimate global ties.
Her children’s book, All the Places We Call Home, is a story about connection across borders, told through the universal topic of naps. It’s rooted in her own life — and now in the lives of her daughters. In it, a little girl is getting ready for bed with her mother and thinking about all the places around the world where she’s laid down her head to sleep. “I love this book because it’s telling a story that so many people have experienced, but it’s a story that has often been relegated to the margins,” Gopo said. “We don’t necessarily hear about families who have multiple ties to multiple parts of the world — or about the idea that home can feel fluid at times.”
Gopo’s writing is an exercise in togetherness, and it’s the next iteration of a long-held passion for uniting people toward a better future. In telling these stories, she says, “There’s power. There’s legacy. There’s identity. These things make us more confident and content in who we are and in our stories.”
Though her path may have diverted from those typically taken by business students, Gopo doesn’t believe there’s only one way to use the MBA degree. “I think the people who show up in business school, particularly those doing projects with WDI, have a desire to make a difference in the world, and that desire is going to follow people. It doesn’t always mean you have to stay in one space doing the same thing.”
Besides driving her toward her current career and family, Gopo’s time at the U-M taught her three important professional lessons. First, she now takes an active role in how her writing is released to the public. She identifies her target market, considers who would be interested in her stories and determines the value proposition of her work. On top of that, she carries the confidence she gained in Ann Arbor with her. At U-M, she was encouraged to try new things, test out solutions and adapt after lessons. She brings that surety into her writing career, pushing the bounds of her topics and how she reaches people. Finally, at Ross, there was constant encouragement to press on and improve issues of inequity and underdevelopment.
“That all still shows up in my writing because I’m the same person. I’m still a person who cares about what’s happening around me. I am this person who is asking questions and seeking answers, interested in issues of justice and how we think about that,” she said.
Gopo said her U-M and WDI experiences continue to crop up her professional life. The support she felt when she was provided that funding has given her the confidence to apply for more over the years. Gopo recently received a Cultural Vision Grant from the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte Mecklenburg County to implement a local public library program about sharing personal stories. “I created this program to draw people together through community, recognize the things we have in common and see the ways our journeys differ such that we can build greater understanding,” she said. “It may not necessarily be global, but it connects to my goal of empowering people to flourish in their lives.”
Gopo continues to explore the beauty of a multifaceted life through her writing, her podcast Picture Books Are for Grown-Ups Too! and her community work. Her books are available to purchase at Shelves, Main Street Books or Park Road Books.
Author headshot by Allie Marie Smith
Time: 8 AM EDT / 3 PM EAT / 5:30 PM IST
Date: Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Location: Zoom
Private sector innovation is a cornerstone of the efforts to bring clean cooking to the over 2.3 billion people worldwide who presently lack it.
The Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) has supported over 25 clean cooking companies through its Venture Catalyst program, which helps firms attract investors, and grow their leadership and technical capacity to scale. Supported companies like BioLite, BURN Manufacturing, KOKO Networks and Sistema.bio have brought different product and business strategy innovations to the forefront. These include high-tech solutions like electric induction cookers, new fuels such as ethanol, targeted marketing, and business model solutions such as special purpose financing vehicles, carbon financing, and pay-as-you-go customer financing mechanisms.
The April 16 discussion, “Front Burner: How Business Model Innovation is Driving the Clean Cooking Industry,” will be hosted by the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan (WDI), and will feature panelists from CCA and these four trailblazing clean cooking companies with operations in multiple countries. Panelists will share their strategies for growing market size and scale, as well as barriers and enablers to implementing innovation. To learn more about the state of the clean cooking industry, click here for the CCA’s 2023 Annual Report.
WDI is supporting the learning objectives of the Clean Cooking Alliance Market Strengthening Program by developing innovative methods to measure the effectiveness of market strengthening interventions. The Institute is providing programmatic and data support, informing programmatic adaptations and pivots, and contributing to knowledge products targeting clean cooking enterprises, funders, policymakers and other stakeholders.
