Banorte Bank is the primary subsidiary of Grupo Financiero Banorte, one of Mexico’s largest and oldest financial institutions and has been present in Mexico since 1899. Student intern Sophia Kittler designed financial products for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) owned by women.
Village Capital uses the power of peer support to build enterprises that change the world. Inspired by the concept of the “village bank” in microfinance and peer support groups, Village Capital puats the hard tasks of building companies (i.e. criticism, strategy, feedback, and legwork) in the hands of entrepreneurs. They organize cohorts worldwide and run education programs focused on intensive peer review. Student intern Jon Keesecker conducted a market analysis to answer several key questions: What are the major opportunities and risks that social enterprises face in Myanmar? How can challenges be overcome? How can investment capital have the greatest impact?
The Washington, D.C.-based Grassroots Business Fund (GBF) is a not-for-profit organization that uses a venture capital approach to support businesses in developing countries that provide sustainable economic opportunities to thousands of people at the Base of the Economic Pyramid. Student intern Owen Henkel worked with one of GBF’s portfolio companies, Corredor Agro, to implement a cost effectiveness analysis for a new capital expenditure, and also created a baseline survey regarding crop yields.
The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to strengthening integrated health systems in the developing world and expanding access to care and treatment for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. CHAI’s solution-oriented approach focuses on improving market dynamics for medicines and diagnostics; lowering prices for treatment; accelerating access to life saving technologies; and helping governments build the capacity required for high quality care and treatment programs. Student intern Amy Hendricks worked with the global- and country-based malaria teams to investigate whether limited access to capital affects markups and other costs throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Village Capital uses the power of peer support to build enterprises that change the world. Inspired by the concept of the “village bank” in microfinance and peer support groups, Village Capital puts the hard tasks of building companies (i.e. criticism, strategy, feedback, and legwork) in the hands of entrepreneurs. They organize cohorts worldwide and run education programs focused on intensive peer review. Student intern Patrick Huang worked to identify partner organizations to collaborate with Village Capital, conducted due diligence in identifying promising entrepreneurs who are driven to alleviate poverty or reduce environmental impact, built capacity of those entrepreneurs in developing business plans, and obtained investments to increase scale.
Vittana is a Seattle-based nonprofit that facilitates microloans to students in developing countries. Vittana aims to help students worldwide attend post-secondary schools. Donors offer to pay for students’ tuition by lending them small amounts — typically $25-50. Student repayment rate is 99 percent. Student intern Nour Shammout evaluated the successes and challenges of Vittana’s current student load products to determine the appropriate strategic approach for modifying existing loan products and scaling student microloan programs in Jordan.
Global Entrepreneurship Program Indonesia (GEPI) aims to catalyze Indonesia’s entrepreneurship strategies by working in partnership with existing programs and linking aspiring Indonesian entrepreneurs to global developments and investment prospects. Ross student intern Mesbah Ahmad assisted in developing the business model for an incubator in Indonesia. He also worked on an investment program to catalyze funding for up to five social enterprises focused on sustainability and social impact. Ahmad also conducted due dilligence on several social enterprises.
WDI’s Performance Measurement and Improvement team, together with Good Business Lab, will conduct an ex-post evaluation of TechnoServe business accelerator programs that have operated in Chile, Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama since 2008. Using WhatsApp and phone interviews to collect data from program participants, we seek to estimate the sustainability of the programs’ impact on the entrepreneurs and their businesses.
Acumen Fund aims to create a world beyond poverty by investing in social enterprises, emerging leaders, and breakthrough ideas. Ross student Rakesh Bajaj’s internship was a continuation of a 2011 WDI Multidisciplinary Action Project (MAP) which was a comprehensive analysis of the regulatory environment in the education sector in India. The analysis was in advance of potential Acumen investments of over $6 million in the education sector with specific focus on private schools, school services and vocational training serving low-income populations in India. Bajaj sourced new deals by interacting with entrepreneurs and investment bankers; conducted due diligence of potential investments based on the internal social and financial metric developed by Acumen; maintained a log of meetings and conversations with entrepreneurs and sector experts; and worked with Acumen’s legal counsel to close an investment deal if the company decided to move forward with an investment.
Druk Holding & Investments (DHI), established by Royal Charter by the King of Bhutan, holds and manages commercial companies of the government, makes new investments, raises funds and promotes private sector development. Ross School student intern Jofresh Labiano did an analysis to see if DHI could leverage any potential synergies from its portfolio of companies to control operational costs. She also did a trend analysis of major costs across seven DHI companies. Labiano identified controllable costs and made recommendations for cost controls and savings.