Social Enterprise Initiative

Summer Associates


2008 Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship Summaries

Click on organization name for summaries.

Ashoka

Kalpana Beesabathuni
This summer I worked with Ashoka on their Housing–For–All initiative in India. I assessed low–income housing markets in urban and rural areas – critical market failures along the housing value chain in the provision of goods and services to low income populations; initiatives of government, private and citizen sectors in addressing these failures; analysis of housing finance products and identification of potential partners along the housing value chain. Interacting with slum dwellers, the stars of the citizen sector and applying what I had learned at HBS for analyzing the housing market has been a memorable and fulfilling experience.

Asian Development Bank

John Chesser
My Summer Fellowship was a unique experience working on staff–level development projects at the Asian Development Bank. The Bank is based in the Philippines, which is a beautiful location. I was focused on clean energy and growth projects in emerging Asian markets. I was part of an intern class with MBAs from Chicago, Cornell and others schools. After three months working in the Philippines, we formed friendships based on the shared experience of living in a new country. If you are interested in doing development work in Asia and building lasting friendships with people that have a common interest, the Asian Development Bank is a great place. As a result of this summer experience, I'm actively seeking post–MBA employment involving either clean energy or economic policy in developing countries.

Bankable Frontier Associates

Mark Younger
This summer afforded me the privilege to work with Bankable Frontier Associates, a Boston consulting firm specializing in financial inclusion for the poor. Principally, we recommend strategies for companies to use cell phone banking to extend savings, loans, and insurance into rural areas of developing countries. I spent three weeks with banks and telecom clients in Malawi, South Africa, and Kenya. The business cases I produced were used to inform clients and lead a Gates Foundation workshop on rural savings in Tanzania. Concurrently, I worked for an African government to design a new social transfer payment initiative for poor and marginalized populations. Mobile banking is a field with fascinating potential, given the widespread ownership of cell phones worldwide, even among the poor.

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Anne Conry
This summer, I spent eight weeks working at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston on a joint project between the departments of Anesthesia and Trauma, Burn, and Surgical Critical Care. The goal was to improve outcomes for patients undergoing emergency surgery by standardizing the management of these patients and creating a highly–skilled team with an explicit focus on caring for emergent surgical patients. I had the opportunity over the course of the summer to work closely with physicians in order to fully grasp the details of the surgical process, as well as to better understand the business processes of the hospital. I was also able to witness several procedures and was exposed to some of the issues that make healthcare both challenging and exciting. Overall, it was a great experience, which greatly informed my future work in healthcare and hopefully enabled me to impact the care of surgical patients here in Boston.

Daniel Ling
This past summer I completed a 10–week internship at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) in Boston, MA. I worked within the Department of Surgery, specifically on acute care surgery and its associated perioperative care. My project focused on trying to close the gap between outcomes for acute care surgery patients with a lead time of 24 hours or less and elective patients scheduled days to weeks prior, through both decreasing the variability and uncertainty in the process and bringing the quality of patient care to an even higher level. I was involved with all aspects of the project, including mapping process flows to identify problem areas, interviewing numerous surgeons and anesthesiologists, developing a vision for an IT system of the future, and evaluating data needs for validation of our goals. The team I worked with at BWH was extremely friendly and helpful, and gave me interesting assignments with a high level of independence and responsibility. The physicians and staff I interviewed and asked for help were all very generous with their time and thoughts. For a medical student more immersed in clinical considerations, it was enlightening to see the other issues that impact healthcare delivery, and the many challenges faced by healthcare organizations going forward.

Calvert Foundation

Amanda Kalin
I spent ten weeks this summer interning with Calvert Social Investment Foundation ("Calvert Foundation"), an organization that channels debt and equity capital to underserved individuals across the world in order to foster a more equitable and sustainable society. Calvert's capital, raised through the sale of electronically traded investment notes, helps to finance social enterprises, micro–credit institutions, affordable housing, fair trade cooperatives and community development financial institutions ("CDFI'S"). I worked in the Lending and Advisory Service team to identify new investment opportunities and support the $130 million portfolio. I had the opportunity to work on several meaningful projects this summer:

  • I underwrote an equity investment in a new industry initiative to provide currency hedging and related services to microfinance institutions
  • I recommended entry into the "green category," tying triple bottom line results (financial, social and environmental returns) to Calvert Foundation's mission to alleviate poverty
  • I revised the Social Enterprise risk scoring model, a framework used to assess the credit risk of for–profit and non–profit small to medium enterprises that support a social mission
It was an incredible learning experience and confirmed to me that appropriately channeled capital and support can empower entrepreneurs to be agents of change.

Sharon Muentener
I spent the summer working at Calvert, a socially responsible mutual fund. The firm is currently working to more closely integrate its social research division into its equity research functionality. Historically, fund management has been outsourced and outside managers created portfolios from socially screened stock lists. Over the summer Calvert launched its first in–house managed fund as an experiment of how close ties between equity research and social research could better decision making. I started the summer screening consumer staples companies from both equity and social criteria for inclusion in the new fund. After fund launch I maintained financial coverage of three industries: consumer, technology, and materials, and worked closely with the social research analyst to monitor the performance of our holdings in those industries.

CancerScan

Jun Fukuyoshi
The mission of our venture, CancerScan, is to "reduce the number of people who die of cancer". We focused on cancer screening services, especially the breast cancer screening in Japan and started our market research. In Japan, the screening rate of breast cancer among women above 40s is only 20% (compared to US at 70%). With many researches and interviews to consumers, medical check–up service providers and professionals including medical doctors and politicians, we have concluded that the issue that is causing such a low screening rate in Japan is a MARKETING issue, not a MEDICAL issue. It is all about 'creating awareness' and 'increasing the accessibility.'

Since it is a marketing issue, our knowledge learned at HBS should work. We developed a business model and assembled the team to tackle this marketing issue. We founded and officially registered CancerScan as a company during this summer, and two people are now committed to continuing this venture: one is me, Jun Fukuyoshi (MBA class of 2008) and another is Yoshiki Ishikawa (Harvard School of Public Health class of 2008). We are aiming at expanding our business to China as soon as we establish our business in Japan, because the cancer is now a critical issue in China.

Charter School Growth Fund

Karibu Nyaggah
This summer, my experience at the Charter School Growth Fund opened my eyes to social enterprise in a way I did not envision before joining HBS. It's easy to assume that non‐profits are full of do‐gooders who could care less about the bottom line. These assumptions were shattered during my tenure at the Charter School Growth Fund as I discovered an organization that paid close attention to investment fundamentals as it focused intensely on social impact and achieving intended outcomes.

This summer, I applied sound business principles and rigorous analysis to make a tremendous difference in the American education system. This internship validated the importance of the non‐profit sector to society and highlighted the impact business leaders and HBS continue to make to the valuable organizations committed to making a difference in the world.

City of Baltimore

Garrett Smith
I had the opportunity to spend my summer as a Baltimore City Mayoral Fellow working in the Baltimore City Public Schools' Central Office. I worked in an office called SchoolStat, a small office dedicated to data analysis, accountability, and performance improvement for the school system. As a member of this team, I worked on a variety of projects that enabled me to learn about the work of a large urban school district. One of my projects involved helping to open four new alternative schools in a 90–day timeframe. This project quickly gave me an appreciation for the tremendous amount of work that is required to effectively create a new school. A second project was to conduct a review of the Office of Suspension Services, the office that handles the review of all long term suspensions and expulsions in the district. My task was to review the process and procedures of the office, analyze best practices from other districts, and make recommendations for improving the performance of the Office. Overall, my summer was extremely challenging and extremely rewarding.

City of Chicago Mayor's Office

Randy Goldstein
My summer with the City of Chicago Mayor's Office gave me the opportunity to work on a variety of public policy projects and learn from one of the country's most successful municipal leaders, Mayor Richard M. Daley. Between the ongoing bid for the 2016 Olympic Games and the impending $420 million budget deficit, this summer was certainly an interesting time to work in City Hall. My particular projects were varied, but included developing an aspect of the Olympics bid, helping to devise a management plan for the ongoing operations of the city's $100 million Chicago Riverwalk project, and analyzing inefficiencies and potential improvements in the city's online payments infrastructure. Beyond these projects, I also had the opportunity to learn about various city departments through regular meetings with members of Mayor Daley's cabinet and enjoyed "behind the scenes" tours of the facilities that keep Chicago functioning smoothly.

City of New York Mayor's Office of Operations

Catherine Wise
My internship in the Mayor's Office of Operations was an exhilarating exercise in diving into a completely unfamiliar situation with no idea what to expect. The Office of Operations focuses on increasing transparency and accountability. It emphasizes cooperation and strives to increase and improve coordination between City agencies. I was responsible for a project to help City agencies reduce and prevent outstanding property violations. I also contributed to two other initiatives. The first sought to increase the efficiency of the Graffiti Free NYC program and the second re–examined the effectiveness of New York City Charter Section 195 which mandates the process for City agencies to lease office space. I gathered tremendously valuable lessons in how to think analytically and creatively, mobilize diverse populations and synthesize large amounts of information into a cohesive whole.

Dalberg Global Development Advisors

Kirsten Porter
Before joining Dalberg Global Development Advisors for the summer I knew there was a distinct lack of management consultant support in the development space. What I didn't know was how significantly you can redress that gap when you take former Bain & Company, BCG and McKinsey consultants, throw them into a creative and entrepreneurial environment and ask them to tackle the world's largest economic, social and political problems.

Marcela Rodrigues
Dalberg is an international development consulting firm that usually hires consultants with experience in top–tier consulting firms. I did my summer at the DC office and my client was a major multi–lateral organization. Using private sector jargon, my project can be described as a post merger integration of 30 different organizations present in virtually all developing countries in the world. I spent the first part of my summer leading teams of experts who were developing a change management toolkit that will guide country teams throughout the integration process. The second part of my summer was spent in Cape Verde, a former Portuguese colony in West Africa and one of the pilot countries of this project. My job was to help the country staff understand and solve the key problems that arose from a badly performed integration effort. I was so satisfied with the experience that I often wished I could stay longer. DC is a great city to live. It is very international, has great weather, beautiful parks/monuments, and a calm and respectful culture that Sao Paulo (my home town) will never have. People at the office were awesome. They knew I was alone, so I was constantly invited to their houses, personal social events, etc. I absolutely loved the work. The tasks are similar to the ones I used to perform at BCG and Bain, but knowing that I am working to improve the living conditions of citizens of developing countries motivates me more than any financial incentive.

Education Pioneers

Kimberly Burns, Teach for America
Education Pioneers is a human capital organization that gathers graduate students from all different disciplines to learn about the many aspects of education reform throughout the summer while placing students with various education–related organizations for a summer project. My placement with Teach For America provided an entrepreneurial and rewarding internship experience. Teach For America is a leading non–profit organization that builds a highly selective corps of outstanding recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in pursuit of education excellence and equity.

At Teach for America, I worked as the second half of a two–person team to launch the new Greater Boston Region. Specifically, I led Teach For America's efforts to develop a strategy for corps member certification, including analysis of the various pathways to educator licensure in Massachusetts, evaluation of Teach For America's progress to date, recommendation of desired path to licensure for teachers across all content areas and licensure categories, and execution of programmatic design based on that recommendation. This strategy will be instrumental in accelerating the launch of the Boston region and ensuring that highly qualified corps members are placed in Boston classrooms.

Stephen Chan, Boston Public Schools
I spent my summer helping the Office of Human Resources Recruiting Team analyze past data to understand what types of recruiting activities yield high–quality, diverse candidates for critical needs teaching positions in a cost–effective manner. With this knowledge of past activities in mind, I functioned as consultant, researcher, and group facilitator to help the team agree on a focused set of goals and indicators of success. These targets will guide future work plans by serving as a rubric for the team to prioritize and allocate resources across successful existing activities and promising new initiatives. I also reviewed the District's substitute management program by analyzing a survey of current substitutes to understand potential areas of improvement and made recommendations for program re–design. This summer helped me understand the financial and operational challenges of improving human capital development, performance accountability, facilities management, and community relations. The summer also allowed me to explore a potential career trajectory that could utilize my business management and public policy training to help accelerate the pace of urban education reform, a cornerstone for ensuring equal opportunity.

Justin Steele, Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL)
Building Educated Leaders for Life (BELL) works to increase the scholarly achievements, self–esteem and life opportunities of children living in low–income, urban communities through the delivery of high impact after school and summer educational programs. They currently serve over 12,000 "scholars" in five U.S. Cities. I spent the summer working for BELL's Chief Operating Officer on three separate projects. The first project required me to take historical revenue and expense data from BELL's accounting systems and build up market–by–market P&L's. This analysis was used to identify the key drivers of financially self sustaining markets and provide the foundation for a predictive financial model to evaluate new market opportunities. The second project focused on BELL's branding campaign. I conducted a marketing analysis to inform the Board's decision about potential changes to BELL's brand name and logo. The third project involved evaluating child care vouchers as a potential funding stream for BELL's after school and summer programs. I researched the administration and regulation of the vouchers and analyzed the trade–offs of pursuing this funding.

Natasha Telesford, New Profit Inc.
As an Education Pioneer at New Profit Inc., I spent my summer deepening my understanding of the Education industry and sustainable nonprofit models. New Profit Inc. provides multi–year financial and strategic support to a portfolio of social entrepreneurs working in education, workforce development, healthcare, and other areas. Throughout the summer, I assisted portfolio managers to deliver portfolio management services to Stand for Children, Project HEALTH and Achievement First. Specifically, I assisted with the development of growth plans and participated in strategic planning. In addition to supporting individual organizations, I conducted research to determine key characteristics of sustainable business models and competitive compensation plans that attract and retain high quality talent.

Carter Romansky, Boston Public Schools
I was lucky enough to spend my summer with Boston Public Schools' Division of Early Childhood. In the midst of scaling up to offer universal pre–kindergarten to all four–year–olds in the city, the Department has grown substantially over the last three years. I spent about half of my time this summer working with the Director of Early Childhood and other members of the department to design an annual planning and project management system. This system will enable the department to stay focused on its most important performance metrics as it continues to grow. In addition, the department is in the process of developing a new, comprehensive curriculum for all kindergarten classrooms. I spent the second half of my summer exploring opportunities to partner for the national publication of this curriculum. This type of partnership would streamline the development and production of the curriculum, as well as generate revenue for the district. Working for BPS was a tremendous opportunity to grow and learn. I worked with a fantastic group of colleagues, applied countless lessons from the HBS classroom, and participated in the Education Pioneers Fellowship program, which provided excellent opportunities to meet other talented individuals interested in education.

Neeti Shah, Citizen Schools
I had the opportunity to work with Citizen Schools, a national nonprofit, this summer. Citizen Schools runs an educational after–school program for at–risk, middle–school students. The cornerstone of its model is Apprenticeships, during which community volunteers teach the kids 21st century skills through hands–on learning projects. The organization depends on the continued support and cooperation of corporate and nonprofit partners as a sustainable source of funding, volunteers, and other valuable resources. While I worked on several projects during the course of the summer, my main project involved developing a partnership strategy to accommodate the organization's aggressive 5–year growth plan. The end deliverables included a standardized prioritization rubric to help the organization maximize its return on time invested in forging new partnerships; a recommendation of 1–2 potentially lucrative relationships that should be pursued at a national level; and a new cross–functional/cross–regional account management structure to help foster greater organizational synergy in partnership cultivation.

Endeavor

Carles Cros Segura, ALTO, Chile
Endeavor is a US–based non–profit organization that strives to promote entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Currently, Endeavor is present in 10 countries around the globe and it has plans to expand into 15 new markets within the next 5 years. Through them, I worked for Jorge Nazer, entrepreneur who leads ALTO, a Chilean company focused on solving the social issue of theft in retailers mainly through legal prosecution.

In a context of increasing client dissatisfaction and high risk of competitors' entry, I helped ALTO develop a new value proposition. More specifically, I had to undertake different tasks to achieve the final recommendation:

  • Led a market research study jointly with an external firm to better understand the needs of ALTO's clients
  • Datamined the database to identify theft patterns that could classify our clients better
  • Analyzed the profitability of each client to understand cost and value drivers
  • Understood potential competitive threats from substitute service company's (law and security firms)

Chris Tyler, Yemeksepeti, Turkey
I spent my summer working for Endeavor, a US–based nonprofit that helps support high impact entrepreneurs in emerging economies. Endeavor was able to offer me the opportunity to work for a socially responsible company and gain experience in the technology sector. I spent my summer in Istanbul working for yemeksepeti.com, an e–commerce platform for delivery restaurants in Turkey. Yemeksepeti was founded seven years ago and has been very successful in Turkey. I used my experience as a consultant to help them formulate and execute an international expansion strategy. My summer experience made me sure that I would like to work for a start–up company in the technology sector. It also showed me that I need to have a career that produces a positive social impact as well as profits. I was happy that our expansion efforts will be able to accelerate job creation in the countries we decided to expand to. Finally, my internship helped me realize how much I had learned at HBS. Having the chance to apply my new skills makes me excited to come back to school next year and continue my learning.

Feed Resource Recovery

Meredith Lobel
I had the privilege of working at Feed Resource Recovery ('Feed'), developing markets for an innovative, clean–tech start–up converting supermarket waste into clean energy & organic fertilizer. Not only does Feed reduce the environmental impact of transporting waste, but it also produces clean energy that supermarkets can harness and fertilizer that local farmers can access affordably. I collaborated with the cofounders to understand the local fertilizer market and improve its manufacturing supply chain. I also interfaced closely with the customer, designing a process for supply and distribution that was conducive to both their and our needs. Working across multiple fields (i.e., engineering, operations, and strategy) gave me great insight into the exciting yet complex nature of an environmentally–focused start–up. This experience was a concrete extension of my past experience with social entrepreneurs at Ashoka and allowed me to practice–and adapt–many of the business school tools to a burgeoning social venture. Most importantly, the project supported the organization's mission to find economically viable ways to reduce and convert waste into nutrients for local farms, thereby transforming an environmental liability into an asset.

Global Citizen Year

Abigail Falik
This summer, with the generous support of the HBS Social Enterprise Fellowship I have been able to commit myself full–time to the task of laying the groundwork for Global Citizen Year – a new social venture I designed while at HBS, and which I am now preparing to launch. Since graduating in June, I have had dozens of conversations with key stakeholders and potential partners in New York, Boston, DC and San Francisco; participated in high–level conversations hosted by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund on the future of the Peace Corps, and the Brookings' Institution on International Volunteer Service; and, conducted a series of site visits at high–performing non–profit organizations including City Year, Teach for America, and Canada World Youth to refine my understanding of 'best practices' in the field. My job has felt like that of a detective – interviewing, observing, listening and learning in order to design an innovative approach to address the clear market gap in the global youth service field. I have recently arrived in San Francisco where I am setting up our offices and operations, and preparing for the formal launch of Global Citizen Year this fall.

Imagine Election

Summer Nemeth
Imagine Election addresses a profound problem in our democracy: most voters know almost nothing about their elected representatives at the state and local level. Imagine Election is an online service that enables voters to quickly and easily find out about candidates in local races, by providing personalized ballots and candidate information based on a user's address. This summer, I founded the enterprise, completed development of a website targeting Massachusetts as a trial market, and began to market the website to political organizations, candidates, and voters statewide.

Intermountain Healthcare

Brad Barkin
I spent 11 weeks at the Salt Lake City headquarters of Intermountain Healthcare, a community–owned system of nonprofit hospitals and clinics primarily in Utah. This summer internship directly supported my long–term career interest in healthcare delivery. I selected Intermountain Healthcare because of the organization's strong track record of performance along multiple dimensions: operational efficiency, clinical outcomes, and success in rolling out major change initiatives. My supervisor (Dr. Brent James) and his team at the Intermountain Institute for Health Care Delivery Research have a national reputation for innovation in clinical process design, analysis, and teaching. I specifically focused on developing a set of ongoing management tools that integrate financial and clinical information. In the process I incorporated insights from cost accounting, payer contracting, and clinical outcomes reporting. My colleagues at Intermountain were extremely gracious with their time and open in sharing information. They consistently exhibited their dedication to Intermountain's stated mission of "providing high quality care, regardless of patients' ability to pay."

Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress

Luke Fuszard
In ten weeks this summer I had the great privilege to work for the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress. While serving as a Policy Analyst Summer Fellow, I dealt with a wide variety of topics and projects. Throughout my time I was asked to collaborate with senior economists to diagnose the current financial condition of the country and to formulate policies and proposals to put the country on the right track. Additionally I briefed Congressional liaisons for the ten Senators and 10 Congress–people that currently hold membership in the JEC. These members include Senators Robert Casey, Jim Webb, Sam Brownback and Jim DeMint. The total economic impact of the legislation I handled was approximately $3 trillion, almost one quarter of the nation's real Gross Domestic Product. My summer culminated in the formulation and execution of a JEC hearing on the high cost of prescription drugs, chaired by Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. At that hearing we called expert witnesses to testify, including the mother of a child with severe Epilepsy who recounted her tales of fighting to save her son's life while on a mission with her husband in Africa. The hearing received considerable press and resulted in legislation authored by Senators Klobuchar and Charles Schumer of New York to address this glaring need.

LA County Department of Health Services

Tina Wu
The Social Enterprise Fellowship allowed me to work at the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (LADHS) this summer. The Los Angeles County public healthcare system, often called the Safety Net, serves more than 10 million residents. By utilizing my medical and business background, I worked on many issues that directly affected Los Angeles County physicians and patients. To help recruit and retain qualified physician leaders, I budgeted and wrote a grant for an inaugural Physician Leadership Training. To lessen the debt burden on physicians, I worked on connecting the county hospital administrators with State and Federal loan repayment programs. After receiving approval to initiate a physician pay–for–performance program, I researched and developed performance measures in order to reward high performing physicians. In addition, I was able to contribute to the patient overflow contingency plan for the new Los Angeles County–University of Southern California Hospital. It was a busy and exciting summer and I am very grateful for the Social Enterprise Fellowship for allowing me to contribute to such an important organization.

Liberian Ministry of Internal Affairs

Shireen Santosham
This past summer, I had the incredible opportunity to work for the national Government of Liberia. I reported directly to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ambulai Johnson. The experience of working at such a high level of government within a developing country is one that fundamentally shifted my perspective about the challenges faced by so many people around the world and the dynamics between rich and poor countries. My primary project was to review the local development strategy put forth by the President's office in the national Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and translate these mandates into a strategic plan for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to implement local and community development initiatives. Additionally, I looked at the decentralization of the national government to help build local government capacity in addition to writing various ad hoc projects and policy memos as requested by the Minister.

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Mendi Blue
This summer I had the exciting opportunity to work for Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. in a internal strategic consulting role. As a member of the executive strategy group, I engaged in projects under the leadership of senior management and the President of Lincoln Center. I worked on seven distinct projects, including two group projects with the other HBS summer fellows. I had the opportunity to utilize many of my MBA skills, as well as a number of my legal skills, because the work spanned multiple functional areas, such as marketing, public relations, finance, legal, fundraising and strategic development. The work also spanned a wide range of business stages such as devising new business initiatives, budgeting, implementation and helping with ongoing operations. Given the project variety, I was able to develop a better sense of the job functions for which I am best suited and the role of arts management and non–profit work in my professional future. I would recommend the Lincoln Center summer fellowship to HBS students hoping to have an enjoyable, diverse, interesting and personally informative experience.

Shilla Kim–Parker
I spent my Lincoln Center summer fellowship working on various strategic initiatives under the direction of Mr. Reynold Levy, Lincoln Center's president. My projects including working closely with the CFO on issues surrounding the negotiations, operation and construction of a new destination restaurant; analyzing the current guided tour program and assessing opportunities to incorporate digital media; enhancing the acquisition strategy for donors across the nation; examining ways to leverage the organization's embedded knowledge regarding arts management and dispensing it to the greater public; creating a strategy to enhance the income from the prestigious List Print and Poster program; and maximizing revenue from Lincoln Center's rental facilities. This fellowship is incredibly unique in its frequent exposure to senior management and the board of directors, the wide diversity of projects, and the high level of responsibility afforded to its fellows.

Chris Minev
This past summer, I had the pleasure of working at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. The Lincoln Center campus is comprised of the largest and most diverse group of performing arts organizations in the world, ranging from the Metropolitan Opera to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Like my overall experience at Lincoln Center, the assortment of projects I worked on was incredibly diverse. I helped create a new partnership with the Cleveland Clinic, along with an implementation plan to stream Lincoln Center performances into the hospital setting. Working closely with the CFO, I analyzed and revised revenue forecasts for Lincoln Center's parking garage and developed a marketing plan to expand the customer base. Other projects included developing a digital media strategy for Lincoln Center's new Information Landscape and creating an operational model for the new visitor center. As Lincoln Center is in the midst of a massive redevelopment of its campus, this summer was a superb time to be a Lincoln Center intern.

M.A.C. AIDS Fund

Jessica Stannard–Friel
This summer, I interned with the MAC AIDS Fund, the philanthropic foundation at Estee Lauder–owned MAC Cosmetics. My internship consisted primarily of completing two discrete projects: 1) I designed a process for selecting the Fund's geographic focus areas and used it to recommend a small group of target countries. 2) I completed the first phase of an updated market plan for the Fund's grantmaking in South Africa, a critical country for MAF. In addition to these two core projects, I completed a number of smaller projects and participated in the group's day–to–day activities. I set out on this summer internship with two primary goals: to gain an understanding of what it might be like to work in–house in corporate philanthropy (as opposed to as a corporate philanthropy consultant, my job prior to HBS), and to gain exposure to international philanthropy. The position certainly fulfilled both of these goals, giving me valuable insights into my future career goals and providing me with experiences that I need in order to pursue them.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability

Elana Berkowitz
I worked on a number of projects over the summer including data analysis for the New York City's Greenhouse Gas Inventory, business plan development for a green design laboratory/showroom/education space that the city is hoping to launch in concert with public and private partners and preparing presentation material and a research brief in preparation for Mayor Bloomberg's testimony on cap–and–trade legislation before Congress.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

Michael Wick
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) was established in 1977 in Golden, Colorado. It is the primary U.S. laboratory for research and development within the renewable energy and energy efficiency sector. This past summer, I worked in the Technology Transfer Office, whose team is dedicated to commercializing the technologies that are developed at the lab. There has been a recent emphasis to make sure that the technologies developed at the lab are pushed out to market, ensuring they have an impact. It was especially exciting to be at NREL this summer because of the increased public awareness of energy issues, given rising fuel prices and an increased understanding of the environmental impact of conventional energy technologies. At NREL, I learned about the advantages and challenges of working with a government funded research and development center. Some highlights from my summer included helping identify top potential partner companies for newly developed technologies and investigating 'CleanTech' funding trends. I also had the opportunity to develop marketing plans for several recently developed solar panel technologies and met with prospective business partners to bring the technologies to market. Overall, I was able to gain a much better grasp of the renewable energy/energy efficiency market and of the challenges that still need to be overcome for further adoption of the new technologies.

New Sector Alliance

David Farrell, Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)
This summer, I was an MBA consultant for New Sector Alliance, a nonprofit consulting firm. My summer client while at New Sector was the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC), a Boston–based nonprofit founded by HBS professor Michael E. Porter. ICIC is dedicated to promoting economic prosperity in America's inner cities through private sector engagement that leads to jobs, income, and wealth creation for local residents. ICIC fulfills its mission through a number of programs aimed at economic development in the inner city as well as thought leadership through a rigorous research program. My task this summer was to help ICIC deepen its understanding of the construction, housing, and real estate (CHRE) cluster in America's inner cities. Specifically, I sought to understand successful models of strong CHRE clusters in inner cities, including (city and firm) best practices for getting projects approved and completed; (firm) best practices for securing business; and best practices for recruiting and training inner city workers in the cluster. To this end, I completed two case studies on Cleveland's and Atlanta's inner city CHRE clusters. These case studies highlighted some major characteristics of the CHRE cluster that are likely to be found in all cities and showed how cluster firms work and interact with each other. This research will be presented by Professor Porter at the Inner City Economic Forum in Miami in October 2008.

Claire Love, The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA)
This past summer, I worked with The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston as a New Sector Alliance summer consultant. The ICA was founded in 1936 as The Boston Museum of Modern Art and conceived as a laboratory where innovative approaches to art could be championed. In pursuit of this mission, the museum established its reputation for identifying important new artists and changed its name, a final time, to become the Institute of Contemporary Art in 1948. However, the museum moved from space to space and struggled financially. In 1999 under the fresh leadership of the ICA's Director, Jill Medvedow, the city of Boston selected the ICA as the recipient of a site on the waterfront for a new museum that would be the cultural cornerstone of the Fan Pier development. The ICA selected Diller Scofidio + Renfro as the architects of the new museum–what would be the firm's first museum and first building in the United States. This bold selection did not disappoint with the new museum opening in 2006 to great critical acclaim, attracting nearly sixty times the visitors in its new building than its old space. The ICA was the first new art museum to be built in Boston in over 100 years.

I believe in the power of art to bring meaning to our human condition. It was thus with passion that I worked to identify potential strategies that mitigate challenges facing the ICA while maximizing the museum's societal impact. With my background and education, I was able to help the ICA's leadership frame some of these decisions. It was my pleasure to work with such an ambitious and talented team at the ICA that has achieved so much.

Shannon Music, New Sector Alliance
I spent my summer working with New Sector Alliance, a social enterprise that engages students and volunteer professional consultants in consulting engagements to nonprofit clients. I worked with their Residency in Social Enterprise (RISE) Program, which places young professionals and college graduates at client nonprofit organizations for a full year. My role over the summer was to help New Sector develop a strong and cohesive ~200 hour training curriculum that would prepare the residents both for the year–long program and to become effective leaders of social change regardless of their chosen career path. The first step was to re–define it as a Mini–MBA with a focus on Social Impact (including both SE and CSR). We used the HBS curriculum as a guide for the key content areas that the Mini–MBA should cover, and complemented it with modules on career development and consulting and project management. I identified key topics and lessons that should be addressed for each unit, laid out a calendar with scheduled sessions, and assigned required and recommended readings for each session. In addition to this planning, I produced several training materials for the introductory sessions, and I contacted thought leaders and practitioners to get their feedback on the curriculum and secure their involvement in the program. This was a fantastic opportunity to synthesize everything I had learned in my social enterprise classes at HBS and KSG and put it all together into what I thought was the ideal curriculum for others. It is great to know that my efforts are going to impact several future classes of Residents and the organizations with which they work.

New York City Economic Development Corporation

Leshika Samarasinghe
The Energy Group of the New York City Economic Development Corporation is tasked with implementing many of the energy initiatives outlined in Mayor Bloomberg's landmark sustainability plans for the city, which aim to reduce the city's carbon emissions by 30% by 2030. As a summer associate with the group, I analyzed market based programs for encouraging energy efficiency in the commercial property sector and also researched international and domestic energy policy best practices. The internship gave me broad exposure to the energy industry as a whole as well as provided insight into how policy is implemented at various levels of government.

New York Presbyterian Hospital

Lauren Margulies
I worked in the Office of Strategy at NY–Presbyterian Hospital (NYP) in New York City. NYP is an academic medical center affiliated with Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell Medical College. NYP is the largest employer in downstate New York, with over 15,000 employees, and sees annual revenues of over $3 billion. Needless to say, NYP is an exceedingly complex institution and working with the Strategy group offered me the opportunity to understand the hospital's structure and organization, as well as participate fully as an "internal consultant" to the hospital's administrators. I worked on four main projects, including research for the NYP 8–year capital plan; a policy analysis on national health care reform and the hospital's role on shaping and managing related trends; data analysis on extended patient length of stay; and planning for a capital project involving NYP's psychiatric services. NYP takes its summer internship program seriously; I was given the opportunity to do front–line projects that impact hospital planning and operations, and I presented this work to the CEO, COO, and other senior leaders at the end of the summer. I highly recommend the internship to anyone who is interested in health care delivery and who wants to learn a lot very quickly about the functioning of a major health care delivery system.

OCC Recycling

Aaron Michel
My dream was to create a business recycling paper, starting with old corrugated cardboard (OCC), and shipping it to buyers in India and China. In reality, the more solid my numbers got, the worse the business looked. Fortunately, there were some good lessons that came with it. I came to understand, more than any HBS class taught me, the importance of really understanding what goes into your model. As a result of getting the numbers right, I was able to avoid diving into a business that wouldn't have worked. I recognize more than ever the importance of being willing to walk away from a compelling idea that will not translate into a successful business. I am more dedicated than ever to finding opportunities to help the environment while making an attractive profit. Over the long term, I dream of starting another company in a profitable and green space.

Opportunity International – Banco Oportunidade Moçambique

Sara Vicente
This summer, I spent 10 weeks with Banco Oportunidade Moçambique. I was curious about microfinance and I was eager to live one more time in Mozambique. My role was to assist BOM's top management in "Preparing for Growth", namely at the organizational and process level. Reshaping structure and processes was a key initial step for BOM to set the stage to become a large and successful player in the Mozambican microfinance market. I learned a great deal talking to the people that actually get the job done and I believe my inexperience in the sector was very important in allowing me to provide an impartial analysis of the status of the organization. I went on an internship in microfinance because I had a deep curiosity about the sector and felt passionate about working in such cutting edge sector of the nonprofit world. I truly enjoyed learning about the sector and how an MFI works on the ground. However, I am still uncertain whether my future lies in a local microfinance institution. I am certain though, that I enjoyed working in the social sector and I am now even more committed to finding the activity and role that suit me best.

Partners in Health

Daniel Rosan
It is dawn in Neno, and I cannot sleep in. Children are fetching water from the taps in the foyer. The bakery run by HIV–positive women out of our kitchen is up and running. The cook has begun slaughtering a goat for dinner. I am at the Partners in Health guest house in rural Malawi, rushing through the ice–cold shower (our electricity is out again) so I can catch the pharmacy staff and head out with them to deliver malaria drugs to remote health centers.

HBS students travel the world for their summer internships, but at PIH's newest country location, I was hours from the closest paved road or supermarket. The main hospital is not yet open, but already over 1,000 patients are on life–saving antiretroviral AIDS drugs. My role as an internal consultant focused on food and drug costs. By redirecting spending to local farmers, we cut food costs by 20%. Together with the clinicians and pharmacy staff, I also designed a staged supply chain management strategy for drugs, which will save at least USD$10,000 per year.

Through it all, my PIH colleagues from the United States and Malawi were incredibly talented and capable. I could not have asked for a more intense learning experience, and highly recommend PIH to future HBS students.

Planet Rating

Ayse Tanyeri
Thanks to the Social Enterprise Program, I was able to spend my summer after graduation in Paris, working for a microfinance rating agency. It was a great way for me to use my business skills in a meaningful and positive way before going back to my private equity job in the fall. I think the Social Enterprise Program is truly special, allowing us to give back to the world by helping organizations that truly need but could never attract HBS talent.

Rocky Mountain Institute

Jamie Ponce
As the world confronts scarce natural resources and global climate change, energy policy has emerged as a central theme in economic and political decision–making. Through a combination of applied research and strategic consulting, the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) delivers market–based energy efficiency solutions that make the world more secure, prosperous, and life–sustaining. As a 2008 Social Enterprise Summer Fellow with RMI's Mobility and Vehicle Efficiency Group, I created a cross–sector strategy for implementing fuel saving measures in the US heavy trucking industry, facilitated project development to address vehicle proliferation in emerging economies, and helped a plug–in hybrid electric vehicle startup to institutionalize innovation and holistic design principles. My work emphasized demand–side resource efficiency as a path to profitably reducing our dependence on oil.

Andrew Sloan
My summer at Rocky Mountain Institute was tremendous. From work on incorporating radical resource efficiency into strategic military thought to analyzing the degrees to which managerial knowledge of certain design principles can make or break a company in terms of sustainability, my fellowship was incredibly far reaching. Every day I got to wake–up and know that I was going to be doing something that would make America and the world more prosperous, more secure, and more sustainable. It was an amazing feeling and Rocky Mountain Institute was a fantastic place to spend the summer.

Root Capital

Eric Tung
This summer, I worked as an Investment Officer Fellow for Root Capital, a nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, MA that provides affordable loans to sustainable small–to–medium–size businesses in rural communities in developing countries. Root Capital seeks to fill the 'missing middle' financing gap where micro–enterprises can borrow from microfinance institutions and large businesses can borrow from commercial banks, but small–to–medium enterprises (SMEs) have access to neither. My role this summer was to help Root Capital find and evaluate potential investments in Southeast Asia, focusing primarily on Thailand, Indonesia and Cambodia. I researched over seventy organizations and visited the most economically and socially promising twenty. During the site visits, I used skills from my RC year to assess the risks and opportunities of these businesses to determine their suitability for a Root Capital loan. The Social Enterprise Fellowship program allowed me to see first–hand the need for credit amongst developing country SMEs and to work directly with a social enterprise to meet this need.

Saatchi & Saatchi S

Nicolas Maslowski
As an MBA student I searched for a sustainability internship to get a deeper understanding of the environmental issues to come and the business approaches to solve them. In Latin America social responsibility is a major factor for business and society subsistence. Now the environment is becoming a relevant factor in most decisions worldwide. I want to be prepared as a manager for this challenge in order to add the most value possible. Sustainability has been a challenging, relevant and exciting area to work on during the summer.

I worked with Saatchi & Saatchi S, an organization that delivers consulting and advertising services to high impact organizations, including large corporations. Saatchi & Saatchi S works with clients across several high impact industries. Two of the large public clients are Wal–Mart and P&G.

Save the Children Japan

Yumi Hiratani
This summer I worked at the Save the Children Japan (SCJ), a member of International Save the Children Alliance, which is one of the largest NGO networks in the world. My assignment at SCJ was to figure out how to implement a Save the Children Global Alliance's marketing strategy "rewrite the future campaign" in Japan. The campaign was designed to raise $470 million globally to provide education for 8 million children who live in conflict affected countries. SCJ had not been able to estimate the full potential of this campaign and lacked an articulate strategy to implement this campaign. To evaluate the potential, I did market analysis through government and corporate donor interviews, macro data analysis, internal marketing skill evaluation, developing marketing plan and redefining job description for the marketing staffs.

Through the research, it became clear that there was potential to acquire grants from Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international organizations such as Asia Development Bank and World Bank. Also, there was some potential to get funds from certain types of corporate donors. To target the corporate donors SCJ's fund raising team needed to fundamentally change their marketing process, marketing materials and the way they communicate with corporate. In order to fully implement my marketing recommendation the president asked me to recommend a new marketing team structure and this recommendation was implemented this September. I had a great experience this summer and I want to thank the Harvard Social Enterprise Initiative community in supporting this experience.

sweetriot

Arti Bhatt
This summer, I interned at sweetriot, which is a start–up, for–profit social enterprise. sweetriot is a retailer of natural chocolate products that integrates its social mission into the core of its business activities. The mission of sweetriot is to "create a more just and celebrated multicultural world for our next generation." sweetriot uses a popular consumer product, cacao, to tackle difficult social issues such as income inequality and global climate change. Three core areas of sweetriot's social impact are: ethical trade with developing countries, environmental sustainability and partnerships with like–minded nonprofit organizations. Through the Social Enterprise Initiative Summer Fellowship, I was able to assist the COO/CFO with finance and operations that support each core area and help sweetriot fulfill its social mission.

TechnoServe

Esther Hsu, Swaziland
I spent my summer working with TechnoServe in Swaziland. TechnoServe is a USAID–funded NGO based in 18 developing countries and seeking business solutions to rural poverty. TechnoServe Swaziland primarily aims to build entrepreneurship and develop new and sustainable market opportunities. I lived and worked in the tiny kingdom's capital city, Mbabane. My projects included building a business plan and financials to pioneer a gooseberry crop in Swaziland and piloting a crop insurance partnership with a veteran in smallholder insurance in sub–Saharan Africa. The most memorable moments were weekly visits to the field when I could meet the faces and families behind the business plans and ideas. I chose this opportunity to learn about development in Africa and was exposed to the beauty and also many challenges in the region. My time with TechnoServe certainly served to broaden my understanding of the Southern Africa region while using skills that I developed at HBS.

Christine Raschke, Kenya and Uganda
This summer I spent 9 weeks with TechnoServe, an international nonprofit development organization founded in 1968. Its mission is to help entrepreneurial men and women in poor rural areas of the developing world to build businesses that create jobs, income and economic opportunity for their families, their communities and their countries. I was working with the TechnoServe offices in Kenya and Uganda. Specifically, my project was a research and program design effort to identify and begin developing key opportunities for adolescent girls and young women (aged 15–24) to gain training and employment in new segments of formal sector industries in Kenya and Uganda. Together with local consultants I assessed the current 'state of change' in women's formal employment opportunities in the two countries and developed a strategy outlining specific recommendations for the top opportunities per country. Through the direct interaction with the local teams, local experts from government ministries as well as private sector players I gained great insight in Kenya's and Uganda's economic, social and political situations. In addition, the internship offered me the opportunity to travel a lot on weekends and to explore the cultural and natural highlights and attractions of both Kenya and Uganda.

Overall, my internship was an incredible experience working in a professional and fun environment in a developing country which gave me the possibility to contribute to the countries developments, while on the other side learning much about the opportunities and challenges of international development in general.

United Nations Development Programme

Patricia Otero
As an Intern in United Nations Development Programme, I worked in a team within the environmental group called "Millennium Development Goal Carbon Facility (MDGCF)." The MDGCF is a partnership between UNDP and Fortis Bank with the aim to help leverage the potentially significant benefits of carbon finance for the developing world.

MDCF is at its early stages, thus, its priority is to build a diversified portfolio of carbon projects to develop. My focus during the internship was to increase the links between the Carbon Finance Group in the UN and the private sector. I handled diversified tasks such as, marketing the facility to multinational companies headquartered in NY with environmental mandates, building relations between local banks in Panama and the local UN representative, ensuring UN Carbon Finance Team's participation in round tables that were occurring in the private sector involving climate change/CDM and preparing the presentation to be shown to private companies and governments. Also, I researched 50 developing countries worldwide and identified companies to engage in projects that offset greenhouse gas emissions. Lastly, I participated in due diligence on the financial aspects of prospective carbon offset projects in Burkina Faso, Ukraine, Honduras and China.

This internship proved to be a great exposure not only to carbon finance but also to the work done by UNDP.

US Department of Insular Affairs (Pacific Business Center Program)

Matthew Garcia
This past summer I worked as an Island Fellow for the Department of the Interior's Office of Insular Affairs, which is the government unit responsible for administering federal policy in the U.S. territories and freely–associated states (i.e. Guam, American Samoa, Palau). My main project involved the development and promotion of Island Business Link, a web–based business tool designed to foster private–sector development throughout the U.S. affiliated Pacific islands and U.S. Virgin Islands. After a three week visit to Guam where I met with local business and government leaders and conducted workshops to help islanders learn how to use Island Business Link, I returned back to Washington, DC where I collaborated with a team of eight MBAs to make further modifications to the website and then to create a marketing strategy for the upcoming 2009 Secretary of the Interior's Fifth Conference on Business Opportunities in the Islands. Our efforts ultimately resulted in over 800 members registered on Island Business Link, and over 200 business opportunities posted.

US Department of the Interior – Island Fellowship Program

Zach Morello
The Office of Insular Affair's Island Fellowship is a summer program during which eight MBA candidates from the nation's top universities work as a team on a multifaceted private sector development project for the U.S.–affiliated Insular Areas. My individual responsibilities in this program included identifying business opportunities in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) and training the local islanders how to use an online B2B networking tool created by DOI. During my internship I had the opportunity to spend three weeks in the FSM where I met with top business and government leaders and provided several training sessions. These islands are very remote and face significant challenges in developing their private sector including few natural resources, high gas and transportation costs, and limited number of highly trained workers. When I returned from the islands I then spent the remaining seven weeks in Washington, D.C. to continue to develop the online networking tool and recruited business partners to join the site. My experiences were truly unique and I found this internship to be a great chance to gain international experience while practicing my newly acquired BGIE skills.

US National Park Service

Benjamin Lambert
The Big Cypress Nature Preserve is a unit of the National Park Service, responsible for conserving a vital plot of land in southern Florida. The area covered by the Preserve is essential in providing a fresh water flow to the Everglades and to the rich fishing areas of Florida's costal region. This summer another consultant and myself worked with the Preserve to develop a business plan covering the Preserve's next three years of operation. This meant struggling with a wide variety of issues, everything from how to estimate upcoming funding for the Preserve to considering the impact of highways on the endangered Florida panther. I will admit that it was thrilling to be a part of a working National Park, and to accompany staff while they monitored wild land fires, searched for rare orchids, and inspected the Preserve's canoe trails. But it was also exciting to get into the guts of how the Preserve operated – pouring over budgets, learning the legal basis of the Preserve's mission, observing how the Preserve depended on a web of partnerships both in the surrounding community and throughout the country.

VisionQuest International

M. Tres Watson
This summer, I had the honor and privilege of working for VisionQuest Association International, a non–profit innovator in the education space. The Summer Social Enterprise Fellowship allowed me to do exactly what I had hoped to do in my last summer before jumping into the "real world," make a concerted attempt to help create a project that would grow to make a lasting impact on a youth community, long after I left.

VisionQuest International is an Atlanta–based non–profit in the education space. Its mission is to identify, recruit, and train a new generation of ethical leaders who are spiritually disciplined, intellectually astute, morally anchored to inspire character, civility, and community in local, national, and international settings. The organization focuses on education and training to promote ethical leadership among youth and adults — in public and private sectors — through peer–leadership, pre–college youth development, as well as corporate workshops and seminars.

A primary goal for the organization was to devise a growth strategy that would position VQ to extend its reach to 35 education clients within five years. I spent the summer researching the organization's work, team, and the market for ethical leadership training to finally develop a non–profit business plan. This plan will serve as the foundation for the organization's fundraising efforts and strategic decision–making going forward.

World Vision International

Taylor Larson
I spent two months this summer working in the strategy office of World Vision International, a $2.5B relief and development organization that operates in nearly 100 countries. World Vision is embarking on a large–scale transformation to enable a more coordinated and effective global strategy but faces significant challenges due to its decentralized organization and lack of strategic planning processes. I worked with the strategy office to answer specific analytical questions and put in place processes that will enable World Vision to attain an unprecedented level of coordination in how it sets global strategy and aligns its resources to accomplish its goals.

Young Professionals in Energy

Stephen Cravens
I spent the summer as Executive Director for Young Professionals in Energy (YPE), the first and only interdisciplinary networking and career–development organization for young people in the global energy industry. YPE holds social, educational and civic–oriented events in 18 cities worldwide serving over 4,000 members. My work this summer was spent fundraising, hiring staff, bringing in speakers and adding new chapters. YPE's mission is to foster an environment where members can learn from each other's experiences, share industry knowledge and discuss career matters in an inviting and cordial setting.

Zoosa

Mike McGlade
My summer fellowship allowed me to launch Zoosa as a new resource to redefine social enterprise and attract new talent to the sector. Zoosa's service makes it quick for professionals to find opportunities to change the world and easy for social enterprise organizations to recruit mission driven, top–tier talent. Our broad definition of social enterprise makes it easier for professionals to do well while doing good. As the founder of Zoosa, I was responsible for all areas of Zoosa's business development, including managing the development of our website, hiring Zoosa's CTO & staff of interns, and implementing our sales & marketing plan.