I first learned about FMB (Maio Biodiversity Foundation) – a non-profit organisation dedicated to the protection of local biodiversity and ecosystems in Maio, a small island in Cape Verde off the coast of West Africa – in our Organisational Behaviour (OB) class at INSEAD. FMB was also the focus of INSEAD Master Strategist Day in October 2021.

• Read more about Finding the Balance

During my summer internship at INSEAD, I had the opportunity to work at AfricInvest, based in Tunis, Tunisia.

• Read more about My Summer Internship in Impact Investing in Africa

For my 2022 summer internship, I joined Jumanji Studio on a journey to build a platform that would connect people working and interested in the impact space.

• Read more about My Summer Internship - Bootstrapping Mindful Businesses

Like many of my peers, I was caught in a dilemma when deciding what to do for my summer internship. Was I to work at a company with a well-known brand name that would help me ease the burdens of a student loan and set me up for success during full-time recruitment? Or was I to take risks and try something I had never done before but always wanted to? With the help of the Hoffmann Institute Impact Internship stipend, I was able to do the latter.

• Read more about Transforming Women’s Wellness in India

I joined INSEAD with 8+ years of corporate experience in the design, lifestyle, and fashion industries with a goal to pivot into consulting. I also had a long-standing commitment to an old friend to help her in at least one of her social impact endeavors. However, due to my professional obligations initially and later due to COVID, I couldn't devote time for nearly two years.

• Read more about Alternative View: Doing an "Impact Internship" During the Summer

Interning at Almouneer allowed me to learn how to scale up a business and how leadership, friendship, and persistence play the most crucial role when creating a company. 

• Read more about Almouneer – Digitising Healthcare in Egypt

The project to run and track our collective progress via an app first started as an effort to keep the GEMBA19 cohort together when physically apart, and to help get us into better shape (fit body, fit mind). We also wanted to showcase our diversity and lastly, but most importantly, to be a force for good. 

• Read more about None of Us Is as Good as All of Us!

Prior to INSEAD, I had worked for four years in financial markets advisories in the US, and by coming to INSEAD, I always hoped that I would be able to do something that I had never done and go somewhere that I had never been. A summer at African Leadership Finance Company (ALFC) in Nairobi, Kenya hit two birds with one stone with the help of the INSEAD Social Impact Award. The reason for doing this internship was threefold:

• Read more about A New Financing Option for African Students