“Joseph Molefi studies International Studies with a focus on Europe, Spanish and Economics as a junior at Middlebury College. This past summer, through the generous funding of Digel Family, he interned with Investec, a corporation working on uplifting the poor people of Africa.”

This past summer, I was based in the suburb of Sandton in South Africa and this was an invaluable opportunity to learn about the challenges the country faced and what was being done to empower the country’s disadvantaged people. I was interested in this particular internship because of passion for development economics and I saw this as an opportunity to assess the role of Csi in developing countries such as South Africa. Csi is a nonprofit division that operates in a way similar to NGOS and NPOs although it is aligned with the branding strategy of the firm. This internship allowed me to gain an insider perspective on the operations of such a division and this allowed me to assess their sustainability in comparison to NGOs.

Most Csi divisions in South Africa aim to serve as a bridge between corporations and the citizens that can benefit from these non core activities. In one of the lectures at the end of the semester, Tropp divided us into teams of five and we worked on a development project. We had discussions on what we think should be done differently to uplift lives of the poor on the African continent. One of the reasons I decided to take part in this particular internship was because of my interest in development economics and different theories that have emerged in the academic world about empowering the world’s poor. My intuition convinced me to believe that the reversal of fortune for most Africans will be led by the private sector with the government playing a smaller role as individual countries progress. I am happy to say that through the internship I was able to get an insight into the workings of a successful team of consultants, learn about the successful partnerships and models they operate.

In my day-to-day experience I was involved in arrange of projects which taught me a lot about the professional world. The leadership symposium that Csi organized in partnership with Study Trust was a very important part of my experience because I was involved from the initial stages until the end. I was able to engage with people who organized university scholarships for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The panel discussions during the symposium were made up of South Africans who were making a difference in their respective careers. I was fortunate to engage with these influential individuals who are leaders in diverse areas such as education, journalism and the arts.

I came to appreciate the critical thinking and analysis that I have learned at Middlebury because most of the work of consultants in building sustainable projects was based on problem solving. During this internship I was able to draw on my experiences from courses such as the history of modern Africa and development economics. This allowed me to do further research about striking the right balance between non profits, government and the private sector and the policy that is necessary to help a country such as South Africa empower its people. During this experience I also realized that opportunities exist in Africa. In my post Middlebury life, I hope to pursue a career that will enable me to take part in this process of change on the continent.