Impactful Emerging Markets Internships
Innovations in Sustainable Development
Program Overview
Our eight week on-the-ground internship programs not only allows you to get your hands dirty in the workplace, but also allow you to get completely entrenched in the local culture. Unlike a tour that scratches the surface of the country over a few days, the internship allows you to experience local transport, learn the language, go grocery shopping, try the local cuisine, and meet new people. It allows you to explore the country from the eyes of a native rather than the perspective of a visitor. The country grows on you as it pushes your limits and perceptions, until it becomes a part of you. Students who have completed our internships return to their classrooms with a completely different perspective. The pay-offs are priceless as they take their knowledge, network and career to a different level. It’s not just a learning curve. It’s a paradigm shift!
Key Program Elements
- Team-based structure, with an emphasis on interdisciplinary teams with complementary skillsets
- Project-based structure so students have a clear start and end point for the internship engagement, thereby allowing them to create and tell a more powerful story to recruiters
- Vetting of companies to ensure a safe and professional work environment
- Careful scoping of projects that appropriately challenge the students to stimulate growth while delivering value for the host organizations
- Cultural immersions to experience and understand the local landscape, context and culture
- Mentorship and support throughout the internship by management consultants and seasoned professionals; intervention where necessary to get the project / team dynamics back on track
- Housing in comfortable, safe and well-located accommodations which are not only convenient to their workplace but also offer them the opportunity to experience their local environment
- Transport facilitation to ensure safe commute between place of stay and workplace
- Facilitated reflection sessions to use experience and turn them into useful insights and beliefs
Suitable Disciplines
Arts and Sciences
Business
Economics
Hospitality
Media Studies
Real Estate Accounting
Snapshot
Stays are in comfortable serviced apartments and local commute is either by public transport (where safe and convenient) or chartered taxis that offer pickup/drop service between the apartment and work place.
Duration
Our internships are for 8-weeks in- country but can be customized as per needs, from a minimum of 4 weeks to a maximum of 6 months. Longer programs involve a larger scope, with potential for classroom learning that can add to the academic immersion experience.
Learning Outcomes
Progress from cross-cultural awareness to sensitivity to competence, with the help of workshops, on-field support, client engagement and facilitated reflection sessions
Apply knowledge and skills to create impact in a completely different country and context
Understand how the industry works in the country and also how it differs from back home
Learn how to collaborate and work effectively in interdisciplinary teams
Create a powerful story of impact that enhances the CV and positively impacts career growth
Our Model
Strategy Consulting Techniques
Cultural Awareness & Immersion Techniques
A customized hands-on approach to design and execution
Pre-internship
+ Understand industry. organization, challenges and opportunities and help organizations distill information into a tangible, feasible scope
+ Ensure work is at appropriate level for students to maximize their exposure and impact
+ Workshop on living and working abroad, including daily practicalities, and perspectives on culture and business from global leaders
+ Information manual for living and work abroad working
+ Hear from past participants about their experiences
+ Manage expectations to reduce culture shock, BUT leave enough room for students to be pushed out of their comfort zone
+ Guide organizations as they prep for internship on how to orient, train and manage students, and how to maximize student impact
During
+ Provide training on basic critical strategy consulting techniques, such as problem solving, work planning, and client engagement to make students more effective professionals
+ Provide structured, periodic coaching sessions to provide continuous learning
+ Pre-trip to explore local culture Language lessons: in-country workshops to learn about local context
+ Go into field for research and engage proactively with local colleagues
+ Ongoing cross-cultural coaching
Post
+ Establish weekly check-ins with students and organizations, along with tools (e.g. dashboards) to track progress
+ An experienced consultant provides frequent, on-ground mentoring and coaching, and actively participates in interim and final meetings
+ Weekly diary to encourage students to reflect and expand cultural and personal awareness
+ “disconfirmed expectations”: students see behaviours from locals different from their expecations, creating an opportunity for experiential learning
The internships cover a vast array of sectors, companies and disciplines. They provide you with a unique opportunity to gain first-hand
management experience with seasoned institutions as well as start-ups, social enterprises and corporations, manufacturing units and the service sector. From helping a hospitality company in Hanoi (Vietnam) develop a marketing strategy for a new boutique resort to
helping a fair-trade textiles NGO develop an e-commerce market place, these internships provide hands-on learning and an intimate
exposure to working in some of the world’s fastest growing economies.
Pricing & Inclusions
*COST: $540 / Week
(twin-sharing cost, based on a group size of 16)
*Please note that the cost of our programs may vary depending upon several factors, including but not limited to the size of the group, program inclusions, the number of program days and more. Kindly contact us for a customized quote that suits your specific requirements.
- On-arrival orientation, safety briefing, local cultural and language lesson
- Transport for office commute and arrival and departure transfers
- All breakfasts, welcome and farewell dinner,
- Detailed safety plan and 24x7 support
- In-country housing (twin-sharing)
- Cultural and social activities
- Visa sponsorship letter
- Pre-departure briefing
- Transport in country
- Placement fees