35 student members of the Managers for International Development Initiatives (MIDI) and 2 administrators spent this past Friday in Washington, DC visiting various international development and emerging markets companies and organizations. The trip included visits to the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a private equity panel featuring representatives of the IFC, EMP Global, and Kingdom Zephyr Africa Management LP, and lunch at the famous World Bank cafeteria.
At the IFC, the group discussed the role of the IFC in international development, heard from younger staffers on their experience with the organization and on their career paths, and received information on full-time and internship opportunities. The IFC has a highly regarded and very competitive rotational program, known as the Global Transaction Team (GTT), for graduates of masters programs, in which associates spend nine months on two to three assignments within the corporation and potentially work abroad for one of those assignments. Everyone in the room perked up when discussion of the GTT program began, but as Mike Graglia '03 put it when discussing his career advice for CBS students, "if you can get into the GTT, God bless you."
There was also a discussion of the IFC internship program, which hires 35-40 interns each summer. During the private equity discussion, panelists highlighted the work each of their firms is doing and the various funds they manage. They also discussed their preferences for minority versus majority ownership of companies, and how they exit an investment. Runa Alam, CEO of Kingdom Zephyr, described in depth each of the funds she manages, specifically highlighting investments made in CelTel International, a wireless communications company in numerous countries in Africa, and Letshego, a financial services firm based in Botswana. Kingdom Zephyr achieved a 4,000 IRR on its CelTel investment and doubled subscribers, exiting the investment by selling the company at 8X earnings. The firm had similar success with Letshego, doubling their money in eleven months. Ms. Alam's advice to MBAs looking to work for such a successful firm is "get in a fund when it's first starting," because this is generally the only time a fund is guaranteed to be ramping up staffing.
Roberta Brzezinski of EMP Global discussed the push by investors in emerging markets private equity for funds to be located in the countries where investments are being made rather than in the US or in Western Europe. To this end, when hiring she generally looks for people who have lived in another country, specifically in an emerging market, and who speak at least one foreign language.
In the afternoon, the group split up for two panels. The first was hosted by The Export Import Bank and featured representatives from Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and from the US Department of the Treasury, Office of African Nations. The second panel was hosted by the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and included representatives from USAID, FINCA, and Emerging Markets Group (EMG). Both panels focused on finding a career in international development and highlighted the differences between careers in non-profits, in the private sector, and in government. The thesis of the panel at MCC was if you want to do international development, do it now rather than working in the private sector first and then transitioning into international development. According to Paul Guenette, a Senior Manager at EMG, future opportunities in developing countries include improving infrastructure, focusing on corporate social responsibility, more public-private partnerships, and working with municipalities and local governments that are increasingly receiving more power from federal governments.
Armed with this plethora of information and career advice, the group capped off the day with drinks and fondue at a reception at Eyebar with various DC alumni. On the long ride back to New York, Todd O., one of the gracious drivers, became increasingly annoyed with other drivers and progressed from simply honking at the occasional driver as the caravan left DC to driving up 10th Avenue honking for blocks at a time. The evening ended in a similar fashion as the rental-car attendant showed his frustration with returning the vans ten minutes late by peeling out and leaving behind a nasty smell of burned rubber.