HBS Immersion Experience Program & Indego Africa

As part of Harvard Business School's Immersion Experience Program (IXP), Indego Africa is honored to welcome a fantastic team of HBS students and professors to Kigali for a ten-day visit to work with our staff, interns, and the women at our partner cooperatives. The students (Tawanda Sibanda, LaToya Stallworth, and Jacqueline Sandberg) and professors arrived in Rwanda last week where, among other things, they are helping Indego Africa further develop local market strategies, conduct product market research, refine the business skills curriculum, and advise on the women’s entrepreneurship projects.

The program has already been an incredible success. Last week the women at Cocoki even prepared and executed a presentation for the IXP team entirely in English! Tawanda writes:

What has become clearer to me over the past week or so, is that Indego is really about empowerment, both of the women in the cooperatives and the interns from Orphans of Rwanda who deliver the training.

These women have large families and demanding responsibilities. In my visit, I have been impressed by the skills the women have acquired through the Indego training programs, and more importantly, the sense of confidence and POWER the women posses as a result. They understand profit and cost, marketing and distribution, basic book-keeping, and even some English.

Largely due to the committed trainers and staff at Indego, these women are tough, independent business people who can analyze new business opportunities, and discern would be exploiters.

The interns have been equally impressive. Having visited the genocide museum with our group, I can only imagine what horrible stories lie behind their smiles. Nevertheless, they are focused and ambitious. At Amity's dinner we all shared our career hopes, and all the interns had big dreams: from running accounting firms, to starting agribusinesses and banks. Rwanda, watch out for this group!

- Ben

(Photo is of Jacqueline's marketing and global commerce presentation.)