Student Spotlight Jocelyn Wyatt gets things done. Perhaps that’s why, two months into her Thunderbird internship experience in Hyderabad, India, she was promoted to interim country director. When she accepted her internship with Scojo Foundation, a New York-based non-profit that works to increase access to reading glasses for the rural and urban poor, Wyatt was originally responsible for preparing a franchise model. “I was hired to document the training, operations and programmatic aspects for a ‘business in a box’,” explains Wyatt of the program that is aimed at training entrepreneurs to sell reading glasses to members of their communities. The goal was to create a training program and business model that the Scojo Foundation could replicate worldwide. When the country director of India resigned two months after Wyatt’s arrival and she was tapped to take his position, the ambitious MBA student accepted the increased responsibilities with gusto. “For the remaining five months, I was responsible for overseeing the entire program in India,” explains Wyatt. “I supervised a staff of 10 and oversaw accounting, finance, marketing, distribution, importation of glasses from China, legal issues, human resource issues and training.” The skill with which Wyatt tackled the project was typical for the former employee of Chemonics, an International Development (ID) firm that implements projects for the U.S. Agency for International Development. A Chemonics employee for five years before enrolling at Thunderbird, she was manager of the international training department, responsible for developing and coordinating technical training programs for professionals from developing countries. “I wanted to find something that would allow me to travel internationally and ‘do good,’” says the anthropology undergraduate from Iowa’s Grinnell College. “And I became interested in international business while working at Chemonics. I saw that private-sector development was really necessary for alleviating poverty and thought that the biggest contribution I could make would be helping people in developing countries start and grow their businesses.” The panel of judges who evaluated candidates for the inaugural Acumen Fund Fellows Program thought Wyatt could make a difference in developing countries, too. During a three-month selection process that spanned the globe and drew hundreds of applicants from more than 50 countries, the Acumen Fund searched for eight individuals to play leadership roles in solving today’s critical social problems. A leading innovator in the creation of sustainable, scalable solutions, the Acumen Fund addresses poverty in the developing world by making debt and equity investments in social enterprises. “I was very honored and extremely excited to be selected,” says Wyatt, of the program that will provide two months of training in New York, beginning in mid-September. Upon completion of training, she will begin a nine-month assignment in Africa or South Asia. “After the year-long fellowship, I hope to get a job in the field of venture philanthropy or social entrepreneurship,” she says. Wyatt’s accomplishments at Thunderbird are equally impressive. She helped organize the 2006 Global Citizenship Challenge, sponsored by the student-led group, Net Impact; and she assisted with the International Development Association Microfinance Conference held at Thunderbird. As the chief planner for Thunderbird’s Career Management Center’s international development trip to Washington, D.C., Wyatt arranged student visits with organizations such as World Resources Institute (WRI), Population Services International, Ashoka and others. Relationships made during that trip allowed her to connect Thunderbird business intelligence Professor Paul Kinsinger with the World Resources Institute and the Nature Conservancy. She is now leading a project for the two organizations in which Thunderbird students are working with indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon. The team is doing a competitive analysis on the market for andiroba oil, a product used in health and beauty products. The aim is to help the communities make money from the trees without harvesting them. As if those projects aren’t enough to keep her busy, Wyatt is also behind the success of other programs on campus, including Thunderbird’s International Development Association, the Wine Club, and the Women’s Rugby Team. Wyatt says Thunderbird was truly the only option for her. “I wanted an MBA program that incorporated international development classes. And I chose Thunderbird because it had an outstanding reputation with my colleagues working in international development in Washington, D.C.” Learn more: |  |
Return
to Main News Page Learning the Czech Weltanschauung Professional Oath of Honor: a Shining Example of Ethics at Thunderbird Alumni Support Generates Scholarship Dollars Alumni in Action Student Spotlight
GO FARTHER WITH THUNDERBIRD’S
Learn more about Thunderbird’s online International Executive Certificate today. |
