My time in Cape Town was absolutely priceless, and I owe so much to Connect for making it happen.  I graduated from college in 2006 and was working the crazy corporate life for three and a half years when I realized I needed a change of pace.  I decided to take two months off and spend them in an exotic land doing something that I’ve always wanted to do.  In came Connect 123 — they were able to set me and my girlfriend up with amazing internships in the amazing city that is Cape Town.  I worked at a small non-profit business school that provided free tertiary business education for underprivileged students.  Part of the institute’s mission was also to provide business mentorship to ambitious entrepreneurs from economically marginalized communities through its Entrepreneurship Centre.  As an intern at the Enterpreneurship Centre, I had an amazing opportunity to leverage from my experience in a large financial corporation to provide valuable business training and mentorship to some fascinating people.  Of the projects I undertook, one was helping a young man from the Kayelitscha township who owned his own party equipment rental business develop a way to track his finances appropriately.  Working independently and in collaboration with the entrepreneur and the director of the Enterpreneurship Centre, I taught him basic financial and accounting concepts and ultimately developed a financial model that he now uses to determine the profits and losses of his company – which he can ultimately use to make vital business decisions.  Another entrepreneur I worked with had a catering business, but he had difficulty figure out how to get the word out to potential customers about his services.  I worked with him to develop a marketing strategy that he could use to reach his target customers.  This involved teaching him basic marketing concepts and helping him determine graphic designs for his menus and business cards that were most appealing to attracting customers.

Overall, the experience was something I would not trade for anything.  Though I only interned there for 6 weeks, I feel I made a lasting impact on many of the entrepreneurs who I mentored there.  Moreover, I made lasting friendships with many of the staff, students, and other interns who were part of the school and entreprenership centre.  Without the help of Connect 123, I would never have been connected to this amazing organization.

Tags: business consulting

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 9:40 pm and is filed under testimonials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.