Leah Howell, Sustainable Development Internship, Macquarie University graduate, Australia
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
During my time in Cape Town I completed a 4-week internship for an NGO partnering with big business in order to progress goals set under the Sustainable Cape Town 2030 Vision. The internship provided me with an opportunity to explore how sustainable initiatives are being implemented from both bottom-up and top-down approaches. It also highlighted the challenges of achieving sustainability in a country with different political concerns than what I am used to. Through my host organization I was able to make contact with a range of stakeholders including government, renewable energy developers, advisory bodies, regional action groups and other NGOs. Connect-123 helped to make the experience memorable, the organised social events were great and I found the team to be energetic and helpful. Overall my internship allowed me to gain valuable practical skills in applying learnt theory to real world situations. Cape Town is a great place to better grasp the intricacies behind realizing sustainable development.



go back to the States I will be asked, “So how was South Africa?” I’ve been wondering what I could possibly say to that, and I think I’ve found an answer that is unfortunately as broad as the question itself. “It was everything.” Think of an adjective and it was Cape Town – stunning, exhilarating, challenging, painful, hilarious, breathtaking, terrifying, comforting, emotional, etc, etc, etc. I’ve built a life here, and life is full of everything.
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.
