Fighting Poverty with Graduate Skills

Ross Geraghty looks at the expanding number of business school graduates using their skills in developing countries to help people out of poverty.

Perhaps more socially aware than in years past, stories of young business graduates taking their expertise into the world's developing countries are emerging on an increasingly regular basis. It is helping diffuse the image that MBA graduates are only interested in six-figure banking or consultancy salaries.

"Business can do amazing things, at home and in developing countries," says Tal Dehitar (MBA - DeGroote) co-founder of MBAs Without Borders, an organization that sends MBA graduates to projects in areas of Asia, Latin America and Africa. "We bring MBA graduates from all over the world to work with SMEs and not-for-profit organizations in agriculture, health and regeneration. A lot of this is strongly involved with microfinance and innovative marketing strategies, exactly the kind of skills that an MBA has."

MBAs Without Borders was set up by two business school graduates with the aim of channelling top business talent into the regions of the world that most need it, though they recognise that working in international or sustainable development may not be for everyone. As Dehitar says, "We're not trying to change the minds of those graduates who don't want to do it, rather to provide opportunities for those that do." The fact that in three years the organization has gone from sending one to sending 22 MBAs suggests that interest in such an experience is booming.

Such skills lend themselves to creating innovative solutions to often extremely complex business problems. There are some inspiring examples. In Columbia Michael Grifka (MBA - Thunderbird) works with NGO Proyecto Titi (www.proyectotiti.com) creating a sustainable future for an amazing environmental innovation. Proyecto Titi helps locals who traditionally burn areas of rainforest to sell as charcoal diversify their income and protect the home of the endangered cotton top Tamarin monkey. Locals collect a mountain of plastic bags from Barranquilla's highways, cut them up and crochet them into vivid "mochila" bags, wallets and purses. It's an environmental double-whammy that is so effective (they've run out of plastic bags!) that the MBA's help in sourcing, marketing and export strategies will be invaluable.

Juan Jose Ospina (MBA - Chicago GSB, current), who won a QS Community Leadership Scholarship through the QS TopMBA World Tour, used his business acumen to challenge the way conservative coffee farmers set up their businesses. He's encouraged the learning of future markets, and the formulation of trading and hedging strategies to revolutionise the coffee industry in Columbia.

Other examples are of MBAs who used product placement in the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) to promote the use of mosquito nets,  a strangely stigmatised but essential commodity in a highly malarial area, and to set up finance strategies for hospitals in Swaziland.

So why would MBAs, who've invested a great deal of time and money in their careers, chose to eschew the ever-increasing salaries offered by the services sector, or to undertake the thrill of entrepreneurialism?

"The real reason is that, yes, they've spent a lot of money on their education, but they realise there's more to that than the cash," says Dehitar. "There's a lot of impact they can have in developing countries. Some won't do this as a career for their entire lives but would like to do it for a few months. They want to give things back and to get experience that will change their lives."

He also suggests that the general impression may be wrong. These MBAs have their airfares, vaccines, expenses, a laptop, accommodation - generally not extravagant - and US$1,000 per month on the ground. It's not a fortune but, Dehitar explains, "There's a false impression that international development is about stripping off your clothes, getting down and dirty and getting paid peanuts.  It's not that our MBAs are looking at these countries as places of exploitation - the "get in there before it starts" mentality. But there are lots of ways to lift people out of poverty and getting to the heart of developing countries. What they also get out of it is the experience. There is lots of potential for getting into international development and this helps them with their resumes for applying for those jobs in developing countries, where in the future they will not be being paid small amounts.

"Business can do amazing things. Our MBAs believe in it."

For further information about MBAs Without Borders, visit www.mbaswithoutborders.org.