When Ms Janice Chiang was in a village near Mombasa, Kenya, for her summer internship, she was taken aback by how much her thinking differed from the locals’.
A Kenyan university student in her team was tagged as a spy by the other village boys and, to stay safe, had to move into his mother’s home.
“They didn’t understand that we brought him on board for his skills because he studied tourism,” said the third-year accountancy and business management student at Singapore Management University. “It’s because of the (lack of) development of their village. If it was more advanced, they wouldn’t have this kind of mindset.”
That thought spurred her on during the two-month internship last year at Coastal Bamboo & Coir Development Company, a subsidiary of Build Africa Industry and a start-up that helps African villages become self-sufficient by working with them to produce goods that are sold in other markets. The social enterprise helps villagers in starting a bamboo furniture business.
Ms Chiang’s job was to visit three villages to suss out their resources. Based on her data, the company brought in agriculture experts to identify fertile land plots, as well as trainers who taught villagers to make furniture from raw bamboo.
“When companies want to help Third World countries, they usually come in with their own materials and manpower, and work together with local villagers. The problem is when they leave, these villagers are not trained with the necessary skills and resources to keep the business sustainable,” the 23-year-old said.
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Source: The Straits Times, 4 June 2018