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Meeting the Challenges of Third-World Development
Topics: Economics-Developing Countries and EconomiesVivian Lu (MBA '95) has witnessed more than her share of harsh realities while working in the Third World, among them the gruesome sights of war-torn Somalia and the terrible effects of poverty in Tanzania. Nevertheless, her experiences haven't hardened her; in fact, they have inspired her to work even harder to help those in need.
Lu, who began doing volunteer work at an early age, has a deep-seated interest in public-sector work. Rather than pursuing the traditional private-sector path the summer after her first year at HBS, Lu chose to serve as a financial account officer for the United Nations Operation in Somalia and was stationed in Mogadishu. A year after graduation, she accepted a six-month position as director of enterprise development in Tanzania with an international nongovernmental organization called TechnoServe.
At TechnoServe, Lu worked with Tanzanian project managers to improve the economic and social well-being of low-income people by helping them create sustainable businesses. The diverse microenterprises she worked with included oil seed extraction, a sewing school, farming activities, dairy cooperatives, and informal credit facilities. Lu's tasks were familiar to any business school grad: setting up accounting systems, developing marketing strategies, monitoring performance, analyzing competition, creating business plans and feasibility studies, pricing, developing and evaluating project proposals, and providing business and management training.
Her environment, however, was not familiar to the typical MBA. Based in the northern Tanzanian city of Arusha, Lu spent half of her time in an office on a street she shared with roving chickens and cows and the other half traveling to field sites located in even more remote bush areas. Computers were outdated, electricity was sporadic, communication was difficult, basic resources were scarce, institutions were undeveloped, and the need for training was tremendous.
Despite these obstacles, Lu was able to make a difference in the lives of dozens of families by helping business owners gain access to markets, credit, and other vital links necessary to sustain their enterprises. "There are large numbers of very poor people who depend on the informal economy for their survival," says Lu. "Enterprises provide a working solution for the poor not only by creating jobs, higher incomes, and increased productivity but also by offering a sustainable means for families to improve the quality of their lives through their own hard work and initiative. The goal is to empower individuals so they can mobilize their talents, break the cycle of poverty, and attain a necessary level of self-sufficiency."
Lu found her work in the field to be the most important and satisfying aspect of her job. "If my interactions with clients were limited to studying their financial statements on paper, I would not have fully understood their operations, unique needs and constraints, and the ever-changing challenges they confront daily," Lu notes. "Working directly with people and their families humanized those numbers. Witnessing the impact of these enterprises on my clients' lives and the benefits gained by the community was incredibly rewarding."
Lu hopes that more HBS alumni will become involved in the public sector both domestically and abroad. "The complex web of factors that shape and govern communities in need, whether here in the United States or in the developing world, requires a lasting, cooperative partnership between the public and private sectors," she says. She believes MBAs can play a vital role by providing management, business training, and technical assistance to needy enterprises and institutions.
Now on a fellowship earning a master's degree in public administration and a certificate in urban and regional planning at Princeton, Lu plans to continue in a line of work that enables her to combine her interests and skills in both the public and private arenas. She hopes to get more hands-on field experience serving in the developing world before eventually returning to the United States to tackle domestic public- sector issues. "There is no substitute for getting directly involved," she says. "For me, happiness is working with those in need and seeing the results of our efforts firsthand."
(Photos courtesy Vivian Lu)
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