MIT Optional Essay

Transcript

1. DANIELLE DOBSON Yogi, scuba diver, world traveler, institutional investor and aspiring social entrepreneur At 18 I packed my bags and moved from Northern California to Boston, Massachusetts for my undergraduate degree. This has been my journey over the last 10 years…
2. Social Enterprise Institute at Northeastern http://www.northeastern.edu/sei/ § My sophomore Honors microfinance professor, Dennis Shaughnessy, mentioned he wanted to create a Social Enterprise Institute on campus § Because of my interest in microfinance and international aid organizations, I wanted to be a part of building something new § At first I was declined because of my age (19 at the time), but due to my persistence, the leadership I demonstrated over the course of the semester and the maturity I displayed with an unexpected loss of funding for a group project, he added me to the budding team § I joined as a student co-founder in 2008
3. Social Enterprise Institute at Northeastern § I was key to initial programs including - the first field study to the townships of Cape Town, South Africa and the creation of a Boston area afterschool program in partnership with Citizen Schools § I contributed to the development of the school’s first social enterprise courses and guest lectured on topics of expertise I developed through my senior thesis work and study with the Institute § Involvement with the Institute raised my profile on campus and led to additional opportunities including receiving the Presidential Scholarship and selection as student speaker to incoming freshman at Convocation 2010 § Eight years later, I continue to be involved in the SEI community by returning to campus to speak on alumni panels and counsel NU students interested in careers in impact investing § The experience of building the SEI is one of my proudest accomplishments. It started with 2 students and a professor in a shared office and has grown into a true campus institution with multiple faculty, international programs and coursework offerings
4. Honors Thesis Project § Received funding from the Provost’s office and traveled alone to Dominican Republic, arranged all transport and translation services and created a relationship with Esperanza International – the partner MFI § Traveled to sites in India as part of a study abroad partnership between the Deshpande Foundation and Northeastern and created a relationship with RAPID – the partner MFI § Through my field work, I met with 48 men & women and found that while most micro-loan recipients had access to capital, they didn’t have access to productive technology that was best suited for their businesses or business location § My hypothesis remains that the market of ~130 million micro credit recipients worldwide would benefit from products specifically designed for their businesses, which in turn, will increase their profitability Using Sloan as a catalyst, my goal is to transform this hypothesis into a functional, thriving social enterprise
5. Finance career - Next stop: Sloan § That decision led me to join Cambridge Associates, and later, I was recruited to join a new portfolio team at APG § While developing skills such as financial modeling and investment assessment, I have stayed involved in the social enterprise community as a member of Cambridge’s impact investment team and by leading APG’s impact investing efforts for its new private equity portfolio § Over the last 5 years, I’ve come to believe the opportunity for social entrepreneurs is at an inflection point, I’ve seen investment in the space transition from charitable organizations to institutional for-profit capital such as private equity and venture capital § With an influx of institutional capital in the social enterprise space, now is the right time for me to leverage Sloan’s flexible approach to transition back into this field and pursue an entrepreneurial career in product development § When deciding my-post graduate plans I looked to the career paths of those I admired most in the social enterprise world: Muhammad Yunus and Jacqueline Novogratz. Each leveraged their knowledge of business and economics to create new business models § I thought if I wanted to have a real impact, I must learn the language of business (finance) and understand how investors assess an opportunity §
6. Oh and I’ve had some fun along the way too… ▪ Traveled to over 9 countries in the last 3 years; personal highlights: dune buggying and sand boarding the Ica Dunes in Peru and hiking along the Sognefjord in Norway ▪ Fulfilled a long-time goal and became a 200 Hour Certified Yoga Teacher in March 2015 ▪ Became PADI Certified Scuba Diver in Winter 2016 ▪ Volunteer in my church’s youth program for teen girls, serve as mentor and plan Friday night activities