Reaching for Rajasthan

Hello again, faithful readers. As promised, my next step will be to introduce you to the fantastic team with whom I’ve been working on this project. Their diverse skill sets and backgrounds are pretty representative of the working environment here at Fuqua, and getting to know these people and others who are every bit as fascinating has been one of my favorite things about life as an MBA student to date. So without further ado, here they are:

Carolina Ferrari – Prior to attending business school, Carolina did a Master in Social Policy and Development at the London School of Economics and Political Sciences and researched about informality and small businesses in developing countries. Before London she worked as a project manager in a marketing research company in Lima, Peru. Her experience involved quantitative and qualitative research projects for both public organizations and private companies. Carolina is willing to enter a deep and serious (or not so serious) sociological debate at the drop of a hat.

Nina Yoshimura – Prior to attending business school, worked in both sales and marketing for Novartis Pharma Japan, in Tokyo. In sales, she was responsible for accounts totaling 300mJPY (US$ 3m), and was the youngest to be awarded as one of the top sales representatives. In marketing, she worked on a wide range of projects, including negotiating with partner companies, marketing research, promotion, product design, and termination of long standing products as a product manager for a portfolio of over 40 long standing drugs accounting for 20% of total company sales. Nina graduated from Keio University with a degree in Economics in 2003, and is looking to return to the pharmaceutical industry focusing her career in developing economies. She is also a noted guitar heroine.

David Watts – Prior to attending Duke University, The Fuqua School of Business, David spent 5-years within the energy industry, working in a variety of areas including M&A, long-term business planning, power marketing, property and business interruption insurance claims, operational strategy, tax, and project finance. At PSEG Power, from 2004-2006, David worked primarily on long-term business planning and hedging strategies. At Astoria Energy from 2006-2009, David worked primarily on current year financial planning and analysis, and also worked extensively on the project financing for a $1.2B expansion facility. David obtained his undergraduate degree from Lafayette College with a dual degree in Business Economics and Government/Law where he completed an Honors Thesis studying the relative impacts of U.S. monetary and fiscal policy on GDP. After business school, David plans on returning to the energy sector to focus on strategic growth opportunities and energy/environmental policy. As President of the FuquaVision club, Dave ensures that the stress of end-of-term exams is always balanced out with hilarious sketch comedy.

Tyler Marcus – Tyler Marcus is a first-year MBA student with a focus in Finance and Decision Sciences.  Prior to attending Fuqua, he worked at an economic research firm in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  He has also worked as a loan associate for a CDFI in Los Angeles and was a fellow at an MFI in Kampala, Uganda.  Tyler has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy and Japanese UC Berkeley. His knowledge of old-school rap is astounding.

Tatiana Manoel – Prior to attending business school, Tatiana Benitez G Manoel had a well diversified experience at Vivo – the largest wireless operator in Brazil, in different areas such as Internal Consulting, Marketing, and Business Planning. Even before that, she worked for the startup management consulting firm called The Jai Group. Besides, she has been engaged in non-profit activities as a co-founder of “Faz Politica” whose objective was to promote politic and economical awareness among students at FGV-SP and as a volunteer at “Projeto  Cidadaos do Mundo in which she improved the learning method in the organization. Tatiana does a stunning Christopher Walken impression, sometimes on purpose.

As for me, my bio can be found here on the blog. And I should probably note that while I’m the one responsible for the final sentence of each of the above bios, all of the information contained in this post is 100% factual.

I’ll be back again tomorrow with a look at our client, CECOEDECON.

Okay, so I admit the blog title is a bit obscure. It’s just that I really, really like alliteration. So without further adieu, please allow me to better explain what I’ll be writing about in this space:

One of the most challenging and exciting courses offered here at Fuqua (in my humble opinion) is the Global Consulting Practicum, or GCP for short. GCP is a 6-credit course that spans multiple terms and matches up 6-student teams with social entrepreneurs and NGOs in India, South Africa, and Belize (GCP students have also gone to Nicaragua in the past).

Beginning in November, teams make contact with their clients from afar, get to know what they are and do, and learn more about the environment in which they operate. Some clients have a very clear idea of what problem they’d like their Fuqua consultants to analyze and address; others are glad for the help but find it more difficult to identify the precise nature of their needs. And still others do so many different things and are so visionary in their thinking that the greatest challenge of the project becomes setting the proper scope for a student team with limited time and resources (much more to come on this matter, I promise).

As someone who’s come to Fuqua from an international development background and is looking to move into consulting, this class seemed to me a perfect bridge between these interests. Of course, it also offered the opportunity to go to India, which is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. The client that our team was matched up with is located in Jaipur, the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan, a unique area with an incredibly rich history.

So there you have it: Reaching for Rajasthan. Something we began doing back in November. In further posts soon to come, I’ll go in-depth on:

• The five amazing individuals with whom I’ve worked on this project
• Our client
• “The Problem” – and the (tortuous) path we took to identifying and framing it
• Our trip to India
• And the shape our final deliverables are taking

Hopefully this will provide a glimpse into one of the many fantastic opportunities to learn by doing, with a great team, and in a truly global context, that Fuqua has to offer!

See you next time.