When I graduated in May of 2005, I never imagined that six months later, I’d be on a flight bound for Cape Town, South Africa. The previous summer, I joined Ben Powell ’05 in Nicaragua, where he was starting Agora Partnerships, a social venture capital firm that helps local entrepreneurs launch businesses. In doing so, I realized that I had a passion for and a future in international development. A few months after returning from Nicaragua, I flew to South Africa for a friend’s wedding. While there, I fell in love with the country and its people and decided to stay, spending most of 2006 working and traveling in southern and eastern Africa.
There were many dramatic moments, including rafting down the mighty Zambezi River, flying in an ultralight plane over Victoria Falls and suffering through a bout of malaria. In Namibia, I was nearly stampeded by an angry elephant. In Tanzania, I climbed to the roof of Africa, Kilimanjaro, and in Mozambique I dove with 30-foot whale sharks and 15-foot manta rays.
I worked as a consultant to African Allsorts, a craft business in Cape Town that employs Zimbabwean refugees to make bead and wire art. I helped them build their first catalog, design inventory and production systems and export products to the United States. With my assistance, the company tripled its revenue from the previous year, operated far more effectively and expanded its staff to 25 people.
My work life went far beyond typical business management — I got to know the artists on a personal level. They told me stories of hiking through lion-infested bush, of countless family tragedies and of oppressive political leaders. I taught them how to use e-mail; they showed me how to craft animals out of wire.
Last fall, I helped bring the company to Manhattan for the New York International Gift Show at the Javits Center. The show was a great success, and overnight, these African refugees began selling their crafts to American consumers. It was simply beautiful.
Ben Vishnu Mandell ’05 is now working in Ethiopia with TransFair USA, helping coffee farmers become fair trade–certified. In addition, he is making a documentary film about the upcoming Ethiopian millennium.