Max Moving Forward
Looking back on my Summer, while I did not earn much money or get any closer to attaining a job, I got something so much more than each of those things. I learned what the real world is really like. Before I left, I never would have cared about fair wages or working conditions in a third world country on the other side of the globe. Now I see these things as imperative to our development as a global society.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do after I graduate. On paper, I am an economics and finance major. Traditionally then, I would go into Investment banking or some other "super finance" related job. I am not sure if this is where my long term interests lie anymore. Meeting the people that I met and seeing the things that I saw has led me astray from my post graduate career goals that have been so ingrained in me for the past 2 years. I have thought about possibly working for a micro finance institution in an English speaking third world country. I have thought about joining the Peace Corps. I have even thought about going to Economics Graduate School. Still, one thing is certain for my life in the near and distant future: I will always remember my experiences this past Summer and will use them as a guide for the rest of my life.
At some point in the future, I hope to start my own Micro Finance institution for the betterment of developing societies. My desire is for it to stray away from risk adjusted returns involving usurious rates. Instead, my institution will lend at affordable rates allowing even the poorest of the poor to have access to capital. Too compensate for potentially increased losses, it will have to cut costs and come up with efficient new means of lending. It will also operate on a charity rather than profit driven basis. With this in mind, small possible monetary loses could be expected but at the expense of huge potential gains in social and economic welfare.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do after I graduate. On paper, I am an economics and finance major. Traditionally then, I would go into Investment banking or some other "super finance" related job. I am not sure if this is where my long term interests lie anymore. Meeting the people that I met and seeing the things that I saw has led me astray from my post graduate career goals that have been so ingrained in me for the past 2 years. I have thought about possibly working for a micro finance institution in an English speaking third world country. I have thought about joining the Peace Corps. I have even thought about going to Economics Graduate School. Still, one thing is certain for my life in the near and distant future: I will always remember my experiences this past Summer and will use them as a guide for the rest of my life.
At some point in the future, I hope to start my own Micro Finance institution for the betterment of developing societies. My desire is for it to stray away from risk adjusted returns involving usurious rates. Instead, my institution will lend at affordable rates allowing even the poorest of the poor to have access to capital. Too compensate for potentially increased losses, it will have to cut costs and come up with efficient new means of lending. It will also operate on a charity rather than profit driven basis. With this in mind, small possible monetary loses could be expected but at the expense of huge potential gains in social and economic welfare.