Meet the 2021 Seed Interns

Brittany worked with India-based Sirona Hygiene, a brand committed to solving menstrual hygiene and intimate issues.

“I believe that working in a developing economy presents the opportunity to participate in a more dynamic work environment, which presents its own unique excitements and challenges. As an intern, I believe that it is a privilege to be able to contribute directly to a company's future, growth, and job creation. It is crucial to be able to work and perform at a high level with a wide array of people from diverse backgrounds, and while I have sought that out during my academic career, this experience takes it to an entirely different level. I hope to hone both my hard and soft skills as I gain a critical understanding of how to work in a cultural environment that is foreign to me in various ways. Through this work, I will gain valuable insights on how to operate within potentially unpredictable markets while experiencing the fulfillment of working with populations that I care about."

James worked with Tanzania-based solar energy company Ensol Ltd., where he worked on evaluating the company's structure and processes as well as a roadmap for expansion into new markets.

"I come from the Kingdom of Swaziland and home therefore is the developing world. I particularly applied to work for an African company because I truly believe in the potential Africa has to rise up and solve some the infrastructural challenges we face today while improving livelihoods. This is a journey that requires much collaboration, vision and exchanging of ideas to allow the best ideas take us into our new horizon. I personally am excited and optimistic to be part of this journey and do not want to supplement the brain drain of Africa, which is why this summer I would love to work in Africa."

As an intern at Cinch Markets, an early stage AgriTech startup in Kenya focused on transforming the economics of land ownership, Cassie worked on the land leasing process and explored potential opportunities for scaling the business.

“I am passionate about building economically and environmentally sustainable agricultural systems, and I am focused on opportunities in agriculture for a Seed internship. In Sub-Saharan Africa, a majority of the population is involved in agriculture at some level. I believe that improvements in agricultural systems and solutions can improve economic outcomes for farmers - not only in terms of wages, but also in terms of wealth creation. Agriculture also sits at the intersection of other challenge areas, such as climate change, empowerment of women, and food security. The future of agriculture on the continent ideally encompasses solutions for all of these challenge areas.”

As an intern for Loyalytics Consulting in India, Aman worked on algorithms for providing automatic marketing campaign recommendations to retailers using their customer data.

“I'm interested in how statistical/predictive models can be leveraged to understand decision-making and outcomes in developing economies, and how data-driven insights can be used to develop more effective solutions to the multitude of problems which plague developing countries. Through Stanford Seed, by immersing myself in a company in a developing market, I would gain new perspectives which could be paired with Western market insights to make profound impact and progress either economically or with intangibles such as workplace culture, strategies, and values."