TechnoServe's volunteer consultant program engages select business professionals for three- to 12-month-long projects, generally based in the developing world. Volunteer consultants typically (but not exclusively) have at least three years of full-time business experience, which includes a minimum of two years at a top-tier management consulting firm. Their projects vary, but they often work with entrepreneurs, government officials and others to create business plans, develop policy recommendations, craft industry strategies, or implement business plan competitions.
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The process for becoming a Volunteer Consultant is highly selective. As opportunities emerge, we interview appropriate candidates from our database. To be included in the database, please submit the following information to volcon@tns.org:
Part 1. Candidate Information Template
Please complete the the Candidate Information Template in Excel. Instructions for each column are provided and sample entries are also listed. If you are unable to properly explain something using this template, please make a note of it on the free-form questions below (Part 2, question 3). Please be as concise as possible on your responses.
This document must be named and labeled in the following format:
LastName.FirstName DATABASE Month Year (Ex: Simmons.Edith DATABASE Jan 2009)
Part 2. Submit a document that contains your CV/Resume and responses to the following questions:
1. Why are you interested in volunteering with us?
2. What do you consider to be your greatest skills that you would leverage on a project with us?
3. Please share any additional information not covered elsewhere that we should know in order to determine if a project is a good match for you.
This document must be named and labeled in the following format:
LastName.FirstName APPLICATION Month Year (Ex: Simmons.Edith APPLICATION Jan 2009)
Should your availability or other information change after you submit your application please resubmit the relevant materials with a note clarifying that you are updating your application. Due to the large volume of inquiries for this program, please note that we will ONLY follow up with you if a potential opportunity emerges. Thank you for your time and interest in TechnoServe and our work.
Julie Deque — Volunteer Consultant
Julie Deque scanned the horizon as her canoe sliced through the complex maze of waterways that comprise Central America's famed Mosquito Coast. She was on a quest to identify lost strains of precious cocoa trees that might hold the key to reducing poverty for the region's struggling small-holder farmers. This was her fourth day travelling by boat from village to village listening, questioning and learning.
TechnoServe had identified the potential to develop a fine cocoa industry which could mean a better life for 20,000 smallholder farmers. Analysis had suggested that potential might exist to double farmer incomes, but this hypothesis needed to be investigated in the field. Deque's job was to check the theory against reality and recommend how to proceed.
Deque was a world away from her prior life as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company in Paris. But she was still leveraging and developing her management consultant skills, leading a team of 20 agronomists and two cocoa experts to collaborate with smallholder farmers to identify precious fine cocoa trees for future reproduction. She was also charged with determining if there was a business case for this opportunity, working with gourmet chocolate manufacturers in Europe and the United States.
"With TechnoServe, I didn't stay in the office waiting for the results," Deque says. "I went to the field; I worked with the farmers. I learned about their culture, their challenges and their aspirations. In return I taught them about identifying and capitalizing on business opportunities. The farmers I met were struggling, and I saw directly how my work could help improve their lives. This was the richest and most exciting consulting project I have ever worked on."
After finishing her assignment, Deque began her MBA studies at INSEAD. "I have long been searching for a true hope to reduce global poverty," she says. "After working with TechnoServe . . . I now know it's possible."
