Through experience, I learned to diminish fearing the unknown and started to truly embrace chaos, seeing it as an infinity of roads and opportunities… and, frankly, because you can only structure and plan so much, events will always have some degree of uncertainty in them. A navigator because I religiously believe that the encounters, knowledge and skills acquired equip us to move through such undiscovered paths…and that is exactly what I’m seeking through this internship.
This experience is a 6 month-internship with the AIESEC-Artemisia Social Business Ventures program in Buenos Aires. In short, my job consists of creating a social impact through the creation of a social business venture (definitions will come)
I work for an NGO, La Usina, whose overall mission is to make a systemic-societal change on the issue of disability in Argentina. The organization is a ground-breaker in the country, and has already a social enterprise, redActivos. Currently, we are in the process of launching the 2nd social enterprise. This venture seeks to address a need unattended by the market. Its product will directly positively transform the personal autonomy and well-being of people with disabilities, the person’s families, and the community as a whole. The overall task consists of helping to create the business. Needless to say, as a 25 years-old, it is by far one of the most exciting opportunities I have come across! The tasks include: the business plan, finding investors, designing the brand & its marketing strategies, coordinating the value chain…in short I am learning about every part of the bones and meat of a (social) business. The biggest pleasure is that of directly working with the entrepreneur, Bea Pellizzari, a determined change-agent (Ashoka fellow), an inspiring leader and fun, down-to-earth person. (video)…But what really makes the experience thrilling is the fact that I don’t know how long it will last, simply because it all depends on whether we successfully launch the business or not..( here’s where the chaos comes in!)
My background is a bachelor in Business Administration, and a Msc. In Business and Development Studies with a minor in Social Entrepreneurship from Copenhagen Business School (CBS), Denmark. By far, some of the critical (success) competencies for a chaos navigator were gained during my years – passionately- spent in the CBS chapter of the student organization, AIESEC. This organization gave me the tools to think out of the box, through actual responsibilities and a chance to put the theory into practice. In the role as a Local Committee President, I have driven a committee of 60+ individuals, running it together with a team of 5 executive board members, where we set a yearly strategy, developed soft-skills about our leadership style, effective communication, conflict-management and other “MUSTS” of running an organization (of any type). And all was entirely driven by students!
Other sources of this nurturing chaos…
ü Buenos Aires, a chaotic city…(more on this on another post)
ü A nomad´s life: lived in Argentina, Japan, Switzerland, Chile, France, UK, Denmark, and (for now) back in Argentina…
ü Academic chaos: the name, besides a personal religion, finds its inspiration from Kaos Pilots, an avant-garde “business” school in Denmark (see this video), which we’ve had the immense pleasure of sharing an AIESEC conference together with them.
Possible CONTENT of this blog:
· Reflections, articles and news on social business ventures…
· Social impact in Argentina (and Latin America)…
· Experiences as an intern, i.e. miscellaneous tasks and everyday duties…
· And other existential questions…after all , it is meant to be unstructured J
UNLIKELY content of the blog:
· Travel experiences (easily found elsewhere)…
· Motivational videos (without any context in putting them)…
· Really concise, to-the-point assertions (not my style)
Comments and feedback always welcome J Enjoy!
