In her first year in Wharton’s EMBA Program, Sarah Sullivan, a program analyst at the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC, heard about the social impact projects in Wharton’s Global Consulting Practicum (GCP). They sounded like a good fit with her growing interest in social enterprises in developing countries, but she wanted to finish her core courses before signing up.

So after completing her first year courses as well as an independent study over the summer for a small beeswax producing company in Cameroon, she and five EMBA classmates signed up for the GCP. The course typically pairs teams of Wharton full-time and executive MBA students and faculty with teams from partner universities in countries such as China, India, Peru, and Israel to consult with a client company interested in entering or expanding its position in the U.S. market. However, their social impact project was a bit unique in that it involved working with a partnership between the University of Pennsylvania, government of Botswana, and the University of Botswana to build capacity in Botswana in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Having recently returned from a visit to Botswana for the GCP project, we asked Sullivan and her teammate William “Willy” McColgan to share some of the highlights of their trip with us. Here’s what Sullivan had to say:

“Since we left at the end of December, everything was still closed for the holidays in Botswana so we spent the first four days in South Africa and went on safari. It was a great opportunity to get to know my classmates even better and build a stronger foundation for our group.

When we went to Gaborone, Botswana, we first met the University of Botswana business students who were working with us on the project to hammer out our goals and what we would be doing for our client. We then met with a lot of people in Gaborone – doctors, people from the Center for Disease Control, the Ministry of Health, and a few business leaders and citizens. We even got a tour of the capital and a neighboring village, which was a chance to see more of the country and get a better feel for the culture.

We were blown away by how developed Botswana is compared to many other African countries. Yet despite their development and healthcare infrastructure, it has the highest prevalence of HIV with 25% of the population infected. There is not enough capacity in terms of beds, space, medicine, and number of hours with doctors and staff. Seeing that was really hard. And it made coordinating the work really challenging because you could spend hours on this fascinating project.

While there, we did identify a lot of issues that the partnership is facing. We’ll now conduct more research on the partnership and what needs to be done to sustain its funding with a long-term strategy. Our goal is to have specific recommendations in place by May.

This experience has confirmed my interest in doing business development and strategic planning for social enterprises in developing countries in the future. It also made me realize what an incredible opportunity I’ve had at Wharton that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I’ve travelled to new places, met a lot of great people, seen other organizations in different environments, and gotten a world view of society. This was a capstone experience for me!”

McColgan agrees that the GCP trip was a wonderful experience. Here’s what he said about the project:
“When I first heard about the GCP’s social impact projects, I thought that no matter what else I do in the EMBA program, this is something I would look back on years from now and say it was really worthwhile and made an impact.

Once we arrived in Botswana, we headed straight over the border into South Africa for a safari to get adjusted to the time difference and prepare for the week ahead. What I remember the most from those days was getting stuck in the mud as it started to get dark and imagining all the things moving around you as well as a toga party on the game reserve on New Year’s Eve.

When we got to Botswana, we spent a lot of time planning and discussing our project and meeting with hospital staff, government representatives, and our University of Botswana counterparts. Later in the week, we went on the medical wards and met with residents from Penn’s Medical School as well as a Penn School of Nursing faculty member doing research on sabbatical. The University of Pennsylvania has certainly made an impact in Botswana. Hopefully our Wharton EMBA GCP team can help this continue.

This will definitely be a highlight of my time at Wharton. And I certainly strengthened my relationships with my classmates during that time, which is lasting. We’ll always have Africa!”

Many thanks to Sarah and Willy for sharing their GCP experiences. Learn more about the GCP.

Related blog: Wharton's Global Consulting Practicum EMBA Students Build International Teams While Working and Having Fun

Chris Dickey had a Doctorate in Public Health, but his job as general manager of a health services company in Manhattan wasn’t fulfilling his goal of making a real impact on a large number of people’s lives. To change that, he enrolled in Wharton’s MBA for Executives Program in 2006 where he seized the opportunity to brainstorm with classmates whenever he could about possible business plans. Soon after he graduated, he and a partner had a plan in place to create Healthpoint Services, a market-based approach to meeting the health needs of consumers at the base of the economic pyramid. In addition to providing clean water, the business also provides medical clinics in remote villages that connect patients to doctors via videoconferencing technology and remote diagnostics.

It’s been about 18 months since he graduated so we asked Chris to share some of the highlights of his unique entrepreneurial experiences with us. In addition to sending us a video video from a recent trip to India, here’s what he had to say:

“Poor people in the developing world typically don’t have access to clean water and affordable, high-quality health care. We set out to change that through a village-based unit called a Healthpoint that combines a Reverse Osmosis plant attached to a raw water source with the latest in telemedicine technology, approved drugs, and 65 diagnostic tests (and counting) that cover a range of common illnesses.

My partner, Allen Hammond, and I are convinced that we are among the pioneers of this new market-based approach to meeting the health needs of this vast group of consumers making and spending less than about $3 per day. We believe that a commercial venture focused on delivering high-quality care at an affordable price will create efficiencies, economies of scale, and a profitable, scalable company that will transform health outcomes for millions of people.

We officially launched the first three Healthpoints in India last October to some fanfare – both the Punjab Governor and Finance Minister were there as well as the national media. The politicians were so impressed with the operation that they asked us to build 600 more units in the next three years!

I recently returned from a visit to the Healthpoints, which are in Mallan, Doda, and Kotbhai, and also to our new call center based in Bathinda. I’m delighted to say that the units are all thriving, even after such a short time. The waiting rooms are full, people are lining up with 20 liter jugs to purchase clean water, and the staff is thrilled to be part of a revolutionary effort to provide access to health care for rural villagers.

During that trip, I watched a follow-up visit to the Healthpoint in Mallan by a woman who had been treated by us for joint pain a week before. She came to review her progress on the prescribed medicines and to get further instructions. She appeared to be very content with her treatment, which cost her 30 rupees (about $0.65) plus the cost of the medicines. Her doctor, too, was happy with the outcome. The fact that the doctor and patient were looking at one another through video screens seemed not to register to either of them.

The next morning, we drove to Doda, a village of about 1,500 families, nearly all of whom make a living from the vast farmland that surrounds it. When we arrived at the Healthpoint, several men were packing their 20 liter jugs full of water (which cost them 2 rupees) on the backs of their bicycles. One of the amazing aspects of this company is that getting the water has become a man’s job in these towns, replacing a traditional woman’s chore. We think it’s because the Healthpoints are also high tech gathering places and getting the water is now a cool thing to do for the men!

Inside the Healthpoint, I joined a consultation in progress. A farm worker was suffering from pains in his shoulder and side. He had been to the local government clinic where he was given vitamins and a pain killer without any real discussion. Our clinical assistant took the man’s blood pressure, temperature, pulse, and weight, carefully entering it into his electronic medical record. During the examination, our doctor was present via a large screen monitor and was asking lots of questions. It turns out that the patient had experienced several episodes during his life that appeared to be epileptic seizures. The doctor ruled out an immediate threat to the man’s health and then asked whether the patient could afford 500 rupees to get an EEG in Bathinda to check for epilepsy. The patient said yes, he had saved enough over the past year to cover the expense.

Absent a referral by our doctor, who is known in Bathinda, that EEG might have cost the worker several thousand rupees, a sum that he would have to borrow from a local loan shark, thereby ensuring that neither he nor his young family would ever escape the economic and health consequences of his illness.

I saw several other patient visits that day, not only in Doda, but also in Mallan and Kotbhai, and I was impressed by the warmth and care provided by our staff and also by patients’ ease in being seen by a doctor on TV. It’s incredible that most of these individuals have never seen a real doctor before and now they interact with one as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. The video and sound quality is so high, the lighting is so good, and the care with which the employees treat these poor patients is so genuine that the exchange of information is excellent. I’d gladly trade some of my experiences with the medical system in New York for ones like this.

When I think back on all those hours spent at Wharton discussing business ideas that would  make a difference, we owe a significant debt of gratitude to my Wharton EMBA colleagues, including Sarabjit Singh, Vikas Khurana, Mike Parker, and Rittik Chakrabarti.  I really believe that there is a tremendous demand for services like ours, not just in Punjab but in many other Indian states and other developing countries.”

Thanks to Chris for sharing those highlights and good luck to Healthpoint Services in its future growth!

To learn more about Healthpoint Services, contact Chris Dickey at: chris.dickey@e-healthpoint.net

Hands-on learning is nothing new for Wharton EMBA students. After all, they go right back to their offices after weekends in the classroom to apply what they have learned. And they have ample opportunities for hands-on learning outside of work through International Seminars, the Global Consulting Practicum and Wharton’s Leadership Ventures to name a few.

Wharton l San Francisco students now have another option via the School’s Nonprofit Board Leadership Program (NPBLP) , which selects and trains Wharton MBA students to serve on the boards of directors of nonprofit organizations for one year using their high-level knowledge of areas such as accounting, finance, and marketing. Launched in 2005 to match Wharton MBA students in the Philadelphia area with nonprofit organizations, the NPBLP expanded this year to San Francisco.

“It was important to bring the program to Wharton|San Francisco to provide more leadership opportunities for students, to reach out to the local community, and to support local nonprofits by providing them with world-class business management knowledge,” says second-year EMBA student Caspar Horne, president of Provisi Experts in Santa Clara, CA, who helped establish the West Coast NPBLP program.

Horne says he was stunned by the enthusiastic responses from nonprofits in the San Francisco and Bay Area. In fact, there were more nonprofits interested in the program than available students so he hopes to expand the program next year.

While serving on a nonprofit board may sound like a lot to balance on top of work, family, and class commitments, Horne says it’s not as bad as it sounds. “It’s about  eight to 10 hours a month including the monthly board meetings and gives students a much richer experience during the Wharton MBA for Executives program because it’s not just reading a case and making decisions on paper. These are real organizations with real challenges,” he says.

Horne adds that since EMBA students tend to be farther along in their careers, many are interested in giving back through community leadership. “This program helps students prepare to take on those roles by working on causes they are passionate about. And it’s a great way to network beyond the student body!” he says.

Wharton|San Francisco second-year Executive MBA student Anand Hariharan, a manager at Cisco Systems in San Jose, was recently matched through the program to serve on the board of One Million Lights, a nonprofit seeking to distribute one million environmentally friendly, rechargeable solar lights to people around the world. “A deeper understanding of social entrepreneurship coupled with a goal of better education and quality of life for children and the under-privileged is the ultimate opportunity,” he says.
Other nonprofits participating in the Wharton|San Francisco NPBLP include the YMCA, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Junior Achievement, Education through Music, and Breath California.

Get more information on Wharton’s NPBLP.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Wharton EMBA alumna Autumn Bayles is featured in a recent Knowledge@Wharton/Executive Education special report called Wharton on Women in Leadership. The report highlights how successful women in business have turned challenges into opportunities.

In the article about Bayles, who was the keynote speaker at the Wharton Women Conference, she discusses how she became the first CIO at Tasty Baking Company and subsequently took on the position of senior VP of strategic operations.

“Raise your hand … because that’s the way you’re going to get the opportunities you want. It’s not always going to be handed to you.” she said. After a supply chain executive left the company, “I raised my hand and said, ‘Why don’t you let me do this?’”

In the special section, Bayles also shares her thoughts on success: “Ultimately, there’s no magic. I think it’s very simple: Treat people with respect. Be good at what you do. Volunteer … I’m very grateful for where I have been able to get in my career. It wasn’t easy.”

She also advises: follow your passion because the money will follow; always be the best whether you are making copies or checking page numbers; and seek help from mentors and networking organizations. She says, “A lot of great men and women helped me achieve what I have achieved. I don’t forget that. … Seek help, and when you get to the point [that you can] give it back,” do so.

Bayles also stresses the importance of taking care of people. “It’s not just about what you need from them. It’s about actually caring about what’s going on in their lives, what’s going on in their careers. Sometimes that’s in direct conflict with what you need. You, as a leader, need to step back and think about what’s better for the person in question.”

Women and Leadership To read the full report about Bayles and other women business leaders, go to:
Women and Leadership