INTERN WORKSITE LOCATION: Washington, DC
LENGTH OF INTERNSHIP: May through Aug, 2019 (3 months minimum)
Availability: M-F 9am-5pm (flexible)
INTERN SUPERVISOR:
Partner, MCV (50% – MCV Investment Analyst Deliverables)
Social Innovations Director (50% – Social Innovations and Fund Structuring Deliverables)
FUNDING AVAILABLE FOR THE INTERNSHIP: $1,500/month stipend
Mercy Corps responsibilities
For the duration of this internship assignment the intern will receive:
- A monthly living stipend of $1,500 per month
- ISOS Emergency Med-Evac Coverage
- Access to all investment documents, online tools, entrepreneurs, and Mercy Corps stakeholders necessary to complete the assignment
- Access to all of Mercy Corps’ online tools, materials and communications
Intern responsibilities
Intern will remain responsible for all costs associated with:
- Travel
- Visa
- Housing accommodations
- Medical insurance
- Immunizations
- All other costs associated with this internship
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Mercy Corps is an international relief and development organization working in over 40 countries worldwide helping people build secure, productive and just communities. Mercy Corps Ventures (MCV) is its impact investing arm and manages a seed stage impact investment fund (the Social Venture Fund) designed to help early-stage entrepreneurs overcome barriers to growth by providing capital and targeted post investment support. We believe that connecting our investees to the experts, market intelligence, scaling pathways and partners of Mercy Corps will accelerate their growth and impact.
The Mercy Corps Ventures Internship involves working with the Mercy Corps Ventures and Social Innovations Director on several highly strategic work streams outlined below.
Social Venture Fund (50%):
- Deal Side
- Due Diligence: In conjunction with the Partner, the intern will review and analyze business plans, financial models, and investment proposals. The intern will evaluate investment opportunities in terms of entrepreneur potential, market validation, impact potential, and alignment with Mercy Corps’ priorities and capabilities.
- Fund Structuring
- Investment Thesis Refinement & Landscape Mapping: The Intern will assist the Partner in refining our investment theses for Agriculture and Fragile Cities. This will include landscape mapping and literature reviews, as well as interviews with key experts in our network and our portfolio company entrepreneurs.
- Fund Development: Supporting the Partner and Social Innovations Director in refining straw models / structures for potential expansion of the Social Venture Fund. This will include key considerations, such as capital blend, in-house vs. outsourced activities, returns expectations / projections modeling, and potential LP segmentation / mapping. The Intern would be involved in key meetings with our Advisors for the new funds, including Omidyar Network, OPIC, ISF and GSG.
Social Innovations (50%):
- Gaza Sky Geeks Expansion – Support the Director in landscaping of coding academies in the Middle East and comparative analysis of countries and cities as potential expansion sites for Gaza Sky Geeks’ offerings (coding academy, freelancing academy, co-working space).
- Youth and the Future of Work – Support on-going development of Mercy Corps’ agency strategy for Youth and the Future of Work. This includes identifying and analyzing for-profit and non-profit social enterprise models for partnerships and/or investment and the development of blended finance and incubation approaches that could better support early-stage entrepreneurs working across the youth employment spectrum.
- Innovative Finance Initiatives – Conduct research on landscape of innovative financial approaches that could be applied to refugee support and to climate change mitigation and adaptation activities in regions where Mercy Corps works.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Through the internship, the intern will acquire:
- Exposure to the global entrepreneurial ecosystem, tech sector, investors/venture capital, and government and policy actors,
- Direct and tangible experience in the entire investment lifecycle: fund thesis development, investment landscaping, sourcing, analysis, negotiation and closing,
- Experience in fund structuring and fundraising; and,
- Exposure to innovation in the development sector.
DELIVERABLES:
Final deliverables will be discussed and defined with the selected candidate no more than two weeks prior to the start of the internship.
Specific projects are designed based on the fluctuating demands of portfolio companies. A successful candidate has a broad toolkit, and will be able to dive into an array of different types of technical assistance projects.
THE IDEAL CANDIDATE:
- MBA or other relevant graduate study in progress or complete (no more than 1 year ago),
- Multiple years experience developing businesses either in management consulting, finance, private equity or as part of an enterprise,
- Prior investment experience, particularly in emerging markets and/or within a VC, a big plus,
- Entrepreneurial mindset,
- Experience with development of a business from early stage conceptualization through scale,
- Strong financial modeling, business planning, due diligence, competitive analysis, and valuation skills and experience,
- Experience in process mapping and tools that support efficiency and workflow mapping,
- Excellent problem-solving skills and ability to get things done,
- Strong strategic thinking skills. Able to navigate complex environments and develop a clear, focused, and ambitious vision,
- Prior demonstrated interest in creating positive social impact,
- Ability to work collaboratively, build trust and facilitate change in organizations, and
- Experience working across a distributed team.
Mercy Corps interns and team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours and are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and MC’s policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.
Diversity is powerful. To achieve transformational change, we seek out team members with different origins, beliefs, backgrounds and ways of thinking. Diversity helps us unlock complexity.
If interested, please apply here.
