Dear Anna, you took the long journey from Witten to Berlin and you are part of the CHANCEN eG team for two months now. Tell us how that happened and how you like it so far?
To be honest the journey is from Witten to Berlin and back 😉 I knew ISA from the Uni Witten and always thought it was really cool. I was especially fascinated by the potential of the model, its flexibility and how it is expandable in different directions. During my studies as well as privately I took interest in micro financial solutions in the developmental context. I thought that Olaf, Flo, and Batya were incredibly brave to take the idea out into the wide world. For me, it is a great possibility to have an insight into their work and the challenges of CHANCEN during my internship.
With contagious enthusiasm and unstoppable engagement during the organisation of the launch event of our crowdfunding campaign on the 15th of November, you managed to create a wonderful evening for all participants. Did you have fun whilst planning everything?
Yes, they were two very entertaining weeks. Not only did I get to know the Rwandan Ambassador and his team but I also learned a lot about screen printing: Luis from Imprenta who printed our T-shirts taught that to me. Great was also the fact that we ran together as team and cooperative. Certainly, there could’ve been some more runners, but that didn’t stop us from having fun at the run.
Which other tasks besides the planning of the launch event do you like the most?
I am actually interning for CHANCEN eG in financial analysis. It is about further development of our calculative model for the repayment conditions of ISA. I am building a database that gives us a general analysis of the financed students and therefore the risk of our loans. The project is challenging and fascinating: I work out new programs to speed up the processes. To do so, I have to analyse everything very carefully, to not unnecessarily make the databases more complicated. All this has to be as easy and transparent as possible so that people after me can use it without any complications. The best is definitely that I am not only growing in varied ways but that I am doing so continuously related to an important and promising model.
You studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) in Witten. What makes the combination of these subjects special to you?
This combination gave me the special opportunity to engage with the world the way it is whilst at the same time thinking that all could be different. That is surely the reason for my belief that we should change things in the world that we want to change and that we can.
What are your plans for the future?
After more practical experiences, I will most likely go back to university in October 2019 for a master’s degree where I want to focus on microfinance. In the long run, I want to work internationally. I could see myself finding something interesting in the field of Impact Finance. Who knows since I am really enjoying the work at CHANCEN – maybe an opportunity presents itself and I can come back and build cooperations of CHANCEN International in other parts of the world 😉
