Finding Your Career Passion Close to Home

This post was written by Bernard Kiprop, Strategy & Research Analyst on One Acre Fund’s internal consulting team, based in Nairobi, Kenya. A graduate of Amherst College, Bernard grew up in Baringo County in Kenya.

Pursuing a career in international development makes a lot of sense, but not enough young professionals from developing countries do so.

For me, the decision to join One Acre Fund—and the development field in general—was based on a combination of personal and professional factors. Most of all, I find this work to be extremely valuable because it allows me to make an impact in my community, surround myself with motivated coworkers, and acquire a strong skill-set to use throughout my life.

Make An Impact On Your Own Community

After I finished college a few years ago, I started working for One Acre Fund’s internal consulting team, which advises and supports the organization on all kinds of important decisions—such as improving the efficiency and scale of our customer support services, finding opportunities to increase the adoption of improved seeds in Sub-Saharan Africa, and preparing internal and external presentations for the organization’s leadership.

Having grown up in rural Kenya, I understand the context under which my organization works, and this allows me to add more value and have a greater impact for those we serve. I have a fair understanding of what challenges farmers might face, and with this knowledge, I can step in and provide some clarity when my team needs it. I can also relate more closely to how the impact we generate affects our farmers’ lives.

Surround Yourself With Motivated Coworkers

Working in international development gives you the opportunity to surround yourself with a community of colleagues who share your values. At One Acre Fund, our mission is to create long-lasting impact for our farmers, while maintaining a culture of humility, and ensuring professional growth for each staff member. These values have brought together people from multiple continents with different backgrounds, undertaking all kinds of work—but always keeping the same goal of serving our farmers first.

Develop Valuable Skills

Lastly, the type of work you do in a development organization is challenging, and the skills you gain are equally valuable to those you would learn in the private sector. In fact, you are likely to get even higher levels of responsibility right off the bat than you would in a private company. The problems that development organizations seek to address are enormous, which forces everyone to really step up. At One Acre Fund, for example, we serve over 600,000 farm families, and that is quite a task!

One way I’ve been able to grow my skills is through software programming. I had very basic skills when I joined One Acre Fund last year, but after six months, I was able to build an interactive tool that allows users to easily visualize data for any country or region in Sub-Saharan Africa on an online map. This is no different from what my peers at tech startups or financial services firms are learning, except for the added benefit of helping us identify the farmers we can serve.

It is always the right time in your career to take the international development path, and the rewards are long-lasting—not just for you, but for your community as well. One Acre Fund currently has positions open across East Africa.