Teen Summer Program 2009
Summer Camp comes to IFC
Summer Camp comes to IFC July 8, 2009 – “What does my dad do?” asked the son of an IFC staff member who attended a session on IFC as part of a three week Summer Teen Program for 32 children, 16-18 years old, of WBG, IMF and IDB Staff, organized by the World Bank Family Network (WBFN). “Camp Counselors” for the session, Reyaz Ahmad and Sid Edelmann were determined, without the use of PowerPoint and IFC’s standard presentation to answer the question and to give the “campers” an IFC experience to remember.
The first task was to get the teens to shout out the names of successful companies that they admire and to select the best five. Apple, Microsoft, Coca Cola, McDonalds and Disney topped the list. Working in groups, the participants identified characteristics that made these companies successful. The list that these kids came up with was impressive. It included most of the things IFC investment officers may come up with in their PDS-ERs such as product quality, productions costs, strong management, brand recognition, etc.
After this America-centric exercise, it was time to move to a harsher climate. Within minutes, the teens working in their groups were listing constraints to operating McDonalds in Bangladesh; Apple in North Korea; Coca Cola in Iraq; Disney in Papua New Guinea; or Microsoft in Sudan. Lists of constraints were comprehensive, including things such as corruption, political uncertainty, legal issues and access to raw materials, capital, and labor. These young people were then put in the position of investment officers and using IFC cases had to decide whether or not to invest in a port, a shrimp farm and a university.
After two and half hours of hard work, the teens got it – they know what we do at IFC and, in a small way, they have done it themselves. While they can’t yet throw around the “jargon”, they were introduced to the concepts of development effectiveness, IFC additionality and even independent evaluation. They spoke about advisory services, made investment decisions and took a Fortune 500 company to North Korea – something not even IFC has done yet!
The “campers” shined during the session. Their enthusiasm, problem solving abilities and presentation skills were exceptional. Echoing the Who, these kids are definitely “alright”! Check it out for yourselves by clicking through the .