A Summer of Startups and Self-Discovery in South Africa

Throughout my studies as an advertising strategy major at Newhouse and a minor in applied data analytics in the iSchool, I’ve learned about my love for data and how, contrary to how it’s usually portrayed, it allows creativity to shine. If you can’t back up creative ideas with data, you’ll never be able to convince a client to take risks. I’ve always had a passion for experiencing new places, which drew me to my internship experience in summer 2024.

Coming off my semester abroad in Copenhagen in spring 2024, most of my friends were excited to return to the comfort and familiarity of their homes. I decided I was ready for the complete opposite. I took an internship with The Loudhailer, a marketing consulting firm working with startups, and moved to practically the furthest place possible for the summer: South Africa. While I was physically far from my friends and family, South Africa became a home for me in the process.

After a 15-hour flight to Cape Town and lost luggage, I was back on a plane promptly the next morning. This time, it was for the eight-hour flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I went to Ethiopia to support the Global Startup Awards Africa team with facilitating the first-ever Ethiopian Startup Awards. While there, we ate a traditional Ethiopian meal: deliciously spiced stews, meats and vegetables on top of large, spongy rounds of injera, which we ate on ornate cushions on the floor of a beautifully decorated room.

Throughout the three-day trip, we learned about startups with innovations from an artificial intelligence-powered walking stick for the blind, to visiting the studio of a company that recycled coffee husks into readily burnable fuel. We explored the city of Addis, and one night some of my coworkers and I went to a place called Fendika, where we listened to live jazz from local musicians and drank tej, Ethiopian honey wine.

Upon my return to South Africa, I settled into the routine of my new life. I shared an apartment with Andie, another Newhouse student, and we became quick friends through our mutual newness to the area and love of exploring. I walked to the beach after my internship most days and watched the sunset across Strand, and we often tried new restaurants and bars in the area.

I was matched with my internship through iKapa Impact, which provided lots of support. While interning with The Loudhailer, I continued working with the Global Startup Awards Africa as well.  I loved that my internship was fully in-person; every day, I went to the light, airy office space with a view overlooking a cheetah sanctuary and Helderburg mountain. 

At the beginning of the summer, I wasn’t quite sure how I fit into the already-established workings of a very small team, but I picked up projects where I could. I assisted in a pilot project testing a new AI platform designed for startups; I created timelines, took meeting notes and managed communications with the participants. Because of my background in data analysis, I fell into the project of analyzing years’ worth of Global Startup Awards Africa data- everything from the age of founders to what types of cloud services power their innovations, searching for patterns to inform an insights report.

My data analysis was used in many press releases across Africa to emphasize the impact of startups, and I hope the insights will help amazing startups get the funding they need.

Outside of work, I was experiencing so many new things, many of which were organized through iKapa. I visited Kayamandi, one of the townships outside of Stellenbosch, many times. Once, I went for a reconciliation dinner, where attendants came from inside the township and elsewhere in South Africa. 

Through iKapa Impact, I was also able to participate in a beach cleanup day with journalism students from Cape Point University of Technology for Mandela Day. In South Africa, the tradition is to serve your local community for 67 minutes, to represent the 67 years Nelson Mandela fought for freedom. We talked about the differences in our college experiences while picking up garbage on a windy beach right outside Cape Town.

The depth of integration was truly surreal. Leaving South Africa, I gained not only a deeper understanding of a new place but also valuable insights about myself and my future path. My experience reinforced how I want to apply my Newhouse education moving forward. After graduation, I aspire to work at an advertising agency or media company, where I can leverage both my professional experience in an international market and the personal growth that comes from immersing myself in a completely different culture. I believe this perspective will make me a more strategic, adaptable and globally minded advertiser.