MBA 2020 summer internships: Integrating profit and purpose at Inspiring Capital

Over the summer of 2019, I interned with Inspiring Capital, a New York-based strategy consulting firm that integrates profit and purpose within the social impact sector.

Being in a joint degree program, I knew I wanted to infuse both of my worlds of social work and business together to have impact. Inspiring Capital gave me the perfect opportunity to do just that.

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Part of a series about summer internships from Olin MBA 2020 students. Today we hear from Destiny Davis, who worked at Inspiring Capital as a consulting and strategy intern.

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How I prepared for my interview and landed the internship?

The interview process for Inspiring Capital was a combination of three rounds. This included a virtual video interview, a strategy deliverable and a group business case. I made sure to be my genuine self throughout the entire process, and made sure to know about the firm to the best of my ability. This included knowing the history, past portfolio of clients and level of impact had the previous year. As a part of my preparation, I did case prep as well.

A day in the life?

My day-to-day activities at Inspiring Capital were two-fold. Tuesday through Friday were spent working directly from my client’s office on my project on evaluation in downtown Brooklyn. My project was to work with my client’s operations department to make a sustainable business strategy to enhance their impact value, evaluation metrics and data management processes.

In addition, every Monday was spent at a different company. From understanding the importance of the roles that both not-for-profits and for-profits play in achieving our nation’s sustainable development goals with the United Nations Global Compact, to design thinking with Salesforce, to comprehending the landscape of innovative impact investing with The Rockefeller Foundation, along with using Blockchain for Good with IBM and grasping the long-term impact of circular economy in fashion with Eileen Fisher Inc.

This summer was nothing short of impactful. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing what business for good looked like in all of these different spaces—therefore, helping me to understand what profit and purpose looked like being integrated together to change the world.  

Destiny Davis

How did the internship prepare me for my final year at Olin? How is the internship shaping my long-term goals?

My summer at Inspiring Capital solidified what I truly want to do. I enjoy the idea of doing strategy for a firm that wants to maintain profitability, but still considers the social impact of their footprint on the world.

Understanding this, I am able to take classes that pertain to this area of work. For opportunities, I am willing to seek out connections that will allow me to use the mindset of profit plus purpose, and doing great business while having impact.