An Illinois native, 星空传媒 basketball player and, as of this summer, an international intern.
Michael Volkening, a third-year finance major who had never previously traveled overseas, knew he wanted to push himself out of his comfort zone this summer. That鈥檚 why when his professor, Michael Goldberg, mentioned a startup in South Africa looking for an intern, he jumped at the opportunity.
鈥淚 knew I wanted to intern at a startup company because I wanted to make an impact,鈥 Volkening said. 鈥淚 also was looking for a company with a mission statement that I agreed with. Zlto met all the criteria I was looking to accomplish this summer.鈥
Zlto is a small financial technology (FinTech) startup in Bridgetown, South Africa, that uses blockchain technology paired with its own currency to combat the youth unemployment rate (ages 15-24), which is currently at an alarming 55%.
On his first day, Volkening was greeted with a hug by the owner of the company, who he soon learned would be his manager for the summer. That鈥檚 when he knew this internship was different than he expected.
鈥淭hey made me feel welcomed,鈥 Volkening said. 鈥淭he team was open-minded with everything I did. If it was something they liked, they took it. If not, they encouraged me to go in a different direction.鈥
Volkening鈥檚 days involved a lot of financial modeling. For example, he worked on Zlto鈥檚 social return on investment (SROI) model, calculating data for every dollar that a business would invest in the company to discover how much social impact or gain Zlto was creating. He remembers using skills he learned in Assistant Professor of Banking and Finance Lakshmi Balasubramanyan鈥檚 class, which 鈥渉elped tremendously.鈥
Volkening worked on another model that depicted the value of services users completed in relation to Zlto's currency. This allowed him and his team to display how much Zlto users receive from a variety of services. Volkening says this model will be implemented in Zlto鈥檚 next version.
He also had the unique opportunity to sit in on venture capitalist meetings, where he learned real-world terminology and how the whole process works. Volkening credits Allan Van Der Meulen, his manager and the founder of the company, as one of the most brilliant, motivated people he鈥檚 ever met.
The nearly three-month internship had a serious impact on Volkening鈥檚 career goals.
鈥淚nitially, I was thinking of going corporate after graduation, maybe working for a big bank,鈥 he said. 鈥淣ow that I鈥檝e dipped my toe in the startup and entrepreneurship world, it made me realize there are more routes I could take.鈥
Of course, his experience overseas wasn鈥檛 all work: Volkening and his new friends and coworkers did a lot of hiking, including Lion鈥檚 Head Mountain in Cape Town, and also toured Groot Constantia, the oldest winery in South Africa.
Volkening鈥檚 advice to students considering taking their internship abroad?
鈥淛ust do it. Go have fun and learn,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t was the best experience of my life.鈥