I lived in Mumbai until I was ten years old and have since returned to visit multiple times over the past 17 years. During these visits, I have observed Mumbai evolve into one of the most important business centers in the world inviting wealth and prosperity. This increase in purchasing power has led to a significant increase in housing prices as well as basic transportation costs, which have risen more than 50% just in the last five years. This rapid shift in socioeconomics has excluded a significant portion of the population; basic education, food and shelter are beyond reach for many low-income families. I want to lead an organization that connects these families and those in other third world countries with the necessary resources to pull …show more content…
On the way to becoming an Eagle Scout, I connected with many local residents and city council members which gave me an appreciation for the scale of concerted effort it takes to bring consequential change to a local community. One of the most meaningful social impact organizations that I have been a part of was volunteering with Open Twin Cities, an organization that fosters civic collaboration using technology for positive social impact. In volunteering with this program, I developed a prototype app to connect homeless veterans with military mentors in the Twin Cities. This particular contribution helped me understand just how crucial technology has become in solving any challenge. My work in consulting had provided me competencies to build complex technical solutions; however, I quickly realized that I still had to learn the management and strategic skills to scale these solutions. Solving challenges like this made has helped me understand that I want to pursue working in social impact beyond nights and weekends. I want to turn this into a full-time career. I believe an MBA will help me achieve this goal and in searching for the right school, I found that Duke’s program exceeds all my desires for building my skillset. Duke is academically challenging, emphasizes teamwork and provides a practical learning experience in the social enterprise space – three characteristics I believe are critical in helping me achieve my