Last fall, I worked at DC-based non-profit, The World Resources Institute, within a program working to restore land across degraded and deforested landscapes across the globe. In thinking about my Leadership-in-Action project this summer, I had a strong desire  to return to WRI’s The Land Accelerator and continue building on my work and working with the team from last fall.  

The Land Accelerator program understands that a sole dependency on philanthropy or policy change is insufficient to restore land. Private companies – with funding from impact investors – have a pivotal role to play, too. Across the globe, companies are making money from growing trees, selling value-added products, and transforming agriculture towards sustainable and regenerative models. However, in rural areas, where growing agricultural commodities on restored land is a viable business model, entrepreneurs face barriers to capital and technical expertise. Without access to funding and capacity building, these businesses struggle to get off the ground. The Land Accelerator program offers a curated network and accelerator program for entrepreneurs restoring degraded forests and farmland across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Through online and in-person boot camps, the Land Accelerator program empowers entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses to impact investors and boost sales of their products. 

Throughout the summer, I assisted the Land Accelerator team in running workshops for the cohort and developing the program for future cohorts. The cohort met twice a week for two-hour sessions on Tuesday and Thursday. In Tuesday’s session, entrepreneurs heard from speakers on topics ranging from how to craft a pitch deck, create financial documents, engage with impact investors, network within the program, promote gender equity and inclusion in business operations, and more. In Thursday’s sessions, entrepreneurs heard from Land Accelerator cohort members – both current and past – on the land-restoring businesses they had developed. 

Across my research and assistance, a strong emphasis was placed on how the Land Accelerator and TerraFund (the WRI-led fund for entrepreneurs restoring land) can promote further gender equity in its programming. I looked into data, for example, on the number of female-led projects funded by TerraFund versus the percentage of total TerraFund dollars directed towards female-led projects. In my final week, I presented my findings to the Land Accelerator and TerraFund team. 

At Georgetown, I study Global Business, which, in theory, prepares students for cross-cultural engagement and exploration of social and environmental responsibility across the international private sector. My time with WRI this summer did more to emphasize the importance of “cross-cultural engagement” and “social and environmental responsibility” than any coursework I’ve taken over the past three years. In a conversation with impact investors who invest in entrepreneurs across Africa building business models to restore, both spoke of how understanding the differences in how different cultures engage with and view business is absolutely crucial. They emphasized the importance of meeting entrepreneurs where they’re at over rather than forcing a certain view of business operations. I saw this firsthand in conversations, for example, amongst WRI team members discussing expectations for loan repayments, many of which had been delayed due to entrepreneurs facing geopolitical turmoil in their countries or devasting effects of climate change on their agricultural yield. Even smaller differences are worth noting too: many entrepreneurs faced difficulty with WiFi in the bootcamp sessions, making it difficult to tune in and absorb information into the sessions.   

Throughout college, I’ve always been passionate about climate change and the transition to renewable energy, in particular. For my Laidlaw research project last summer, for example, I analyzed Oil & Gas companies’ commitment – or, in many cases, lack thereof – to the renewable energy transition. Until I began work with WRI, however, I lacked an appreciation the role that land and biodiversity play in the health of our environment – and the livelihood of billions. It’s one thing to read about large multinational energy companies committing to reducing their emissions with targets far into the future, and quite another to talk to people who have lost their ability to grow food on their very own land due to soil degradation. It was inspiring to speak with entrepreneurs who are making a direct positive impact on their communities, right here and right now.