<p>My school recently had a presentation on Microfinance. It sounds really interesting and I would like to be a part of it.
However, I am a junior and was wondering if doing a microfinance internship in a foreign country would be good move–career wise.
I am not positive what I want to do yet but thinking about corporate finance or consulting (not sure about investment banking?) </p>
<p>Like would potential recruitors look at this internship as a beneficial experience for a possible career in finance or consulting?
OR–
would I be better off trying to get an internship at some place like Bank of America, a firm, etc since I will be completing for jobs with my fellow students? </p>
<p>hobo, microfinance is the process in which you give out small loans which usually do not have interest to poor people in foreign countries as a means of giving them a way of usually starting a business or financing the expansion of a business. for example this year i loaned out 50 dollars (i was just one of the people loaning) to a cambodian woman to buy a motorbike for her son so he can get to work quicker and so that she doesn’t have to waste time getting him there and can focus on working and maximizing profits.</p>
<p>Now onto the main question.
Look, it really depends on your goals. If you want to work at Bank of America after graduation then yes, you need to intern there or a firm similar so that you will have good skills and show that you can do the work well. I think it’s always good to do the junior internship because it can really help secure employment after graduation and that’s great secruity to get.</p>
<p>Is the microfinance work bad? No no way, it’s great. If you were doing a soph internship or something i’d probably advise it because it would be a good experience and something interesting and different to talk about when you interview with banks your junior year. But unless you want to work in non-profit, you should have your junior year internship in the field you most want to work in.</p>
<p>i think it would be better to intern or work as a local seller of traditional financial services solely for the fact that you have to sell. Important skill and something that would be lacking when loaning money to the poor.</p>