Clarke Birrell graduated from UMW with a business administration degree in 2013. Since then, his first two jobs have landed him in France and then the Ivory Coast. He’s documented his travels and shared them in a series of articles. Please click here to learn about his first trip to France as an English teaching assistant.
Back from Cote D’Ivoire and happy I pushed my limits with a 3 month international internship in Africa for the Agribusiness company SIFCA.
Côte d’Ivoire is a 
country of 20 million people in West Africa bordered by Ghana, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea. It is a Francophone country with many ethnicities and over 60 tribal languages. An important aspect to note is that Côte d’Ivoire is coming out of two civil wars. They lasted from (2002 – 2007) and (2010 – 2011). The country is in a rebuilding phase, physically, in terms of the rebuilding, but also psychologically, through the healing of the psyche of a population that was very divided.
For 3 months, I worked as a communications intern with the Agribusiness company SIFCA. The communications team included 15 other employees. Our responsibility was to create publications for internal distribution to the 29,000 employees and externally to media outlets and investors. Here are a few things I learned along the way.
1) Respect the chain of command. Especially in bigger organizations where there is a clear organizational structure, always get approval for your emails. It takes two minutes to ask your supervisor to take a look and costs nothing, but unauthorized communication can be very detrimental.
2) Stereotypes are an enemy, but also a friend. As an American working in a Franco-African firm, people will be watching you. They will have preconceived opinions about you. They will poke fun at you. Don’t be put off by this treatment, but use it to your advantage to bring down cultural barriers and start conversations. Try to handle everything with a smile.
3) Fear is a great motivator. Working in a Francophone company forces you to improve your French. In my case, the fear of sucking at French pushed me to work with a tutor and other members of the communications team to improve my level.
If you are interested in International internships or have other questions, please reach out cdbirrell@gmail.com.
Working internationally isn’t all sunshine and roses, but you will improve your self-confidence, meet new people, view America in a different light and have some good stories for your friends back home.
Story and image submitted by Clarke Birrell ’13.
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