And they lived happily ever after?!

Did they? What happens to the Eco's of Enseña for Colombia (ExC) once they finish their 2 year teaching project in under developed areas of their country? Do they go back to their previous life living in a happy bubble? Do they stay in teaching or do they go and explore the world?

Margarita Saenz , Executive Director at ExC, told me during my consulting assignment in Bogota that one of their aims was to mould these handpicked Ecos to future leaders of the country into real game changers. The recruiting team of ExC plays a crucial role in this process. It is their job to find the perfect candidate. The chosen eco needs to go through a meticulous process to make sure he / she is the right candidate, it is not a job for everybody, ExC needs to be sure that the candidate has what it takes to full fill the 2year leadership assignment and that a game changer has been found.

During my visit and many chats, I experienced the uniqueness of every Eco first hand, it left me wanting to know how the story continued... what happens with the ecos after they work on this life changing project?

I decided to interview one of the ecos/ teachers of one of the first cohorts in 2012., Carlos Echeverry, curious to know how ExC had changed his life and what he was up to now 5 years after joining ExC as a teacher.

Tell me more about your academic background?

I am extremely lucky to be part of the small percentage of the population that has the opportunity to attend Colombia’s top university, the Andes in Bogota, ranked 5th** in the whole of Latin America. The Andes University aims to produce highly skilled and well-rounded graduates.

Extra-curricular activities have always been important to me, during my summer holidays I worked at children’s summer camps for example, which I really enjoyed.

While finishing my masters after having studied Economics at the university, I found out about Ensena por Colombia (ExC) who was looking for last year grads to register for their 2 year teacher / leadership program, I was intrigued by their concept so I decided to help ExC do the recruiting at the Andes. Eventually I even ended up applying to be part of the 1st cohort of teachers in the country.

I did an internship at BBVA's Foreign Exchange department and then I worked on Mergers & Acquisitions as a research assistant for the Economics & Business departments University. BBVA is a top bank but it just didn’t feel fulfilling enough… I could not feel the professional nor personal growing possibilities.

I thought long about what job would give me both professional and personal growth and working for Ensena por Colombia as an Eco (teacher in the broad sense of the word) crossed my mind… I really did enjoy teaching at summer camps during my uni-years so I decided to apply for a role and give it a go.

What did you learn working for ExC for these 2 years ?

In 2012 I got recruited by ExC and started teaching Math and English at a semi public school in an under developed area of Bogota. I looked forward to a challenge and that is exactly what I got. Working as a teacher for 2 years, being faced with social problems I had not faced before, leaving my bubble of security and comfort, being confronted with real life issues, was extremely challenging.

I am extremely happy I went ahead with it and learned so much in these 2 years!

Perseverance, thinking outside of the box, empathy, social skills, and leadership skills are merely a handful of skills I acquired during my assignment.

Talk me through your career path post your ExC experience.

Even though I am only late twenties, I have been around and enjoyed every part of the trip.

Let me start with the beginning.

During the 2nd year at Ensena, every eco works on a project to integrate education with the community beside their day to day teaching role. It was here where I met Henry May, a teach first alumni from the UK with whom I set up a project combining my passion for football with education, we got inspired by a UK based charity called the Huricane Foundation.

It is here that Henry and I had the idea of creating a start-up called Coschool. CoSchool offers innovative programs to strengthen character and leadership skills in students, teachers and even entire schools.

CoSchool was and is a great success, so much that Henry and I got headhunted a year into our project (2015) to work for an organization called Kidu

I decided to take up the new challenge while Henry stayed and further developed CoSchool.

Kidu is a network of early education centers for children ages 1.5 - 9 years building the next generation of well-rounded students and global citizens by focusing on non-cognitive skill-building while supporting school work through tutoring.

This brings me to my current role; I now work as an education consultant for Mckinsy’s social initiatives called GENERATION. I love every aspect of my job! ​​

What exactly does GENERATION do?**

Generation’s mission is two-fold: to empower young people to build thriving, sustainable careers and to provide employers the highly-skilled, motivated talent they need.

With a skills-training methodology we prove training that creates real business value for employers, and lasting career impact for participant.

Video:

How did McKinsey come up with the idea?**

The core of McKinsey’s mission is to help their clients succeed. When supporting them to make lasting improvements to their performance, they also help them scale their contribution to society—including the goods and services they deliver, the economic growth they drive but also the jobs they create.

It is exactly with the job creating part that McKinsey and its partners noticed that there was a big gap.

McKinsey researched the topic and found out that, in many countries employers struggled finding people with skills they need for entry-level jobs even though the country has a high youth unemployment rate. Generation was created in 2014 to help bridge this gap quickly and in mass.

I was amazed by Carlos’ story and very positively surprised by McKinsey’s initiative.

A lot of people and companies always say how important it is to give back to the community but too often it stays with words instead of actions.

Let’s follow Carlos example and be bold for change!

* Note that this article and whole blog is based on my personal opinion only

** Sources: http://www.mckinsey.com/about-us/social-impact

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/university-andes#ranking-dataset/626268