Author: Raiyan Syed Major: History, Economics

Hi, my name is Raiyan Syed. I’m a History and Economics double major with a Spanish Minor. I spent part of my summer from July 1, 2018, to July 31, 2018, interning at Grameen Bank in Dhaka, Bangladesh. My internship was very passive in nature meaning that I did a lot more learning and observation than hands-on work. I spent time learning about Grameen Bank’s microcredit system and how the model is structured in a way that caters to successful and sustainable business for the Bank. I had the chance to visit Grameen Bank village centers three times over the course of my month there. This gave me opportunities to see the system of microcredit in action.  

My main tasks at the internship were that of any student in that I needed to show up on time, be attentive, and participate with questions or contributions to class discussions. I did have some other unique responsibilities since I was the only foreign intern who could confidently and fluently speak Bangla, the mother tongue in Bangladesh. Therefore, my instructors often gave me the responsibility of taking the interns out to lunch since most of the restaurants around the area had staff that could at most communicate in English with great difficulty. This was a relatively minor responsibility since it was only a matter of lunch and the interns probably could have managed without me somehow. A more serious task that my instructors trusted me with was translating conversations between our instructors and borrowers of Grameen Bank in the villages. Me being there as a translator allowed my instructors to hold more fluid conversations in Bangla with the borrowers instead of having to stop to translate everything they were saying and everything the borrowers were saying. These are some ways that I was able to assist my instructors via my ability to speak the native language. I very much enjoyed these responsibilities, and it was one of the things that definitely went right in my internship experience. Aside from translating, my ability to speak Bangla also allowed me to talk directly to the borrowers myself instead of having to have someone translate for me. This allowed me to have more direct meaningful interactions with the people in the villages. The importance of good social interactions and social development was the main thing I learned about the field of Development Economics. At a place like Grameen Bank, you would (and rightly so) assume that finance and financial policymaking are extremely crucial for sustainable business. However, when working with the poor (especially in rural areas like Grameen), you must socially develop mutual trust and respect in order to effectively carry out economic development work like Grameen Bank is doing.  

This internship made me realize that my ability to speak Bangla could actually serve me well in a professional setting. Before this internship, I only spoke Bangla in more casual settings such as at home or at a social gathering. This realization caused me to do some networking with people in Grameen Bank and other Grameen development initiatives. I am now seriously considering working with a development initiative in Bangladesh for a few years after I graduate in order to gain experience and expertise in the field of development economics and social development. My ability to speak Bangla paired with English as my first language should definitely help me find a job in this field in Bangladesh.  

I’m planning on visiting family in Bangladesh for a couple of weeks in December during which I now plan on getting more exposure and knowledge about the job market in this sector in Bangladesh.