For my senior capstone at Olin, I worked for two semesters on a project team that worked on cassava graters and presses, working to create impact in the lives of female small business owners in Ghana. The team had been around for around ten years at that point, and our main goals were to provide back-end support like sourcing materials and tools, running ad campaigns, and doing fundraising.

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My first semester on the team, I was a member of the mechanical engineering subteam. I worked on designing jigs to simplify spot welding in Ghana, sourcing materials through Alibaba, and research into expanding our machine to be able to process maize. That summer, I worked on an ad campaign that ran on Facebook and informed how we would run future ad campaigns.

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My second semester on the team, I was the project manager. I supported both the engineering and business subteams, gearing us towards our ambitious overall goal of solving all the blocks slowing down manufacturing in Ghana from our end. Though it was a lot of work, we ended up succeeding at this goal by the end of the semester. Additionally, we placed a heavy focus on learning about Ghana so that we could greater understand our cultural impact. We learned some phrases in Twi throughout the semester, the language commonly spoken in Ghana, and we read and discussed articles every two weeks about the history and culture of Ghana. As a way to support the mechanical subteam, who were pushing toward testing a new cassava grating head, I stick welded a frame that they would be able to test. I chose stick welding because that is the only form of welding accessible in Ghana, and I wanted to be able to do repairs if I was ever able to go to Ghana as part of the project.