They spent last year immersed in a different culture, searching for business solutions that will restore ecosystems, protect nature, and ultimately create prosperous livelihoods. Meet the first cohort of Rachel Hines Fellows.

By: Bethany Peevy Downie

In December of 2023, TechnoServe Board Chair, Rachel Hines and her husband Michael Cemblast made a generous donation to the TechnoServe Fellows Program. The gift funds as many as 10 “Rachel Hines Fellows” annually to complete short-term projects that prioritize regenerative business solutions. This strategic donation allows us to progress quickly toward our regenerative goals by deploying the skills of the Fellows in industry analysis, business plan development, and financial modeling. Ms. Hine’s vital support of the Rachel Hines Fellowship will ultimately enable 200 dedicated Fellows to lend their expertise and create lasting change for people around the world over the next two decades.

A year after her gift, the first cohort of Rachel Hines Fellows has already made significant progress in our efforts to double our impact on smallholder farmers and businesses through regenerative business solutions. Thanks to their dedication, TechnoServe has had greater capacity to discover and implement solutions to help our clients protect, manage, and restore the ecosystems upon which their livelihoods depend.  We are excited to introduce you to the Rachel Hines Fellows who have helped us reach our goals and to share their accomplishments from 2024. 

Raquel Izar: Turning Trash into Opportunity

Raquel Izar, a former Bain & Company associate from Sao Paolo, Brazil, supported TechnoServe’s circular economy work by designing inclusive business plans for material recycling facilities in Peru. She identified key areas for improvement in financial, operational, and commercial processes, directly benefiting waste-pickers and improving recycling rates. Her market-sizing analysis highlighted the potential for job creation and improved livelihoods. Raquel’s efforts culminated in a scalable model for a business plan to enhance waste management systems, drive employment in township economies, and address Peru’s environmental challenges. TechnoServe’s team in Peru has used Raquel’s work as a basis to offer technical assistance to these businesses for the past six months.

Quantifying Coffee’s Climate Impact

Raquel stayed for a second TechnoServe Fellows project, playing a pivotal role in quantifying the carbon benefits of regenerative coffee farming. She used her fieldwork in Peru, Brazil, and Colombia to synthesize environmental research and industry data to estimate carbon sequestration potential and the economic value of sustainable coffee practices. Raquel’s models will help inform global stakeholders of the climate and livelihood impacts of coffee-based interventions. By leveraging TechnoServe’s data and external models, her work provided a blueprint for guiding donor and private sector investments in climate-positive coffee initiatives. Her efforts contributed to demonstrating coffee’s critical role in biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. 

Raquel stated that while she often feels powerless to make a significant impact on climate change by herself, working on a Fellows project put more power in her hands: 

“Working on a climate-related project with TechnoServe was very important to me for two reasons:  1) realizing that the impact is happening on dimensions we don’t even imagine and that the point of no return is closer than we think, and 2) understanding there are big actors and organizations, such as TechnoServe and our allies, that are driving impact on a scale that can change things.” 

Dr. Sarah Russell-Smith and Cibele Oliveira: Charting a Blue Future

Dr. Sarah Russell-Smith, Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer for Amber Electric in Australia, partnered with Cibele Oliveira, a Bain & Company strategy consultant from Sao Paolo, Brazil, to make significant strides to advance the Great Blue Wall Initiative.  This initiative from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) will establish a network of marine and coastal conserved areas to benefit biodiversity and local livelihoods in countries bordering the Western Indian Ocean. 

Through comprehensive research and fieldwork in Tanzania, Madagascar, and Comoros, they identified priority value chains like small-scale fisheries and mariculture, creating strategies to boost biodiversity and create jobs in coastal communities. Their strategic roadmap detailed recommendations to improve local livelihoods, promote sustainability, and catalyze investments in regenerative blue economy sectors. By aligning initiatives with local policies and IUCN goals, they provided a cohesive vision for long-term conservation and economic growth. 

Sarah found it fascinating to search for climate solutions in the developing world: 

“In Tanzania, the question was – how do we get people access to energy at all? I had studied energy in developing countries, but seeing it firsthand was really interesting. People wanted cold storage for fish. The issue wasn’t how to avoid waste. It was – we need a freezer, but we can’t have it because there’s no electrical grid. So understanding the different constraints and how you have to think about it differently was good to learn.”

For Cibele, seeing the impact of her work up close was inspiring:

“It was amazing to see how my support helped a microenterprise secure first prize in a business plan competition, or how strengthening the operations of a client company led to increased sales growth.”

Diego Roudil: A Digital Boost for Green Startups

Diego Roudil, a digital strategy consultant from Paris, France, made significant contributions to the Greenr Sustainability Accelerator Program in India, which provides resources to small and growing businesses (SGBs) that have an environmental focus, particularly ones led by women. He evaluated the digital needs of participating businesses and advised over 15 SGBs on digital and data topics, conducting workshops on lead generation, social media audits, and digital marketing recommendations. He assessed the overall digital maturity of the SGBs and provided strategic recommendations for the program to support them in digital and data areas. 

Diego also led data scraping and lead generation workshops for the Greenr team, supporting the recruitment process for the second cohort. Additionally, he assisted the program management team with greenwashing screening to ensure that SGBs applying to the program were sincere in their commitment. His work contributed to enhancing the digital capabilities of green startups in the program and improving the overall effectiveness of the Greenr initiative.

Diego was excited to work on a large-scale climate change project in India, one of the countries most affected by climate change:

“I worked directly with a wide range of entrepreneurs: the founder of a thrift shop in Mumbai, a chemistry PhD who runs a waste management company, and the founder of a sustainable clay company based in Ahmedabad. All of them are directly contributing to mitigating the effects of climate change. I am proud to help them grow their businesses and their positive impact.” 

Chanel Shum: Empowering Women, Reducing Emissions

Chanel was excited to transition to a TechnoServe project that supports women-led green SGBs since she recognizes that they have the potential to drive economic and environmental sustainability while helping to close the gender gap.

“Living and working in Mumbai, the impacts of the climate crisis feel especially immediate and undeniable. Tackling a climate-related project was deeply important to me because addressing this urgency demands collective action to secure the future of our planet. Supporting women-led SGBs that are committed to scaling their impact both financially and sustainably has been profoundly inspiring. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to work at the intersection of gender and climate, where meaningful change can create ripple effects across communities and generations.”

Creating Lasting Change

We are excited to see how the work of the Rachel Hines Fellows has empowered our clients to be the heroes of regenerative solutions, forging paths toward sustainable incomes that ensure that the ecosystems they rely on for their livelihoods will be there in the future. Looking ahead to 2025, we are thrilled to welcome more talented Rachel Hines Fellows who will continue this vital mission.

Are you interested in being a part of the solution to poverty? You can use your business acumen to create life-changing opportunities for enterprising people around the world. Learn more about the highly competitive TechnoServe Fellows Program here.