David Saunders

David Saunders '10

Facility Fellow at Cenfri

swipe to see more

See Professional Activities

How did you find your way to where you are today? Share a little about your professional journey.

In June 2010, I graduated from Furman University and started an internship in Bangkok, Thailand with the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). AFI was an initiative launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2009 to create a platform for financial sector regulators and policymakers from developing countries to exchange knowledge and gain experience in regulating for inclusive financial markets. It brought together more than 100 regulatory and supervisory bodies from 80 countries to share their experience and learnings dealing with key issues for regulating the financial sector in developing countries including mobile financial services (e.g. M-Pesa in Kenya), identification requirements (e.g. Know Your Customer ‘KYC’ requirements), Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) financing, consumer protection issues and challenges implementing global standards (e.g. Basel III).

I worked at AFI for a year, first as an intern for 3 months and then as a junior programme officer. After AFI I moved to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland to work for the Microinsurance Innovation Facility (MIF), another initiative launched by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, supporting innovative providers in developing countries offering insurance products to low-income adults. There I worked for the Knowledge Team and supported the Head of the Programme, Craig Churchill, providing support to the production of the second Microinsurance Compendium published by the ILO. The Compendium brings together the latest thinking of leading academics, actuaries, and insurance and development professionals in the microinsurance field.

While at the ILO, I applied for a Fellowship position within the MIF based in Cape Town, South Africa with the Centre for Financial Regulation and Inclusion (Cenfri). Cenfri is an independent think-tank exploring the role of the financial sector in society. The role focused on collaborating with research teams to generate and disseminate new insights and knowledge on topics related to financial sector development, including microinsurance. Following the completion of my fellowship, Cenfri offered me a full-time position as their Knowledge Manager to continue this role, which I have filled for the last 5 years.

What motivations fueled your career path?

While I was studying at Furman, I took up two internships. The first was my sophomore year at Merrill Lynch in Greenville, South Carolina. The second was my junior year at ING Real Estate in Taipei, Taiwan following my participation in the Business Department's May Experience Business Exchange programme to China. Those experiences had a major impact on my interest in economics and finance, but it was during Dr. Nathan Cook's Economic Development course senior year that I realized that my interest lay more in development work. The course opened my eyes to the range of career paths available in economics and the potential to work in a field where I could have a real-world impact.

When providing advice for professional development, what are some tools or resources one should consider?

From my experience, networking platforms, professional groups and personality assessments were helpful in my professional development.

Networking platforms that are specific to the field are extremely helpful in identifying the right organisations and opportunities. In international development, Devex is a very popular online platform that includes job opportunities, emerging research, upcoming events and helpful tips to get into the field. Even more niche is Microfinance Gateways, which focuses specifically on financial inclusion. Both platforms offer a newsletter to which you can subscribe.

General networking platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter are helpful in connecting with organizations that you may discover through these specific platforms. For example, you could find an interesting organization on Devex or Microfinance Gateways and then follow them on LinkedIn or Twitter to learn about the type of work they are doing and where to find out about their career opportunities.

LinkedIn is also a great way to connect with professional groups. These groups offer a great platform to share your latest work, hear from others about what they are working on and build your professional network. Professional groups can be thematic (e.g. the industry you work in) or role specific (e.g. the role you have within your industry). For example, I am a member of the World Bank’s Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Branchless Banking Group which provides a forum to share the latest research and innovations in financial inclusion, as well as WonkComms and KM4Dev, which share insights on the latest trends and opportunities for communications and knowledge management in think tanks.

Lastly, I would encourage anyone starting out in their professional journey to take a personality assessment. It is very helpful in providing a framework to understand your work preferences, as well as the preferences of other people in your office. I have taken a Myers-Briggs Personality Test (MBTI) and found that it is particularly helpful at the entry-level to understand why some tasks come easier to me than others and vice-versa.

How would you recommend someone interested in the same career/vocation pursue a similar path?

As noted below, most entry-level jobs in international development require a Master’s degree of some sort. I would recommend anyone interested in the same career path to do one earlier rather than later as it will likely become a barrier to career growth later on. However, before pursuing a Masters (I would recommend Economics or a related field) I would encourage anyone interested in the field of international development to start with an internship. This will provide an opportunity to explore the space before committing to a graduate programme and see if it is the right fit for you.

How have mentors impacted your professional development? How did you develop those relationship?

I have been extremely lucky to have benefited from the support of senior individuals within the organizations that I have worked for. These individuals have been through similar experiences and have shared their learnings for my benefit. For example, when I joined Cenfri from the ILO, it was my third organization in three years. While the different experiences gave me a more broad exposure to the field of international development, I lacked the depth needed to grow my career within it. One of the most important pieces of advice I received at that time was that if I was serious about this field I needed to get stuck into an organization and build technical skills. That advice was extremely impactful and contributed to my decision to stick with Cenfri following the end of my fellowship which, I think, has paid off.

These types of relationships are often more accessible than you think, but it is important to use the time they provide effectively. I have learned to prepare for these discussions as if it was a typical work meeting.

What do you wish you would have known getting started in your field?

That it is important to understand that within the field of international development, organizations are very different. For example, AFI is a member-based organization with a very specific mandate to promote best practices in regulating for inclusive financial markets amongst their members. Cenfri on the other hand is a think tank with a broad mandate to explore the role of the financial sector in society. AFI's core activity is advocating amongst its member for best practices in financial sector regulation. Cenfri's core activity is researching the financial sector and the different ways it can contribute to broader societal objectives. It is agnostic to what regulation or market players achieves that. However, both of these organizations would be considered leaders in the field of financial inclusion and both have received funding from the Gates Foundation to support this work. It is very easy to think that these nuances don't matter, but they do, particularly as you move up in your career.

Initially, the opportunity to work abroad and in a meaningful career is enough. But it quickly becomes apparent that these differences play a major role in how you experience your job. For example, if you are an economist interested in conducting research and you end up at an organization like AFI you may be disappointed. Most of the work you will do is packaging existing research into different formats for your members. Alternatively, if your interest is first and foremost in helping people you may get frustrated with an organization like Cenfri that works at the policy level and is often one step removed from where the direct impact on people's lives is felt.

How has your liberal arts background shaped your career path or supported your success?

The liberal arts background has been particularly helpful the last five years working in a think tank. Think tanks are typically paid to read, discuss, think, and write about specific political or economic problems. You are constantly learning and exploring new topics. The range of topics that you explore, and the way in which you explore those in a liberal arts degree help prepare you for this type of work.What extracurricular activities helped you develop professionally?

In addition to the internships that I discussed earlier, I also participated in the Federal Reserve Challenge my junior and senior year at Furman. My junior year as part of the team and my senior year as an assistant to Dr. Jason Jones, the coach. I think extracurricular like this and Mock Trial are a great opportunity to bring together and apply skills you have learned across different courses in your major.

What was your major(s)? And how have you applied it in your career field?

I majored in Economics and really benefited from the Faculty of Economics at Furman. Dr. Peterson was my advisor and I worked with him one summer exploring the feasibility of using density bonuses to fund environmental policies in Greenville. Dr. Jones taught me macroeconomics and was also the coach of the Federal Reserve Challenge. Dr. Cook was my Senior Seminar teacher and taught Economic Development, both of which had a major impact on my career path.

These professors, as well as the other professors in the Faculty of Economics helped prepare me for the field of international development where the majority of experts are Economists and economics is applied in nearly every aspect of our work.

Were there particular courses within the economics department that were especially useful in helping you identify your career or that ended up helping you to be successful in your career?

The three courses that had the biggest impact on my career were economic development, microeconomics and research methodology. Economic development has been covered above and really broadened my horizon to the range of career paths available to economic students.

Research methodology and microeconomics have been more impactful in my career. The majority of the research that we do at Cenfri is on how individuals manage their finances. The microeconomics course at Furman has been especially useful in understanding the underlying theories that we apply in that research. Unexpectedly, the research methodology course has maybe been the most useful as the basics I learned in that course underlie the majority of the research projects that we do at Cenfri.

Were there particular projects or activities from any of your economics courses that were especially useful?

The projects and activities that stand out the most for me was the group work that we did in our Senior Seminar course. It was an opportunity to apply the different skills that we had built across different courses and use them in solving current economic problems. I particularly remember one project where we explored whether the perception of the "race to the bottom" was occurring in developing countries to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) away from developed countries.

Were there particular "engaged learning" experiences (e.g. internships, study away, research opportunities) that were especially useful?

I participated in five engaged learning experiences while at Furman that were all extremely useful in my career. The internships at Merrill Lynch and ING Real Estate prepared me for the transition from studying to the working world. The summer research fellowship with Dr. Peterson and presentation of that research in Dallas, Texas at a Research Conference hosted at the Federal Reserve helped me build on my research and public speaking skills. The May Business Exchange in China shaped my interest and respect for different cultures and customs which has supported me while working and living aboard. Lastly, the Federal Reserve Challenge taught me basics about collaborating with other researchers on projects.

Any other "highlights" from your experience in economics?

Keeping in touch with the other Economics students in my class and seeing them achieve great things. Their careers have ranged from economic forecasters to human rights lawyers, to tax lawyers, to entrepreneurs to news broadcasters and journalists. It was a real highlight to study with all of them and it's even more of a highlight to see how well they are all doing in their respective careers.

0