Coffee, sustainable charcoal and equal rights in Malawi:

My name is Max and I'm a Senior Consultant focusing on digital transformation. During my studies in Aachen, I already joined Roland Berger for our gap year program – a great experience, which made me want to rejoin our firm two years later after finishing my degree in electrical power engineering and business administration.

Following up on the experience from my gap year, which took me to Rwanda for three months in an NGO startup, I wanted to go for another adventure, so I applied for our social fellowship program. This fellowship is financially supported by Roland Berger and gives me the opportunity to join an NGO for up to three months to promote equal rights or sustainability anywhere in the world.

For my social fellowship, I am going to work with Humission e.V. on building up and rolling out a microcredit system in Malawi that will enable women to produce their own sustainable charcoal from agricultural residues with specially designed pyrolysis ovens to generate an additional income, increase the fertility of their soil and improve their independence. My tasks will be centered around scaling up the operations, extending the partnerships with local partners and the government and digitalizing the training around the pyrolysis ovens. Although this is not exactly what I've been doing for the past two years, I will support the NGO with my project management experience from large-scale implementation projects.

Furthermore, the microcredit system will be sponsored by the profits of Humission's import of coffee from Malawi, which is roasted and sold in Germany. One of my tasks in Malawi will be to document the coffee harvesting processes, establish quality controls and develop measures to reduce water consumption and increase sustainability.

I am really looking forward to this great opportunity to have an impact and drive sustainability and equal rights in Malawi. Stay tuned for many exciting insights and follow me on my journey.