Kathlynn Hinnekens - Participant 2021-2022
“I acquired new leadership skills and have become more patient and independent.”
Role
Kathlynn worked as the Business Country Representative of Close The Gap, a social enterprise that refurbishes ICT equipment for social and educational projects. The main objective was to assess if and how Close the Gap could start activities in South-Africa.
Responsibilities
Kathlynn’s main tasks were to build a local network, conduct a market study, analyze the local ecosystem, and identify opportunities for the company. During her mission, she translated these insights into concrete actions in the field, implementing the business plan and identifying further actions to be taken.
How she benefited
Kathlynn succeeded in identifying potential partnerships and donors, including government support. She learned to supervise local operations. She also became more adaptable and resilient. “I have learned how important social impact can be and the long walk needed to achieve it,” she says. Ultimately, her Prince Albert Fund experience was a success: she was given the opportunity to set up long term operations for Close The Gap in South Africa.
The company – Close the Gap
Close the Gap is an international social enterprise that aims to bridge the digital divide by offering high-quality, pre-owned IT devices donated by European companies to educational, medical and social projects in developing and emerging countries. Since 2003, the company, which has hubs in Belgium and Africa, has already received more than 1,135,000 ICT devices from companies all over the world. To date, it has supported more than 7,600 projects in more than 50 countries and reached more than 3,970,000 beneficiaries.
“Kathlynn played a key role in identifying potential partnerships and setting up meetings, try-out collaborations (including among others the collection and redistribution of used IT assets) and even mergers and acquisitions tracks.”