Kobe Datu

Kobe Datu worked with Professor Amrita Kundu in designing and deploying a field survey for small business owners in the Philippines during the summer. In the first month, he was based in Manila, working with both a local research organization and a private insurance company. Every week, he would commute between our partners’ offices, gauging and implementing local feedback into our survey design. After the survey was designed, he traveled all around the Philippines with a local guide. They went to 9 different islands and more than a dozen municipalities. He interviewed over 100 small business owners in my native tongue. He even shared meals with some of our respondents! Overall, he described his experience as “the most illuminative” and he expressed, “not only did I have the chance to work within a real and rigorous research team, but I also connected with the reason why so many of us choose to work in development: the people and the communities we try to serve!”