Staff Interview with Andrew Vild

What inspired you to found Project Everest Ventures? 

I came from a very unlikely background, the hardcore Engineering industry in the form of a steel plant. I fell into an engineering cadetship straight out of school that saw me working full-time and studying part-time throughout my degree. What constantly bothered me was the disconnect between what I was learning and what I was doing in the workplace. After five years of environmental non-compliances, workers who didn’t care about the quality of their work or the impact of their decisions on the company or environment, I looked for another way. I completed an internship in India that showed me a different world. I had grown up sheltered and the developing world’s portrayal on television seemed so removed. Naturally, being on the ground in India made it all very real. 

While I didn’t agree with the values of the organization I had interned with, I saw the value in my experience being there and how it had changed my intended career trajectory. The opportunity for social enterprise was also huge. People in developing countries don’t need saving. They just need the opportunity to access education, resources and to make informed decisions. Business provides that and gives individuals the power to say no if the offered product or service isn’t something they want, need or can afford. This gives us a feedback loop to be better and tailor to our intended beneficiaries. This is how we now serve them rather than them being in debt to us. 

Combining my personal vendetta to show university students that their only career option isn’t to go work in a corporate or industry as well as my desire for social enterprise, I was fortunate enough to fall in with Jessica Arvela, Jimmy Bayssari and Wade Tink. All of whom had similar but different desires to see the same outcome. We banded together, threw our hats over the wall and then had to find a way over it - thus the founding of Project Everest Ventures. 

Who is an ideal candidate for an internship? 

Someone who is coachable, prepared to work hard, strive for a better way, and someone who has an open mind to different ways of development. We know university students are smart, what we need is someone prepared to learn our style of leadership, social enterprise, and approach to development that is becoming more and more accepted due to research backing up its effectiveness. 

The candidate must be prepared to work in a developing country for 4 - 12 weeks, be mentally resilient, and able to work well with people. If you can’t do the above, be prepared to and we will show you the way. The more we invest in training and resources for you, the more we will get out - that’s why we ask you to be coachable.  

How does Project Everest Ventures contribute to a student’s future? 

We train you on how to be an effective leader, follower, team member and best practice for validating a potential social enterprise in a developing country. You come out with a new understanding of how you can work in a space that enables positive impact and (with hard work) will pay the bills. You don’t need to choose to be a Mother Theresa OR a corporate sellout.

Plus, any future employer is going to value your commitment, passion, and intelligence to work in a developing country for 4 - 12 weeks in your university break rather than staying home drinking beer and playing Xbox. 

Coping with culture shock is one of the most common challenges faced by participants when undertaking a program abroad. How does the organization assist? 

We provide pre-departure training that prepares the student for what to expect, what to bring etc. Once the participant is in the country, we provide additional induction training with a large cultural focus and weekly debriefs with your team leader that will help you get your head around a completely different way of life and how that may challenge everything you’ve ever known. It’s powerful and exciting, we want you to talk about it and embrace it. 

What is the most fulfilling aspect of your job?

The people. I wake up every day excited to go to work, whether it is in Sydney, Africa, Asia, America or Europe. Everyone I engage with is passionate, motivated, intelligent and just a good human being. That level of energy and morale means you’re also around hustlers who get sh*t done. 

Unsurprisingly, working in this space has an inherent filter for shallow and selfish people, leaving the best of the best. They are the kind of people you want to know, network with and learn from. 

This leads to our projects, it can be tough with hard decisions to make and real people that we are affecting. Doing that with good people makes the harder times bearable and the good ones absolutely inspiring. 

How do you prepare students before they arrive?

We provide you with your Welcome Pack that has key dates, what to bring, what to expect in terms of culture, currency, food, accommodation and project tasks. We then conduct intensive face-to-face training both at home and then abroad. 

What other activities or projects that aren’t part of the program today would you want to include in the future?

We currently are engaging with companies and universities that have existing technologies and products and services working in the developed world. We would love to increase our engagement with these companies and essentially play the role of business validator and implementor of the business model with tech to help in a developing world context. 

This is something we’re actively gunning for. 

How do you assist participants in emergency situations?

Project Everest Ventures has been nominated for awards by iSOS for our risk and safety management and we have been invited to speak at their Duty of Care Summit and Awards in Shanghai, 2019.

We have highly trained staff who will always have a vehicle within an hour of the participants and an assessed, reputable hospital. We have a rigorous risk assessment model and work with iSOS to achieve the best possible outcome in the case of an emergency situation, whether it is medical or non-medical.