This business grad bought a one-way ticket to Kenya with no plan

If you could travel to any country in the world, where would you go? France is popular, as is the land of opportunity, America. So are Japan, Thailand, and the Netherlands, where tourists often outnumber citizens in certain cities.

Wherever it may be, Kenya is not usually on many lists of must-visit destinations.

It was, however, for Yelena Bouckaert from Belgium.

It’s all smiles for Yelena Bouckaert as she navigates her life towards being an entrepreneur. Source: Yelena Bouckaert

Seeking a way out of Belgium, she bought a one-way ticket to Mombasa, Kenya.

She neither had any plan for how to survive there, nor any official agreement or contract. Not even one that would sort out her accommodation.

All she had was an “opportunity” to work for a local NGO there.

Bouckaert just jumped on the next plane and figured it out as she went.

“I knew I wanted to go to Africa and do a humanitarian internship there, but I didn’t know what to do. I was kind of lost,” she says. “And I’ve kind of felt like, okay, I need to move, I need to do something, and I don’t want to stay here in Belgium.”

It would have been easier to go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and support a family project there, the plan fell through as the situation turned unsafe there.

Kenya was her last resort. She was disappointed, but something her coach said encouraged her: “It’s not about making the right decision, it’s about making the decision right.”

“And that really helped me to just go for it,” she says. “I don’t know what’s going to happen there in Kenya, I knew barely where I was going to live, but I have a chance there instead of staying in Belgium, so I just took that flight.”

Yelena Bouckaert joined Close the Gap in Kenya as a project intern. Source: Yelena Bouckaert

Humanitarian work in Kenya

The reason why Bouckaert went to Kenya for four months was to intern at Close the Gap, a company that aims to bridge the digital divide in emerging and developing countries worldwide.

As a project intern, she was tasked to help with the company’s impact accelerator.

“So the work I did there was really helping and training local entrepreneurs,” she says. “My role was to give masterclasses on certain topics that I learned. It’s also giving advice or coaching to the founders, and then eventually doing due diligence to see which companies we would invest in.”

Although she did major in entrepreneurship at Maastricht University, coaching is not something Bouckaert is used to.

She never learned how to teach a class, let alone to do it in another country.

But she persevered and found that she did have a lot to contribute.

“Just having that theoretical knowledge about business fundamentals and investment readiness was already quite helpful for them.”

Bouckaert’s teaching methods definitely helped one Kenyan with their startup. She had the chance to mentor the founder of a 3D printing startup, which uses advanced medical printing technology with recycled plastics, that is now doing well internationally.

Not bad for a first-time teacher.

Yelena Bouckaert with her students who reached international recognition for their startup. Source: Yelena Bouckaert

And that success story is what she hopes to replicate in her bid to inspire the next generation of social entrepreneurs. In five to 10 years’ time, she sees herself as one, plus owning an impact accelerator in Africa just like Close the Gap.

After earning her Master in Management at INSEAD not too long ago, she is back in Belgium, completing an internship at a firm aiming to deploy one billion euros in impact investment projects by 2030.

“After all the living abroad, I felt the need to be back in Belgium for six months, so I accepted an internship offer here in venture philanthropy for six months, and then eventually I think I will go back to Africa; maybe Kenya or Congo,” she says.

“But for now, it feels good to be home a bit and to be surrounded by family.”