The College of International Relations provided a very valuable foundation for my career to date in the field of private sector development in Africa and for building the strong motivation that led me to join UNDP.

Please share your career after graduation from Ritsumeikan University.

HARASince my university days, I have been particularly interested in economic disparities between regions. My experiences as a backpacker in India and Vietnam heightened my awareness of the significant impact that differences in natural environments and regional conditions can have on people’s lives. These experiences sparked my desire to pursue a career dedicated to addressing issues of income inequality and disparities in opportunities.

After graduating, I chose to study business and began my professional career as an IT consultant at Fujitsu Limited. However, I was eager to gain firsthand experience in Africa, so I joined the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as an Overseas Cooperation Volunteer. During this time, I worked with a group of over 300 rural farmers in Malawi to establish a business. While supporting efforts to improve local incomes, I was deeply impressed by the potential of the African people. In collaboration with the villagers, I helped develop an environmentally friendly charcoal business called briquettes, engaging directly with local people to formulate sales strategies and marketing approaches. Through this hands-on experience, I witnessed their enthusiasm and realized their high level of capability. This experience reinforced my desire to contribute to reducing economic disparity and promoting the development of Africa’s economy.

I became passionate about providing funding and business skills development opportunities to those who, despite their motivation and ability, struggle to access such resources due to their remote location. These experiences inspired me to pursue a career that would bridge Africa and Japan through business. I later joined JICA’s long-term overseas training program and studied international development through business at the University of Sussex, where I earned a master's degree in Globalization and Business Development from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS). I focused on ICT for development and researched rural development using ICT and innovation, particularly analyzing the effectiveness of mobile phone-based market information services in Africa. This research was a central part of my master's thesis, where I explored how startups in the region leveraged technology for rural development. I also took courses in economic development theory, business as a development actor, and impact evaluation, and participated in a short-term Professional Development course on Digital and Technology for International Development (ICT4D).

My growing interest in African startups solving social issues through business led me to work for several organizations in this field, including WASSHA, a Tanzanian startup, Samurai Incubate, a venture capital firm focused on Africa, and SIMI, an impact investment organization. These roles allowed me to gain valuable experience in both the startup ecosystem and the financial sector. Subsequently, I gained six years of professional experience leading Project NINJA, an initiative at JICA. In this role, I implemented acceleration programs for African startups, provided training for Ethiopian ministries, public and private companies, and startup ecosystem builders, and conducted extensive ecosystem research.

Please tell us about your current work. What led you to this profession?

HARAThe reason I joined the UNDP was because I had wanted to spend my life working to tackle economic and opportunity disparities caused by people's birth environment and other factors since I was at university. In order to realize this dream, I thought that I could take a broader approach at the United Nations, a multilateral aid organization, rather than at JICA, a bilateral aid organization, so I joined the UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub (SFH), in 2024. This Hub aims to achieve a sustainable society through finance and is active in 170 countries and regions.

I am currently working at the regional office of the Africa Sustainable Finance Hub (ASFH) in South Africa, supporting startups across Africa and working to improve access to financial services using impact investment and other methods. One of the programmes I am currently in charge of is called ‘Meet the Tôshikas.’ This programme connects Japanese investors with local African entrepreneurs and startups. This programme is supported by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and has been implemented in Angola, South Africa, and Zambia since 2024.

The programme has produced a report mapping the African startup ecosystem and has been communicating the appeal of Africa to investors, as well as directly implementing a programme to support 30 startups in preparing for investment and matching them with Japanese investors and companies. The rewarding aspect of this work is that by connecting African startups with Japanese investors, we can bridge the gap between investors interested in developing countries and African startups that are struggling with a lack of funding and build a bridge between Japan and Africa.

While there are many startups in Africa with great potential, investment from Japan remains limited. In 2021, investment from the Asia-Pacific region to Africa accounted for only 9% of the global total, and the scale of this investment is very small. In addition to the physical ‘distance’, we believe that the psychological ‘distance’ caused by a lack of information about Africa and the high investment hurdles also have an impact. UNDP has offices all over the world and, as a development agency with a strong local presence, we play a role in connecting investors and companies in Africa with those in other countries, such as Japan. We are delighted to be able to support African startups as they grow and become important actors in solving the social problems that exist deeply in Africa by making full use of ICT and innovation.　For Japanese investors and companies, Africa is still a place where business and legal systems are not fully developed, but this can be a place to try out new business models. I feel a great sense of fulfilment from this initiative, not only from the perspective of investment but also from the perspective of Japan and Africa learning from each other and growing together. For more detailed information, please refer to this UNDP’s website.

How does your experience while at the College of International Relations benefit you now?

HARAStudying at Ritsumeikan University's College of International Relations provided a very valuable foundation for my career to date in the field of private sector development in Africa and for building the strong motivation that led me to join UNDP. In fact, before entering university, I had spent my entire life in a rural area and had never been abroad, with very few opportunities to encounter foreigners. I chose to study international relations because I wanted to see more of the world and do meaningful work in the field, like a war photographer. At Ritsumeikan University, I met many different people and learned about new worlds, which helped me to deepen my understanding of my own interests and concerns, and I was able to develop my abilities by studying English and going abroad.

Ritsumeikan University provides students with a wide range of opportunities. When I first encountered the subject of international relations at university, I was shocked to find that there was such an interesting academic discipline, and I strongly felt that learning about different cultures, international support and cultural anthropology was extremely appealing to me. I was able to discover that learning new knowledge in a field that I like is such a fun thing to do. The teachers provided me with a lot of support, and for my graduation thesis I took on the challenge of researching a relatively new field at the time, ‘international cooperation using ICT’. When I was struggling, the teachers in my seminar group gave me a lot of advice and helped me out.

In addition, the teachers I met during my time at university, my international and highly motivated friends, and my seniors who were war correspondents and JICA volunteers taught me about the vastness of the world. Thanks to them, I was strongly encouraged to go abroad for the first time in my university days with a backpack. The courage to take that first step to travel to India alone led to me working in Africa for six years.

Outside of the classroom, Ritsumeikan University has many valuable platforms where you can gain new knowledge from people you would not normally encounter in your life. I participated in the Ritsumeikan University Special Program for the Development of Human Resources Active in International Society, also known as the Honors Program, where I learned perspectives, ideas and ways of looking at the world that I had never considered before from former diplomats.

Through these experiences, I was able to gain a new perspective, and by analyzing myself based on the content I learned, as well as my international experiences such as studying abroad in America for a year, backpacking, and interacting with international students, I realized that I wanted to work in an international job that would help to correct issues such as inequality of opportunity and economic disparity.

November 2024