After working at BCG for two years, the opportunity arose to work on a project for the World Food Programme in Rome. International staffing requests are sent to the whole office, so I reacted immediately when I received the email about the WFP opportunity. One week later I was in Rome, working in a BCG team with passionate people from all over the world.

BCG took a fresh look at the WFP's main problems. The challenge I worked on was the misalignment between the availability of funds and the need for food in the field. When a crisis occurs or a local project starts, it takes several months before the funds really start coming in. According to UN regulation, the WFP is only allowed to buy food when there are committed funds available, resulting in late deliveries of food. Our solution was to set up a fund projects could borrow from, using future commitments as collateral.

To make sure it all worked we carried out pilots in several African countries. I was in Congo for over a month to pilot borrowing from the fund and to co-develop a new planning approach. The pilot resulted in 20 per cent more beneficiaries being fed from the same amount of funds. During this period I gained a good insight into the challenges on the ground and developed a great appreciation for all the work done by the WFP and many passionate local people.

This period was definitely one of the highlights of my BCG career. It's exciting to see that our blank-sheet approach is as valuable in the non-profit sector as it is in the private sector. It was wonderful to see all our plans work in the field, and now the WFP has a fund projects can borrow from.