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Missouri Partnership Q&A With International Interns

  • August 18, 2022

Missouri is known for having a world-class talent pool. From St. Louis to Kansas City, and from Springfield to Hannibal, Missouri boasts a loyal workforce of 3 million people, fed by the state’s strong network of top-notch educational institutions and one of the nation’s most successful apprenticeship programs.

Here at Missouri Partnership, we are proud to see examples of that talent every day, including in our team. Over the past year, Missouri Partnership has been honored to have two international Research Interns on our team, Manikomevwe Dawn Udjoh and Tianyi Weng.

We recently sat down with them to discuss their time at Missouri Partnership and some of the things they learned.

Q: Where are you from originally?

  • Mani: Nigeria
  • Tianyi: Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China

Q: Where do you go to school, and what is your major or area of study?

  • Mani: Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and my major is Computer Management Information Systems.
  • Tianyi: Washington University in St. Louis. I am currently a rising senior. I am majored in Economics and Global Studies.

Q:  What is your favorite memory, or thing you learned while interning at Missouri Partnership?

  • Mani: Listening to each person talk about their tasks and progress of the projects they were involved with, and it seemed that I had contributed in some way (no matter how little) to them. It was a good feeling.
  • Tianyi: I learned a lot about how economic development works here in Missouri. Previously I had many experiences with researching the development in emerging economies globally but the development happening here is definitively very different. In an already developed economy, I understand the development to be more focused on job creation and inequality reduction. Generally, I understood how development is more than just increase in GDP, but also about increasing welfare for residents here in Missouri.

Q: Now that your internship is finishing up, where do you hope to see yourself in the coming years?

  • Mani: The goal is to run my own business but in 5 years, I would like to have blossomed into a full-fledged Business Analyst, providing solutions to business problems.
  • Tianyi: I would like to continue pursuing a career in an economic field. I am looking for opportunities in agencies such as the Federal Reserve, United Nations Development Programme and World Bank.

“It has been a pleasure having Mani & Tianyi as part of the Missouri Partnership team as Research Interns,” said Missouri Partnership CEO Subash Alias. “Missouri has always been a destination for global talent, and we are proud to represent that here at Missouri Partnership. Both Mani and Tianyi have been vital to our efforts in attracting new businesses and talent to the state, and we wish them both enormous success as they continue to grow in their respective careers.”

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