Raima Dutt ’28 taught English to fifth graders as “Ms. Dutt” at EQuest’s free summer camp for public school students in Hanoi.
Raima Dutt ’28 spent her Global Perspective summer developing education strategy in a Hanoi boardroom and teaching English to fifth graders, experiences that showed her why effective education at scale must stay grounded in the classroom.
The boat could only fit four people, so on her fourth day in Vietnam, Raima Dutt ’28 ended up separated from her friends in Ninh Binh.
For ninety minutes, she drifted through towering limestone cliffs and cave tunnels seated beside a forty-five-year-old stranger. He introduced himself as Hilu, a UNICEF humanitarian medical worker who had spent decades in Ethiopia and traveled to more than fifty countries.
As the boat moved silently through the water, they traded stories about their families, ambitions, and the lessons they’d learned from living abroad. They laughed as if they’d known each other for years.
“That conversation became my favorite memory of Vietnam,” Raima said, “because it captured what I came to love about the country: beneath its breathtaking landscapes is a culture that makes it remarkably easy to connect with people, share stories, and leave feeling like the world is a little smaller than you thought.”
The lessons from that day carried her through the next nine weeks, which moved between a Hanoi boardroom and a fifth-grade classroom.
One course, 70 percent of revenue
EQuest Education Group provides educational technology courses and teachers to schools across Vietnam. Nearly 70 percent of its revenue came from a single course, and new national education policy was expected to reduce demand from public schools, its largest customer base.
As a strategy intern in EQuest’s iSMART division, Raima was tasked with helping the company find new course opportunities that could attract schools, parents, and students in an increasingly saturated market, while still supporting EQuest’s mission of expanding high-quality bilingual education throughout Vietnam.
“Anyone who knows me knows that education equity has been the throughline of just about everything I do,” Raima said. “I’ve explored it from the nonprofit and public sectors, beginning at home, in Kentucky.”
This summer was her first look at how the private sector influences education, at a scale she hadn’t encountered before.
Finding the gap
Working with EQuest’s head of research and development and its managing director, Raima built a framework to evaluate six potential courses on market demand, competition, feasibility, and strategic fit. She also researched startup partnerships, government-backed education initiatives, and licensing opportunities that could help EQuest scale new programs.
Through competitor benchmarking and market analysis, she identified where parent demand in Vietnam’s K–12 market was outpacing existing providers. She then developed pricing, implementation, and partnership strategies for two new course concepts and presented her recommendations directly to the executive team.
Raima with EQuest’s managing director after presenting her recommendations for two new courses to company leaders.
Meet Ms. Dutt
At the same time, Raima volunteered at EQuest’s free English summer camp for public school students. For one week, she taught a class of 30 fifth graders as “Ms. Dutt.”
“Standing in front of 30 fifth graders made me rethink how I evaluated educational course content during my internship,” Raima said, “because I could see firsthand how decisions about pacing, interactivity, teacher support, and curriculum design affected students’ attention, confidence, and participation.”
“That experience showed me that meaningful educational impact at scale depends on cross-sector collaboration,” she said, “and I came to appreciate how EQuest intentionally works alongside teachers, school leaders, and the Vietnamese Ministry of Education to ensure that business strategy is grounded in classroom realities and public-sector expertise.”
Growing through stretch experiences
Raima said she grew the most this summer by being completely outside her comfort zone.
“Although I am naturally extroverted, arriving alone in Hanoi felt overwhelming,” she said.
The heat reached 106 degrees, motorbike traffic never stopped, and the language was unfamiliar. Before long, motorbikes became her daily commute to work, and she completed the Ha Giang Loop, a four-day motorbike journey through the mountains of northern Vietnam.
Motorbikes became Raima’s daily commute to work in Hanoi.
Raima completed the Ha Giang Loop, a four-day motorbike journey through the mountains and rural villages of northern Vietnam.
“Vietnam turned out to be the perfect place to develop a growth mindset,” Raima said, “because the extraordinary kindness, safety, and friendliness of its people and my colleagues made it easier to take risks, ask for help, and embrace uncertainty.”
By the end of the summer, she left confident that she can step into any new chapter, adapt, build community, and create a meaningful life wherever she is.
Private sector, public mission
Before this summer, Raima’s experience had been entirely in the nonprofit and public sectors. The internship changed how the public policy and business double major understands the speed, scale, and social impact the private sector can achieve when paired with a mission-driven organization.
“It deepened my commitment to pursuing a career that combines strategic problem-solving with meaningful social impact,” Raima said, “which is what made this experience inspiring and motivating for me.”
Next summer, she’ll join Boston Consulting Group’s Atlanta office as a 2027 summer associate.
“This summer taught me that discomfort is rarely a bad thing; more often, it is the gateway to the relationships, growth, and opportunities that ultimately shape who we become,” she said.
