{"id":8936,"date":"2012-06-01T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T18:18:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T18:18:43","slug":"andy-dijkerman-mba-85","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rebuilding Africa one country at a time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"320\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg\" alt=\"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985\" class=\"wp-image-8937\" srcset=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg 320w, https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br \/>Two days after starting her first job as an MBA graduate at Deloitte, Haskins &amp; Sells, Andy (Margaret) Dennison Dijkerman was sent to Cameroon by the firm\u2019s international lending unit to establish an accounting and pricing system for a seed company. Ever since then, her career has been focused on Africa \u2014 whether it\u2019s transforming state enterprises in Rwanda, studying infrastructure needs in Sierra Leone, or advising a children\u2019s publishing company in Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dijkerman, a native of Wilmington, Del., traces her interest in Africa to her grade school years spent at an international school in Geneva, Switzerland. \u201cI had a lot of African peers in my classes,\u201d she says, \u201cand I was always interested in what it would be like to explore beyond my own country.\u201d Her chance came after graduating from Tufts University, when she became a volunteer for Catholic Relief Services in Rwanda and ended up working at the agency in Africa for five more years before enrolling at Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After 15 years with Deloitte, Dijkerman was working in South Africa, where her husband, Dirk Dijkerman, MS \u201979, PhD \u201991, was head of the United States Agency for International Development, when the firm decided to spin off the business unit to which Dijkerman was assigned. In 2004, Dijkerman and five colleagues organized a management buyout of the development consulting business, and she was named CEO of the new company, Emerging Markets Group, based in Washington, D.C. Over the next six years, the company doubled both its revenues and number of employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2007, EMG attracted a buyout from Cardno, an engineering consulting firm headquartered in Australia. After three years at the merged company, Dijkerman became an independent consultant and now spends her time working with the African Development Bank on rebuilding countries in West Africa, and as a BOP (Base of the Pyramid) investor in Jacaranda Designs Ltd., the Kenyan-based publisher of Young African Express, an African scholastic magazine for youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMy 30 years of involvement in the industry have gotten me to a point where people come to me,\u201d she says. \u201cIf the type of work is interesting and worthwhile, then I take it. If I want to take a month off, I can do that. I like the balance I have now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rebuilding Africa one country at a time Two days after starting her first job as an MBA graduate at Deloitte, Haskins &amp; Sells, Andy (Margaret) Dennison Dijkerman was sent to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":8937,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[171],"tags":[196],"ppma_author":[],"class_list":["post-8936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-profiles","tag-archived"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.9 (Yoast SEO v27.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985 - Cornell Business Centers &amp; Institutes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rebuilding Africa one country at a time Two days after starting her first job as an MBA graduate at Deloitte, Haskins &amp; Sells, Andy (Margaret)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985 - Cornell Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rebuilding Africa one country at a time Two days after starting her first job as an MBA graduate at Deloitte, Haskins &amp; Sells, Andy (Margaret)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Centers &amp; Institutes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-01T04:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-14T18:18:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rachel Cherry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rachel Cherry\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rachel Cherry\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/483887a306c16ef5516d1fbccd06df98\"},\"headline\":\"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-01T04:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-14T18:18:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":383,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Archived\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni Profiles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/\",\"name\":\"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985 - Cornell Business Centers &amp; Institutes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-01T04:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-07-14T18:18:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/483887a306c16ef5516d1fbccd06df98\"},\"description\":\"Rebuilding Africa one country at a time Two days after starting her first job as an MBA graduate at Deloitte, Haskins &amp; Sells, Andy (Margaret)\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/6\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg\",\"width\":320,\"height\":320},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/2012\\\/06\\\/01\\\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/\",\"name\":\"Centers & Institutes at Cornell Business\",\"description\":\"Cornell SC Johnson College of Business\",\"alternateName\":\"C&I\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/business.cornell.edu\\\/centers\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/483887a306c16ef5516d1fbccd06df98\",\"name\":\"Rachel Cherry\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985 - Cornell Business Centers &amp; Institutes","description":"Rebuilding Africa one country at a time Two days after starting her first job as an MBA graduate at Deloitte, Haskins &amp; Sells, Andy (Margaret)","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985 - Cornell Business","og_description":"Rebuilding Africa one country at a time Two days after starting her first job as an MBA graduate at Deloitte, Haskins &amp; Sells, Andy (Margaret)","og_url":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/","og_site_name":"Centers &amp; Institutes","article_published_time":"2012-06-01T04:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-14T18:18:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":320,"height":320,"url":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rachel Cherry","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rachel Cherry","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/"},"author":{"name":"Rachel Cherry","@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/#\/schema\/person\/483887a306c16ef5516d1fbccd06df98"},"headline":"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985","datePublished":"2012-06-01T04:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-14T18:18:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/"},"wordCount":383,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg","keywords":["Archived"],"articleSection":["Alumni Profiles"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/","url":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/","name":"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985 - Cornell Business Centers &amp; Institutes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg","datePublished":"2012-06-01T04:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-07-14T18:18:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/#\/schema\/person\/483887a306c16ef5516d1fbccd06df98"},"description":"Rebuilding Africa one country at a time Two days after starting her first job as an MBA graduate at Deloitte, Haskins &amp; Sells, Andy (Margaret)","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/06\/Andy-Dijkerman-2.jpg","width":320,"height":320},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/2012\/06\/01\/andy-dijkerman-mba-85\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Andy Dijkerman, MBA \u201985"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/#website","url":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/","name":"Centers & Institutes at Cornell Business","description":"Cornell SC Johnson College of Business","alternateName":"C&I","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/#\/schema\/person\/483887a306c16ef5516d1fbccd06df98","name":"Rachel Cherry"}]}},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-04 15:59:19","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"authors":[{"term_id":11,"user_id":33,"is_guest":0,"slug":"rc827","display_name":"Rachel Cherry","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/291dad291c2985a6fc76cb92e0239bbbc34eece546f5b984ef6c12566f40598a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","exclude_author":"","first_name":"Rachel","last_name":"Cherry","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13103,"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8936\/revisions\/13103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8936"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/business.cornell.edu\/centers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=8936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}