Strategic Business Development Remote Externship

Overview

Customer expectations across retail have continued to rapidly evolve with new technology, coinciding with an excess of new entrants in the space. The home improvement retail sector has seen significant growth, even throughout the recent pandemic. The Home Depot has continuously invested to meet evolving customer expectations and the growing demand for home improvement.

This externship provides students an exciting opportunity to be part of this evolution by partnering with The Home Depot’s Strategic Business Development Team and Home Depot Ventures. As part of Strategic Business Development, HD Ventures aims to invest in companies that advance The Home Depot's ability to provide a seamless interconnected shopping experience for home improvement projects, develop new and differentiated capabilities, and extend its low-cost provider position to better serve customers, better serve associates, and deliver operational excellence.

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The Experience

For this externship, you will conduct comprehensive research that details the future of the home improvement customer journey and identifies market disruptors that warrant investment consideration. The geographical focus of this research will be North America, and the target customers are the growing market of homeowners and millennials residing in these geographical locations. This research will help inform the Strategic Business Development and HD Ventures team about market trends as they look to invest in companies that help them innovate.

During this Externship, you will:

• Become familiar with the mission and objectives of The Home Depot and the Home Depot Ventures team
• Learn about the broader landscape of the evolving home improvement retail sector, as well as evolving customer expectations and experience
• Identify startups that are disrupting the retail home improvement sector that HD Ventures can consider investing in
• Conduct a deep dive into the details of these companies and evaluate their target audience, offerings, and indicators of progress
• Create and deliver a compelling presentation showcasing findings and insights into emerging trends, the landscape of startups and disruptors, and potential investment opportunities as THD expands its home improvement portfolio

Qualifications

We are seeking ambitious sophomores, juniors, and seniors currently enrolled in accredited HBCUs. The strongest applicants will have demonstrated interest in corporate finance, business, start-ups, corporate strategy, venture capital, entrepreneurship, and consulting. Students studying business, finance, and other research-focused majors are the best fit for this program, but it is open to all majors.