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About the Company
Greenwood Project is a nonprofit that trains talented minority college students for high-paying jobs on Wall Street. When Kwesi, the CEO, came to YSO, the organization was navigating a team departure, evaluating how to restructure operational responsibilities, and needed support that could absorb hours without requiring a full-time internal hire.
The Business Challenge
The organization faced a dual challenge: a team member had departed, leaving a gap in accounting and bookkeeping coverage, and leadership wasn't ready to commit to a like-for-like internal replacement, particularly given how quickly the nature of certain roles was shifting. They needed someone who could absorb the departed employee's hours on the finance side while also taking on additional operational work. As a nonprofit, budget constraints made the decision even more deliberate.
Kwesi came to YSO through a referral, a colleague whose husband used YSO services and spoke specifically to the quality of their onboarding process and their ability to train admins to hit the ground running.
"My colleague's husband essentially said they would die without their admin from this firm [YSO]. He really touted the SOP process and their ability to train the admins to hit the ground running."
The Solution
YSO placed a dedicated Ops Assistant with the organization who stepped in as a consistent operational resource for Kwesi and the broader team. She took ownership across:
Accounting and bookkeeping support: Absorbing the hours previously handled by the departing team member.
CEO-level administrative support: Taking on admin tasks directly for Kwesi, giving him time back from work that had been pulling him into the weeds.
Process automation: Supporting Kwesi's AI-forward approach by helping automate internal processes using Claude, adding a new layer of efficiency to the organization's day-to-day operations.
Cross-functional operational support: Working across a range of operational issues within the organization, beyond the initial accounting scope.
Internal team support: Serving as a resource not just for Kwesi but for other team members, helping get things across the finish line.
The Virtual Assistant became a trusted presence inside the organization, handling day-to-day work alongside Kwesi while absorbing capacity from multiple directions.
The Results
Since the Virtual Assistant joined, Kwesi has been able to operate at a higher level, focused on strategy rather than execution.
25+ hours of operational capacity recovered per week: The Virtual Assistant stepped in to cover the workload left by the departing team member.
10+ hours given back to Kwesi every week: With admin work off his plate, he now has dedicated time to operate at the level his role demands.
Strategic shift: Kwesi is able to focus more on high-level priorities and less on day-to-day details, which has meaningfully changed how he operates.
Second assistant brought on within one month: After seeing results from the first placement, the organization brought on a second Virtual Assistant within a month of the initial engagement.
Third assistant brought on within six months: The virtual model proved effective, and the organization continues to add additional assistants instead of internal hires to scale efficiently.
My Virtual Assistant keeps me sane. She gets to see the good, bad, and the ugly, and she's been a pleasure to have on the team. They're [YSO] an outsourced virtual admin, but their specialty is making sure that the admins come in with great training and a structured process around engagement. They're able to onboard, train the admins, provide a good level of service, and then if there's an issue, they're able to deal with it versus bringing it on internally to your own organization.
Kwesi, CEO, Greenwood Project