Students Fight Poverty with Video-Conference Coaching

Four students traveled to the Philippines with 欧文康考迪亚大学's Enactus club to meet small business owners they had advised all year by video conference.

“The highlight for everyone was meeting the people,席琳·比亚说, 工商管理专业大四学生. “We all really enjoyed having time to create relationships with them and hear their stories, not just see them over a computer screen. It gave us an extra push for the cause we’re doing.”

Enactus, a worldwide organization with nearly 35,000名学生会员, helps Third World countries through entrepreneurial activities and a microfinance fund. CUI’s club is more than ten years old and recently has expanded in innovative ways. 弗雷德里克•罗杰斯, adjunct professor and the club’s academic advisor, connected  欧文康考迪亚大学 students to Divine Business Appointments, a ministry based in Orange County which partners with ministries in the Philippines to offer classes to poor people so they can start small businesses.

”我说, what if we acted like a shark tank, reviewed the business plans of people in those classes and funded a few of them?罗杰斯说。, who was an entrepreneur for 43 years, most recently as the CEO of a small tech company.

于是合作开始了.  欧文康考迪亚大学 students reviewed eleven plans of Philippine entrepreneurs and narrowed them down to three, 他们向他们提供小额贷款.

“They learned to judge a business,” Rogers says. “You’re giving real money to people. How do you know it’s a good investment? We have a list of metrics we’re looking for: What were your sales last week? 你的支出? 你盈利了吗?”

这个俱乐部不仅仅是一个俱乐部. 我们实际上正在做出改变.

通过视频会议, students met with each loan recipient every two weeks to coach them and hear how the business was going. Loan recipients in the Philippines came to the ministry office—often a journey of several hours—for these video-conference meetings. 一些翻译是必要的. Club members also learned to raise money for the loans by making presentations in and around Irvine.

One loan recipient who makes cleaning rags was selling out of everything she made. Students advised her to raise prices. The other recipients were a seller of duck eggs and a pig farm operator. Each made bi-weekly payments and repaid their loan within twelve months.

Then the club went further and traveled to the Philippines in May to visit currently-funded people and screen new applicants. Bia coached a Filipina named Kathy who operates a small convenience store in her house, selling basic items such as shampoos, 饮料和食物.

“I learned a lot from her,” Bia says. “She wasn’t scared to talk about what was going wrong with her businesses and her future plans. We asked about how she wants to expand and if she has other ideas of what to sell. To see the work we’ve done with fellow students and our advisor paying off was really motivating. 这个俱乐部不仅仅是一个俱乐部. 我们实际上正在做出改变.”

The club gave out three loans while there, including one to a woman who owns a roadside food booth where she sells pig heads and rice.

We’re changing one life at a time in the Philippines, and one life at a time for Concordia students.

“We went to their locations and saw how the business was working,” Bia says. “This woman has been there for a while. Our loan will allow her to expand her booth and purchase more pig head to sell. She wants to open a second location.”

The students surveyed local people, including the many taxi drivers who stop by for lunch, and discovered why they remained loyal to her food booth. 这个问题的答案? Better tasting food and unlimited rice.

吉安娜·穆勒，18岁, a business administration and marketing major, says they learned the importance of interacting with potential recipients before offering the loans.

“这是巨大的，”穆勒说. “One girl didn’t have prior experience but was so passionate and working so hard in the class. Her papers were filled with goals, objectives and plans. We saw the importance of meeting them because they may have a great business plan but may not be as passionate as someone with less experience.”

乔治•莱特, administrative dean of the School of Business, says Concordia Univesity Irvine's Enactus club is focused on making their partnerships sustainable, and increasing donations so they can help more people. They are also looking to add other countries to their coaching partnership.

“We’re changing one life at a time in the Philippines, and one life at a time for Concordia students,赖特说。.