Vancouver
commerce students are going overseas, hoping to share their economic and
market know-how
© UNICEF SA Photo by G Pirozzi
South African children born after 1994 are known as "born frees". Here they celebrate their democracy with the popular custom of painting their beloved flag on their faces.
VANCOUVER -- Some academics spend the summer attending conferences, touring Europe or relaxing on a beach. In search of something entirely different, two Vancouver professors and their students are spending this summer in African slums, helping to develop local businesses.
"I go on a lot of August vacations and come back with a bunch of pictures with nothing else to show," said Bob Gateman, a professor of law and economics at the University of British Columbia. "I thought I'd like to do something that had long-lasting meaning."
Prof. Gateman is volunteering with a program called Social Entrepreneurship 101, an unusual cross between economic development, education and Third World aid.
Started last year in Kenya by Nancy Langton, a professor with UBC's Sauder School of Business, the program aims to match the skills of Canadian commerce students and young African adults with business ideas.
The Canadians gain work experience and an opportunity to apply their classroom learning in the real world. "[They] get to experience a different culture as a participant in society, rather than as a tourist," Prof. Langton said.
The Africans receive hands-on help to explore ideas, write business plans and prepare presentations for financing.
"Business development skills are important to people living in poverty in countries that have high unemployment," Prof. Langton said in an e-mail interview from Kenya.
Financing for the businesses is supplied by microcredit agencies such as the Grameen Bank, which, along with its founder, Muhammad Yunus, won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.
Ben Macfadyen, 22, graduated this spring with a specialty in finance, but postponed his search for a full-time job to participate in Social Entrepreneurship 101 in South Africa.
"I had decent enough grades, but I need [more] experience to get good jobs," he said. "I didn't want to put myself out there to get any job. I figure why not better myself in some way, and offer my skills in a way that could be beneficial."
"I'll be in an air-conditioned office soon enough," Mr. Macfadyen said. "I've got the rest of my life to do that."
Numerous programs allow young Canadian adults to volunteer overseas, their work ranging from digging ditches to working in orphanages. But few match the specific skills acquired by university students with the needs in developing countries, said Lisa Thomas-Tench, the executive director of YouLead, a UBC agency that works with the university's business school on Social Entrepreneurship 101.
"Service learning is a new concept for Canadian universities," Ms. Thomas-Tench said. "It's different from your typical volunteer program. ... It's finding a way to contribute, but in a way that the students can also learn."
This year, Prof. Langton agreed to expand Social Entrepreneurship 101 to slums near Johannesburg after Prince Cedza Dlamini of Swaziland - Nelson Mandela's grandson and the United Nations youth ambassador for millennium development goals - asked YouLead to send business students to work with Ubuntu, a non-government organization in South Africa.
YouLead, founded 10 years ago with initial support from Unicef, sends several hundred Canadian students and recent graduates annually to work on aid projects in specialties ranging from medicine to engineering, Ms. Thomas-Tench said.
Although all students have to raise money to participate - the cost for students going to South Africa was $1,500 apiece - Ms. Thomas-Tench said the programs attract many more applicants than there are positions available.
Applicants are screened for their attitude as well as ability and willingness to help, she said. "I don't want students walking into South Africa feeling sorry for the people there; I want them to go in looking for ways to connect and partner with people there, so everyone will benefit."
The African business ideas are modest by the standards of the developed world, and range from selling kerosene and pineapples to opening an Internet café.
In some cases, Prof. Langton said, the African participants may decide to continue their education instead of setting up a business immediately.
"At the end of the day, we are about providing education that helps people move toward something that they really want to do," she said.
Mr. Macfadyen said, "We're not all business veterans; we're still fresh students. We're not hoping to change the world, but to connect with a few students there."
In South Africa, he said, he hopes to use his training to help local entrepreneurs move from ideas to financing.
"They'll have to prove their idea is successful enough to develop a cash flow, support themselves and pay off their loans ... and they have to be able to give a presentation, to convince investors."
"These aren't huge projects," Mr. Macfadyen said. "They're what these microfinance agencies are designed for. ... But whoever is giving money has to be confident they'll get it back, with interest as well."
"We're not going over with some theoretical model on how to develop countries," Prof. Gateman stressed. "What I really want to avoid is the old Ugly American view of things. I'd rather be a quiet Canadian and go over there and see if we can listen and be of some assistance."
Ms. Thomas-Tench said that while YouLead's aid programs have modest short-term goals, she expects the students who participate will acquire a lifelong perspective of the needs in the developing world.
"What they can learn is about the impact of decisions made back home, and how to support these communities."