HEC Montréal students assist two international NGOs
MBAs Without Borders
July 7, 2008
Two groups of students are getting ready to leave their comfortable Montreal lives to go on charitable missions to Rwanda and Guatemala, as part of a program established by the non-profit organization MBAs Without Borders. From July 7 to August 8, five HEC Montréal MBA students will be working on international development projects in Rwanda, and another five in Guatemala. Students from both projects organized various fund-raising events at HEC Montreal and outside to finance their trip.
Two groups of students are getting ready to leave their comfortable Montreal lives to go on charitable missions to Rwanda and Guatemala, as part of a program established by the non-profit organization MBAs Without Borders. From July 7 to August 8, five HEC Montréal MBA students will be working on international development projects in Rwanda, and another five in Guatemala. Students from both projects organized various fund-raising events at HEC Montreal and outside to finance their trip.
Guatemala
The Guatemala team is working with Mercado Global, a non-profit fair-trade organization that links the world's most rural and economically disadvantaged co-operatives to the US market through a model that provides both fair wages and investments in the community's long-term development.
The HEC Montréal team will be helping the women managing a co-operative improve their systems for distributing their wares, locating raw materials and managing inventory. "We'll also be trying to improve their existing systems to secure their supply of raw materials and regulate their production," explains Fabio Carriero, who will be teaming up with Rana Abu Naameh, Dominic D'Amata, Maurico Idarraga and Jorge Robles.
Rwanda
The Rwanda team, consisting of Félix Boudreault, Stéphanie Émond, Annie Saumier, Jessica Sharafi and Claudel Tchokonté, will be helping Kageno, a non-profit organization working tgo transform communities suffering from inhumane poverty into places of opportunithy and hope by identifying and delivering actional programs.
"Our project involves drawing up a business plan to create an ecotourism inn in the village of Banda, right in the heart of the Nyungwe national park, in southwestern Rwanda," explains Claudel Tchokonté. "It's an ecotourism initiative that fits into an overall development plan for the region, and aims to provide the people in this village with access to sanitation facilities, medication and drinking water."
For the first time this year, MBAs Without Borders invited MBA students to join in projects related to health, agriculture, finance and income creation. In the past, the mission of MBAs Without Borders was to send MBA graduates to countries struggling with poverty. So these first two teams of students are laying the foundations of an initiative that is likely to become a regular event in years to come.
The Guatemala team, from left to right - Fabio Carriero, Rana Abu Naameh, Jorge Robles, Mauricio Idarraga et Dominic D'Amata
The Rwanda team, from left to right - Stéphanie Émond, Claudel Tchokonté, Jessica Sharafi, Félix Boudreault et Annie Saumier