Small Enterprise Education and Development (SEED)

Mission

The Mission of the SEED Program is to provide Utah State University students with a hands-on, once-in-a-life time learning experience while simultaneously educating people in developing economies in new business creation and development skills.

Summary

The SEED Program is an exciting and innovative way of capitalizing on the unique skills of our students, providing them with a life changing learning opportunity, while also providing meaningful and lasting impact in the areas we operate. SEED was initially conceptualized in the fall of 2006 as a component of The Huntsman School’s first summer (2007) study abroad program to South America. Early thoughts were centered on the creation of a micro-loan program. However, as successful as some of these programs are at giving people independence they are not as successful at actually lifting the participants out of poverty. Based on this, it was determined that small enterprise development would have a more meaningful financial impact for the native participants and would lead to sustainable economic growth.

The Huntsman School was fortunate to develop a partnership with a large employer, The DanPer Corporation (a Danish Peruvian Company), in the area of Trujillo, Peru. This company has an aggressive social improvement agenda for its employees. Through this company we are able to recruit participants for our program. Over time, a three phase (8 month) educational program was developed for participants. The bulk of these programs are delivered by Huntsman School interns who spend 12 weeks, at a time, working with program participants. We keep two interns in country all three semesters.

The first phase of the program screens for viable participants and introduces basic business principles. In phase two, participants are taught how to project sales, identify costs, and manage cash. In phase three, those participants with viable ideas are assisted in putting together a simple business plan. Those plans are then presented to teams of students participating in the summer study abroad program for a comprehensive due diligence review. The due diligence teams then make recommendations to the SEED Program board members for funding. The members of the SEED board, along with our partner company, take those recommendations combined with the feedback from the interns who delivered the educational pieces, and make a final decision to fund. Funds are never distributed in bulk to the recipients. Rather, they are paid directly for expenses and materials as they are incurred. This process is administered by both our partners and our interns.

Simultaneous to delivering the educational programs our interns are working hand in hand with existing loan recipients in building and running their businesses. This is, perhaps, the most important part of the program as our interns deal directly with issues of leadership, motivation, cash management, and culture. These interns serve as valuable cultural mentors and help participants empower themselves to economic success. Our interns work side by side with participants to not only teach business principles but help enlighten them to their potential.

The fact that SEED makes a year round commitment to putting student mentors (interns) on the ground sets the Huntsman School apart in the eyes of our partners and participants. We are able to gain the trust and confidence of the people. We are perceived as permanent players. Furthermore, our interns are fluent in the local language.

The student interns have access, via the web (email and skype) to faculty for advice and instruction. But the efforts on the ground are predominantly student driven. Interns are required to submit weekly reports that are then cataloged. Those reports are made available to the next set of interns as well as a briefing/debriefing session between sets of interns. These interns return with a wealth of experience that, we believe, is second to none.

Because 65% of the students at the Huntsman School speak a second language, representing a vast number of tongues, we are able to consider offering programs in many areas of need across the globe, including domestically. We believe SEED capitalizes on the unique skills of our students and combines the four pillars of the Huntsman School (Entrepreneurial Spirit, Global Vision, Ethical Leadership, and Academic Rigor) into one outstanding, unique program.

Moving forward we will continue to refine our model. However, the core tenets of the program are:

1. The program must be student driven.

a. Students deliver the educational material.
b. Students serve as active mentors with participants.
c. Students conduct due diligence and needs assessments.
d. Students must speak the native language.
e. Students have a life changing learning experience.

2. The program operates in areas of greatest economic need, in places where we can make a difference, and in areas where we can provide native language speakers.

3. The program will only locate in areas of reasonable political stability.

4. The program will only operate where a local partner can be found.

5. These loans are only made to individuals who have demonstrated commitment, understanding, responsibility, and a desire to get ahead.

To date all of the funds for the loan corpus and much of the funds for the student interns have been raised by Huntsman School student group projects, some ($85,000). However, as we role forward and attempt to duplicate this model in other areas of need we will need to be innovative in our fund-raising. We believe the loan corpus to be self sustaining, but only because of the supervision and mentoring our interns and partners provide. The student intern fees will, for the present, need outside support. As the size and number of projects grow in any one area, the interest from those loans should cover the intern fees as well (after approximately 5 years per location). Ultimately, SEED would like to expand to 7 to 10 markets over the next 10 years. This would allow for 40 to 60 internships per year and dozens of summer student projects. Overtime we would hope that our efforts will provide a core of native mentors to augment the program in each of the areas we operate.

Donations may be made to the loan only fund or to the general fund that may also support the interns.

If you would like to get involved in this exciting program either as a student, advisor, or donor please see the contact information below:

Program and Donor Information
Contact: David Herrmann
email: david.herrmann@usu.edu
phone: 435.797.2287

South America Study Abroad
Contact: Liz Allred
email: Liz.Allred@usu.edu
phone: 435.797.7621

Student Internship
Contact: Paige Geslin
email: paige.geslin@usu.edu
phone: 435.797.2272