Newsletter 2010

Things have really started to pick up in 2010. Whitney Dastrup and Chase Skidmore taught the educational piece to a new group of hungry program participants for three months at the beginning of the year. From this group, 11 business plans were formed and presented to the study abroad students in June and five of these were approved for funding. Thanks to the hard work of USU students and faculty, DanPer partners, and the entrepreneurs themselves, this year's group has been the best prepared to make their businesses successful. A total of 6 USU students per year are sent to Peru to mentor and support all of these entrepreneurs to ensure their success.

SEED Africa was also launched in the summer of 2010. By following a micro-finance type system, 8 student mentors were able to approve and fund 25 entrepreneurs with small loans in different locations in Uganda and Ghana. Since these loans are smaller, the turn-around is faster and a few of these businesses have already paid off or started to pay off their loans and make an impact in their communities as of the end of 2010.

To date all funding for this program has been student-raised with the help of Dave Hermann who now serves as the Director of the SEED program, but donations are accepted and very much appreciated from any source. Please see the funding page for more information about donating to the program.