Global Impact, Local Roots:

The SEED Program's Real-World Business Education

The Small Enterprise Education and Development (SEED) program, housed in The Center for Entrepreneurship at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, stands out among experiential learning opportunities for offering both a rigorous business education and a meaningful social impact experience. Described as “our poverty ending, student scholarship program to take principles of entrepreneurship to small business owners throughout the developing world,” SEED program participants travel to developing countries for a semester at a time and partner with local organizations to provide business training and microloans to small business owners. At present, the SEED program operates in 10 locations across the globe, with as many as 35 students participating each semester.

“The SEED program is designed to help students learn and teach principles of business and entrepreneurship,” says Dr. Mike Glauser, Executive Director of the Center. “They study these things in the classroom, but it provides a deeper learning when they try to teach these principles themselves in a real world setting and see the subtle nuances, see what does or doesn’t work, and how to tweak intellectual learning for application in the real world. That experience dramatically increases students’ business and entrepreneurship skills, innovation, and creativity.”

“SEED is a unique recruiting tool,” says Andy Thunell, Program Coordinator for SEED. “Students tell me that they come to the Huntsman School specifically so they can have the SEED experience. They realize they can have a philanthropic impact now, and that they don’t have to wait until they’re older or established professionally elsewhere to be able to make a difference.”

Completing a SEED internship has also opened professional doors for many students. Glauser notes, “Students engage in real world learning where they develop an incredible skill set and have a life changing experience personally. They’re able to list International Business Consultant for Microenterprises on their resume, and employers are drawn to that. These students are perceived to be service oriented, and more tolerant and appreciative of diversity.”

Glauser and his team believe in the power of the SEED Program so much that they undertook a coast-to-coast bike ride called Pedaling to End Poverty this Summer to raise awareness and funding for the program. The ride followed the TransAmerica Bike Trail, beginning in Oregon and ending in Virginia, and helped to raise nearly $500,000 for the SEED Program.

Glauser’s message is simple yet profound: We have it in our grasp to dramatically improve the lives of people living in poverty around the globe. Taking a grassroots approach, one small business at a time, with the model repeated thousands of times over. It’s the same philosophy guiding Professor Glauser’s ride across America. “We truly are all in this together, one person reaching out to another.” Glauser remarked. (See more about Pedaling to End Poverty on Page 55.)

It’s not a pipe dream. Not a fantasy sometime off in the future. Glauser’s students have now taught more than 10,000 people in Ghana, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Peru and more how to start and grow successful businesses, transforming their lives, the lives of their families, employees, and those in their communities.

Garrett Ahlstrom, a sophomore studying Management, joined the first cohort of SEED students in Cape Coast, Ghana. They lack the comfort and convenience of reliable water and electricity, as well as sanitation, but Ahlstrom believes that struggle can be motivating. “Our positive attitudes are contagious. What we believe we’re capable of is what becomes possible. Our weakest points are opportunities for the most growth.” With this mindset, Ahlstrom helps business owners establish goals and break them down into actionable steps.

In addition to developing real-world business and leadership skills, SEED provides an opportunity to serve others with meaning and purpose. Glauser notes, “There’s an epidemic of despair among college students. Nearly one-third of them have suffered from anxiety or depression in the last year, according to the CDC. And one of the best antidotes for that is to get up in the morning and start getting involved in service. Our SEED students do that every single day for three full months, and they see the profound impact this has on their emotional well-being. One of the key principles for happiness is doing good deeds continually and helping people and looking for opportunities to contribute that value.

”He continues, “Two things we hear over and over again from our SEED students: ‘I didn’t realize how good my life was,’ and, ‘I want to be a giver for the rest of my life, rather than a taker, because this was such a joyful experience.’ The SEED experience dramatically changes their lives and gives them a clear sense of purpose in everything else they do.”