April 2009 eNewsletter
Student Business Receives Small Loan, Returns the Favor
Since 2002, Cedarville University in southwestern Ohio has been issuing loans to young entrepreneurs as part of its Integrated Business Core curriculum. This year a unique idea from one Cedarville student helped these college-age entrepreneurs bring hope to aspiring business owners in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
 Utilizing skills gained through core courses in marketing, finance, and management, a group of 28 Cedarville students banded together to form Siesta Solutions, a company that sold fleece blankets and microbead pillows both on and off Cedarville’s campus. While the students themselves were seeking a loan for their business, Danny Johnson, the company’s Vice President of Service was learning about men and women around the world who use a similar process to break free from the cycle of poverty through microfinance. Knowing that Siesta Solutions would be expected to donate its profits to a non-profit organization, Danny began seeking Christ-centered microfinance institutions online and discovered HOPE International. “We galvanized our entire company for the idea of giving to HOPE,” Danny says. “Everyone was excited by the opportunity.”
 After selling nearly 450 blankets and pillows, Siesta Solutions netted $2,100 in profits - enough to provide initial loans for an entire community bank (roughly 40 entrepreneurs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “We were really excited about the idea of being able to do for others what Cedarville was doing for us,” said company CEO Matthew Foote. “To see the impact of these funds is so fulfilling. We can understand the value of teaching people to really take care of themselves.”
Dr. Jeffrey Fawcett, professor of marketing and director of the Integrated Business Core, says that the program is teaching business students that their careers in business and their desire to serve don’t have to be mutually exclusive. “We’ve been trying to tell them gently for a long time not to hang their heads because they’re business majors. God created them with a talent and a passion to create wealth and who better to do that than God’s people, because we know what to do with it when we get it?” Since its inception, the Integrated Business Core has generated $21,500 and 3,098 hours of community service in support of local and international non-profits. |
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