Our mission is to uplift the lives of African youth and their communities through sustainable entrepreneurship.
SE 101: South Africa 2007 Team
This team travelled to Johannesburg, South Africa to do a pilot test of a modified SE101. Student teams worked with several business and individuals to help them with their business plans.
UBC Participants:
Tobias Brunner, Transportation and Logistics, Sauder.
Tobias graduated this year from the Sauder School of Business with a bachelor’s degree in the Transportation and Logistics Option. Though proud to be versed in the art of business, his studies in the fields of Astronomy, Religion, Culture, and History have brought him the most joy and illumination. Tobias loves all sports but soccer most of all. He competed at the 1997 nationals with the BC team and at the 2000 CCAA Men’s National Championships with Capilano College, as well as other tournaments in Canada, the U.S., and England. He also loves food and cooking, which would explain why he labored in the kitchen of Earl’s Restaurant for four years. Tobias’ stint as an English teacher in Taiwan last year had the dual effect of fueling his passion for cultural sharing and working with youth, and of nurturing an acute travel bug. He is excited to be part of the SE 101 project in South Africa/Swaziland because he believes it will help him explore these interests as well as give him a challenging opportunity to apply the skills he learned at Sauder and UBC.
Patrick Caffrey, Accounting, Sauder.
Patrick is a 2007 graduate of Commerce at UBC with a major in Accounting. He is starting his career as a Chartered Accountant at Ernst and Young in September, and Social Entrepreneurship 101 seemed like the perfect opportunity for him before he begins his career. He just finished a course named New Enterprise Development which sparked his interest in entrepreneurship, and when the opportunity came upon him to go to a foreign country to help others develop their own businesses he jumped on it. This is a chance to really make a difference in the life of someone else using the skills acquired in college, which he thinks is a unique and exciting opportunity. Patrick plans on being an entrepreneur in the future and this will be a great learning experience for him. SE 101 is a chance to travel, learn, and use the skills developed in college and to really experience reality in a foreign country.
Judy Feng, Commerce and Political Science, Sauder.
Judy is a fourth year Commerce and Political Science student and was born in Saskatoon and raised in Trail, B.C. After experimenting with a variety of commerce and liberal arts courses, volunteering/interning with the Law Courts Education Society and conducting research through the UBC MURP Program, Judy has developed a passion for studying and researching political, economic and legal institutional development around the world. As highlighted in her travels throughout Asia, involvement in mentoring students at a local inner city high school, leadership experience in non-profit organizations and participation in discussing political issues in national conferences and radio shows, Judy loves to explore different perspectives and share ideas with others. She highly enjoys writing, reading and traveling. With aspirations to develop a career in comparative politics and law, Judy will be attending the Sciences Po Paris Institute of Political Studies starting in September and will be pursuing graduate studies in the near future. In addition to being excited about working with a dynamic team in the SE 101 Project, she is especially looking forward to experiencing economic development in action and exchanging ideas with African youth.
Gabriel Garfinkle, Political Science, Arts.
Robert Gateman, Sessional Lecturer, Economics, Arts.
Jocelyn Ling, Finance, Sauder.
Jocelyn is a first year student at the Sauder School of Business and is originally from Malaysia. Her international experiences have consisted of living in Asia, the Middle East and currently, Canada. Her interest in volunteering initially stemmed from the fact that she grew up in a third world country and knows what it means to extend a helping hand to those in need. She strongly believes that we should “be the change [we] want to see in the world” (Mahatma Ghandi), and hence has been involved in numerous non-profit organisations, advocating international human rights, fundraising for Health and Animal Research Centres as well as mentoring underprivileged children in the Middle East. The main reason for her involvement in SE 101 was due to its unique sustainable orientation, where a short term placement would leave a lasting impact. Besides the opportunity of creating business plans and putting practical use to her business skills, she is looking forward to the experience of combining her passion for volunteering with her academic life. Beyond the classroom and volunteering, she can be found dancing, exploring a new hiking trail or indulging in a newly found good book. She is excited and honored to be part of such a great team and is ready for the amazing African Experience that will be coming her way!
Dianna Louie, MD Class of 2010, UBC.
Ben Macfadyen, Finance, Sauder.
Ben is a Vancouver native and recent graduate of the Sauder School of Business. While studying abroad at the University of Melbourne in Australia, Ben caught a severe case of the travel bug and has since spent time in New Zealand, Fiji and most recently Mexico. When in Vancouver he can usually be found outdoors playing soccer, volleyball or snowboarding on the North Shore. Ben is very excited to go to Africa and hopes to use his experience teaching finance in Vancouver high schools to help empower youth on the other side of the globe. Ben is a strong believer in microfinance as a tool to promote economic independence and hopes that by sharing his business skills, he will help youth to build sustainable livelihoods. He is truly honoured to be a part of such a worthwhile project, and hopes the success of this program will continue well into the future.
Brent O'Connor, International Business, Sauder.
Brent is currently studying at Sauder toward his degree in Marketing and International Business. He is a film and TV actor by profession, and has just moved back to Vancouver from Los Angeles to finish up his degree and take part in the SE101 initiative in South Africa. Brent grew up in Vancouver, but has had the opportunity to travel extensively and has lived in Australia and Spain. He is excited to be part of this project because of working with locals to create lasting economic stability. Brent will also be filming the Sauder-YouLead projects in Africa, creating a "mini documentary" on globalization from below, and the impact of grass-roots development in Africa.
Kate Sizykh, General Business Management, Sauder.
Kate is truly excited to be a part of the SE101 team. She is passionate about Social Entrepreneurship and it has always been her dream to volunteer in Africa. Kate was born in a less developed region of Russia and has lived through economic struggles; this has inspired her to apply her knowledge and skills to help others in similar situations. As Kate progressed through her studies at UBC, she realized that she is always drawn to community-oriented events. She took a course on Global Citizenship, where she studied various global issues about third world countries, the environment, and homelessness. Taking this course has confirmed her desire to help others and to make a difference. After accumulating several years of intensive university studies, as well as diverse working and volunteering experience, Kate feels that she is prepared for this amazing opportunity.
Lisa Thomas-Tench, YouLead, UBC.
Faculty Coordinator:
Nancy Langton, Associate Professor, Organizational
Behaviour and Human Resource Division, Sauder School of Business.
Nancy was asked by the Dean of the Sauder School of Business, Daniel Muzyka, to develop an initiative that would enable UBC students to work in Africa on development issues, and also lead to an exchange of professors and students between Africa and Canada. This request followed her work in Vancouver's downtown eastside, running a program called Entrepreneurship 101, which taught people living in Canada's poorest postal code to write business plans. Nancy teaches organizational behaviour, organizational theory, and leadership at the undergraduate, MBA and Ph.D. level. She is also the co-author of six major textbooks, including the widely used and award winning Organizational Behaviour: Concepts, Controversies and Applications; Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour; Management; and Fundamentals of Management. This is Nancy's third year doing volunteer work in Africa, and she is excited by the prospect of helping students and faculty members work together on development issues in Africa.
Next: The first SE101 Team
Last Modified on:
01/05/2012 7:16 PM
