News & Spotlight
Student Spotlight: How One Student is Making an Impact, Cayman Macdonald
By Ritu Bhargava
"I took Professor Shaughnessy’s 2206 class in Fall 2014 and liked the idea of the South Africa Dialogue. Within 3 days of being on the Dialogue in July 2015, I decided I had to come back! So I set up a co-op for January 2016 with TSiBA, the in-country partner institution for the Dialogue. Last fall I started working on a microfinance project and worked with TSiBA students on it. Then I went on co-op in January at TSiBA and while I was on co-op, in my free time I worked on launching the microfinance program."
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Travel Spotlight: Divine Chocolate
By Monique Buckner
It all started with an idea from leading farmers on the Ghana Cocoa Board. Nana Frimpong Abrebrese in particular, saw the opportunity in setting up farmers in a company to sell their own cocoa to the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC). The CMC is state-owned and is the single exporter of Ghana cocoa. Together these farmers formed the co-op Kuapa Kokoo, which means good cocoa growers. Their mission is to empower farmers in their efforts to gain a dignified livelihood, to increase women's participation in all of Kuapa's activities, and to cultivate cocoa through an environmentally friendly method.
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Co-op Spotlight: Be Kind
By Brooke O'Connell
All of us who eventually become interested in social enterprise have different paths to getting here, but we ultimately share the passion of doing good work for others. Ellen McNeill’s path would eventually lead her to social enterprise, but at the beginning she didn’t even known what it was.
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Student Reflection: Meeting Luvuyo Rani
By Georgia Horton
Mr. Rani established his first internet cafe in the notorious township of Khayelitsha in 2006. Just like a true social entrepreneur, he saw holes in the business world surrounding computer knowledge and access, and sought to fill them. His goal was to connect individuals electronically and provide them with computer skills to better prepare them for employment.
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The End of the CGI: Looking Back and Moving Forward
By Maria Bermudez Pizano
With the possibility of Hillary Clinton’s election to president of the United States, the Clinton Foundation is in the midst of a restructuring of their operations, but perhaps the most shocking part of it is the end of the CGI and CGI U by the end of the year.
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Social Enterprises Getting Responsible Tourism Right
By Kayla O’Neill
Travel is a means through which we can explore the issues and need areas of places throughout the world. Making up nine percent of the world’s economy, tourism is a huge economic boom for places like Nepal, Costa Rica, and South Africa. But with the mountain climbers, rainforest adventurers, and safari seekers, there are well-documented issues like pollution, “poverty tourism,” self-advantageous “voluntourism” programs, and overconsumption of local resources. Keep these enterprises in mind as you plan or dream about global co-op travel, spring break trip, or post-grad adventures.
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