shameless plug

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Nicolas K. Grundmann

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Nov 28, 2011, 1:23:51 PM11/28/11

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Former Tahoe buddies. First of all, I'm a 1st year now, and if I haven't seen you in the last 8 weeks, well, we should fix that.... (FOAM anyone??).

Secondly, I'm shamelessly plugging my girlfriend's NGO here for the white party: Village Enterprise. It's awesome. As is Courtney's org (Wokai), and all of the other orgs that people have put up. That's why you get 3 votes. Use them wisely.

This year we have the ability to enable Village Enterprise to help 600 African micro-entrepreneurs start sustainable business. These small income generating enterprises will lift them and their families out of extreme poverty forever!

Last year the White Party donated $40,000 to each sponsored charity. With this funding Village Enterprise would be able to:

Start 200 businesses
Train 600 entrepreneurs

This would impact 3,600 family members resulting in 1,280,000 extra meals in one year alone and would enable 1,000 children to attend school.

This is a chance to make an impact. Please vote.

For more information please visit villageenterprise.org or watch this short video:

The Faces of Poverty

Not only does it make sense for us GSBers to help start businesses, but Village Enterprise has a long history with the GSB.

They have 9 years as part of the GSB Board Fellow Program
30% of their US staff are GSB SO's
50% of their Board members are GSB Alumni
They are part of the GMIX program

Village Enterprise in Brief:

Village Enterprise plays a unique role in the poverty reduction and microenterprise development fields, focusing on people living in extreme poverty and equipping them with the resources to create a sustainable income-generating business. Currently operating in Kenya and Uganda, our program builds successful, long-lasting, small businesses, providing a complete package of support that includes business training and ongoing mentoring, start-up grant and business savings program.

Innovations:

Village Enterprise constantly refines its microenterprise development model to implement innovative approaches such as:
Pro-poor technology: providing “Businesses-in-a-Box” as a bundle of technology that rural poor cannot access easily and business development services to provide them with new and more profitable business ideas. Examples include foot-operated KickStart pumps which allow year-round harvests for farmers.
Conservation: in connection with the Jane Goodall Institute, creation of sustainable businesses adjacent to a critical chimpanzee habitat to protect the biodiversity of the forest and chimpanzees, and to lift the poverty burdens of the adjacent villages.
Peace and Business: bringing together people of different ethnic backgrounds; providing peace and reconciliation training and support in a in conflict-torn Kenya

For information on Village Enterprise and all the other White Party charities: https://sites.google.com/a/stanford.edu/gsb-gives-back-charity/home/village-enterprise