TOPICS IN GLOBAL FINANCE:
MICROLENDING IN ACTION
MARCH 2014
BMGT 448
Susan White
Professor
4455 Van Munching
(301) 405-8700
suwhite@rhsmith.umd.edu
Lily Griner
Business Librarian
McKeldin Library
(301) 405-9278
griner@umd.edu
Patricia Herron
Librarian: English, Spanish, Latin America
5101 D McKeldin Library
(301) 405-9280 (w)
(703) 975-9244 (c)
herron@umd.edu
This course is designed to help Smith School students obtain a real life learning experience where they will have the opportunity simultaneously to (1) use the knowledge gained in their undergraduate studies, (2) experience entrepreneurship and small business operations first hand and (3) affect the lives of people in an international community. This is a travel course that requires preparation, engagement while abroad and work on a project upon return.
Expectations for Students:
1. Students will use their marketing skills and creativity to raise funds to support entrepreneurs in Nicaragua.2. Students will act as consultants researching business problems/issues identified by the entrepreneurs, and develop recommendations for ways to solve them.
3. Depending on the business situations the students may help with developing business plans, budgets and other documents as needed.
4. Students will gain real-life understanding of microfinance; what works and what doesn’t, and what benefits microloans can bring to entrepreneurs in a developing nation.
5. Students will recognize the opportunities and challenges inherent in cross-cultural experiences and in doing business in Nicaragua.
6. Students will experience Nicaraguan culture and learn about its history.
Grading
1. Consulting project (possible projects listed below) – 30%2. Work with Nicaraguan entrepreneur – 30%
3. Experiential journal writing/blog – 10%
4. Attendance and active participation, including pre-trip entrepreneurial assessments and speakers – 30%
Consulting projects and work with Nicaraguan entrepreneurs (group project)
You will prepare a paper and power point presentation summarizing your recommendations for the clients.Journaling/Blog (individual)
Students will contribute to a blog on the trip.Pre-trip work/active participation in UMD and Nicaraguan activities
This includes meeting with the team’s entrepreneur via Skype and attending several presentations/discussions about Nicaragua and doing business in the country. This will also include pre-trip fundraising, but note that the grade will depend on participation only, not the amount raised.Additional Notes:
• Civil, courteous, safe behavior is especially important when traveling abroad. We will be guests and should act as such. Students participating in this course must adhere to local laws in the places visited, and the UMD Academic Code of Conduct and Code of Student Conduct will be enforced. Students are reminded to be cautious and not endanger themselves or others.• Students must comply with all the policies of the Smith School and the Univ. of Maryland College Park concerning Study Abroad. See their website http://www.inform.umd.edu/studyabroad/
• While no major schedule or course structure changes are anticipated once the itinerary is finalized, international travel requires a degree of flexibility. Circumstances may change. Adjustments may be required, any materials, policies & announcements distributed by email or as handouts or verbally announced.
• Students should consult the U.S. Dept. of State’s Travel Warnings & Consular Information Sheets, available at http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis_pa_tw_1168.html and the Center for Disease Control’s travel advisories available at http://www.cdc.gov/travel/. STEP is the State Department registry program for travel abroad. Please register https://step.state.gov/step/.
Consulting Projects
March 2014
Managua Projects, working with teams of students and faculty from UNAN, Nicaraguan public university. (4 projects)
2. Carrier for coffee bean workers. This team has designed ergonomic carriers (male and female designs) for workers on coffee bean plantations to hold up to 30 pounds of coffee beans. This group needs a business plan, in particular research about where and how to market their product. For example, does it have uses for carrying large amounts and therefore could be sold in countries other than Nicaragua (group would need to think about shipping costs). This group has their first order for 200 carriers!
3. Recycled shoes. These shoes are made from tires and old jeans. These will be relatively high priced, and are more likely to find a market outside of Nicaragua. The group will need a business plan and pro forma financial statements.
4. Portable medical lift. This group has made its first sales to hospitals! In Nicaraguan hospitals, families of the patients provide the care that is provided by nurses in U.S. hospitals. The hand-crank lift allows a patient to be moved in bed, allowing easier care. The group needs a business plan and pro forma financial statements. Their product is one of the more expensive to produce and attention will need to be paid to its supply chain. Fundraising is ongoing in the U.S. for this (most expensive of the projects). Ten lifts are
going to be donated to Nicaraguan hospitals.
The groups will contact U.S. designer contacts, and be in touch with Nicaraguan groups to see their progress since we last saw the groups in August, when the U.S. designers came to Nicaragua.
Entrepreneur Project
- Skype meeting in November to hear their plans and requirements and choose groups that would work with each individual. Formulate solutions.
- Meet in individual groups in San Juan del Sur and create solutions.
- Plan to provide a small grant to facilitate the projects.
Student teams will work with entrepreneurs in San Juan del Sur. The project will depend on the needs of the entrepreneur. The entrepreneurs include:
1. Bruno Antonio Pomares Herrera. Wedding planner and dance troupe coordinator (we’ll see his dancers at a local restaurant, El Timon, where we’ll have dinner.) Bruno has a facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/detalles.sjs?fref=ts. He does work for El Timon (catering) and for Buen Gusto. Bruno is 26. At 17 he started university studies at the University of Managua UCC commercial sciences and has a degree in Graphic Design and Advertising. He’s spent 13 years working in this area. His business is called Design and Decoration and offers birthday parties, baby showers, weddings, and christenings. His is the only business of this type in San Juan del Sur. Starting the business was a challenge because of the high initial costs for tables, tablecloths, decorative glassware, etc.
2. Mayra Perez, mrprz95@gmail.com. Spanish language school owner. She would like help with advertising and needs materials for her school including white board, markets, Spanish grammar books. She has a blog at http://Spanishschool-Expres.blogspot.com.
3. Yessenia Luna, yessifashion@gmail.com. Fashion show organizer, make up artist and nail technician and baker (interesting combination of entrepreneurial ventures – the challenge will be separating and developing three very different product lines). Yessenia bakes and sells pies, cakes, cookies, breads, etc. She is a professional make up artist – see her youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30dktkHtI3Y. She also organizes a fashion show to support fashion designers and Nicaraguan fashion culture in San Juan del Sur. She is a self-taught video editor, with a passion for teaching make up online. Website: extrakarma.com.
4. Ruth Perez (no relation to Mayra) and her business partner, Mirna. They are bakers and have a small snack stand at a local school.
READINGS AND VIDEOS
About our partners:
Universidad Americana (UAM), College of University Studies in English (CUSE)
http://www.uamcuse.org/
History and Culture of Nicaragua
Belli, Gioconda, and Kristina Cordero. The country under my skin: a memoir of love and war.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2002. http://umaryland.worldcat.org/oclc/52575997.
US Department of State – Background Notes: Nicaragua
http://www.state.gov/p/wha/ci/nu/
Walker, Thomas W., and Christine J. Wade. Nicaragua Living in the Shadow of the Eagle. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2011. http://umaryland.worldcat.org/oclc/706919032.
YouTube Videos
Nicaragua’s History & Culture – Careli Tours Nicaragua
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF5E1M9ZM5Q
This is clearly a tourist video. What is nice about it is that it shows a number of the places we will be visiting and/or driving through: Masaya, Granada, Los Pueblos Blancos, and San Juan del Oriente. It also highlights a number of the beautiful artisan works that are typical to Nicaragua: hammocks, pottery, folk paintings, and furniture.
Nicaragua: An Unfinished Revolution
‘On July 19, 1979, the Sandinista revolution removed what many considered to be one of Latin America's most brutal dictatorships. Thirty years later, and with the Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega once again in power, Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman visited Nicaragua and found that many of the revolution's promises have remained unfulfilled.’
Nicaragua: An Unfinished Revolution Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-nfvpjj-_Y
Nicaragua: An Unfinished Revolution Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B511dTx6f-U
Nicaragua: An Unfinished Revolution Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hm2I85lJww
Nicaragua: An Unfinished Revolution Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZxKxmW0oRI
Recommended Readings - Microfinance
Business solutions for the global poor: creating social and economic value. Jossey-Bass, 2007. MCK Stacks HD60.C624, 2005
Counts, Alex. Small loans, big dreams: how Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus and microfinance are changing the world. Wiley, 2008. MCK Stacks HG2390.6.A8G73 2008
Muhammad Yunus. Banker to the poor: micro lending and the battle against poverty. PublicAffairs, 2003. MCK Stacks HG3290.6.A6Y86 2003
TRANSPORTATION/HOUSING:
Students are responsible for making their own flight arrangements for travel to Nicaragua. You may travel on the same flight that we’ve chosen, or, if you’re leaving from a different location, choose your own flight that gets to Managua at the right time. Arrangements have been made to meet you at the airport in Managua and take you to the hotel where we will be staying – Camino Real. We will have a van to take us from Managua to San Juan del Sur. Students also must make arrangements for their own passports.Housing will be provided at the Camino Real in Managua (http://www.caminoreal.com.ni/ ), the Hotel Con Corazon in Granada http://www.hotelconcorazon.com/and at the Hotel Villa Isabella (http://villaisabellasjds.com/ ) in San Juan del Sur. Housing in a double-occupancy room at each hotel is included in the cost of the course. The arrangements and costs for land transportation to and from Managua to Granada and San Juan del Sur; transportation for activities within Nicaragua; admission fees to museums and historic sites identified in the program; and all meals except on travel days (Friday and Sunday) breakfasts are included in the cost of the course. Students are responsible for their own international flights; meals on travel days, optional activities (e.g., trip to Pelican Eyes resort, canopy/zipline tour, etc.); alcoholic beverages; and all personal expenses such as souvenirs. U.S. dollars are accepted everywhere (I’ve been to Nicaragua multiple times and have never exchanged dollars). But, bring low denomination, crisp-looking bills - $1s, $5s, $10s, without tears or writing on them.
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