Catalyst for Change
Jul 29, 2009
Fourth-year business/anthropology student Sean Peters is helping third-world entrepreneurs and their families escape poverty. As founder of the SFU chapter of Agents for Change (www.globalafc.org) and the organizer of a micro-credit fundraising competition, he inspired fellow business students to raise $6000 and use it to make loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world.
SFU students are using the $6000 they earned from a micro-credit fundraising competition last year to make loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world. The competition was sponsored by the SFU chapter of Agents of Change (AOC), a non-profit organization dedicated to youth engagement and finding sustainable solutions to global poverty.
The young investment wizards will manage and distribute the funds through Kiva, AOC’s micro-credit lending partner. Dubbed the eBay of micro-credit, Kiva runs a website (www.kiva.org) where lenders can learn about borrowers, loan them funds and then monitor their progress.
“That’s the beauty of (AOC’s) micro-credit funds,” explains Sean Peters, a fourth-year business/anthropology major who organized the competition and founded the SFU chapter. “The money is loaned out in perpetuity, helping many third-world entrepreneurs and their families escape poverty.”
Excerpted from the 2008/9 SFU Report to the Community.