Every year the PC Nicaragua Small Business Development program hosts, along with the Ministry of Education, a National Entrepreneurship Congress and Competition. My three friends, Jessica, Matt, and Thomas, are spearheading the planning this year.
Many Volunteers use grants to to fund projects with their counterparts. I’m not a huge fan of grants and tend to not get myself involved in them. One type of grant available to Volunteers works just like Kickstarter. It is crowdfunded, like I just did for this blog. I’ve always been reluctant to promote the campaigns of other Volunteers. There are a lot of them and I don’t want to overwhelm my readers or friends and family on Facebook. Plus, I wanted to leave the option open for myself to crowdfund one of my own initiatives, which it turned out served me very very well.
However, my friends seem to be in a pinch right now, so I don’t see how it would hurt to post the link to their grant. If you feel so compelled, you are more than welcome to donate. If you have any questions, post a comment or send me a message and I will be happy to answer it. The campaign is closing soon, so if you are interested please do not wait too long.
Link: https://beta.peacecorps.gov/donate/project/national-enterpreneurship-congress/
A scene from the 2014 Congress
Jessica, Matt, and Thomas wrote an inspirational letter to prospective donors:
Colegas,
Greetings again from Peace Corps Nicaragua! Competition season is upon us, volunteers and students alike continue to work hard preparing for the events in October and November. We are still a long ways off from our fundraising goal of $10,000 for the National Competition. Please visit the grant webpage (click here) to make a donation and read more about our plans for this year. We also wanted to send you this inspiring story of one of the groups in Matagalpa, who are already experiencing success with their small business!
At the Instituto Nacional La Dalia in La Dalia, Matagalpa students have been busy. They have been preparing for Independence Day celebrations, working hard in school, and some have been making some serious sales. One group of students in particular came up with the simple but innovative idea to make paint the school insignia on socks worn by all the female students at the school. The girls in the group felt that there was a certain amount of pride associated with being a student at the institute, believed by most to be the best high school in the municipality. They made their prototype and sold the first few pairs that same day. After selling these first few pairs, they began receiving more and more requests. They conducted a market study and noticed that there was significant demand, especially for the morning students. They have successfully sold close to 100 pairs at C$80 (slightly over $3) earning themselves a margin of C$30 per pair. The Battle of San Jacinto and Independence Day parades generated a lot of sales as the girls showed their school pride wearing socks with the institute’s insignia. The group continues making these socks for girls and recently got permission from another local grade school/high school to make them for the students at their center. The two male members in the group have also suggested making socks for the boys at the school with the insignia. The business is expanding and the tangible result of income has helped these students focus and see the real importance of analyzing costs, prices, and finances. Their focus and energy will pay off when the students demonstrate their analysis in the business plan competitions which start at the school level September 30th.
This is just one of the many student groups gaining valuable experience through the entrepreneurship program this year. Thank you for helping us makes this program a reality.
All the best,
Entrepreneurship Education Programing Team
Peace Corps, Nicaragua
In the process of looking for pictures of Jessica, Matt, and Thomas for this post I found a treasure chest of great pictures, and of course I have to get my pound of flesh:
Thanks for posting this Eric!
ahem… since your students are the ones who are going it is technically your project also