Source: CMU Media - General News "CMU students travel to Latin American to research microfinance"

Students from CMU's Redekop School of Business (RSB) have just returned home from the first RSB study tour to Latin America.

From April 29 to May 13, six students and a supervising professor traveled to Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic to explore how microfinance—providing small loans and financial services to the economically poor—is being used to fight poverty.

"It's exciting to see the students experience first-hand how their business skills can be used overseas in non-traditional ways," says Jeff Huebner, Associate Professor of International Business who led the tour.

RSB business students Lauren Cassie and Joanie Sawatzky with a MiCredito loan client

Before leaving Winnipeg, the students spent four months studying microfinance and writing research consulting reports for two partner organizations operating in Latin America, MEDA/MiCredito and HOPE International.

They presented their research to the staff of these organizations, visited microenterprise clients and loan group meetings, and learned about the challenges and opportunities of doing business and development abroad.

"Textbooks just don't convey stories as well as standing face-to-face with actual people in the story," says Lauren Cassie, a fourth-year business major from Lorette, Manitoba.

For Cassie, a highlight of the study tour was making the connection between her classroom learning and the outside world.

"Visiting with individual clients and hearing how they had been personally impacted by the microfinance loans was awesome."
Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) is one of the organizations RSB has partnered with, through their affiliate MiCredito in Nicaragua.

"We're delighted to see some of today's best and brightest young people get a firsthand exposure to a microfinance institution in action," says Bob Kroeker, MEDA regional director of resource development.

"This gives us a chance to introduce a new generation to the impact of creating business solutions to poverty."

RSB offers study tours annually that are open to students, CMU alumni and supporters. Next year's study tour will be to Europe in May 2014, with the theme of Business in the European Union.

Pictured right: RSB students visiting university students in Nicaragua for promotion of MiCredito's student loan program

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 29, 2013

Kitchener, ON - A group of Mennonite organizations are partnering to produce 'Making Change', a financial literacy video series. The series contrasts contemporary perspectives with biblical principles of sharing, saving, and spending. It is intended to spark discussions about how faith influences and informs how money is managed.

Following a Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC) workshop on faith and finances, several organizations discussed ways to continue the conversation. Mennonite Central Committee, Mennonite Church Canada, MEDA, MAX Canada, Conrad Grebel University College, Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, Mennonite Savings and Credit Union, and Mennonite Foundation of Canada have joined MCEC in this partnership.

"These diverse ministry partners have come together in pursuit of one common goal... to encourage people to examine their relationship with money and the ways in which it shapes faith" said Jeff Steckley, congregational ministries minister, MCEC. Steckley noted that, "Our goal through the series is to help individuals, families, and churches explore how values influence our sharing, saving, and spending choices. The series will both entertain and provoke authentic conversation and we hope people will see that it's actually very liberating to talk about money from a faith perspective."

The partnership has hired Rosco Films to produce the series which consists of four short videos that will appeal to a wide range of audiences from teens to seniors. The series is scheduled to be released in fall, 2013.

For more information on the series visit makingchange.ca. Coming soon: video series trailers; discussion guides; and other relevant resources.

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About Mennonite Savings and Credit Union
Mennonite Savings and Credit Union (MSCU) is a Mennonite financial cooperative serving communities of faith across Ontario. We provide every day banking services to 19,000 members with the "barn-raising" mutual aid traditions of the Waterloo County Mennonite community. From our modest beginnings in 1964, we have grown in size to over $900 million in assets under administration and rank eighth among credit unions in Ontario. MSCU has eight full-service branches and five sub-locations offering a complete range of banking, investment and loan products.

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact:
Pamela Fehr, Director of Marketing
Mennonite Savings and Credit Union
1265 Strasburg Rd, Kitchener, ON N2R 1S6
Phone: 519.772.5211
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Partner Websites
Conrad Grebel University College
MAX Canada
MEDA
Mennonite Central Committee
Mennonite Church Canada
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada
Mennonite Foundation of Canada
Rockway Mennonite Collegiate

Source: "Master of Development Practice students participate in day of learning" - University of Waterloo SEED (School of Environment, Enterprise and Development) News April 2013

Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) hosted SEED's Master of Development Practice (MDP) students for a day of learning and sharing around MEDA's international development projects.

The students were immersed in an overview of project development and management. They learned what sustainable development practice looks like from the inside of one of the world's innovative development organizations. MEDA creates business solutions to poverty around the world and believes that unleashing entrepreneurship is the best way to alleviate poverty.

Learn more about the Master of Development Practice program.

Photo: MDP Students at the MEDA offices in Waterloo, Ontario. From left to right, back row first: Grainne Ryder (MDP Field Placement Coordinator), Bruce Frayne (MDP Director), David Martinello, Clara Tse, Scott Bohachyk, David Harder, Jennifer McLeod, Ope Onadipe, Amanda Leo, Morgan Dierickx, Charmaine Leung, Jennifer Martin, Seemal Saif, Natasha Pirani, Elizabeth Lougheed, Meghan McMorris and Kirsten Freeman.