In December 2008, nineteen students and two faculty members from Wake Forest University’s Schools of Business graduate program completed a fifth trip to Nicaragua. The returning group broke into two teams – one that continued the seminar program and implemented a new consulting and lending program in Managua; and a second team that conducted a two-day seminar  in El Castillo for aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners in the tourism industry.

The seed for the seminar in El Castillo was planted last spring when Project Nicaragua Co-founder, Chris Yuko, and Fundacion Adelante  Director, Robert Lindenberg, were visiting the Rio San Juan area to research possible academic opportunities on the river for faculty and staff.  During the visit, the pair met Leonel Ubau, a local hotelier and entrepreneur. After seeing an outline of the business seminars that the project led in Managua, Ubau asked if a group would be willing to travel to El Castillo and lead a similar seminar for local business owners who are working to develop the area as a tourist destination.  Fundacion Adelante provided the funding and organized the logistics for five students and one faculty member to travel to El Castillo and lead a two day seminar. The business seminar used situational problems to introduce business concepts ranging from data collection to break-even analysis to networking and marketing.  The seminar also served as a vehicle to facilitate discussion, teamwork and networking among the attendees and was deemed a success by participants and students.

In Managua, the group led a business seminar with two levels. A team of four students conducted a seminar focused on basic business concepts for about twenty-five businesses who had never attended a seminar before.  A second team of three students conducted a seminar for about twenty businesses who had been to a seminar at least once before. This seminar focused on more advanced discussion of topics.  In addition to the seminars, the group introduced the consulting and lending program. In October, eight businesses that had participated in past seminars submitted proposals for funding to grow their business. Student teams then evaluated business plans and interviewed business owners via video conference call from Winston. Once in Nicaragua, each business was visited by the student teams so everyone could understand operations on the ground. After the business visits, the team followed up with business owners to solicit any outstanding information needed to make lending decisions once the team was back in Winston. The loans will be administered and monitored by students as an SME Lending Fund. The fund is seeded this year by the fundraising efforts of students, who have raised more than $5,000.

Project Nicaragua offers students an opportunity to learn about business outside the classroom and obtain hands-on experience in a real-world environment. The project has become one of the most popular social entrepreneurship initiatives in Babcock’s history.  Jayson Johnson, Project Nicaragua Co-Head said,  “As the project continues to grow, it expands beyond just seminars in Nicaragua to encompass seminar teaching, deep-dive consulting and lending portfolio management in Central America and beyond. As a result, the entire Schools of Business and Wake Forest communities continue to get involved in the tremendous efforts by our group.”

What began as a way to provide basic business consulting for small businesses and entrepreneurs in Managua has expanded to a two-day seminar that was successfully presented in Benin, Africa last summer. Students and faculty will return to Benin in June for a second seminar for entrepreneurs. In addition to the Benin trip, a local seminar for Hispanic businesses is scheduled January 26th and 28th, and February 2nd and 4th. Project Nicaragua will return to Nicaragua March 9th to 13th, and a seminar for Native American entrepreneurs is set for March 19th to 22nd in Santa Fe, New Mexico.