{"id":35853,"date":"2017-11-27T12:32:09","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T17:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=35853"},"modified":"2017-12-07T12:52:32","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T17:52:32","slug":"business-calling-meda-convention-inspires-emu-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/business-calling-meda-convention-inspires-emu-students\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Business as a Calling’ MEDA convention inspires EMU students"},"content":{"rendered":"

For four Eastern Mennonite University students the Nov. 2-4 convention of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) fueled their professional interests and provided an opportunity to pitch a business idea in front of judges.<\/span><\/p>\n

The result was a second-place award, but more importantly, a better idea of what it means to make business a calling. This year\u2019s convention theme was \u201cBusiness as a Calling: Building Bridges to Enduring Livelihoods.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

MEDA is an international economic development organization whose mission is to create business solutions to poverty. Students from EMU have attended for the past several years, according to the business and economics department chair <\/span>Jim Leaman<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read about the 2016 convention.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
(Left-right) Isaac Brenneman, Lucas Miller, Kyungho Yu and Ryan Faraci at the MEDA convention in Vancouver. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 2017 conference included a wide variety of seminars and speakers, including Dr. <\/span>Samantha Nutt<\/span><\/a>, humanitarian, founder of <\/span>War Child Canada<\/span><\/a> and author of <\/span>Damned Nations<\/span><\/i>; Wally Kroeker, recently retired MEDA director of publications; and Tareq Hadhad, founder of <\/span>Peace by Chocolate<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lucas Miller, a junior economics major, said that the conference \u201copened my eyes to career opportunities and connections I never knew I could possibly reach.\u201d He came away inspired by Hussein Hallak\u2019s story about \u201cforging his own success\u201d with <\/span>Launch Academy<\/span><\/a>, a Vancouver-based tech incubator that supports startups. <\/span><\/p>\n

Isaac Brenneman, too, counted as a highlight Hallak\u2019s advice for future entrepreneurs. Brenneman, a self-described \u201cadrenaline junkie\u201d and junior business administration and recreation leadership and sports promotion double major, \u00a0hopes eventually to start his own business, \u201cpossibly in the adventure sports industry.\u201d He said that the convention was \u201ca great way to network with other entrepreneurs and learn about what MEDA is doing in the world, and how to get involved.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Ryan Faraci, a senior accounting and business administration double major, recommends that other students also attend the conference to network across industries and learn about MEDA\u2019s \u201cmission to fight poverty,\u201d he said. He plans to become a certified public accountant. <\/span><\/p>\n

Faraci and Miller both highlighted learnings from a seminar on the economics of United States and Canada, in which Leaman was a co-presenter. Faraci learned about \u201csome of the economic bubbles to watch out for.\u201d Miller, too, came away from Leaman\u2019s presentation with \u201cgood insight into the context of our current economy and potential dangers in the coming years,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Leaman’s presentation, Kyungho Yu, a junior economics major who hopes to support education through microfinance, noted that “the Canadian government has different economic perspective from the South Korean\u00a0government: Canada focuses on the middle classes to increase the GDP, in part through efforts to increase equity through a high minimum wage.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The MEDA pitch contest, in which entrepreneurs under 30 have five minutes to showcase an international development business idea, focused on innovations to reduce extreme poverty in developing countries. The EMU team took second place with \u201cBetter Health, Better Wealth,\u201d a proposal to train Liberian community members to address mental health concerns using methods based on the \u201cdirect connection\u201d of mental health to agricultural output in rural Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n

MEDA, an international economic development organization whose mission is to create business solutions to poverty, convenes annually. Founded in 1953 by a group of Mennonite business professionals, it partners with the poor to start or grow small and medium-sized businesses in developing regions around the world. Its 2018 convention next November will be in Indianapolis. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For four Eastern Mennonite University students the Nov. 2-4 convention of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) fueled their professional interests and provided an opportunity to pitch a business idea in ... read more about ‘Business as a Calling’ MEDA convention inspires EMU students<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5591],"tags":[11468],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-35853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-leadership","tag-jim-leaman"],"yoast_head":"\n'Business as a Calling' MEDA convention inspires EMU students - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/business-calling-meda-convention-inspires-emu-students\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Business as a Calling' MEDA convention inspires EMU students - 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