Accountancy and International Business. While in Kenya, Butkus and her group looked for opportunities to use their business skills to enhance the economic development of the Meshanani people. “We did a couple workshops with the village helping their businesses grow,” she explains. “One [man] herded cattle…two women made beaded jewelry for tourists and their newest venture involved a cultural village, which tourists would pay to visit.” Overcoming cultural business problems and initial skepticism from the Meshanani people, the group persevered thanks to some of the elders who spoke English. Armed with translators, the group taught workshops on marketing and goal-setting and a seminar titled ‘What is Business?’ However, the most significant lesson the Meshanani people learnt inevitably happened outside the classroom. “They wanted to open their own store, so we took them to five-star lodges and went into the gift shop and let them ask questions to become aware of the atmosphere that we were in,” said the Villanova senior. “That was really an experience for everyone.” “Combining social justice with business” as Butkus puts it, came of age during the first decade of the millennium, but has its roots planted over half a century ago. In an interview with BusinessWeek, an online finance magazine, Edward Lawrence, a professor of finance at the University of Missouri-St. Louis said that Bluffton University in Ohio created the first socially responsible student–run investment fund in 1956. Fast forward to the 21st century and student-led socially-oriented initiatives are increasingly popping up. In 2007 and 2008, BusinessWeek reported that students at NYU’s Stern School of Business and Columbia Business School amongst other b-schools started investment funds with the aim of financing social and environmental projects.
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2010 Media Report Villanova School of Business