Buy a Bar, Feed a Child Veneka Chagwedera (MBA ’13) turned her kitchen hobby into an entrepreneurial enterprise. While working for a Southeast Asian nonprofit, Veneka Chagwedera (MBA ’13) started making healthy energy bars to keep her going during her field trips to remote areas. When she returned to the United States to begin business school, she continued experimenting with ingredients, with the aim of crafting a satisfying snack bar without preservatives or added chemicals. Chagwedera soon realized her “kitchen hobby had business potential.” With a grant from the University of Virginia i.Lab Business Incubator (housed at Darden) and support from Darden alumni and faculty, she launched NOURIBAR as a Second Year student in 2012. Having never run a business before, she relied on the guidance of several entrepreneurial faculty experts, including Professors Saras Sarasvathy and Jeanne Liedtka. “Everything I learned at Darden in my classes has been pivotal to helping me grow the business, from operations and finance to marketing, leadership and strategy,” said Chagwedera. “Running a business while I was a full-time student helped me integrate my understanding of the classroom material with real-world experience.” Two years later, Chagwedera’s startup has received much acclaim. Touted by the likes of Dr. Mehmet Oz and First Lady Michelle Obama — whose “Let’s Move” campaign presented NOURIBAR with the AKA Stamp of Approval award — Chagwedera’s business is growing rapidly. By the end of 2015, she hopes to expand the school feeding program to reach children worldwide. Veneka Chagwedera Growing up in Harare, Zimbabwe, Chagwedera witnessed firsthand the indelible ties between food security and education. She watched children drop out of school so they could find jobs to supplement their families’ incomes. This was the impetus for NOURIBAR’s social mission. For every bar sold, the company donates a portion of the proceeds to its partner companies, which work on the ground in developing countries to source local food for children in need. In 2014, the company provided more than 89,220 meals to children on four continents. 28 • THE DARDEN REPORT
First Female Student Reflects on Her Darden Days Nancy Milton didn’t shy away from the opportunity to get her MBA, even though she was the only woman in the classroom at the time. This past spring, Nancy Milton’s classmates encouraged her to return to Grounds for induction into the Abbott Society to celebrate their 50th reunion milestone. Although she spent only one year at Darden, she received a standing ovation when she joined her Class of 1964 classmates on stage for the ceremony. Dean Charles Abbott was the person who convinced Milton to apply to Darden as the first female student. She interviewed at the University after having been discouraged by a senior Louisville banker, who informed her that even though she was completing an economics degree at the University of Louisville, she would “never be considered for a serious position in banking in the South,” she said. She was accepted into the Darden MBA program in 1962. NEW TO GROUNDS U.Va.’s undergraduate program was still all male when Milton arrived on Grounds, which she says didn’t concern her at the time. When she was applying for internships, Dean Abbott advised her to work for J.P. Morgan. “I was happy working [there],” she said, “so I asked if I could become a permanent employee.” Milton secured the job and did not return to Darden. For the next 10 years, she worked in M&A, moving to White, Weld & Co. Inc. after J.P. Morgan. Then, when her husband was transferred to Houston, she returned to school, passed the CPA exam in Texas and earned her Master in Accounting at the University of Houston. The couple eventually returned to New York City, and Milton worked in financial planning and accounting for the remainder of her career. In the 1980s, she was the comptroller at the Morgan Library (now known as the Morgan Library & Museum), where she computerized their entire accounting system. She left the library to work for another Morgan family member at Morgan Lewis Githens & Ahn. She was a vice president at the company. Today, Milton takes contemporary art classes that visit galleries around the city. Avid travelers, she and her husband have taken two- to three-week trips to Europe, Asia and Israel for the past 20 years.