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The Daily OrangeEntrepreneurs create economic opportunity in South Africa
By Dan Briggs
Posted: 2/19/07, 11:03 PM EST Section: Feature
Morris spent several years teaching at the University of Cape Town in South Africa in the early 1990s, shortly after the end of the apartheid. While there, Morris began a program that later became the model for Syracuse's program.
In 2005, Syracuse University Abroad (then the Division of International Programs Abroad) began to look into starting a summer management program in Africa. SU Abroad was interested in creating a new program in Africa because its only center on the continent, located in Zimbabwe, shut down in 2001 due to civil unrest.
A professor familiar with Morris' work at Cape Town directed SU Abroad toward Morris. SU Abroad and Morris began collaborating on what became Syracuse's current program.
In 2005, the program's first year, eight students attended, all of who were from Syracuse University. In 2006 the number of students doubled. The increase was due entirely to students from other universities who attended Syracuse's program, said Daeya M. Malboeuf, SU Abroad communications manager.
"That's indicative of how our programs are split," Malboeuf said. "About 50 percent of our attendants are from other universities. That's about 1,000 people a year who aren't from SU."
Kendyl G. Severino, a senior management major at Whitman, attended the program in 2006. She will be a teaching assistant during the program this summer. During her sophomore year, Severino took a class from Morris, who mentioned the program during a lecture. As the year progressed, Severino grew progressively more interested in attending.
"I think what most intrigued me, which I don't know if people got when they first applied, is that you're really making a hands-on difference in what you're doing," Severino said "You're actually, physically doing the marketing plans, or your physically doing the financials, and you're doing things yourself."
In 2005, Syracuse University Abroad (then the Division of International Programs Abroad) began to look into starting a summer management program in Africa. SU Abroad was interested in creating a new program in Africa because its only center on the continent, located in Zimbabwe, shut down in 2001 due to civil unrest.
A professor familiar with Morris' work at Cape Town directed SU Abroad toward Morris. SU Abroad and Morris began collaborating on what became Syracuse's current program.
In 2005, the program's first year, eight students attended, all of who were from Syracuse University. In 2006 the number of students doubled. The increase was due entirely to students from other universities who attended Syracuse's program, said Daeya M. Malboeuf, SU Abroad communications manager.
"That's indicative of how our programs are split," Malboeuf said. "About 50 percent of our attendants are from other universities. That's about 1,000 people a year who aren't from SU."
Kendyl G. Severino, a senior management major at Whitman, attended the program in 2006. She will be a teaching assistant during the program this summer. During her sophomore year, Severino took a class from Morris, who mentioned the program during a lecture. As the year progressed, Severino grew progressively more interested in attending.
"I think what most intrigued me, which I don't know if people got when they first applied, is that you're really making a hands-on difference in what you're doing," Severino said "You're actually, physically doing the marketing plans, or your physically doing the financials, and you're doing things yourself."
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