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2/27/2009 MBA students spend spring break in Rwanda
"About 10 percent of the world's population live in North America and Western Europe," Epstein said. "That's the tip of the economic pyramid, and growth there is flat. The companies our students will eventually be working for are well aware that the growth in the next few decades is at the bottom of the pyramid, where the other 90 percent live." In the course, the Jones School students are divided into five-person teams and tasked with developing a viable business plan for a specific product in just four months. Kristen Wood, who's also graduating in May, said the Rwanda experience is definitely preparing her for her job with a business consultancy. "We're coming in, focusing on a problem and finding out how to fix it," she said. "The fact that we have the added nugget that it's connected to a social cause is going to touch a nerve that makes it more real, and that's something that I'm going to take with me into my job." The spring break trip, an integral part of the class, is associated with Rice's global health initiative, Rice 360º. In addition, three of the four prototype products the MBA students are marketing were developed by undergraduates in Rice 360º's Beyond Traditional Borders (BTB) program, founded by Rebecca Richards-Kortum, the Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering, who also directs Rice 360°. "Not only does this partnership with the Jones School offer MBA students a transformative educational opportunity, it opens the door to moving health technologies designed by our undergraduates from prototype to production so that we can make real, sustainable gains in health and poverty alleviation in poor regions,” said Lauren Vestewig, executive director of Rice 360º. Epstein's students are developing business plans for three prototype products that were tested in African clinics and hospitals last summer by BTB undergraduates. Those products are a low-cost neonatal incubator, a diagnostic lab-in-a-backpack and a plastic dosing device for liquid medicines. A fourth team is charged with marketing a micronutrient powder for young children. The Rice prototypes are effective, Epstein said, but they won't solve global health problems unless they are widely used. "All of these products are terrific designs, but you cannot solve pervasive health problems with one or two of these," he said. "You need them by the hundreds and thousands, and you need to overcome the problem of distribution, which has stymied Western governments and aid organizations for decades." Epstein pointed out that Western countries have poured more than a trillion dollars' worth of aid into developing countries since the end of World War II. Unfortunately, governments and nongovernmental organizations have had difficulty effectively delivering that aid in significant quantities to where it is most needed -- in rural areas that often have poor roads, few medical facilities and no electricity. "Neither governments nor aid organizations have been effective at getting products to the people who really need them," Epstein said. "But that's what business does best. Products get delivered and customers get served when there is a profit motive." The idea of making money in a poor country like Rwanda may sound odd, but Epstein said entrepreneurism is not only alive in such places, but thrives as a matter of necessity. "Around 100 million entrepreneurs will receive microfinance loans in developing countries this year," Epstein said. "More than half of them are women who live in areas where jobs aren't available or who have young children. They are entrepreneurs by necessity. Why not allow them to use their business skills to get these lifesaving products into the market?" Microfinance -- the provision of credit and other financial services to poor clients -- became globally publicized in 2006 when Bangladeshi banker Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize for his pioneering efforts in the field. Epstein said financing is just one of the many problems his students will have to overcome to formulate workable business plans in Rwanda. They have to find out where their product will be produced, how much it'll cost to produce, how much customers are willing to pay, how customers will take delivery and more. Even the simplest of these questions sometimes have complicated answers, he said. For example, Rice's BTB interns know from their travels to Africa that the neonatal incubator, a low-cost plywood box that's heated with light bulbs, is desperately needed in many African hospitals, which cannot afford the high-tech incubators found in most Western hospitals. "We know the need is there, but what can hospitals and clinics afford to pay?" Epstein asked. "Is it $50 or $100? Because that's a big difference. And even if they're willing to pay, these have to be plugged in. Do they have electricity? And what's the strategy if they don't?" Epstein said he's been impressed with the innovation shown so far by his Jones School students, who have come up with all sorts of ideas. Some are looking at leasing products rather than selling them. Others are considering modular designs, giving customers options with different pricing levels. The micronutrient team, which is looking for ways to distribute small packets of vitamins and nutrients that most Rwandan children don't get from their diet, is also considering how they can educate parents about the value of investing in their children's nutrition. "I know we're not going to accomplish the real goal with just one trip,” team member Juliana Herman said, “but if we can use our experience and get this going then it could be something that really makes a difference for Rice and for the people there in Rwanda." Epstein said there's no way to know how good each team's ideas are until the students get to Rwanda. Once on the ground in its capital, Kigali, the students will work from dawn to dusk gathering information from potential customers, producers, suppliers and distributors. They'll follow those meetings with evening sessions with government and business leaders. After nearly two weeks in Rwanda, they'll return to Houston to re-evaluate their business plan in time for a formal presentation April 23. For some, there may be entire sections that have to be reinvented, based on what was learned during the trip, but Epstein said the presentations should answer every question a potential investor could raise. "This is a terrific learning opportunity, and it's unique," Epstein said. "There's no other program offering this experience to tomorrow's business leaders." Epstein said the travel costs for sending 20 students to Kigali are significant, and he said the course was only possible because of a generous gift to Rice University's Centennial Campaign from Jim and Molly Crownover. "This will be a life-changing experience for each one of the students -- very different from what they can learn from a book and in the classroom," said alumnus Jim Crownover, who chairs Rice's Board of Trustees. “It will also add to Rice's reputation, as pledged in the Vision for the Second Century, for innovation and having a distinctive impact on the world around us." |
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