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<\/a>Before leaving Winnipeg, the students spent four months studying microfinance and writing research consulting reports for two partner organizations operating in Latin America, MEDA\/MiCredito and HOPE International.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>They presented their research to the staff of these organizations, visited microenterprise clients and loan group meetings, and learned about the challenges and opportunities of doing business and development abroad.<\/p>\n
\u201cTextbooks just don\u2019t convey stories as well as standing face-to-face with actual people in the story,\u201d says Lauren Cassie, a fourth-year business major from Lorette, Manitoba.<\/p>\n
For Cassie, a highlight of the study tour was making the connection between her classroom learning and the outside world.<\/p>\n
\u201cVisiting with individual clients and hearing how they had been personally impacted by the microfinance loans was awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) is one of the organizations RSB has partnered with, through their affiliate MiCredito in Nicaragua.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re delighted to see some of today\u2019s best and brightest young people get a firsthand exposure to a microfinance institution in action,\u201d says Bob Kroeker, MEDA regional director of resource development.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis gives us a chance to introduce a new generation to the impact of creating business solutions to poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n