MBA Student's Journey To Mexico With The World Child Project

The following is written by Hannah Ko MBA 2011 for her Applied Management Research Project:

"Our trip to Tijuana started in style: at 7 AM on a Greyhound bus in Compton. We met our client, Johnny Duda, and other members from his organization, the World Child Project (WCP). Their organization seeks to aggregate volunteers from all walks of life to put an end to child poverty through health, education and direct care services. Our AMR team was brought to WCP to focus on how to improve their operations in Mexico. Joining us on the trip were friends of the staff, professional documentarians, and volunteers from a local software company. During the ride, we met our fellow travellers, enjoyed some amazing breakfast burritos and learned more about the orphanages we would be visiting.

During the first day, we stopped at two orphanages, Casa Hogar and Estado 29. Given the stigma of orphanages we were accustomed to, we prepared for the worst. But what we saw was very different from what we expected: shouts of laughter, cozy living areas and kids eager to give you a hug. One of the common trends we heard across both orphanage directors was the need for a more sustainable approach to giving. It is a huge help to receive money and clothes every once in a while, but that type of lending creates a dependency. Building a business model for these orphanages that is self-sustaining gives these kids a much brighter future. Later that night, we discussed possibilities for what this model might look like as we ate at a delicious authentic Mexican restaurant overlooking the Pacific.

We awoke to the sound of the ocean and met at the buffet downstairs. Ebenezer-AC was our last visit before heading home. What was different about this orphanage was the kids they took in. They were each victims of unspeakable exploitation; some abandoned, some sexually abused, some sold for drug money. What struck us was just how well-adjusted these kids were, despite their terrible past. Their shinning demeanors were a testament to the work of Freddy and Eva, the orphanage’s co-founders. They gave up a happy life in Southern California because “God spoke to us and told us to go to Mexico”. They treated each child as if they were their own, and in doing so, created a family. However, the very thing that brought them Mexico was also their biggest pitfall. When we asked about their budgeting process, Eva simply responded “God will provide for us”. So yet another question we’re forced to ponder: how do you help those that don’t understand that they need your help?"

Part VII: MBA Student's Research Financial Access At Birth

The following is written by Brent Peterson MBA 2011 for his Applied Management Research Project:

December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve 2010 in Mumbai, India. We finished three interviews today. We spoke with two people at ICICI bank. I am really glad that we stayed and talked to them. It was in a pretty nice part of Mumbai. Just business parks, almost like Irvine, California. We only had the two bank meetings but then we also met Praveen for lunch at the Cricket club, which was pretty fancy. We got some great audio recorded. In the afternoon we went downtown to meet with State Bank of India. We were a half hour late because we stayed and talked to Praveen for too long, but SBI seemed to not mind. SBI was in a great part of downtown, but I was surprised by their operation. It was quite different than ICICI. As it was Christmas Eve we were looking for something to do. Avi was sick so we didn’t go to his white Christmas party he was planning. We were in the catholic portion of the city so I considered finding a Catholic Mass to attend. The night before we went to Olive, a chic club in Mumbai, and stayed there way too late. I think we got home at 3:00 am. I’m not going to lie, it was much more fun than I expected. Lena is taking off tonight to go to the airport and I leave tomorrow night. Our journey is coming to an end.

Part VI: MBA Student's Research Financial Access At Birth

The following is written by Brent Peterson MBA 2011 for his Applied Management Research Project:

December 23, 2010
We had an interview with FINO. Unfortunately I missed the ‘record’ button so we missed a lot of the information that we got. Bummer. However, we took notes and discussed it and reconstructed our conversation in the taxi ride home. On the ride back our taxi driver hit another car. The other driver came out of his car and started hitting our driver. It was a really uncomfortable experience. We didn’t really know what we were supposed to do. After he hit him a couple of times he just walked away. We then went to some Italian restaurant where they kicked us out yesterday. They were about to kick us out again because it was after 3:00, but when they saw that we were the same people that they kicked out yesterday they served us. It was the first time I had beef in a while. Priya had to leave to meet some of her family in India so our trio was down to two.
We flew to Bombay. We almost missed our flight when it got moved up, but after some hurrying and some stress we ended up making it with plenty of time… only to find out the plane was delayed anyway! I thought Lena’s traveling curse might be to blame.
We met with the BCG team working with UIDAI and some of the other UID folks on Tuesday night. We had a great two hour discussion and asked them what they thought the benefit of FAB would be. Viral _____ of UIDAI had some really interesting points. We have it all recorded. Half way through the discussion one of them said something like, “This is off the record, right?” They were surprised we were recording the whole thing. We assured them that it was for internal use only and they would have absolute editing power in the end. I think that assuaged their fears. We met with EKO earlier and had a great meeting with them. They have an interesting model where all the banking is done through mobile phones. Monday we met with Ashok ____ and we met with Panjab National Bank. Our meetings were very productive.