by Tori Gilbert | Sep 27, 2018 | Student Experience
Have you met Philip Alabi PhD ’22, one of the Nelson Center’s Peer Entrepreneurs in Residence? When he is not working on his PhD in organic chemistry, Philip runs a 501c3 non-profit organization, Efiwe, committed to collecting (book donations) and distributing college/University books to post-secondary institutions’ libraries in Africa.
Philip Alabi, a native of Nigeria, is the founder and Volunteer in Chief of Efiwe. Efiwe is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and is dedicated to the collection of college textbooks throughout the United States and the distribution of those textbooks to post-secondary institutions in Africa.
Philip is making a call to action to help stock more African Libraries with textbooks. Efiwe-Brown is requesting book donations from the Brown community. A donation of $1 per book effectively sends the donated book(s) to Africa. Please feel free to donate your books regardless of cash donations.
Please send an email to efiwebrown@gmail.com to donate books or text +1-618-746-9666.
For more information about Efiwe, visit www.efiwe.org. Follow Efiwe on facebook, twitter, and instagram.
Thinking of starting a non-profit? What to learn more about Philip and his journey? Sign up for Philip’s office hours here on Friday’s 1:00 – 3:00 PM.
by Sheila Haggerty | Sep 26, 2018 | Alumni Stories
The day that Shira Atkins, ‘14, walked into to Danny Warshay’s Entrepreneurial Process class, she had no idea that five years later she and her soon-to-be TA would drop everything to start a new business. Jennifer Kaplan, ‘14, the TA in question, spent her first four years out of school as an award-winning journalist and podcast host at Bloomberg News, covering global business and specifically the beverage, tobacco, and cannabis industries. Shira spent two years at a media startup centered on health and wellness and then went on to launch her own brand strategy consultancy based in NYC.
Neither Jenny (pictured below to the left) nor Shira (pictured below to the right) says they felt entirely fulfilled by their jobs. In the wake of the 2016 election, and in the shadows of the ensuing political events, Jenny and Shira say they felt increasingly hopeful that they could shift their attention to work that could make a real impact. In December of 2017, Jenny’s mom, Kathy Manning, decided to run for Congress in North Carolina’s 13th district, where Jenny was born and raised.
Her mom’s decision to step up and take action put into stark relief the fact that while there was so much dark news happening in the world, there was not nearly enough reporting on the people who were stepping up to make a difference and thereby creating hope. More women than ever before are running for office this year, despite facing unique challenges as candidates.
Jenny formed a plan to interview women candidates running for the House of Representatives and to compile a narrative style podcast series centered on the record number of women running for Congress in November. She sought out expert perspectives to better understand why there are so few women in elected office and what it would mean if Congress looked more like the people it represents.
Jenny decided that the opportunity to build something new extended beyond the first podcast series. She says she saw space in the burgeoning podcast industry to create a new kind of media company helmed by women. And that is when the Wonder Media Network (WMN) was born. WMN a new, female-founded, audio-first media company focused on women and politics. WMN uses stories to inspire action, to promote equality and justice, and to introduce empathy into politics, business, and culture.
Jenny and Shira spent the summer conducting interviews, defining the brand, talking to potential partners, and creating a business plan. By September, Women belong in the House, Wonder Media Network’s first podcast series, was born. The two women are already in pre-production for their next slate of shows, all revolving around women and politics, business, and culture.
You can listen to their first few episodes on iTunes. Join us in subscribing!
by Sheila Haggerty | Sep 19, 2018 | Alumni Stories
The Haitian Project was founded in the early 1980s by St. Joseph’s Parish in Providence, RI, to provide humanitarian aid and relief to the people of Haiti. Louverture Cleary School (LCS) began as a response to one of the greatest needs of Haiti: education. Once a school with a handful of students and big dreams for the future, Louverture Cleary School has now grown to feed, house, and educate 350 bright and enthusiastic students from the poorest neighborhoods of Haiti.
In response to their free education, LCS students are active leaders in service to their community. Each day, students can be found cleaning their neighborhood, caring for sick and orphaned children and disabled adults, and challenging the notion that theirs is a country devoid of hope. LCS students receive a top-notch education – a tool that will help them as they seek to rebuild Haiti.
Deacon Patrick Moynihan ’87 has worked in Haiti for over twenty years as President of The Haitian Project (THP), which educates the future leaders of Haiti through Louverture Cleary School, it’s tuition-free, Catholic co-educational secondary boarding school outside of Port au Prince. After graduating Magna cum Laude from Brown with a degree in classics, Deacon Moynihan enjoyed a successful career as a commodities trader with the Louis Dreyfus Corporation. In 1996 Deacon Moynihan and his wife Christina heard the call to become missionaries. It was Deacon Moynihan’s older brother, Brian Moynihan ’81, who was then the Chair of THP’s board and is now the CEO of Bank of America, who encouraged them to join the organization.
Having seen hundreds of alumni lift themselves out of poverty, Deacon Moynihan is confident that education is the most effective development tool that charity can provide. He is now leading The Haitian Project’s bold plans to create The Louverture Cleary Schools Network – a national network of 10 schools, one in each governmental department of Haiti, that will provide the human capital necessary for Haiti to emerge as a successful nation and help shift the focus of international philanthropy towards education. To learn more about Moynihan’s effort to increase access to education in Haiti, visit THP website, here and watch their video below.
by Tori Gilbert | Sep 17, 2018 | Announcements, News from Nelson
Meet the newest cohort of Peer Entrepreneurs in Residence (PEIR)! The PEIR program is a critical part of the Nelson Center’s activities. In it, students serve as mentors and additional resources for their fellow students. Whether it is exploring an unmet need, designing a value proposition, or developing a sustainability model, PEIRs work with founders to clarify and sharpen their ideas. Many PEIRs, through their own ventures or through internships and other experiences, have knowledge of particular sectors and can help refer students to additional resources. Learn more about this year’s cohort here.
If you’d like to chat with them about your venture, kick around a nascent idea, or talk startup life in general—drop them a line. You can email them or sign up for their office hours here.
by Tori Gilbert | Sep 17, 2018 | Alumni Stories
Since even before her acceptance into the 8-week intensive summer accelerator, the Breakthrough Lab (B-Lab), Rosie has been working diligently on her startup, ReliaBra. She and her team conceived of the idea in ENGN 1010: The Entrepreneurial Process. ReliaBra is creating sticky bras that offer removable and replaceable adhesives. ReliaBra provides women the confidence to wear what they want, without worrying about their bra losing its stick. Now Rosie will be pitching at the “Get Started RI” Pitch competition sponsored by CoxBusiness. She was one of 75 applicants and chosen as a semi-finalist among 12 other startups.Other semi-finalists are current Brown students, Jack Roswell ‘20, Julian Vallyeason ‘20 and Oleksiy Zhuk ‘20 of Cloud Agronomics, and Michelle Petersen ’18 of TextUp. You can watch all the semi-finalists pitch their business idea to a distinguished panel of experts for a chance to win $50,000 in prizes. #GetStartedRI Location: WaterFire Arts Center, October 4, 5:30 – 8:30 PM. Get tickets here.
