Ten BYU-Hawaii members of SIFE, or the Students In Free Enterprise team, recently returned from Kansas City, Missouri, where they made strong impressions and placed in the top 40 at the organization's national competition.
Team members included Nathan Tilton (president), Sam Dauphinee (vice president), Kelsey Olds (secretary), Nathan Alexander, Justin Benson, Monica Fiala, K. C. Folsom, Andrew Gomez, Chek Sing Kong and Christy Tilton.
Dr. William Neal, Assistant to the President of BYU-Hawaii and team advisor, explained the nonprofit organization works in partnership with business and focuses on service and creating economic opportunity for others through community outreach projects in five general areas: market economics, success skills, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and business ethics.
Student president Nathan Tilton, a junior biology and psychology major from Thatcher, Arizona, said of the approximately 800 collegiate SIFE teams in the U.S., about 500 were selected to compete this year at the regional level. "From these 140 teams advanced to compete in the nationals," he said, noting the Laie team regionals were held in Los Angeles in April, and the nationals in Missouri from May 21-23, "where we finished in the top 40 of the United States."
Tilton said the team reported on "the service by SIFE members in Tonga and Namibia. In Tonga some of our activities included working with entrepreneurs and with the two Church high schools there. In Namibia we researched eco-based tourism, and we're currently working on the establishment of a small business fund that will work with entrepreneurs in [the town of] Uis. After the initial investment, it will require very little funding, because the businesses will pay off the original investment."
He explained that School of Business Professor Norman Wright worked on the Namibia project with SIFE team members Dauphinee and Gomez, and then Dr. Wright went to Namibia with Gomez to "meet a young man who wanted to create a center that would showcase the local cultures. They actually worked on creating a business plan for him, and through that, they realized there was really a need there."
"We can also apply these principles to the rest of Asia and the Pacific, because it's a great model," Tilton said, pointing out the team has also worked on the square foot gardening project. "That's a fantastic project that's really taken off in the BYU-Hawaii 2nd Stake farm. We see places all over in our target area where that can work."
"In addition to competing, there's also a huge job fair for students that come to the nationals," Tilton continued. "I believe there were over 100 corporate sponsors actively recruiting. It was interesting, because one of our students from Malaysia didn't expect to find anything in his home country, but there were several companies actually looking for people from Malaysia. They were just amazed to find somebody qualified. They talked to several of our students about doing internships. They definitely want them to keep in contact."
Tilton also told of the recruiting experience his wife and SIFE teammate, Christy Tilton — "a music major who thought there was nothing there for her" — had with HSBC, an international bank in over 45 countries: "They were very interested in having people from Hawaii apply. They wanted to put her in an accelerated management program that will have her managing a branch in nine-to-twelve months after being hired. That's an opportunity my wife never thought possible, but because of SIFE, she will be able to have employment at a job she enjoys. She was able to make great contacts."
"SIFE encourages cross-disciplinary involvement. That's the strength of our group," said Dr. Neal, pointing out that only half of the team members are business majors. "Like any student organization, those who get involved can truly benefit. The recruiters really like hiring these students because they have a commitment to service. They also have demonstrated effective communication skills. Every year I notice that the job list grows."
"We've been selected to present at nationals since organizing on campus nine years ago, and in the last two years we've made it to the top 40. That speaks well to the quality of education we're getting here," added Tilton. "The thing I like about SIFE is we're getting real-world experience."
"The other wonderful thing about SIFE, it's not a place where we tear teach other down. We use competition to build each other up. We had some fantastic projects this past year, and we got a lot of feedback from the judges to make them better. They were really impressed with what we could do," he said.
"We met a New York Times best-selling author who focuses on young entrepreneurs, and she said of all the groups she's worked with, we were the ones she and her husband felt drawn to. They felt something special about our team. We're bringing the great things BYU-Hawaii has to offer and coupling them with the mission of SIFE. It really creates a force to reckon with, and we're going to accomplish great things on this campus."
"We create projects that hopefully make a difference," added Dr. Neal. "This ties in very well with the mission at BYU-Hawaii."