New Center at Baylor Focuses on Providing Entrepreneurial Solutions to Global Poverty

More than 2.7 billion people in underdeveloped countries live on less than $2/day.  It is overwhelming, but is there something we can do about it?  For Baylor entrepreneurship, the answer is an emphatic  ‘yes.’  Through its unique capabilities addressing spiritual development, sustainable technology, and social entrepreneurship, Baylor entrepreneurship faculty and students are partnering with the business and development communities around the world to provide holistic solutions through the Global Poverty Center.

The Global Poverty Center was initiated to bring together these strengths from Baylor’s resources and to address issues in a more systematic way as illustrated.  First, research provides new ideas to facilitate “bottom up” economic development.   Recent projects underway in the engineering school have sought to develop village scale technologies to add value to abundant and renewable resources like coconuts, the development of efficient clean burning stoves, and doing rural electrification using microhydroelectric power.  These ideas are then tested and refined with field studies.  Baylor students have been a part of building projects in Armenia, Kenya, Honduras, and the Philippines putting these technologies into place around the world. 

“Baylor is graduating leaders in their fields.  Why should we not lead in making a difference in the world as well?” Next, the research and field studies provide content for relevant in-class learning.  For example, the social entrepreneurship class in the Hankamer Business School has been working on business plans to develop the commercial viability of these technologies.   Finally, these projects come full circle through dissemination to mission and development agencies worldwide to empower those needing these innovations.  These outreach efforts, in turn, are intended to stimulate new ideas to be pursued in future research.

“We are already seeing these efforts start to come full circle,” says Steve Bradley, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship.  Visibility from current projects has lead to a number of new business plan development opportunities for students in my social entrepreneurship class addressing needs in China, Honduras, Azerbaijan, and even Waco.  It’s exciting for students to see that the business tools they are learning can be a part of solutions to seemingly intractable problems around the world. ” The center sponsors a Global Poverty Conference to connect academics, those working in the field, along with interested alumni and community leaders.  “Baylor is graduating leaders in their fields.  Why should we not lead in making a difference in the world as well?”  Kendall Artz, director of the Baylor Entrepreneurship Program said.