“The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization to promote international co-operation”(Google). This organization attends to large scale world problems that society faces. If this intergovernmental organization was fully funded it would not be able to address problems like Arc and other social enterprise’s do. While the UN is a large scale organization, Arc initiative and social enterprises pin point issues in small third world communities and strategically find ways to help these people flourish and become self sufficient. I feel that Arc initiative and Social enterprise facilitates a genuine exchange of knowledge and skills from their project to allow these businesses to succeed. This exchange is mutually beneficial for all involved parties while the UN primarily acts to provide goods or services over time. After learning about the Arc initiative I can see that this allows Sauder students to gain hands on experience and be in an environment which allows them to think critically and demonstrate the skills and values that Sauder encapsulates. I spoke with Scott Henry, who attended the Rwanda Arc initiative session. He told me that “Rwanda has a very vibrant entrepreneur culture” and felt it was necessary to go back. Scott was working in Kenya and Jeff asked if Scott wanted to pilot an Arc initiative in Rwanda. He told me that it really changed their prospective on their business plans especially with developing their point of parity and points of differences. It was amazing to talk face to face with a student who had attended one of these projects and it really makes me want to get involved. Arc Initiative and social enterprise facilitate individual third world country businesses which makes it an essential tool for Sauder students. Furthermore, it is imperative that these small scale, hands-on social enterprises exist even while the UN is fully funded.
Sources
“Sauder School of Business.” The Arc Initiative. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <http://www.sauder.ubc.ca/Global_Reach/ARC_Initiative>
“Student Experience: Ethiopia | Arc Initiative | Sauder School of Business at UBC.” YouTube. YouTube. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSa7yUSlgX8>.
“Google.” Google. Web. 12 Nov. 2014. <https://www.google.ca/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=united nations definition>.