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Fall 2007

Entrepreneurship and public service:  partners for social change

Donald Kanak Photo by Dan Sears

Ideas in action. A simple idea can make a signifi­cant and lasting differ­ence in peoples’ lives when combined with a sound course of action and genu­ine motivation to serve the greater good.

That is the premise behind the Carolina Center for Public Service, and its Entrepreneurial Public Service Fellowships are a great way for creative stu­dents to make a difference and learn how to formulate and implement such a plan, most often from the ground up.

Created by generous gifts from alumnus Donald P. Kanak ’75 and his family, the Entrepreneurial Public Service Fellowships promote and encourage innovative, entrepreneurial approaches to critical issues facing communities locally, nationally and internationally. Kanak, a Morehead Scholar and native North Carolinian who has spent more than 25 years living and working in Asia, said three key factors inspired him to spear­head the entrepreneurial fellowships.

“I wanted to give students a life-changing experience, [that of] pursuing a dream, sometimes in a community or country where they are the stranger. The learn­ing, the challenges and the friendships that come from the experi­ence will be lifelong memories.” Kanak also hopes students may better know, understand and perhaps influence perspectives other than their own, especially when they concern their home country. “People in those communities will see in the Carolina students a true American spirit and character that they otherwise may never encounter. In many parts of the world today, though the reality is different, America’s image is that of a rich super-power, militarily and economically, thinking of its own interests. When young Americans, in this case young Tar Heels, are in the field helping a local community help itself, those communities see the true American spirit of creativity, optimism and goodness.”

Finally, Kanak envisions these young leaders as true catalysts for social change. “I hope that as the program continues and expands, the social entrepreneurship that comes from Carolina faculty and students will prove to be not only sustainable but also scalable with the ability to have an impact that outlives and outgrows the initial summer project.”

Nick Anderson (right) and Gustavo, the school’s handyman, lay adobe cement to restore the Escuela Isonza greenhouse. Today, the building is filled with growing vegetables that help improve and diversify the students’ nutrition.

With that philosophy firmly in hand, UNC junior Nick Anderson traveled in summer 2007 to Escuela Isonza, a small residential school in rural Argentina in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Anderson, a Robertson Scholar who combined his Exploration Summer experience with an Entrepreneurial Public Service Fellowship, helped develop a more dependable and sustainable method for generating electricity to the school by installing solar panels. Though the school had intermittent power, plenty of work could be done to make solar energy part of a comprehensive plan for institutional change that would ultimately raise the quality of education the school could offer.

As this was right up Anderson’s alley, he set to work immediately. Thanks to the addition of solar panels, the school’s sole donated computer would no longer black out the school and the students could access a wealth of information via the Internet. Small-scale projects with lasting impact included helping the students’ fathers build a chicken coop. The poultry and eggs improved the students’ nutrition and surplus eggs will be sold at market for a small profit. Restoring a greenhouse enabled the school to harvest vegetables to further supplement the nutrition of the students and improve overall health. Solar collectors were installed to provide hot water for better hygiene and a cleaner environment, cutting down on transmit­table illnesses and infection. Earnings from all these initiatives are reinvested in student instruction and school infrastruc­ture. “It was rewarding to see the students, parents and teachers begin to understand that they had the power to improve their school through entrepreneurship and personal initiative,” Anderson said. “They know they don’t have to rely solely on what a government truck delivers in any given month. When I left, Isonzenos were more empowered to take charge of their future, even in simple ways like selling eggs and vegetables.”

Back home, Anderson is now working with the Robertson Scholars Program at both UNC and Duke University to build an ongoing summer experience where students continue to expand on the progress of previous scholars, thereby broadening the scope and reach of the initiative. In sum­mer 2008, a small team of students from UNC and Duke will serve several new schools in Argentina to launch site-specific initiatives modeled on Anderson’s program in Isonza.
Anderson isn’t done yet. He plans to pursue a law degree and devote his expertise to helping developing countries strengthen institutions to enable grass­roots economic growth. A candidate for a Truman Scholarship, Anderson is making a career of public service.

By Hope Baptiste