About OWOB
In February 2006, a group of business students from Colorado State University visited small businesses in two villages in India, Belgaon Dhaga and Guddalahalli, started with support from Ecselance International, a micro enterprise development organization. While these businesses were creating income for local entrepreneurs, they did not provide significant employment opportunities for the local economy. After returning, the students were very enthusiastic about helping these new businesses grow. At the same time, another group of students in the Colorado State University Entrepreneurship Program had developed a cook stove that reduced indoor pollution and also generated electricy for light. They wanted to introduce this product into India and Nepal.
These two experiences were the genesis of Opportunities Without Borders. What if local student teams, supported by faculty advisors and local enterpreneurs, could help a small businesses develop a business expansion plan and gain access to global resources that would help them implement the plan. The student teams would gain valuable experiences in global business and the small business would grow and provide employment in the local community. Opportunities Without Borders would provide the infrastructure for this development and provide grants to some of the projects.
In July of 2006, the founding directors of OWOB met to initiate the formation of the new organization.
Directors
James L. Schoedinger has been in the financial services sector for over 25 years. Mr. Schoedinger spent over 15 years as a senior executive at GE Capital in the USA and Europe, primarily in the consumer financial services field. In addition to GE Capital, he led major financial services groups at Transamerica Finance Corporation, building a dynamic commercial finance business. Later he went on to initiate a turn around at First Data Corporation. His philanthropic intersts include being an active member of the ACCION International Presidents Council, a board member of ACCION USA, a member of the Advisory Council of the University of Colorado's Bard Center for Entrepreneurship and an appointed Executive in Residence at the University of Colorado focusing on the business schools long range strategy.
Melanie Howard is the Director of the Goeffrey H. Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship & the Law at Pepperdine University School of Law. Unique in the nation, the Palmer Center offers a certificate in Law & Entrepreneurship, which compliments the traditional J.D. degree. In addition to her responsibilities at the Palmer Center, Ms. Howard is the Associate Director of the Institute on Law, Religion, & Ethics, where her primary responsibilities include overseeing the international human rights program at the School of Law. Prior to joining the Pepperdine community, Ms. Howard was an associate at the law firm of Loeb & Loeb LLP, where she specialized in intellectual property law. Ms. Howard is a graduate of Williams College and Harvard Law School.
Claude Alexandre is a private consultant to Relgious, Charitable, and Non-Profit Organizations. Previously, he was president of China Inn Restaurants, Inc. He is the founder of Los Angeles Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity and is Vice President and director of the Los Angeles Affiliate. Prior to that he was lead consultant at Corporate Associates Group, Chief Financial Officer, Guerra Tours, Travel & Hospitality and Assistant Vice President and Commercial Loan Officer at First Pacific Bank.
Jim Epstein is founder and president of Ecselance International, a micro enterprise development organization. Prior to that he was managing director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development at Colorado State University. His previous experience was in engineering and management at Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies.
Raymond French is an entrepreneur that has launched new ventures and projects in restaurants, customer service centers, and training. He is co-founder of Alva Learning Systems, Inc. Mr. French helped oversee the start up and operations of the new company for over 6 years. After building the company to a team of 25 employees and average sales of over $2M per year, Alva was sold in February of 2006. Previously, Mr. French coordinated the opening of new customer service center facilities for TeleTech.
Paul Hudnut established the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise Program at Colorado State University and teaches entrepreneurship classes at the College of Business. Mr. Hudnut is a visiting instructor in enterpreneurship at the Bordeaux Business School and Bainbridge Graduate Institute. Mr. Hudnut is a founder and director of Envirofit International which was a TechAward laureate in 2005. Prior to CSU, Mr. Hudnut was an executive at Heska Corporation, U S WEST Marketing Resources and PR Pharmaceuticals. He earned his BA from Colorado College and his law degree from the University of Virginia.