ASHLEY WELLING
Staff Writer
It began last year, in a small community an hour and a half outside Buenos Aires, Argentina. In a village known as Adulam, a group of Pepperdine students was spending time with the 50 families who called it home. Inspired by the local culture coupled with abundant poverty, two of those students formed an idea they hoped would change lives. It was here juniors Rob Stone and David Tari thought of a way to help these struggling families and their businesses.
“We really wanted to give back to Argentina,” Stone said. “You could just see the incredible need of the people and their families. They really need a way to support themselves.”
The question arose of how to give back to people who believed themselves to be stuck in an economic rut. The answer was literally right in front of them.
The solution came in the form of a tea known as Maté. Being the national drink of Argentina, Maté is a widely produced and known part of the culture, where these two men found themselves.
The plan is to introduce the tea to America and use the profits to help the poor maintain their businesses. With the interest rates on loans at an astonishing 25 percent in Argentina, it is almost impossible for those at the bottom of the economic food chain to climb.
“What we want to do is raise enough money here in America so that we can create loans with a possible 5 percent interest rate that we can then send to Argentina,” Tari said. “We are trying to create a social business that is focused not around profit, but around benefiting those in need. Now all we need are more investors that believe in our vision.”
With such corporations as Citi Bank and FINCA already showing interest in their ideas, the possible impact this business will have has just gotten larger.
“As we get from one step to the next, we just keep realizing how much bigger and more complex this idea is,” Tari said. “This is just so much bigger than us, and we are thankful to have so much support.”
The support from Pepperdine’s student body has indeed been abundant. With recent monetary contributions totaling $1,400 from such organizations as the Inter Club Council, it seems that it will now be possible for these young entrepreneurs to sell the drink here on campus.
“The bureaucracy here has been particularly hard to work through,” Stone said. “But finally we got permission to set up a stand to not only sell the drink, but to try and get our message across, as well.”
With fundraisers to hold, drinks to sell and plans to act upon, it appears that these two students have many years of hard work ahead of them.
“Rob comes up with so many creative ideas sometimes that I tell him he simply has too many,” Tari said. “But, what people have to know is that we are doing this to help those that live in places like Adulam. That is where we first felt inspired, and it’s to them that we dedicate our ideas.”
Stone said all his inspiration and hope he has for helping people comes from Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, which gives out micro-loans to the poor so that they can start a small business.
“I admire the fact that Muhammad Yunus has created a business that will have an ongoing sustainable impact on peoples’ lives well into the future,” Stone said.
On March 24, Stone and Tari will have a stand open for selling Maté on campus throughout the day. On April 10, they will host a banquet to raise more funds for their cause.
03-20-2008