More than 4 billion people around the world are considered poor, earning an average of $2 a day. A highly motivated group of Vanderbilt students want to change that statistic and is inviting fellow students to come together to share ideas.
The Project Pyramid group is holding an open discussion on fighting poverty on March 22 from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Averbuch Auditorium in the Owen Graduate School of Management.
Students involved in Project Pyramid use the teachings of Nobel Peace Prize winner and Vanderbilt graduate Muhammad Yunus and C.K. Prahalad, the author of The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid, to design ways to invest in the poor.
The Project Pyramid class, which is the first of its kind to combine business graduate students with divinity students, is creating business plans targeting those at the bottom of the financial pyramid. Members of the Project Pyramid class just returned from an extensive trip to India where they learned firsthand about the value of investing in the poor.
“If we can bring profitable business to impoverished areas throughout the world, we can help raise the standard of living for people who have long been forgotten, those at the bottom of the pyramid,” explained Owen student and Project Pyramid co-creator Rehan Choudhry. “The mission for Project Pyramid is to arm students with the tools to create sustainable businesses and programs that effectively combat poverty.”
You can read about the students’ trip to India and other Project Pyramid activities on a video blog, www.projectpyramid.org. For more news about Vanderbilt, visit the News Service homepage at www.vanderbilt.edu/news.
Media Contact: Amy Wolf, (615) 322-NEWS
amy.wolf@vanderbilt.edu