We know that the role of a university goes beyond education and academics. Every year our MBA students are tasked to find a charity of their choosing and enrich the greater community through fundraising and service work.  

This year, I had the pleasure of speaking with 3 of our Full-Time MBA students who spearheaded their MBA Charity Project: Vera Zhang, Alisa Nyamukapa and Margherita DePaoli. Together, they raised CHF 11,617.40 for Misto Dobra.

These three inspirational women explained why they chose the charity and how this project impacted them.

What charity did you decide to fundraise for this year?

This year we decided to work with Misto Dobra. It is a charity that has been helping women who suffer from domestic abuse and children in need (orphans, disabled children) in Ukraine for a long time. At Misto Dobra children find a peaceful, protected and safe environment which, we hope, can alleviate the difficult times they are facing.  

Why did you decide to help this charity?

One of our colleagues, Alisa Nyamukapa, is from Ukraine. And when the war started, we knew we wanted to help contribute in any way possible. We wanted to support our friend and her country. Alisa let us know that since the war started, they received more requests to help people who lost their homes, but their capacity was limited. For example, they are now building a new house to try to accommodate more people. We hope that our contribution can help Misto Dobra people in completing the building as fast as possible and in providing their everyday staples.

What did you learn from this experience?

I guess the biggest takeaway that we learned from this experience is two-fold. We learned that we could make a huge difference with the right mindset and team. Our MBA class was instrumental in being able to accomplish what we did.

The second thing we learned was the power of action and networking. The key to creating a better future is fostering relationships between those in the know and those most in need. We need to be able to tackle these challenges from the ground up and use our connections for the common good. Nothing will work unless you do, and this is the power of action.

So how did you use your network and connections for the common good?

Our colleague Vera Zhang was doing her final MBA corporate project with Zurich Insurance, and she is a wiz at networking. Quickly she connected with many of her coworkers, including Linda Freiner, who is the Head of Sustainability. Vera’s quick thinking allowed her to connect the Z Zurich Foundation pillars with the work that Misto Dobra does: improving mental wellbeing and enabling social equity. So we partnered with them to increase our impact.

We want to thank all the people who worked with us to fundraise money for Misto Dobra, and a special shout-out goes to Sofyen Khalfaoui, Ling Loh and Ruth Adamson, who helped make it happen.

Thank you, MBA Full-Time Class of 2022, for your time and energy in supporting such an amazing cause!