What impact does a school make? - A 'buildOn' school in Malawi | University of St.Gallen MBA

What impact does a school make? - A 'buildOn' school in Malawi

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Kapyola, Malawi: A school built in partnership with buildOn

As we have shared in previous posts on social media, the Part-time Class of 2018 far exceeded their original fundraising goal during our annual challenge for students to create a social impact initiative. They were fundraising in support of buildOn, which specialises in constructing schools in a range of countries. They raised enough to fully fund construction of two schools: one in Nepal and one in Malawi.

The University of St.Gallen MBA sees great value in challenging our students to undertake these types of projects. While our programme is focused on the German-speaking part of Europe, these initiatives help maintain a global perspective. It is not just about awareness. They provide new ways of reflecting on business and society in our home region.

For example, the topics addressed in our film are also issues at the forefront of debate in MBA programmes, including ours: Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Gender Equality. Seeing the risks that entrepreneurs take in Kapyola provides more context to our own fears of failure. Observing issues with plastic management reminds us that our home countries are also thinking about how to deal with packaging and waste effectively. Gender equality is an issue the world over and timelines needed for societal change are equally long. The issues addressed in our annual social impact initiatives are often issues we face ourselves. Seeing them in a new context helps our MBAs further decode the world and how it functions, and think both creatively and critically about how to continue using their business school skillset to push for positive changes.

Two-way impact is at the core of buildOn’s philosophy when groups like ours travel to communities receiving schools. One benefit not explored in the film is how our MBAs act as role models not just in the community of Kapyola, but also to their peers, family and classmates back home. Likewise, many of the students who attend our buildOn school will go on to become positive role models in the community of Kapyola or in other villages. We saw this firsthand with our translator Idah, who had attended a buildOn school herself and now works for buildOn. We also saw firsthand how many of the students who will attend our school come from households that value education and advocated for a buildOn school to be built in their community.

Congratulations to everyone involved in realising this project. It is amazing to see what a group of thoughtful and motivated people can do when united in the purpose of education.