Oberlin grad practices entrepreneurship, promotes fairness

(This excerpt first appeared in an article by Aaron Mucculio in the Oberlin Alumni magazine. It is reprinted with the permission from the college).

The capital city of Rabat, Morocco, hums with the usual complexities of society, commerce, and culture. Tourists scout the local bazaars for all sorts of handmade goods, including rugs, exquisitely made, that support female artisans in rural villages-but at prices that mostly benefit the middlemen.

Alia Kate (Oberlin'08 ) met those rug merchants while working for a non-profit organization during a semester abroad. Fascinated by the rug-buying exchange (browsing rugs and negotiating prices can take hours as buyers handle the fabrics, drink tea with the merchants, and discuss the history of the patterns), she repeatedly asked questions about the rugs' production, questions that the merchants couldn't answer. After talking with the villagers herself, she wondered something else: why couldn't the weavers keep more of the money made from their work?

Kate returned to Oberlin in the fall of 2007 convinced that the right business plan could benefit the Moroccan weavers, but she had neither the guidance nor start-up money to move forward.

Then a professor pointed her toward a new initiative at Oberlin aimed at two things: encouraging students to try their ideas, and connecting them with the resources to put their plans into action.

Launched by a $1.1 million grant from the Burton D. Morgan and Ewing Marion Kauffman foundations in 2006, Oberlin's new Creativity & Leadership project puts together an interdisciplinary toolbox of funding opportunities, classes, symposia, and alumni expertise-all in an effort to support student ventures. At Oberlin, entrepreneurship is seen as a way of connecting academic pursuits, passion, social concerns, and business in ways that bring about positive change.

"Historically, entrepreneurship has been the purview of business schools," says Andrea Kalyn, associate dean of the Conservatory of Music and director of the Creativity & Leadership (C&L) project. "Oberlin is pushing the break with tradition a little further. Our project is premised on the recognition of Oberlin students as inherently entrepreneurial. The role of the Creativity & Leadership project is simply to facilitate and expedite the realization of that entrepreneurial spirit."

Kate's experience is illustrative. Before Morocco, she had developed skills and interests from classes and activities of her own choosing. Her exploratory drive then took her to northern Africa for two semesters. Back at Oberlin for her senior year, she took a C&L class focused on entrepreneurship in a liberal arts context, ethics, and planning and forming partnerships. Kate's vision was now crystallizing. Perhaps she could bring the bazaar experience to America, both to sell rugs and promote a sort of cultural exchange. Structuring the business in a different way could maximize payment to the weavers. Planning it correctly would keep the business sustainable.

Armed with more knowledge-and confidence that her goals were achievable-Kate applied for and landed a small C&L travel grant. She returned to Morocco during winter term to establish supply chains and handle logistics. But due to her project's large scale, she needed one more push, which came from Oberlin in April in the form of a competitive, panel-reviewed, $20,000 fellowship.

"C&L gave me the tools and more of the capability to take my raw ideas and channel them into something more productive" says Kate. Her business, Kantara Crafts, may have gotten off the ground without the support from Oberlin, she says, but probably not for years, and on a much smaller scale. Instead, the May 2008 graduate is mulling over new-business issues such as pricing, marketing, and billing.

"Strategizing takes a little more energy and creativity," says Kate. "I'm already thinking of ways to make this a more sustainable production," such as building in a co-op experience for college students who can travel to Morocco and learn the local culture while helping to run the business and lower labor costs.