Enterprise Mentors International
Enterprise Mentors International (Mentors) is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization based in Draper, Utah that uses microenterprise, mentoring, and business training to pull individuals out of poverty worldwide. Its CEO and President is Mark L. Petersen.
History
The organization dates back to 1989 when St. Louis businessman, Menlo Smith, returned to the United States after working on a three-year humanitarian project in the Philippines. Smith became aware of the tremendous load carried by those who have so little during his time in the Philippines. He also became determined to find a proactive way to lift poor entrepreneurs from poverty.
Smith soon joined with Warner P. Woodworth of the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University and businessman Steven H. Mann, who had experience in international training, to put the process in motion. Together, they organized a group of graduate students to study opportunities and develop networking contacts in the Philippines. A strategic planning team met in Manila in September 1989 and concluded that the poor in the country could best be served by a self-help program offering microenterprise training, mentoring and microcredit.
By January 1990, Mentors was formed in St. Louis, Missouri, and its first partner organization, the Philippines Manila Development Foundation (PMDF) was organized in Manila with a local board of volunteer directors and a small staff. PMDF is now completely self sufficient, which means all operating costs are covered through interest from the micro loans. Mentors continues to provide annual support to the PMDF Loan Fund, which is then repaid to the parent organization.
Mentors has now established seven partner organizations in all: three in the Philippines, along with organizations in Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Peru. As of January 2009, over 1.1 million individuals in these countries have escaped poverty through the formation of small businesses with loans funded by Mentors.
Mentors extends loans to people of all creeds and faiths and strives to mentor clients with proven business principles to ensure successful enterprises.
Mentors was led by G. Richard Oscarson from 1997 to 2007. The current president and CEO is Mark L. Petersen, and chairman of the board is Ralph Christensen, former managing director of human resources for Hallmark Cards.
Approach
Mentors operates under a two-fold mission:
In Developing Countries...
Foster the establishment of partner organizations to assist families that struggle for self-sufficiency to attain a self-reliant livelihood through small enterprise activities by providing business training, counseling, mentoring and micro-finance services for productive purposes.
In Developed Countries...
Provide those having the means and desire to assist the impoverished in a meaningful and lasting way with proven and practical methods of self-help to extend, not hand-outs, but a hand up.
Further reading
- Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Laura Bush Honored At International Charity Gala Called “Celebrating a Legacy of Hope”, Meridian Magazine, November 2008
- Impossible Dream Becoming Reality, Church News, R. Scott Lloyd, November 2008
- [http://www.capitalresearch.org/pubs/pdf/Compasion%20&%20Culture%20November%202000.pdf Enterprise Mentors International
Tackling Poverty from the Bottom Up], Capital Research Center, November 2000.