Students and business leaders have come together to bring about change in some of the world’s poorest communities. Project reports on a unique initiative with professional project management at its heart. Including interviews with Jo Blundy and Donnie MacNicol.

1. 26 Nov/dec 2011
Tomorrow’sworld,
director. She is equally enthusiastic
about the opportunities for personal and
professional development that a student
gains as they progress with a project.
“The students work in partnership
with communities both in the UK and
abroad to deliver the projects – and
they are responsible for making the
partnerships work. To do that they have
to develop a whole range of business
skills, such as relationship management
and networking – and, of course,
because they also have their degree
courses and all the other demands of
university life, then time management
skills are also very important.”
For those whose degree is in a business
or technical discipline, getting involved
with a SIFE project can also be a great
opportunity to put into practice skills they
learned in the classroom. But Josephine
stresses that not all SIFE’s volunteers are
on this type of degree course or even
considering a business-focused career.
“We get a whole range of students
choosing to work with us – some are
business or economics students, while
others might be studying English or
history. Some are already experienced
at running projects, while others have
hardly worked in a team before. And
when people join us, they do it for a range
of reasons – for some, it’s about
philanthropy; for others, the main
today
It’s three years’ worth of experience
before they even join a company.”
This is how one member of today’s
project management generation,
Donnie MacNicol, sums up the
benefits for future project managers
of getting involved with SIFE.
SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise) is
an international non-profit organisation
that works with university students and
business leaders to manage community
projects. Students initiate and run the
projects, while large companies provide
the support in terms of sponsorship and
advice that they need to make them work.
As a result, the projects bring about
positive change for some of the world’s
poorest communities – while the students
gain by acquiring the key professional and
personal skills employers want.
Donnie, an experienced project
manager and director of the consultancy,
Team Animation, has been helping to
support SIFE in the UK. His involvement
has included helping the organisation
to develop a standardised lifecycle
framework for its projects. He has also
facilitated at workshops for student
project leaders focused on their ability to
develop future potential leaders – and
he is clearly impressed with the quality of
young talent that SIFE brings out.
Point of difference
“When I first got involved with the
organisation, what struck me most was
that, as graduates come out with better
and better degrees, you need something
to differentiate between them. The
experience these students gain by running
a SIFE project is just the sort of point of
difference they need – to make a success
of their project they have to take it from
the initial idea stage, devise a business
plan and deal with the complexities of
project management to deliver on the
idea, while at the same time building in
sustainability, so the project can go on
after they graduate or move on.
“In other words, this is an opportunity
for students to learn to do all the sorts
of things that most employers want their
people to do, whether they become
project managers themselves or end up
working in another discipline.
“If there’d been something like this
when I was at university, it would’ve been
marvellous!” he said.
Josephine Blundy is SIFE’s UK operations
f e a t u r e : S i f e
26 Nov/dec 2011
Donnie MacNicol and
Josephine Blundy,
two proponents of
the SIFE initiative.

2. 27Nov/Dec 2011
Students and business leaders have come together to bring about
change in some of the world’s poorest communities. Project reports on
a unique initiative with professional project management at its heart.
27Nov/Dec 2011

3. 28 Nov/dec 2011
Right Light is one of a range
of projects successfully
established by Southampton
University’s SIFE team.
Its key aim is to improve
standards of living and future
economic opportunities
in rural communities in
Madagascar by helping
families to replace their unhealthy and expensive
kerosene lighting with solar lamps, and providing and
managing the repayment scheme that enables them
to do it.
The idea was the brainchild of Mike Austin (pictured
above), now in the third year of his degree in human
geography. He explained: “My first work with SIFE
was on a project in Madagascar called ‘Farming for
Life’ which demonstrated to me how students can
successfully create something as complex as a micro-
credit scheme. The relationship we had with our
partners meant that we learnt about the problems of
kerosene from them, but it was the confidence that
SIFE provides that meant I researched the potential of
solar lamps. However it was soon obvious that although
a great solution, solar lamps were unaffordable for
many families in Madagascar.
“I then joined up the two ideas, combining micro-
credit with solar lamps.”
Under Right Light’s finance model, families pay 10
per cent of the cost in the first month, and sign up to
a repayment scheme that runs over 12 months and
works out at a lower rate than their average kerosene
expenditure. Mike and his team at SIFE manage the
credit scheme, and establish and run a team of local
entrepreneurs who sell the lamps and administer the
finance on the ground.
“The fact that we have to do everything from a
distance – working with charity partners, manufacturers
and entrepreneurs – is a challenge in itself,” said Mike.
“It really does teach you about good communication
and managing relationships.
“For me, developing Right Light into a successful
project has been very satisfying – not just because we
are making a positive difference to people’s lives in
Madagascar, but also because of the way I have seen
our 15 student team members develop and grow to the
point where they now have ownership of the project
and can take it forward to even more people.
“One of the key things I’ve learned by doing this is
the difference between being a leader and just telling
people what to do.”
So how has Mike’s involvement in SIFE influenced
his outlook in terms of career choice?
“Before I joined SIFE, I wasn’t sure what I wanted
to do, but I knew I might eventually want to be involved
in development work of some kind,” he said. “Now I’ve
actually tried it, I know it’s exactly the sort of thing I
want to be doing in the long term. But I’ll be looking to
get more real-world experience in the UK first, and the
project management skills I’ve learned through SIFE
can only help with that!”
Casestudy:lightreliefinMadagascar
motivation is career development –
the skills they acquire, the benefits
for their CV and the contact with
potential employers.
“Our only stipulation is that, when
they start working with us, they must
be full-time students.”
So does the experience the students
gain by being part of a SIFE project
influence their choice of career?
Josephine commented: “We try to track
as many of our graduates as we can,
and we find that they go into a whole
range of jobs. Many end up in roles
related to project management – they
start on graduate placements or they
take on roles in government. Others
start their own businesses. We also
know that several of our corporate
sponsors do recruit directly from the
SIFE talent pool.”
One of SIFE’s recent graduates who
is now weighing up his career choice
options is Jack Stanbury. Jack has
just completed a Master’s degree in
engineering at Southampton University.
This is one of the most active and
successful university bases for SIFE in
the UK, and Jack’s last official duty as
President will be to lead the team from
Southampton representing the UK in
SIFE’s own World Cup in Kuala Lumpur
– he’s now in the process of finalising
arrangements for this.
But where will the skills he has gained
during three years of working with
SIFE take him after that? Jack says his
next move is likely to be to start his
own business.
“One of the key
things I learned
from SIFE was
that I love doing
my own thing –
running projects
and making
things happen.
Now I want to try
doing that in a business of my own.
“Having been involved with SIFE
for three years, I have also learned
a lot about the management skills –
for instance, the attention to details
that look minor but can make all the
difference to morale and the whole
success of a project.
“SIFE teaches you a lot about people
management – for instance, managing
all the different personalities involved
in a team, and of course, when you’re
working with students who aren’t being
paid for their time you need to give
special attention to how you keep
them motivated.
Jack added: “I feel I have acquired
so many skills that would put me or
anyone else who’s been a leader within
SIFE ahead of most other students,
because you’ve not just been learning
in a classroom – you’ve seen it in
real life. I’ve learnt a lot through my
engineering degree, but it just doesn’t
compare with the experience of running
Southampton’s whole SIFE community.”
To find out more about SIFE, visit www.sifeuk.org
Attentiontominor
detailscanmake
allthedifferenceto
moraleandthewhole
successofaproject.
28 Nov/dec 2011
Jack Stanbury.
f e a t u r e : S i f e