St. Mary’s University College

‘Meleya is unique as it is a students’ project. The students are the key-players. The role of the management and project-leaders is to support them. The visit of Dutch students to cultural centres and coffee-growing areas must have given them the picture of Ethiopia at a glimpse. The student-to-student link has exposed both parties to the culture of one another. This must be hailed as a big achievement. A few things could improve. The duration of stay for the Dutch students is too short. We should also attract more media attention. A visit of the Ethiopian students to the Netherlands would enhance the mutual involvement, exposure and their personal experience. These young people are the entrepreneurs of the future. I have no doubt that Meleya will be successful. And if we document our project well, we can serve as a case-study to many others in our respective countries.’

St. Mary’s University College (SMUC), a private higher education institution with programmes in conventional and distance modes of learning, currently has more than 6000 students in the classroom-based learning and about 30,000 in the distance mode.

Wondwosen Tamrat, President of St. Mary’s University College, Addis Ababa

The New Business School Amsterdam

‘As NBS offers only real life projects, we did not hesitate when Debritu Lusteau and Michel Le Roux approached us. To have students from two countries work together on a business model for an honest coffee brand was exactly what we had in mind, when we made Responsible Business a core value. Until now three cohorts of students have built the brand, its logo and the product. The present students’ group has sales targets to increase the turnover of Meleya Ltd. In the meantime, the Meleya Foundation has been established to support Ethiopian students and local coffee farming communities.
The NBS is proud of what has been accomplished, especially in the field of cross cultural communication between the students and the institutions. An in depth co-operation has been built with St. Mary’s University College. The two of us are working towards optaining the best practice scenario in North–South co-operation and co-creation.’

New Business School Amsterdam (NBS) is a small-scale private school offering high potentials a BBA in New Business and a University BA Honours in Business. It educates the creative and responsible business people of tomorrow’s Europe.

Ben Wijering, Dean of Education at the New Business School Amsterdam (NBS)