Randy England graduated this past weekend from Marywood University with a Bachelors in Business Administration. Besides receiving his degree, he learned that he and and another student, Ellen Clauss, won the tecBRIDGE Business Plan Competition!It is a regional competition designed to stimulate innovative thinking to leverage a technology-driven economy while retaining Northeastern Pennsylvania’s talent. It is about businesses investing in Northeastern Pennsylvania’s greatest asset…its PEOPLE. 14 colleges and universities were involved in the competition.
Marywood University’s team, Aya Fair Trade LLC, won the top prize of $10,000 in cash start-up funds and $100,000 in in-kind services, which includes legal assistance, accounting, office space, and equipment.
Aya Fair Trade LLC is a for profit business driven by a social mission. Run by Ellen Clauss, CEO and Randy England, CFO, it promotes a sustainable solution to poverty, one village at a time, by employing local seamstresses in Ghana. The seamstresses will make bags and purses made from materials purchased in local marketplaces in Ghana and they will then be distributed in the United States. The artisan seamstresses are paid fair wages for their work, and every bag sold funds one week of education for a child in Ghana.
Randy and Ellen will be leaving in the next couple of weeks to travel to Ghana and get the operation started! AWESOME!
