Students learn fantastic project management skills,” said Sergio Bellino, associate professor in the School of Business and advisor for Enactus at Southern Adventist University. “They get to take on leadership roles in a structured organization, and they have people outside of Southern depending on them to follow through on their promises.”
In January of 2024, OurGanda, a nonprofit organization located in Uganda, reached out to Enactus requesting a program that could help promote financial literacy among the villages they served in the Bundibugyo district of western Uganda. The project was a perfect fit for Enactus. “Our focus is social enterprise,” explains Bellino. “We innovate to create solutions for people through self-sustaining projects that continue long after we move on to other needs.”
Several students began work on the financial literacy program, titling the project Thrive Uganda, or THRU. They created nine educational modules about financial literacy for OurGanda to teach. The modules introduce individuals to crucial skills, from defining money to investment and loans.
In May 2024, nine Enactus students and faculty worked with Southern to create a Vision Trip, traveling to Bundibugyo and visiting the community they’d helped from across the sea. As one of the elected project managers for THRU the following year, Chase Slikkers, junior business cybersecurity major, joined the trip to see the impact of the first financial literacy course. “We spent a lot of our time visiting the community and learning about their way of life,” said Slikkers. “We were excited to find that many villages pooled their money together and loaned it out to community members with interest if they needed extra cash, which appeared to be a result of our lesson on saving.”
As the next phase of THRU began in August, insights from the mission trip informed the team’s decisions. They drafted a second level of the financial literacy modules to focus on creating and growing a business. “We teach them to find needs in the community that their business can meet,” explains Slikkers. “We researched extensively to ensure that the small business strategies we share will work in the villages.” More than 120 individuals have been served through the initial modules so far, and with the second level sent to OurGanda in 2025, the number continues to grow.
OurGanda approached Enactus with a new project last semester. “Based on assessments of local schools, 180 girls in the villages miss school every week or drop out because there are no facilities for them to use during their monthly cycle,” said Bellino. In response, THRU created a latrine blueprint for OurGanda.
THRU partnered with Brick to Brick, a nonprofit organization that has created a simple, sustainable way to make quality brick structures. Zach Mace, freshman engineering major, was recruited to the project, lending his expertise to the designs. “We’re creating a sustainable and replicable design for latrines that can be built by OurGanda with relative ease,” said Mace.
“I’ve researched extensively and consulted multiple people with expertise and experience to ensure I create a design with structural integrity and design efficiency,” shares Mace. The team has engaged in a lengthy prototyping process with OurGanda so they can receive feedback and tailor their product to the region.
“Once the latrine designs are verified, OurGanda will only have to amass the materials needed to build latrines for schools across the region,” said Slikkers. THRU recently sent OurGanda the first prototype to be built and tested in real-world conditions.
“Working on THRU has helped tremendously with my leadership and interpersonal skills,” shares Slikkers. “I’ve been able to put into practice many concepts that I’d previously only learned about in the classroom.”
Enactus plans to continue working with OurGanda until sometime in the 2025-2026 school year, when they will phase out of the process and allow OurGanda to continue serving with the resources they’ve been provided.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity that I’ve had through Enactus to serve,” said Mace. “It’s been an incredible blessing.”
Claudia Maury is the external communications specialist for AdventHealth’s Central Florida Division – South Region.
Southern Adventist University | June 2025
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