By Kim Chen Wiseman
Contributing Writer

Leigh Ann Szteiter has seen first hand how Students in Free Enterprise is changing the world, or at least her little corner of it.

Recently, the College of Charleston chapter of SIFE took on a project to become the marketing arm for The Center for Women’s “Wise Up” program, which offers free online personal financial consultation to “Gen-X” women ages 18 to 35. SIFE students have reached out to prospects throughout the college and are responsible for delivering more than half of “Wise Up’s” users.

Szteiter coordinates the “Wise Up” program for The Center for Women and has served as an advisor to College of Charleston’s SIFE team.

“These students are extremely dedicated, intelligent and want to make a mark in the world and in the future,” says Szteiter. “They’re incredible now, and I can’t wait to see what they’ll do in a few years.”

Changing the world is SIFE’s motto. SIFE is a worldwide non profit organization made up of a network of highly dedicated student teams on college and university campuses throughout the world.

SIFE is a rapidly growing, mixture of business and education. It has worked its way into virtually every part of the world, with a presence in more than 1,800 universities in more than 40 countries.

Sponsors and supporters from the business community include a vice chairman of General Motors, a chairman and CEO of Radio Shack, an executive vice president from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a president and CEO of Diner’s Club International and a president and CEO of Pepsico.

With such an impressive list of benefactors, it is not hard to see how SIFE attracts the best and brightest university business students in the world. What is surprising is that these students are not engrossed in spreadsheets or analysis of Wall Street stock market trends.

Instead, SIFE teams are made up of business students who either volunteer in the program or participate for college credit. The teams, led by a faculty advisor designated by SIFE as a Sam Walton Fellow, are charged with taking what they learn in the classroom and bettering the world by teaching it to others in the community and abroad.

On a small scale, SIFE students are solving real world problems. At the same time, the students create business opportunities for people who need them. This is all done under the umbrella of SIFE’s four pillars: market economics, entrepreneurship, personal and financial success skills and business ethics.

In California, SIFE students taught single moms how to run a day care center. In Missouri, SIFE students taught local farmers better accounting skills. In Florida, SIFE students helped a paint company write a marketing plan and increased its sales by 300%.

SIFE’s impact isn’t limited to the United States. In fact, advocates of the program believe that some of its greatest impact has been felt in the most impoverished regions of the globe. For instance, in Ghana, a sub-Saharan African country, SIFE students taught locals how to turn palm fruit into soap to sell to other villages in the region. For the first time, money changed hands, and entrepreneurship was introduced.

SIFE projects begin with an idea borne out of planning sessions with students and their advisor. From there, the project moves off campus and into the community. These projects are also submitted for regional and national competitions. Students compete for as much as $1 million in prize money and awards each year in competitions that take place in locations ranging from Sydney to London to Kansas City.

John Clarkin, director of Tate Center for Entrepreneurship at College of Charleston, first learned about SIFE at a 2002 conference where SIFE’s national winners made an impression on him.

“I was impressed with what they did and how well they presented their material,” says Clarkin. In spring 2004, he became the college’s first SIFE Sam Walton Fellow, launching the program with two graduating seniors.

“One of our first projects brought in PUMA President Jay Piccola to explain how the free market system works,” Clarkin says. “We had one of our biggest turnouts with over 300 students attending.”

This year, SIFE has been designated as a student organization at College of Charleston, and its membership has jumped from two to 11 students. The team has embarked on a number of projects.

The young program has already garnered accolades, placing first runner up and being named “Rookie of the Year” at its first regional competition in Charlotte, N.C., last month.

“I’m looking forward to the fall and hope to get a dozen highly motivated students,” says Clarkin. “Some colleges offer SIFE for course credit, but for now, I want these kids to do it because they want to, not because they have to. I want them to say that it’s the passion, energy, and vision that I’m doing this.’”

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