Moving to www.joycemeng.com

Education Without Borders 2009

I’ve collected the e-mail addresses of useful leaders in politics, business, philanthropy, technology, and education, which would be useful for Givology, but also the contact information of so many students across the world who expressed interest in helping out. My presentation on Givology was very well-received –the message resonated with the audience, and so many people came up to me afterward feeling very inspired and eager to contribute. For me, the amount of enthusiasm and support we received was the most rewarding experience of the conference. The chance to share our concept and model with hundreds of students from across the world with a similar global vision was unparalelled.

The conference mainly highlighted the work of students - there were a total of 36 paper presenters, chosen out of more than 1,000 submissions. My paper was entitled "Online Marketplace for Education: Leveraging the Internet for Creative Microphilanthropy Solutions".

End of Hillary Term

1. YouthBank’s Pitch for Idea Idol (http://www.oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk/events/idea-idol/):  The auditorium was packed – I estimate about 400 people showed up for the final event! I did the best I could to present YouthBank’s concept, model, and impact in a short 2-minute pitch and 5-minute Q&A session. We ended up winning the People’s Choice Award by a wide margin, although the judges ended up opting for the pure-profit, technology-driven ideas in the allocation of the grand prize money. Although five hundred pounds of prize money isn’t significant from a financial perspective, the amount of positive feedback, support, and interest that I received for YouthBank exceeded all my expectations. I truly enjoyed presenting our concept; the energy and enthusiasm of the audience is something I will remember for a long time. Regardless, we’re set to launch our first full center this summer, with new board members, team members, and grant money buoying our efforts.  Photos of the event can be found here: http://www.oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk/media/photos/album/idea-idol-2009/

2. Givology Featured in Knowledge@ Wharton (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2159): Catherine and Danielle got us an amazing amount of press coverage and interest through their podcast on Knowledge@Wharton. After the printing of this article, so many prospective partners and volunteers contacted me, and we witnessed a surge in donor registrations and amount of money donated. Most recently, we got a large batch of student profiles from the Peace Nursery and Primary School in Uganda (https://www.givology.org/~peaceprimary/), which provides boarding and schooling to AIDS and civil war orphans. We’re in the process of building a campaign around this school to raise funding for worthy projects and student scholarships. Our initiative to get chapters started is slowly paying off – so many fundraisers are on the horizon at Penn, and I’m slowly making progress on getting a chapter registered at Oxford.

3. Oxbridge Debate on the Relevance of the Asian Tigers at Cambridge – Having never been to Cambridge before, I jumped on the opportunity to debate at the Cambridge University Asia Law & Business Association annual conference. The 3 vs. 3 Parliamentary style debate was on the topic of the economic relevance of the Asian Tigers in light of the growth of China and the financial crisis. We won the debate; my finance and economics background proved to be useful especially in light of our limited preparation! I realized during the event how much I truly miss the excitement and intensity of debate and public speaking; I wish there was some way for me to continue competing in an alternative style to Parliamentary. Afterwards, we went punting, where I discovered the beauty of Cambridge (I must admit, I found it much more picturesque than Oxford).

4. Education Without Borders Conference (Dubai) – I will be going to Dubai to present a critical analysis paper I submitted to the Education Without Borders conference on “Online Marketplace for Education: Leveraging the Internet for Creative Microphilanthropy Solutions” (Case Study on Givology). The paper can be found here: https://www.givology.org/multimedia/. I’m really looking forward to being a panelist – there’s no better way to get students and key opinion leaders in education excited about Givology and to share our mission and vision. I expect we’ll make lots of useful contacts  

5. Gordon Brown’s Romanes Lecture at the Sheldonian Theatre (http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/090227_1.html) –  I had a chance to hear the Prime Minister of the UK speak last Friday on “Science and our Economic Future”. Overall, I found the talk very enjoyable, though not particularly insightful. (From the talk, I gathered the general sentiment that anyone who pursues science contributes the future of innovation and progress in Britain, while any professional association with finance automatically casts you as a pariah…) I found Brown very eloquent, humorous, and engaging; in my opinion, the most important insight was the necessity of promoting better quality science education. In countries such as China and India more than 80% of college students major in the sciences. In the US and UK, however, only approximately 18% pursue a science degree. Without the “importation” of scientists from abroad, the US economy, known for its dynamism and comparative advantage in human capital, would certainly suffer a drop in innovation and productivity! Alas, perhaps concentrating in the liberal arts is in effect a “luxury” available only to certain social strata given that its main payoff is in the expansion of the mind, not some tangible production of a good. I found the talk particularly ironic, especially set at Oxford, where the ivory tower extends formidably to the sky, irreverent of the passage of time.   

6. Swan Lake @ New Theatre – If only Grace arrived one day earlier, then we would have seen Swan Lake Together!  I know the music by heart, having watched an anime version of Swan Lake, released in 1978, at least hundreds of times while growing up (http://cbl.orcein.net/swanprincess/misc1/anime.htm).  I suppose I am doomed to like anime for the rest of my life; even as a child, not cognizant of the existence of the genre, I found myself gravitating to Hakucho no Mizumi.

7. Varsity Ice Hockey Game – Although we trained very hard in preparation for the game against Cambridge in Peterborough, we lost quite badly. I never realized how big of a deal one game can possibly be, or how pumped and inspired people get. In general, I was quite astounded by the pomp and ceremony of the event, from the ceremonial puck drop the ice cuts in between periods. Nevertheless, given that the game culminates the season and represents the apex of all our efforts, it’s a rather disappointing outcome. A lot of different factors contributed to our loss. I wish I could have made a greater difference; in the end, even though I worked hard every shift, I didn’t play very smart hockey.

8. Grace’s Visit – Gracie is here! I’ve waited for this day for the past three months! I’ve made a list of things of everything we need to do, from dinner at Christ Church, evensong at New College, a concert at the Sheldonian, and a trip to Blenheim Palace, among other things. Oh, my darling little sister, I promise you the best experience ever! (And I suppose given that next week is the last week of term, skipping *a few* classes won’t set me back too far)

Update from Oxford!

It’s been a while since I last updated – so much has happened in the interim period!  I’m really enjoying Hillary term; it’s unbelievable that five weeks have passed. Instead of covering general economic theory, we get to take different development modules, taught by leading experts in the field. From a module on health and human development to capital flows to developing countries, I’ve been reading and learning so many interesting concepts.  In particular, I’m really excited about the Institutions and Development module taught by Paul Collier and Pedro Vicente for this upcoming half of term. Unlike last term, I’m much more settled in – so many speakers come, the college atmosphere is unparalleled, and the student community is very vibrant.

My volunteer work is going very well - I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to apply the theory of program evaluation to actual microfinance projects in Africa. From analyzing data to designing survey instruments and sampling methodologies, I have a chance to put what I learn in my courses into practice.

Ice hockey is also going well – even though we lose consistently and practices run very late into the night, I’m having tons of fun. We have a game against Peterborough this upcoming weekend – perhaps our first chance of victory this entire season! Regardless, as I’ve learned, no game really matters other than Varsity, the final match against Cambridge.  Unfortunately, debate isn’t going as well as I envisioned. I had very high expectations for this semester, but logistically, the committee isn’t pulling together. I admit my own failings in not fully being on top of things, but I’ve been so preoccupied with Givology and YouthBank. As for my portfolio trading team, we’re now fully invested across sectors – let’s see whether we can beat the FTSE (the payoff of 1,000 GBP for every 1% over the index is highly attractive). With markets as crazy as they are, who knows how we’ll fare by the end of next year – there are so many unprecedented, cheap valuations of great companies, but a one-year time horizon is still too short and we don’t have the capacity to short. But since we only have to beat the benchmark, the task is much easier.   

As for project updates, YouthBank is going well. Most notably, YouthBank was selected to be a finalist (top 6) in the Idea Idol competition (http://www.oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk/events/idea-idol/), the flagship business ideas competition run by Oxford Entrepreneurs. All finalists get to pitch their idea to potential investors, receive substantial media coverage, benefit from training and mentorship, and most excitingly, the winner gets £10,000. From what I understand, over 350+ people will be attending the final competition at Said Business School on March 5^th, where the business idea will be presented to a panel of distinguished judges.

Likewise, Givology (www.givology.org) has had a tremendous week. When Nicholas Kristof came to Penn last Monday, we had a chance to share with him our idea. During his keynote speech, he mentioned Givology, and then later, posted a blog post about us! (http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/do-it-yourself-foreign-aid/?scp=1&sq=%22University%20of%20Pennsylvania%22&st=cse). As nearly the entire Givology team are avid readers of his column, we are continually inspired by his work and humbled by his experiences and insights in combating injustice in the world through journalism – we feel really grateful for his support. His blog post has helped us generate a substantial amount of press and attention! As a result, we have raised approximately $700 this week, leading us to a total of $3,280. Also, our grant application for Light for Learning, a project sponsored by AHEAD Energy and the Peace Nursery and Primary School, was nominated as a finalist for the Projects for Peace competition, making us eligible for $10,000. Likewise, Givology has been featured at conferences throughout the world.  Jenn Q represented Givology at the NYC Young Women’s Social Entrepreneurs and Columbia University’s Multicultural Business Association panel on the topic of “Different Faces of Socially Responsible Investing”. In addition, I had a chance to present Givology and our model of Internet microphilanthropy at the Oxford Forum for International Development, where I had a chance to connect and engage with many students who are eager to help. For the Education Without Borders call for papers, I wrote an analysis of online giving marketplaces and microphilanthropy - if you are interested, please let me know and I can send this paper to you; it really does encapsulate our vision and our business strategy.

Since we’re at a critical growth phase, any comments and suggestions on our site would be absolutely wonderful! We’re very much looking to improve our functionality, as well as engage donors by building out our community and emphasizing donor-student relations. I’m working on getting an Oxford Givology Chapter started (along with an ASAP chapter), but we definitely need more students throughout the world to take initiative and do the same in their own schools and local communities. For more information about starting a chapter, please visit: https://www.givology.org/startachapter/.