Amway recently announced the grand prize winners of its “Who Cares Challenge,” and Bethany Carter, a junior majoring in political science at The University of Alabama, was one of the five winners.
The challenge calls for people and groups to tell their stories of helping improve their communities. The contest was open to young adults and teens ages 13 to 22, and winners were chosen by having their stories voted for online.
The grand prize for the contest was $10,000 awarded to a nonprofit of the winner’s choice and an all expense paid trip to “We Day,” a youth empowerment event, to be held in Minnesota Oct. 8.
Carter entered the contest on behalf of the student-led microfinance organization, Forza Financial. Carter currently acts as the grant writer for Forza Financial.
Three students founded Forza Financial at the University in 2009. Saahil Agrawal, the chief operations officer of Forza and a senior majoring in mechanical engineering, said Forza was created to meet the needs of entrepreneurs in Alabama.
“Internationally, microfinance is huge, but domestically it’s not big at all so we’re trying to bridge that gap in Alabama,” Agrawal said.
Forza gave out its first loan in March 2012 and since then has been able to give out five more loans. The loans range from $500-$5,000 and are designed for entrepreneurs who would not typically be able to get loans from a bank, Agrawal said.
Because Forza is such a new nonprofit organization, Carter said they do not yet have the status 501(c)(3), which gives the organization federal recognition as a nonprofit organization. Although Forza is in the process of attaining 501(c)(3) status, Carter said it is difficult for the organization to receive grants without the status.
Carter said she has entered many contests similar to the Who Cares Challenge because, for the time being, that was one of the only ways Forza was able to receive funding. Carter learned of the Amway’s challenge through an email that was sent to all members of Lend America, a national organization of campus microfinance institutes of which Forza is a part.
Both Carter and Agrawal said they were excited because the win came at crucial time for Forza.
“We now have several opportunities for new loans and new clients,” Carter said. “There are two or three new clients that we could use this funding for. It is exciting to get this funding now right when we have three prospects and because most of our funding goes straight to the clients.”
Agrawal said the long-term benefits of winning this money were substantial.
“We are always looking for capital, with $10,000 we can fund at a minimum three businesses, which can be reinvested, and then paid back and go back into three more business. So in three years we could fund nine businesses with $10,000,” Agrawal said.
In addition to loans, Forza also offers educational seminars and one-on-one business coaching to help new entrepreneurs with financial literacy. Forza is unique in that it continues to follow up with the entrepreneurs that were loaned money to help them overcome any obstacles and ensure success in their business endeavors.
Forza is one of only a few student microfinance institutions in the United States.
“This publicity is really great for Forza and publicizes our name to other large organizations,” Carter said. “It takes us outside Alabama. Opportunities like this are really great and we hope to have more of them in the future because it is such a unique student organization and not many schools have them.”
Agrawal and Carter said any students interested in becoming involved with Forza should apply for its internship program, and students do not need to have a business background to get involved.
