In collaboration with Monmouth’s Enactus Club and Future Business Leaders Organization, the Leon Hess Business School hosted its first kick-off event for its new Mentoring Beyond Borders (MeBB) initiative on Monday, Nov. 8.
This program aims to not only foster Monmouth students’ practical, real-world transferrable skills across the globe, but to also aid in the development of students and organizations abroad.
Assistant Dean of the Leon Hess Business School (LHBS), Professor Janeth Merkle, advises for Enactus and assists in spearheading the launch of MeBB. Merkle pointed out that this cooperation between clubs and agenda was initially made by Dean of the Leon Hess Business School, Raj Devasagayam, Ph.D.
“Through the connection made by Dean Raj Devasagayam and his vision for MeBB to have a broader reach, the University of Mumbai is on board to be a participant in this initiative. In particular, we expect graduate students from Mumbai to give a presentation on developing negotiations skills as one of the first topics for our Monmouth LHBS and Trinity University of Asia (TUA) students,” explained Merkle.
In MeBB’s first event Friday night, the virtual discussion forum was between Enactus members, Monmouth Future Business Leaders, and undergraduate students from Trinity University of Asia of the Philippines. Dustin Ho, Vice President of Enactus, opened the floor for introductions. “We know this has been a long time in the making, and we hope that we can build off one another to further catalyze each other’s desire to learn,” stated Ho.
Merkle said, “This is a great start to future and deeper collaboration with the students at Trinity University. Our Monmouth students have an established network that can be really helpful in igniting global mentorship opportunities such as this one.”
After introductions, Leslie Cruz, President of Enactus, gave an introductory presentation, sharing more about the goals and aspirations for the MeBB program. “In this meeting, we plan to go over the MeBB mission statement as well as details about upcoming mentoring workshop plans,” said Cruz. For starters, “The MeBB Program is dedicated to collaborative community engagement that provides societal impact through partnerships between LBHS students and students abroad.”
Cruz continued, “Our mentoring activities will be focused on three main areas: personal development, career development, and personal finance. All of this is in hopes of enhancing students’ competitive edge in the job market, whether in the States or in the Philippines.”
Dustin added, “We built our workshops around the responses that students from TUA gave us so that it is that much more impactful and beneficial.”
Cruz then concluded the presentation with some future workshop dates that MeBB plans to host for TUA students. Additionally, Merkle mentioned that a new and upcoming development is that graduate students from Mumbai plan to host a presentation in the near future, touching on those categories Cruz had previously mentioned earlier on in the meeting.
Post-meeting, Merkle gushed over Monmouth students’ resilience and commitment to facilitating a positive experience for the TUA students abroad. “I am proud of our Enactus and MFBL students. It takes commitment and passion to be of service to others. We hope that their impact could contribute to the lives of TUA students as they prepare to be in the job market,” said Merkle.
