November 2018
IUGB FOUNDATION NEWSLETTER
Message From the Executive Director
The theme of this newsletter is giving. One of the most distinctive elements of American culture is what happens in November and December of every year. Most Americans engage with their favorite charities and give time, talent or treasure (money). This is uniquely American and it is absolutely wonderful.  

According to recent statistics, Americans gave $289 billion dollars last year. This level of generosity is the reason why many organizations survive and are able to solve major s ocietal problems like hunger and homelessness, and provide educational access and skills to those who lack them.

At IUG B Foundation, we are raising money to support bright students who need assistance to attend IUGB. Most of our scholarship students would not be able to attend university without our assistance. We love our work and we hope that we are one of your favorite charities this year.

From my mind and heart,
Amini Kajunju
Save the Date to our Holiday Cocktail Party on December 18th
Kick off the Holiday Season with our “Convergence” Cocktail Reception: New friends, drinks and h’ors d’oeuvres! on Tuesday, December 18th, 2018, hosted by digitalundivided and the IUGB Foundation.

digitalundivided is a social enterprise that develops programs to increase the active participation of female entrepreneurs in tech. The International University of Grand-Bassam (IUGB) Foundation, Inc. shares this interest by supporting female entrepreneurs. The Foundation empowers all students by developing the necessary resources to make IUGB, located in Côte d’Ivoire, a center of excellence for higher education in West Africa.  We hope that the convergence of these two organizations will encourage innovative connections!
We invite you to our first-ever co-hosted holiday cocktail reception to make friends and learn about an innovative digital incubator for early stage startups, plus the groundbreaking work of the IUGB Foundation/IUGB! Grab a drink and some great snacks, and mingle with award-winning female tech entrepreneurs, IUGB alumni world changers, and more!

An invitation will be sent out shortly through Eventbrite. Stay tuned.
Moving Up the Chain with IUGB/ GSU/ Strayer University Graduate Maferima Outtara
Meet Maferima Outtara, an IUGB/ GSU/ Strayer University alumna pursuing her goals with tenacity and passion. Maferima is a study in perseverance and she is honoring her educational credentials as we speak, even as she works full-time at Curry Honda of Atlanta. Her educational career began in 2007 with IUGB in Cote d’Ivoire but, by 2011, Maferima arrived in the United States, eager to complete her higher education at Georgia State University.

Maferima’s arrival in the United States to pursue her education in 2011 was just the beginning of many aspects of her educational and work careers. At Georgia State University she received her Bachelor’s
Degree in Economics; her Bachelor’s in Business Administration (Finance); and
she was an honors graduate this month from Strayer University with her Masters of Business Administration Degree. Along the way, she discovered that her true academic calling was supply chain management (aka ‘blockchain’). Maferima decided it would be best to become certified in this specialized management niche, in addition to her already impressive academic credentials.

As a trilingual world student/ employee/ volunteer, Maferima already has an outstanding portfolio, including an IUGB Foundation Internship, Delta Airlines (Customer Service Agent Above Wing); Georgia State University (Student Fundraiser; Student Assistant University Housing) and in Cote d’Ivoire; Audit, Data Entry, Research Intern at the Office General of Customs in Cote d’Ivoire. As a president of the Youth Association of Attoban in Cote d’Ivoire, she worked with her peers to better the living conditions of youth in her neighborhood. She serves as Secretary of the IUGB Alumni and Friends Network (AFNET) and reported on tutoring committee activities and tutored students about basic finance concepts for The Finance Society of GSU. In her free time, she is a TV host at Cvoir Net, a model, and she recently joined the movie industry .

We look forward to see how Maferima will maximize her experience to greatly improve blockchain in countries around the world-and what other discoveries, educational or otherwise, await her.

Maferima said "To our alumna with true grit: we know you will be a success in whatever field you choose, because your determination and persistence will get you there!" She is planning to pursue with her PhD and will return back to Ivory Coast.
It is GIVING SEASON in the USA!
It is GIVING season. This is a special time of year in the USA.  As always, our first priority is to fund our Invest for Success Program which provides scholarships for male and female students lacking the resource to attend International University of Grand Bassam (IUGB) in Cote d'Ivoire.

Thanks to your generosity, our Global Giving Accelerator begun in September to enable rural female students to attend IUGB achieved our goal of raising $5,000 within four weeks. Thanks to this success the IUGB Foundation is now an Accelerator Graduate and we have a permanent partnership with Global Giving's worldwide giving platform!  

This success inspired us to raise our goal to $10,000 so we can send another rural female student to IUGB.  No amount is too small: a gift of $25 covers the book fee per semester per student; $100 covers the technology fee per student per semester and a gift of $3,900 covers ½ of annual academic fees (minus room/board) for one college student. Here is the link for Global Giving
Yet another way to give scholarship funds for Invest for Success is through IUGB Foundation's Georgia Gives/Giving Tuesday campaign.  This is our first year participating in this campaign.  Here is the link for Georgia Gives
However you choose to give, you are giving a student who would never have a chance to study at a University like ours a superior education and a future in leadership and change for West Africa and far beyond.   Please feel free to share these links with your friends and peers. Thank you for your support. 
Opportunities and Events

The Birchtree Global Incubator Accelerator Program (BGIAP) is a comprehensive program, custom designed to give business leaders the information, resources, and contacts needed to make informed global market entry decisions. BGIAP is customized for participants and organized from a for-profit corporate perspective.