Students in Free Enterprise
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| SIFE | |
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| Formation | 1975 |
| Type | NGO |
| Purpose/focus | Bring together the top leaders of today and tomorrow to create a better, more sustainable world through the positive power of business |
| Headquarters | Springfield, Missouri |
| Region served | More than 40 Countries Worldwide |
| Membership | 48,000+ |
| Official languages | English |
| President & CEO | Alvin Rohrs |
| Website | www.sife.org |
Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) is an international non-profit organization that works with leaders in business and higher education to mobilize university students to make a difference in their communities while developing the skills to become socially responsible business leaders. Participating students form teams on their university campuses and apply business concepts to develop outreach projects that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need. An annual series of regional and national competitions provides a forum for teams to present the results of their projects, and to be evaluated by business leaders serving as judges. National champion teams advance to the prestigious SIFE World Cup. In addition to the community aspect of the program, SIFE’s leadership and career initiatives create opportunities for learning and exchange among the participants as well as the placement of students and alumni with companies in search of emerging talent.
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[edit] History
SIFE was established in 1975 in the United States. The founder of SIFE was Robert T. Davis, a lawyer from Texas. He founded SIFE on behalf of the National Leadership Institute.
SIFE was originally a regional leadership training program attended by university students who were required to teach their communities what they had learned. Eventually, these university students were judged competitively on the outcomes of their efforts. The principle remains the same today but the scope has been broadened to encompass both teaching and learning through practical application of knowledge and skills gained at university, in the wider community by means of student-designed outreach projects.
[edit] Operating model
SIFE projects are undertaken by highly dedicated student teams of more than 1,600 university campuses in 38 countries. SIFE offers these students the opportunity to develop leadership, teamwork and communication skills through learning, practicing and teaching the principles of free enterprise, in hopes of improving the standard of living for millions in the process. Guided by distinguished faculty advisors and supported by businesses around the globe, SIFE Teams teach important concepts through educational outreach projects, including market economics, entrepreneurship, personal and financial success, and business ethics to better themselves, their communities and their countries. Each year, SIFE competitions are held worldwide, drawing together thousands of students and business leaders to pay tribute to these educational outreach projects.
[edit] Competitions
The SIFE programme year ends with the overall competition. This process provides teams with the opportunity to present their outreach projects to a panel of judges who evaluate those projects and determine which teams had the most impact improving the quality of life and standard of living for members of their community.
This competitive process creates a "best-practice" sharing environment and is aimed at fostering a healthy spirit of competition, which encourages and rewards excellence.
Every country that operates a SIFE programme, at minimum, organises a national competition, from which one institution will be named national champion and advance to compete at the SIFE World Cup. Countries that operate large SIFE programmes may host a series of regional competitions to narrow down the number of teams eligible to compete at their national competition.
In every country around the world, and at each level of the overall competition, the format, rules and judging criteria remain the same.[1]
In the United States, competition will consist of regional competitions, a USA National Exposition[2] with the overall winner in the 4-year university and winner in the 2-year university category advancing to the World Cup.
For the past two years the SIFE World Cup has been won by the Université Française d'Égypte.
The 2012 SIFE World Cup will be held on October 2012 in Washington DC, United States of America.
[edit] Judging criteria
Central to the competitions are the criteria to which each team is judged. These remain the same throughout the world.[3]:
The previous SIFE criteria was as follows: How effectively did the SIFE team measure and demonstrate that it created economic opportunity by helping others:
- Understand how a market based economic system operates.
- Acquire the education and skills training needed to succeed in a dynamic, competitive global economy.
- Learn how to succeed as an entrepreneur and/or improve an existing business.
- Develop the personal financial management skills necessary to achieve financial independence.
- Make environmentally sustainable personal and business decisions.
- Understand that the long-term success and prosperity of a market economy, businesses and individuals are dependent on ethical business practices.
- How successfully did the team develop and execute a strategy to ensure the long-term sustainability of their team and educational programs.
Starting in the 2010-2011 Year (and from here on out), SIFE has changed its criteria into one criterion. The criterion is as follows:
``Considering the relevant economic, social and environmental factors, which SIFE team most effectively empowered people in need by applying business and economic concepts and an entrepreneurial approach to improve their quality of life and standard of living.``
[edit] Partners and donors
SIFE holds several high-profile partnerships, such as HSBC, PepsiCo, Unilever, DELL, Campbell's, Microsoft, GlaxoSmithKline, KPMG and Procter & Gamble. SIFE partners include corporations, organizations and individuals' foundations. List of SIFE Corporate and Organizational Partners
List of SIFE Individual Donors
[edit] Governance
The SIFE World Headquarters operations are led by a staff of more than 60. In addition to the World Headquarters team, more than 100 other staff manage the day-to-day operations of each SIFE country.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: SIFE |
