JCU students launch club that's all business and a little more

By Josiane El Khoury

ROME, March 4 -- Last semester, two John Cabot University students had the idea of forming a business club. The project proved too big, however, and it could not be sorted within a few months. 

After much planning, fulltime JCU students Dafina Lalevski and Alessandro Strolla say they are ready to finally lunch the project this semester. “Last semester we started with nothing,” says Strolla, “but today we have the foundation of our club.”

Their goal is to build up an international business society in JCU providing the students with business practice and a preparation for their future careers.

“We believe it is useful, because the theory we study in school needs to be applied somehow. Until you are there on the market you cannot understand,” affirms Strolla.

At the moment they are organizing a charity event for Kenya. The occasion is scheduled for April 8 in the JCU courtyard. Tickets and T-shirts are going to be sold around the school. Food, beverages and music are going to be provided for the night, and the group have invited the Kenyan Ambassador to Italy to give a speech. 

What is the charity? JCU Professor Susan Fuller learned that the offices of Rural Outreach Program, a non-government organization in Butere, western Kenya, were destroyed by vandals after the disputed elections in December, 2007. The presence of the ROP was vital for the community in Butere, providing the local population with many services aimed to reduce poverty and illiteracy. 

Today, ROP needs financial support, not only to reconstruct the buildings, but also to help the people who have lost their business during the attack. Instead of devoting just a part of the money to charity, the JCU business club has decided to all the proceeds to the Kenya initiative.

Closer to campus, the business club next fall plans to launch a JCU store.“It is extremely important because we are going to run it as a real company,” says Strolla. The aim is to sell new products, yet to be specified, for the students.

The third project, which has recently been launched, is a student stock market competition. JCU students can buy and sell real stocks with $1500 in fake money with a very real prize -- €100.