Cameron MBA Class Project Leads to Non profit Career Calling
 What began as Afowiri “Kitz” Fondzenyuy’s 2006 Cameron School of Business MBA project on ethics and corporate social responsibility, eventually opened the door to a career in philanthropic nonprofit management and the opportunity to help to improve health and educational services in his native country of Cameroon, Africa.
Beginning with a simple shipment of soccer balls to his former village of Ngondzen, Fondzenyuy has nurtured the class project seed into Amom Charity, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Amom recently raised funds to purchase 251 English textbooks for the primary school in his village.
Amom, which means “keep on trying,” in a Cameroonian dialect called Lamso, aims to provide literacy support, youth development, recreation and sports, need-based scholarship programs, financial assistance, and management and technical assistance to educational institutions in rural Cameroon. The organization is also working to supply generic drugs to the local health centers, restore health facilities by providing equipment and improve water supply.
Among Amom’s board members and staff are fellow Cameron School of Business graduates Anne Nazareno, Kashif Khurshid and of course, Fondzenyuy’s source of inspiration, Dr. Michele Simms, assistant professor of management and marketing, whose mandatory community project led Fonzenyuy to fulfill his calling.
“The Cameron School of Business has changed my life by helping me find my passion in life,” he said. “Dr. Simms taught us about social responsibility and entrepreneurship, and she gave us opportunity to go out into the real world to use our business education to make a difference. You tend to forget the impact that little things can have on people. That was the wakeup call that led me to where I am.”
Fondzenyuy’s work with Amom charity garnered the 2006 Greater Houston Business Ethics Scholarship Award. In addition to an MBA in finance and international business he earned from UST in 2006, Fondzenyuy went on to earn an additional master’s degree in finance from Tulane University. He was also accepted into the highly competitive three-month Strategic Frameworks for Nonprofit/Nongovernmental Organizations at the Harvard Kennedy School. He has also been invited back to Dr. Simms’ class to share his journey and his success with current MBA students.
For more information about Amom Charity, visit www.amom-charity.org. |
