Friday March 20th - Matt Paston

The Final day of work with our entrepreneur groups had finally arrived. It seemed like yesterday that we had arrived in Nicaragua, but now we were all scattering to prepare our final presentations due today. In the morning we all gathered for another traditional Nicaraguan breakfast. Although many of us looked worn down from a string of nights with a lack of sleep, we were excited to present all of the hard work that we had accomplished over the past few days.

            Each group showed their findings with the entrepreneurs in 15-20 minute presentations. Every group put together PowerPoint presentations that were all very professional looking and well done. In general, groups included the following items in these PowerPoints: basic overview of the business, SWOT analysis, list of improvements/recommendations, and plans for the future. Each group included certain items that really set themselves apart, such as accounting spreadsheets, new brand messages, refinancing options, and much more!

I was extremely impressed by how much work was done in such a short amount of time. Every group put in long hours of hard work during the day with their entrepreneurs and long hours at night to prepare for the next day’s work. After meeting with the entrepreneurs on the first day, we all grew attached to them and really wanted to do our best to help positively impact their lives and businesses in the future.

After each of our individual presentations, the entrepreneurs had the opportunity to speak about their experience working with us. Every single one of them expressed tremendous amounts of gratitude for our help and time. Seeing some of the entrepreneurs teary-eyed really had an impact on me. At that moment, it really set in how amazing this opportunity is that I had a chance to be apart of. As much as the entrepreneurs learned from us (from a business perspective), we all learned just as much from them (from a personal perspective).

My group had the opportunity to present our gifts raised through our fundraising to all 12 of the ladies of Condimentos del Carrizal. Seeing their faces as we rode in the pickup truck with all of the new materials strapped on the roof was an unforgettable feeling. The looks of overjoy and also disbelief confirmed in my head how incredible this opportunity is for everybody involved.

That evening we all dressed up in our nicest clothing for our last dinner in San Juan Del Sur. We ate at “El Timon,” a beautiful restaurant that allowed us to dine on the beach while listening to live music. The atmosphere was awesome and everybody reminisced on the amazing times we have had working with the UAM students, the entrepreneurs, and each other!