Pages: 1 2
With a degree in business administration and computer science, and experience in the business and development departments of Bell Sympatico and Research in Motion, Greg Overholt was set for a successful and lucrative career in the tech business world.
Upon his graduation from Wilfrid Laurier University, however, his focus shifted from the corporate world to one of social entrepreneurship.
But Overholt’s entrepreneurial product is not the latest cell phone application or ultra-thin laptop design – his first product was a four-stall washroom for a school in Belize.
By working with students from across Canada over the last five years, Overholt has used Students Offering Support (SOS) to champion student engagement, active citizenship, and the promotion of education to fight child poverty.
SOS also helps students at home by co-ordinating and running group exam review sessions in exchange for a donation. At the end of the year, the money is used to build education-based sustainable development projects in Latin American nations, which are built by student volunteers who travel there on outreach trips.
To find out how Overholt came up with SOS, what advice he has for other young social entrepreneurs, and what he hopes to accomplish in the future with SOS, check out the interview below.
Q. How did you come up with the business model for Students Offering Support?
A. I started a club at Wilfrid Laurier University. We knew we wanted to help our peers at home, as well as help others around the world who were less fortunate than us. We did not know how to connect our two goals, so we had a brainstorming session and came up with the idea of tutoring our peers in interactive sessions before exams and then donating the money raised to non-profit organizations doing development work in poorer nations.
Q. When did you know that SOS would become more than just a project?
A. In SOS’s third year, we had an exponential increase in growth, tutoring 1,100 students and raising $65,000. That year, in August, we travelled to Belize with 18 student volunteers to build our first development project. The tremendous effort that the volunteers put into the SOS model, as well as on the project site in Belize, was nothing short of amazing.
Page 1 Page 2
One Response to “Young entrepreneur profile: Students Offering Support’s Greg Overholt”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[...] Part 2 of my interview with Greg Overholt, executive director of Students Offering Support, (check out Part 1 here) he explains how SOS is thriving thanks to student volunteers, why students should volunteer to [...]