In seeking institutions to share its vision for change through enterprise, the College found a great match in the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) in Lima, Peru. An international memorandum of understanding bringing the two universities together was formally signed in May by Tony Frank, provost and senior executive vice president, and Hernando de Soto, president and co-founder of ILD.
Paul Hudnut, instructor at the College of Business in the GSSE Program, says the link between the two institutions is a natural association based on their joint focus on sustainable economic solutions for poverty alleviation.
That became clear, he says, when de Soto – who seeks to reduce poverty through improved policies on business regulation, property rights, and freedom – spoke at Colorado State in September 2006.
“He spent time with faculty, met with donors and administrators, and continued discussions with Dean Ajay Menon about ways to collaborate,” Hudnut says. “They had common ideas on how the business school and ILD could work together on projects targeting economic, social, and environmental change in less wealthy regions of the world.”
The partnership will work on projects to help people in the developing world move out of poverty, based on new models of private enterprise and collaboration.
Hudnut says David Neenan, CEO of The Neenan Co., a development, architectural, and construction firm in Fort Collins, also followed up.
“He was an important part in bringing this all together,” he says. “It took more than a year of getting to know each other before we signed the agreement, it was an honor to be chosen to work with ILD, and it is also a big responsibility.”
Three key areas will be important to the partnership, Hudnut says. “The first will create internships for Colorado State University students in Peru and other places around the world.”
The applied research and training component will allow faculty to work collaboratively with the ILD staff on research and curriculum.
“It’s important that the results of ILD’s poverty alleviation work are written up for others to share,” Hudnut says. “So we’re trying to find faculty that are interested in this field to step in. We hope this will blossom over the years.”
The third key addresses workshops and an annual conference with topics relevant to issues of poverty and development.
“It’s a lot of work, but it’s an exciting opportunity for the College’s students and faculty,” Hudnut says. “It’s a great match for us. These programs allow us to share leading edge work on the power of entrepreneurship to change society in positive ways. It is about research and teaching that has a positive impact on our world.”
Mention Hernando de Soto’s name and economic reforms to help the poor in developing nations come to mind. The Nobel Prize finalist and the man former President Bill Clinton called “the great Peruvian economist,” is president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Lima, Peru, and one of the world’s most foremost leaders in empowering the poor.
The ILD’s partnership with the College of Business is a part of deSoto’s ongoing programs designed to address world issues.
At the time of the signing of the partnership, he said, “CSU’s new program is fantastic. Educating students on how to use private enterprise to address global economic development challenges is both important and exciting. The real-world project experience this program offers will help make its graduates valuable contributors to global society.”
A champion of property rights for the poor and environmental projects to improve their lives, de Soto and his ILD colleagues are focused on designing and implementing capital formation programs to empower the poor in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and former Soviet nations.
In its 1999 issue, “Leaders for the New Millennium,” Time magazine named de Soto one of the five leading Latin American innovators of the century. In 2004, the magazine included him among its 100 most influential people in the world. That same year, the Peruvian National Assembly of Rectors honored him as “most outstanding.”
Lauded in Forbes magazine’s 85th anniversary edition as one of 15 innovators “who will reinvent your future,” de Soto’s ILD, which he founded in 1983, is considered by The Economist to be one of the two most important think tanks in the world.