“So … Bakke Graduate University (BGU) has three colleges (business, urban studies and Christian theology) requiring students from 60+ nations to study in all three before they can graduate. Why? Those three subjects don’t really fit well together. I thought graduate degrees were for people who want to be ivory tower professors. What kind of three-headed impractical monsters do you create?”

What follows is the second of three stories about June 2024 BGU graduates and you can see whether BGU’s 20+year mission is insanity or genius. As we approach our fiscal year end on June 30, if these stories make sense to you, we’d appreciate you praying about joining the adventure by donating at bgu.edu/giving.

Dr. Brad Smith

Chancellor

Meet Carolina Meza de Elena Clark, recent MBA graduate:

I am originally from Colombia, South America, but I now live in Waco, Texas. I still work to providing microfinance services in Colombia for women. I do holistic economic and social programs as a way to help people to know about God. My dissertation is about micro finance and the power of the economics of mutuality, investing in people and the planet to transform the way that business is done.

For 10 years I worked with micro finances in Haiti through a non-profit organization. It was very hard to see how to transform communities when they are so broken. So, when I started studying at BGU I realized that it was necessary to invest in businesses so we can be impacting those communities.

If you don’t know what economics of mutuality is, it is a way of thinking and practice to do business development that invests in people to create social transformation sustained by profit. As part of my studies at BGU, I co-founded C&D LLC, a for-profit community development company whose purpose is to invest back into communities and be that bridge for communities and businesses. We aim to link artisans to the global market by offering fair trade, unique, innovative, and high quality sustainable products worldwide. When you change how business is done, everybody wins.

You already love and engender trust among the poorest of the poor. Now you have to also work with bankers, government leaders, and investors. How did BGU’s EMBA help you?

BGU helped me to develop my leadership. I see myself as a bridge, as a way to transform not just myself as a leader, but also to go to be a light to others and an agent of transformation for communities. I can now show the people that it's important to transform communities by empowering people to bring ethical products that are good for the environment, can transform society, are ethically made, and can sell well in the marketplace.

I am grateful to my professors and colleagues at BGU and the valuable lessons they taught me about the principles and philosophies of the economics of mutuality, sustainability, transformation and leadership. They celebrated cultural diversity and recognized the person of God in everything. They instilled in me the confidence to believe in myself. This guidance has transformed me forever and I will be always thankful for it.

Fifteen years ago, almost to the day, I moved to a foreign land where I was welcomed by strangers who embraced me and helped me achieve something greater than myself to fulfill a purpose and help usher in the kingdom of God. It is no coincidence that God brought me here, or that he put me in the right place at the right time. He directed my steps and used every high and every low to elevate me to a place such as this, to be used for His purpose in helping usher in the kingdom of God and unify worlds together for His glory.

We are grateful for how Carolina has been a blessing to us all and will be used of God in even more powerful ways in the future. Please consider a year-end gift to BGU at www.bgu/giving and help BGU continue to serve others such as Carolina doing powerful, practical, transformational work.