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Gibsons Leave After Nine Months at CIE

After nine months of service and many gifts given to BYU-Hawaii, Stephen and Bette Gibson have returned to their home in Provo, Utah and positions at the BYU campus there. During their short time here, the Gibsons served as volunteers, instructors, mentors and, as always, entrepreneurs.

During their two semesters at BYUH, Brother Gibson, with the help of Sister Gibson, taught Business 383, entrepreneurship for non-business majors, while Sister Gibson, with the help of Brother Gibson, taught a Book of Mormon class in the Religion Department. Brother Gibson was also the Entrepreneur in Residence for the Willes Center for International Entrepreneurship (CIE), helping implement various programs in the School of Business and mentor a number of students for the Business Plan Competition as well as other various business ventures undertaken by BYUH students.

"Steve Gibson is a man of great entrepreneurship knowledge and resources," said Charles "Chuck" Stratton, current Entrepreneurship Specialist at the CIE and Internship Coordinator for the School of Business. Stratton has worked with Gibson closely over the last nine months and known him since through the CIE for years. Stratton mentioned Gibson was one of the twelve founding fathers of the CIE, and spoke of Gibson’s part in mentoring students for the Business Plan Competition, hosted every March by the CIE, as well as numerous other entrepreneurship activities of the students. Stratton added, "He’s great, but not unique for an entrepreneur. He knows what he wants, he’s a go-getter, and he uses all his resources. Those are the skills of a great entrepreneur." As for Gibson leaving the CIE and BYUH, Stratton said he would "love to have him back because he’s a great asset and will continue to be an asset... He will continue to play a role in the mission of the Center."

 
 
A large part of what the Gibson’s hoped to do while at BYUH, they explained, was to spread the spirit of entrepreneurship among the students. Aside from teaching the entrepreneurship class, their involvement with the CIE, they said, was to help all students learn these important business skills. "That’s why the Center office is in the Aloha Center rather than the School of Business," explained Sister Gibson, "so that all students have access to it." Brother Gibson added the students here have a special opportunity and obligation. "I think there’s great opportunities for BYU-Hawaii students to learn here [entrepreneurship] skills so they can go back to their countries and work for an area that I think is crying for the skills they can learn." Their goal is to develop a curriculum for students interested in social entrepreneurship, or businesses which exist to help others, and upon their return to Provo they will be implementing a program there to be taught at the Marriott School of Business.

The Gibsons also shared their love and respect for the BYUH students. "One of the great things about BYU-H is that the students here seem to be more teachable... They listen, they try and apply the things they are hearing, and that’s rare. They are thirsty for information, for learning... And we find that they are confident, but teachable. They listen. They are thirsty for learning. They are humble."

Two students who have been especially influenced by the Gibsons are Rebecca and Jeremi Brewer, recent graduates in TESOL and Spanish. Both were students in the Gibsons’ entrepreneurship class, and Brother Gibson was a mentor to the couple when they entered the CIE Business Plan Competition. They said the class "was the most life changing and influential class we took at BYUH. It changed our point of view of life and changed the way we thought about our future. It motivated us to start a business." They also explained their good friendship with the Gibsons and the positive influence they have been outside of the classroom: "Brother and Sister Gibson’s success in business and marriage is one that we hope to emulate."

 

 
Steve and Bette present the grand prize at the CIE's Business Plan Competition
 
As an entrepreneur, Gibson explained in a past life he was in business to make money, and he did well. Now he has "switched hats," as he said, to the position of a social entrepreneur, in the business of giving back.

Aside from the gifts of knowledge and leadership, the Gibsons have also generously donated in other ways to the University. Since 1998 the Gibsons have sponsored the Stephen W. Gibson Entrepreneurial Scholarship and they are responsible for the bronze Christus housed in the McKay Foyer, which was donated in November 2007. The Christus, a three-feet-tall replica, is just one of the many donated by the Gibsons, with others at the BYU-Idaho and Provo campuses, the LDS Business College, and the Hall of the Prophets in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City. The original plaster cast, made in the 1830s was donated to the Church Museum by the Gibsons after the replicas were made.

The Gibsons shared their personal philosophy in life as: "True joy comes not from the dollars we stack up but in the lives we lift up through sharing with other’s in the Lord’s way," and they have proven this through their actions and business plans. In 1999, the Gibsons started the Academy for Creating Enterprise (ACE) in Cebu City, Philippines, which is an institution where Filipino returned missionaries can gain the skills and knowledge to help them start businesses and lift themselves and their families out of the poverty, which is widespread in the Philippines, even among Church members. The motto of the Academy is "Breaking the Chains of Family Poverty." According to the Gibsons, 82 percent of the more than 1300 graduates have started their own businesses, and many of those employ other LDS Church members.

Another of Brother Gibson’s responsibilities was to head the replacement committee for the director position of the CIE. As of July 16 the new director is James W. Ritchie, former Founder and Chairman of Ritchie Enterprises.

Brother Gibson also explained another project they will start working on shortly after their return to Utah to help fix a potential LDS family problem in Southern Asia. He explained the problem of absentee mothers from the Philippines who move to Hong Kong to work. Of the 1500 Filipina LDS women in Hong Kong, he said, 600 of them have children back in the Philippines. "We are going to be studying that, and seeing if there’s an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these absentee mothers. We will sponsor some research to show how families are affected, and if we believe they are negatively affected, socially and emotionally, even if there are some economic advances, we want to do something about it. There’s nothing like a mother."

-Photos by Monique Saenz