Mexico City, Mexico—When Jeremi and Rebecca Brewer [left, with Director Miguel Santos] walked across the stage at BYU-Hawaii’s December 2007 Commencement Ceremony, they looked like just ordinary students. But with the Brewers, there is much more than meets the eye. They both finished with a 4.0 GPA, they were the winners of the 2008 Business Plan Competition, they had an established internship in Mexico City immediately after Winter classes and they had already been accepted in a highly sought after a Ph. D program at Texas A&M.
By taking advantage of every possible chance to advance themselves while at BYU Hawaii, the Brewers feel they have received opportunities that no other students like them have.
Currently the Brewers are in Mexico City as interns for both BYUH and the Academy for Creating Enterprise, teaching returned missionaries at the Instituto Agricola, which is an agricultural school, owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are teaching mostly returned missionaries the entrepreneurship skills they learned while at BYUH as well as teaching English to help the students start or improve business ventures.
“Mexicans are entrepreneurs by necessity,” said the Brewers. “They have the facilities and ease of entering the market. What we aim to do at the Instituto is help mix cultural values with better business practices, such as setting goals, writing down costs, and creating organizational structures.”
For the past four months they said they have been “teaching agricultural students at the Instituto Agricola and working alongside President Miguel Santos, the director of the Institute, who was kind enough to let [them] go there. [They] teach 12 lessons about starting one’s own business and helping it grow. The curriculum contains cultural values and business principles. It helps the students take cultural norms and develop them into business success.”
The Brewers (middle left) with their students
The curriculum they are using is new to the institute and also the first of its kind. They explained it was adapted from the curriculum of the Philippine Island based Academy for Creating Enterprise, an entrepreneurship school started by Stephen W. and Bette Gibson for Filipino returned missionaries. What they are doing also heavily parallels what they hope to do with their own business. While BYUH students, with Brother Gibson as a mentor, the Brewers, created a business plan for the Merida English Academy, a school to be established in Merida, Mexico where they will teach English. But their experiences and associations in Mexico have helped them to change their business plan to one that is more solid. “The original business model we prepared, the Merida English Academy, is being transformed into the Merida Business and English Academy with President Miguel Santos, the Instituto director as an associate. President Santos is from Merida and is excited to pursue new business opportunities with us in Merida,” said Jeremi.
Many of the students at the Instituto were excited to share the lessons they received from the Brewers and the improvements they have made since taking the class. One Instituto student, Ernesto Aruna, said he learned many things about business from the Brewers. “I have learned self-discipline,” he said, “and that I need to separate my business money from my family money. Money is money and family is family.” The Brewers explained that many Mexican small business people fail in business because they give their products away to their family members.
In their short time at the Instituto, the Brewers have seen the benefits of applying their teachings.
They shared the experience of one student: “This one student wanted to get engaged to a girl in the class so he started his own little cake microenterprise to buy her a ring. In two weeks, after investing an initial $3 and applying the curriculum we taught, he made a 133% return on his investment, allowing him to purchase a ring and propose. It was his first business venture. It’s sweet to know that they can be successful when they apply the things we teach. Not everyone has succeeded, but four of the eight groups we taught have made over a one hundred percent return on investment.”
The Brewers, who have been married for two years, both served Spanish-speaking missions – Jeremi in the Mexico City South Mission and Rebecca in the California San Diego Mission. They said they enjoyed having the second language in common, but their marriage was strengthened and future plans solidified after they met Steve and Bette Gibson, who served as 2007-2008 BYUH Entrepreneurs in Residence and took the Business 383 class, Entrepreneurship for non-business majors.
“Business 383 was the most life changing and influential class we took at BYUH. It changed our point of view of life and changed the way I think about my future. It motivated me to start a business,” Jeremi said.
With the help of the Gibsons, Director Miguel Santos at the Instituto and many others, the Brewers have been able to complete this four-month internship which has helped them secure a future for themselves and influence the lives of many of the Mexican saints, they said. They were also anxious to share their appreciation. “BYU-Hawaii not only prepared us professionally to teach English, but allowed us the opportunity to understand various cultures, appreciate cultural differences, and establish international peace in a country that is not our own. We feel honored and privileged to have graduated from BYU-Hawaii as our education allowed us to be recognized internationally even in our undergraduate work as we participated now in BYU-H student research associate plan, and the Business 383 Class.”
“None of this would have been possible without Brother and Sister Gibson, President Miguel Santos, and Elder Carlos. Elder Carlos, the Director of the Church’s secondary school in Mexico City, El Benemerito, had the final word on allowing us to come and offer classes at the Instituto Agricola. We would like to publicly thank him and all the others who have helped us for their support and kindness.”