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Kenan Institutes Work Together to Aid Tsunami Recovery
Khun Wirat Nontong is a fisherman in the Phang Nga province in Thailand. The December tsunami destroyed his tiger prawn fishing business, and 100 employees lost their jobs. In addition, all of his suppliers and clients live in an area that is now completely destroyed, leaving him with little business.
In the wake of the tsunami, the lives and businesses of tens of thousands of people in southern Thailand have been devastated. More than 5,300 people have lost their lives, more than 3,100 are missing, around 10,000 are injured, and thousands of houses and businesses have been destroyed.
“Thousands of people have had their means of earning a living swept away. Most of the people impacted by the disaster are small entrepreneurs, craftsmen and retailers,” says Paul Wedel, director of Kenan Institute Asia (KIAsia) in Bangkok, a sister institute of the business school’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. “They own and operate beach bungalows, dive services, boat transport services, small restaurants and shops. Many fishermen own and operate their own boats. If they cannot re-equip or re-establish their small businesses, they will be reduced to being unemployed laborers, adding financial stress to the mental trauma of having lost friends and family.”
KIAsia sent assessment teams of business and education experts in January to areas hardest hit by the tsunami. KIAsia, working closely with the Kenan Institute in both Chapel Hill and Washington, D.C., — along with other partners — has launched the Tsunami Recovery Action Initiative (TRAI) to provide:
- Medium-term small business assistance to help families regain their livelihoods.
- Help for affected students so they have access to quality education.
“What makes our approach particularly unique is that it is addressing entrepreneurial and small business development needs among those affected by the disaster so that recovery can be sustained,” says Jack Kasarda, director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise in Chapel Hill. Examples of small business assistance include writing loan applications, developing mini-business plans and advising businesses on environmentally sound rebuilding practices.
More than $100,000 has been allocated already for TRAI from the KIAsia endowment. USAID authorized reprogramming of KIAsia’s funding for small business development to focus on rebuilding businesses destroyed by the disaster. In addition, private corporate donors to KIAsia have authorized the use of $50,000 for students affected by the tsunami as the first step in corporate assistance through the Kenan Institutes.
“The ability to mobilize private resources to help the public interest is one of the areas of focus for the Kenan Institute,” adds Jennifer Bremer, director of the Kenan Institute’s Washington Center.
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Parents of Marsha (age 9), Bim (8),
Bon (10) and Bua (7) are missing. Funding education for children is a priority of the Kenan Institutes' recovery effort. |
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The tsunami left schools demolished, teachers missing and students orphaned, homeless and without money. In the province of Phang Nga alone, 10 schools were destroyed, 200 students lost parents, and 1,400 students were left homeless. Until families are economically viable again, scholarships are needed so that children may attend school, Wedel says.
The Kenan Institutes, the Thailand-based Friendship to Community Foundation and the North Carolina-based Triangle Community Foundation have jointly launched the Tsunami Recovery Action Fund to distribute financial resources for education and small business recovery. Funds will go to local communities, agencies and non-governmental organizations that have innovative projects which meet the objectives of sustainable redevelopment.
The Kenan Institutes are working closely with government agencies and the private sector to target financial resources, technical assistance and volunteers to make the greatest impact in the hardest hit communities.
“One of the real challenges is that people and companies want to work with local organizations, and they’re not sure which organizations to work with,” Bremer says. “We’re trying to use this as a mechanism to strengthen local institutions to respond to whatever the current community problems are.... As communities recover, how do we get consensus on these issues?”
“We’re also hoping to work with corporations to strengthen their employee volunteer programs; this is something we can really contribute to,” Bremer adds.
Bremer hopes this is just the beginning of what the Kenan Institutes, their development staff in Thailand and their research centers might be able to do long term in terms of an integrated approach to recovery efforts.
“There’s an opportunity to mobilize university resources outside the business school as well. In a lot of areas affected by the disaster, structures were built on sensitive ecosystems. There’s an opportunity to relocate these businesses to places where they will have a less damaging ecological impact,” she says.
Tax deductible contributions can be made to support the Tsunami Recovery Action Fund at http://www.trianglecf.org/ .
Alum Leads Business Development for Cartoon Network New Media
Justin Williams watches cartoons for a living. If you've ever wondered what it's like to
love your career, learn from the director of business development at Turner Broadcasting's Cartoon Network New Media, who's parlayed thinking like a child and using an Executive MBA ('04) from UNC Kenan-Flagler into his dream job.
Always animated, this Athens, Ga., native applied his journalism degree from UNC-Chapel Hill to covering the 1996 Olympic Games as a newspaper photojournalist. He honed digital photography and content publishing with startup CitySearch.com in Raleigh and was promoted to editorial team leader in Atlanta.
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| Justin Williams |
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Williams led Turner Broadcasting and Cartoon Network New Media's development of the Internet's largest community-based site for kids in 2000. Working with Scooby, the Powerpuff Girls and Fred Flintstone, in 2002 he became director of business development. Williams repurposes Cartoon Network's extensive cast of characters to new digital platforms like mobile phones, interactive television and video-on-demand in subscription and advertising-supported formats.
"As a kid, I took toys apart faster than I got new ones," says Williams. "Now I blend wonderful content and characters with cutting-edge technology. Cartoon Network's presence is so strong, my job is so challenging, because kids are fearless about new technology, demanding content they want, wherever they want."
Williams enjoys Cartoon Network's risk-taking, entrepreneurial culture, dating back to Ted Turner's tenure (before Time Warner's takeover of Turner Broadcasting). "Despite being part of the world's largest media company," says Williams, "we quickly create the most imaginative comedic and action content for kids."
At age 30, Williams knows many of his peers stick with technology they're comfortable using. But Williams is paid to play, seeking animated content captivating enough to forget reality - until his business side demands reinventing for wider audiences.
In 2003, Williams enrolled in UNC Kenan-Flagler's Executive MBA Program, traveling from Atlanta to Chapel Hill on alternating weekends. "I knew midway through the program I wasn't going to kill myself doing it," Williams says to comfort Executive MBA candidates. "My job wouldn't disappear or blow up. My wife and I shared a balanced personal life."
"School was rewiring my software - my brain - and changing my world view," says Williams. "I chose general management, marketing and strategy electives to match my career path. The program provided a skill set that makes every workday more productive for me."
Williams adds, "General management expertise helps me envision a business evolving from its early planning and technology stage. I have the confidence, decision-making capabilities and knowledge for innovative and practical visions to synchronize future content and products in a nascent industry."
He compares those first months at Cartoon Network to fortune telling or rolling dice. "With strategy, rather than gut feelings, I apply quantitative models and thought organization to measure, catalog and communicate," says Williams.
At UNC Kenan-Flagler, Williams learned marketing is more than just advertising. "It's something I'll fight for years," he says, "convincing media company execs that pricing, public relations and distribution are essential to marketing plans."
Williams hears voices - in a practical way. He confesses, "No matter how happy you are, you never get rid of that 'what else?' in your head motivating you to return to school, cherish your personal life, create the never-done-before at work."
His responsibilities not only include content for kids, but also for Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's programming for the grownup kids among us. He duplicates his U.S. duties at international corporate sites. "Travel is in my blood," says Williams. The pair of airline seats in his office are both a guest couch and fond reminders of business trips with his dad and admiration for his grandfather, a Delta pilot. "I idolized him for that job," says Williams.
Williams and wife Suzanne's future progeny will enjoy growing up with a dad who loves his job.
Imagine being the kid who tells his friends - My dad and I work together: Watching cartoons.
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