COBA students studying abroad in Leipzig, Germany, continued their coursework and site visits this week. Pictured below is the group on a typical Thursday morning sitting in a Financial Management class from 9:00 am – noon in Leipzig.
During breaks, the group has met and had the opportunity to visit with refugees from Syria and Iraq. The refugees are taking an intensive German class so they can live and work here in Germany.
Wednesday, the group went to Social Impact Leipzig, an early-stage incubator for social entrepreneurship ventures. Their host was Jennifer Pauli.
She showed the group around the location, which is primarily shared office space for firms that are participating in the incubator program. Then they heard pitches from some of the firms that are currently in the program.
One of the pitches was given by Mike from Night Bank. His firm is similar to AirB&B, but with a socially minded twist. People with unused rooms donate them to Night Bank for a specified number of nights. Night Bank books tourists and guests in the rooms and charges them a fee. Night Bank then uses 90% of the fees they collect to support aid projects around the world. One recent project was a water collection tower in Kenya. The person who donates their room to rent gets to select the project they would like their fees to support.
We’ll continue to blog about the adventures of our group in Leipzig as their time starts to wind down and another group travels to Asia. Keep checking back and share this blog with your friends!