Business student dreams big
Pasiuk heads to Thailand over reading break
February 20, 2007
Alison Fraser, Staff Writer
Budding entrepreneur and Trinity Western University student Matthew Pasiuk isn’t waiting until he has his degree to get involved in business – he’s doing it right now, both at TWU and around the world.
In his time at TWU so far, Pasiuk has been a part of the Student Business Association (SBA) as its freshmen representative and is currently its executive Vice President. He has also acted as the business representative on the TWU Student Association this year.
Pasiuk, who was born and raised in the Fraser Valley, sees opportunity in international business. His excitement for the possibilities of business overseas was sparked when he went on TWU’s Kenya Travel Study last summer.
“In my studies there, I looked at poverty issues from a small business focus,” said Pasiuk. While in Kenya he worked on a team to help about 20 women - mostly widows - set up small enterprises.
“I think it’s good to see how business is done in other parts of the world,” he said. “It is a lot less driven in terms of efficiency, [and is] more focused on relationships than time constraints.”
Pasiuk hopes he will be able to take what he learned from this overseas experience and apply it in another part of the world. Over spring break he will be going to Thailand along with some of his dorm mates and their fathers.
“It’s a new kind of missions trip,” he said. The trip was planned in partnership with Pasiuk’s dorm, the Entrepreneurial Residence, and the missions organization Childcare International.
“We are going to a youth trade school where they are taught a specific trade and then encouraged to go out into the market and make their living off of that,” said Pasiuk. “What we’ve heard is that they’ve had trouble bridging the transition between school and setting up their business.”
“We’re going to work with these youth and try to come up with practical business plans and try to get them off the ground,” he said. “We’re not just there for the short term, but we are going to try to build long term relationships with these people and encourage and support them in whatever way we can.”
To raise funds for the trip, Pasiuk and the SBA set up a Bachelor Auction held at TWU two weeks ago. “We raised over
$1 200 that will go directly to these youth in helping them set up their businesses,” said Pasiuk.
He believes that this trip is “revolutionary” in terms of missions trips. “There has never really been an entrepreneurial missions trip,” he said. “It should be an adventure.”
There will likely be many more of these adventures in his future, as Pasiuk plans to go to England on a travel study this summer, and attend the Laurentian Leadership Center this fall. Passionate about helping others, Pasiuk would like to see resources used in a positive way to impact others.
“Wealth is something that can be a very powerful tool and we should channel it, not keep it,” he said. “I believe that if you are always investing in others, and investing in things that you believe in, that is where you find the most fulfillment.”
Now you go...
Got something to say?