STUDENT LIFE \INTERNATIONAL \SOCIAL CLUBS \ACADEMICS \ PEOPLE \LEADERSHIP \ATHLETICS \ORGANIZATIONS SMALL COMPANY, BIG DREAMS Four seniors created Monity, a start-up company that had the potential to change the future of money transferring, and placed third at Arkansas Governor's Cup. M oniry was a money transfer company created by four students who wanted to help developing countries where there was limited or difficult access to money transfers. Seniors Michael Cruz, Roxana Escobar, Andres Rojas and Jhoel Zuniga had a vision for a company chat would make it easier and cheaper for people in these developing countries to make a money transfer. They entered Moniry into the Arkansas Governor's Cup, a competition intended to promote and fund college students' entrepreneurial ideas. The group won third place and a $10,000 prize after several rounds of competition. This was a big stepping stone for launching rhe company. The ream wanted to create Moniry to make it easier for the developing world to make a money transfer, bur this was nor the only reason they starred Monity. It was nor about the money or receiving credit for starting a business; it was about helping people. "What we are trying to do is develop a financial infrastructure that these individuals can benefit from," Cruz said. "The money transfer services, like PayPal and all that ruff, they were built for first-world countries, and then they try and take their ideals to the developing world, and it just doesn't work, so what we are trying to do is create a platform chat works everywhere. Something char people need." It was one thing to know the marker and to understand the business, but it was another thing to understand the culture in which the business would be put into practice. Seniors Jhoel Zuniga, Michael Cruz, Roxana .Escobar andAndres Rojas preparefor the Governor's Cup competition on April 18, 2018, in the Waldron Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business. In addition to starting in Costa Rica and Panama because ofwider access to technology, Monity planned to spread to developingcountries with limited-to-no access to advanced technology, which made transferring money difficult. \ photo courtesy of Patti Summers Senior Roxana .Escobarpresents the vision ofMonity, a collaborative effort between herselfand three other seniors from Harding University at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas, on April 18, 2018. Monity won third place and a $ 10,000 prize in the Governor's Cup. \ photo courtesy of Patti Summers "We are creating the company, and we understand the market because we basically have walked the same streets that our customers are walking right now. We understand the problem they are facing, and that's what we want to solve," Escobar said. They had plans to conduct market research with a Delea I-Fund they received and then to launch the company in two countries chat were in need of a money transfer service. "For example, right now we are going to start Monity in Cosca Rica and Panama because their education and technology is better, and we can start online," Escobar said. "But if we want to go to Nicaragua, we have to scan thinking about not only online but also in the stores because people usually have to pick up the cash in store." Dr. Kenneth Olree, associate professor of business administration and director of the Waldron Center for Entrepreneurship and Family Business, was the faculty sponsor for Moniry, and he believed chat the business could go far. "I think that they have a realistic shot at making a business that could be really, quite frankly, known worldwide at some point," Olree said. "I think they've got a good plan in place. And the students, as they are working together, there are several things that give them some advantages that other teams or other people that come together to start companies don't have." story by Madison Bassett 90
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