Khoi Le and Olena Dziuba

For Olena Dziuba, it was a change of countries, as she immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine and found her future at the Anderson School.

For Khoi Le, born in Vietnam and raised in America, it was a change of possibilities, as he will earn an MBA—at just 21 years old—that will open untold doors.

And for the two of them, two Anderson graduates emblematic of the diversity and drive of the UNM learning community, it was a change from idea to opportunity, as their vision for a start-up company won them the $10,000 Technology Ventures Corporation Prize in the UNM Technology Business Plan Competition.

“All of the Anderson faculty, staff and community are working very hard to create opportunities for students and help us launch our careers,” says Dziuba, “and both Khoi and I benefited from multiple scholarships provided by generous donors. The Anderson School has completely changed our lives. That’s what your support can do.”

“The Technology Business Plan Competition gives students the opportunity to start a business, work with scientists and professionals from other fields, and compete in front of venture capitalists and angel investors,” Le says. “Faculty volunteer their free time to run programs like the Entrepreneurial Think Tank to help students. The education, experiences and relationships I have developed at the School will accompany me in all spheres of my life. I hope that opportunity will always be available to those who are willing to work for it—it will take your generosity to make that happen.”

Today, their company is up and running. Southwest Bio-Recycling collects, transports and filters waste vegetable oil left over from restaurant cooking for transformation into clean bio-diesel fuel. The impact of restaurant food production is reduced, as is our dependency on imported energy.

How many worlds, small and large, will Anderson School alumni transform, and will yours be one of them? With your vital support, the answers are “many” and “yes.”