Andrew Rummel, former president of Profit with a Purpose, a CIO on-grounds, and cofounder of Tofali Zetu, a social enterprise, has dedicated his life to making a global impact. Rummel tells us that “someone can teach you technical skills, but being able to sit down and really communicate and understand people is invaluable”. From starting his own social enterprise in Tanzania to running the New York marathon to raise money for Opportunity International, he has used his business and interpersonal skills in a way that is truly inspirational.
Rummel’s passion for social entrepreneurship began on a high school vacation. For his parents' anniversary, instead of going on a stereotypical beach vacation, they decided to take their children, including Andrew, to Africa. One day, they explored a village in Zambia where the homes were made of mud and very few of them even had electricity, which was very different from the life he lived. He found himself talking to local kids about soccer, and even though they only had one TV in the whole village, they still knew more about the sport than he did. This was the moment that sparked his interest in social entrepreneurship, for he wanted to improve the living standards of these kids.
As a kid from Northern Virginia, UVA was always on Rummel’s radar, as about 30% of the student body is made up of kids from this area. What really drew him to the university was the “combination of being able to meet great diverse minded people, the hardcore academics, and the business and social entrepreneurship”. He enrolled during the pandemic, but that didn’t stop him from immediately getting involved in different clubs and organizations. In his first semester, he joined Profit with a Purpose, a club that teaches students about impact investing. Rummel described it as a “great way to understand social impact combined with modern strategies.” These modern strategies include looking at the triple bottom line, catalytic capital and impact metrics. He joined the club in the midst of Covid, and after his first semester, he became a Sector Director, putting him in charge of one of the social enterprise partnership teams. He enjoyed this experience, but also found it very challenging, because you have one semester to find a company to work with and that became very time consuming. On top of that, sometimes the company would not even respond, and they did not get the chance to work with them. His 2nd year he became a Director of the Training Curriculum, where he worked to improve the training program with the executive team in order to help ensure a better success rate for members. He was later elected President, where he developed his own few partnerships that the club would stick with so the students could see their influence on the company by the time they graduate. Rummel has retired from his time as president, but the club continues to thrive, and members are even raising thousands of dollars to do research for the companies they work with. Rummel says “Even when I come back to grounds after graduating hopefully the same mission and values of the club remain.” This was just the beginning of the impacts Rummel would make throughout his time at UVA.
Profit with a Purpose connected him with a summer internship through Blueprint Local, a real estate private equity firm. As an intern, he learned about building affordable multi-family housing, similar to what he now does with Tofali Zetu.
The summer after his 2nd year, instead of getting an office internship in a major U.S. city as most UVA students do, he decided to work for an NGO in Tanzania. He was an innovator at a small local innovation center in the city amongst Tanzanian engineers. During his time, Rummel not only learned a lot professionally, but also about Tanzanian culture by living like a local. He spent his time living with the director of the program, showered with buckets of water, and bonding with his co-workers. Amidst the program, he partnered up with one of the local engineers named Andrea Kulisha, and the two of them began the creation of Tofali Zetu. Rummel says that “just by walking around my house [in Tanzania] at the time, you see a lot of people living in mud and aluminum, which is hard to see from an American perspective.” Rummel and Kulisha began working towards making housing that wasn’t only safer, but also environmentally friendly.
In order to build these homes they are using machines to create bricks from mostly dirt and a little cement. As of now they are using machines imported from Kenya to showcase their idea to the market, but in the future plan on designing their own. These bricks are half the cost as cement but just as stable and much better for the environment. The plan was to tailor the business towards the local economy by going directly to regional communities and selling our machines, creating both jobs and housing. Rummel says that these are “two most foundational pieces of a community”.
By taking a risk and choosing a non-IB job, Rummel not only made a huge difference in the Tanzanian community, but is also very accomplished in his personal life. Rummel competed in the E-Cup Concept Challenge at UVA, which is an annual competition for graduate and undergraduate students [1]. The competition consists of 3 stages: Concept, Discovery, and Launch. In the Concept stage, students present their ideas and can win up to $1,000 in prize money. In the Discovery stage, they focus on customer and product development, during which participants can win up to $5,000. During the final stage, participants showcase their commitment to their venture, and can win up to $20,000 of prize money and resources at this stage. Rummel had major success in this competition and was able to win funds for Tofali Zetu by winning the first two rounds and being a finalist in the last stage. At the end of March 2024, UVA going to Florida State for the ACC Inventure Competition. After graduating in the Spring of 2024, he hopes to do research with an international financial organization or partner with an NGO that is doing work in developing countries. From there he wants to go back to school to study economic development, and then work for the World Bank. Regarding Tofali Zetu, his end goal is to make it a full Tanzanian operation, where he would take an advisor seat.
Rummel had an incredible experience representing UVA in Florida at the ACC Inventure Prize Competition. This competition has been in place for about 9 years, and some of the best schools are invited to compete on live television. The winner receives $15,000 in prize money, second place receives $10,000, and there is also a People’s Choice award. The competition can be described as a college version of the show “Shark Tank, '' as students have to make a live elevator pitch to judges about their business or start-up. This was Rummel’s live television experience and UVA did not compete last year, so the pressure was really on to represent his school as best as possible. The contestant’s ideas ranged from medical companies to apps, but the pressure and stress of being on live TV brought them all together. I watched the recording of the competition on YouTube and was not only impressed by the intelligence and creativity of the contestants but also how entertaining the competition was to watch [2]. The host, Faith Salie, is hilarious and energetic, and all of the pitches were extremely engaging. Salie is the real deal, for she has won an Emmy and contributed to CBS News Sunday Morning [3]. When asked about his time competing, Rummel says he is grateful for this valuable experience and hopes to promote it to fellow UVA entrepreneurs next year to keep the Hoos in the running.
Rummel recommends that everyone “take risks and do something that all your other friends aren’t going to do”. For Rummel, going to Africa changed the trajectory of his career and gave him a unique perspective and experience that no one else had. Furthermore, he recommends networking and connecting with people everywhere you go. These connections have played a profound role in getting him where he is today. From professors to alumni, there are so many people who can provide you with unique opportunities simply by introducing yourself. You never know where life can take you, and it all starts with a simple conversation.
All content is the intellectual property of the Virginia Undergraduate Business Review.
REFERENCES
[1] University of Virginia. (2024). Entrepreneurship Cup | UVA Entrepreneurship. UVA Entrepreneurship. Retrieved April 11, 2024, from https://entrepreneurship.virginia.edu/ecup
[2] WFSU Public Media. (2024). ACC InVenture Prize 2024. Youtube. Retrieved April 11, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/live/gJ_K62bWn9E?si=omCCB-mhWfAFlZa_
[3] Morahan Arts and Media. (2024, April 16). Storyteller. Faith Salie. Retrieved April 16, 2024, from https://www.faithsalie.com/
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