Piniel Berhane is a senior at Pitt majoring in Finance with concentrations in African studies, French and Global Studies. She is a recipient of the 2011-2012 Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Program and is currently an intern at Merrill Lynch, Wealth Management sector. During the summer 2011, Berhane travelled to Ghana to conduct a research on "How microfinance mini-loans help women with small business as well as Ghana's economy" and was as intern with the Volunteer Partnership of West Africa (VPWA) NGO. Her experiences in Ghana introduced her to a new perspective on the success of a business venture. Piniel will share her research project and her experiences as intern and voluteer in Ghana.

Adam Wolfson earned a BA in Sociology, with a minor in Urban Studies and Africana Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006 and an MBA from the Joseph M. Katz School of Business at the Universi-ty of Pittsburgh with a concentration in Strategy and Entrepreneurship in 2011. Currently he works for the Institute of Entrepreneurial Excellence, a resource center at the Katz school of Business. Adam has spent time in Morocco, Ethiopia, Senegal, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana, and Tunisia. In 2007 he started a small scrap metal trading company based in Volta Region, Ghana. Subsequently, Adam established an import company in Ghana and operates his own export company in Pittsburgh. He speaks French, and knows the basics of Ewe and Hausa languages. Adam will speak about his experiences in Ghana, his small business and its impact on the people of the Volta Region in Ghana.