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UBELONG:Affordable International Volunteering

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UBELONG is a new study abroad organization that was founded by two former classmates from Cornell University. Through this organization, the founders hope to encourage more volunteerism abroad at a low cost for students. Programs are currently offered in six countries across the world and growing every day.

I am fascinated by the fact that you were heading to Wall Street and the co-founder Raul was heading into academia. How did each of you stray from those paths and finally decide to start UBELONG? Why is this organization so important to you?

RAUL:

A volunteer in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in an orphanage.

I have been involved in international development work for over 13 years, and I have always managed to combine my work as a practitioner, consultant and social entrepreneur with teaching and research at universities. As a professor in international affairs I have never been confined to the ivory tower. Even as a doctoral student I was involved in multiple consulting assignments that took me to over 15 countries across the developing world. I now teach part-time at Johns Hopkins and Cornell.

Some people may think that my path is not conventional, but my work with students as a university professor moved me to co-found UBELONG with Cedric. What I still strive to do in my courses is to inspire others to add value to society, fulfill their potential as global citizens, and get involved in real issues at the ground level. That is exactly what we are doing at UBELONG but at a much larger scale. We are inspiring people of all backgrounds to share their talent in important causes and educating them about global issues.

CEDRIC:

Raul Roman during a visit to a shelter for street kids in Saigon, Vietnam, where UBELONG volunteers teach English.

From volunteering in a local hospital and with my town’s ambulance corps when I was in high school to giving my parents fits [for] travelling alone to Spain to bike the Camino de Santiago when I was fifteen, I have always had a passion for community service and travel. At Cornell I majored in economics and management and focused on international development courses. After graduating I worked in investment banking in New York. I had student loans to pay back and banks were the only ones hiring business majors at the time. From a networking and intellectual point of view my banking experience was incredible: I met a lot of smart people and learned skills that continue to help me today.

However, in 2009, after many all-night kick in the rear “where is my life going?” conversations with Raul, I decided to make the jump and launch UBELONG. Professionally it was an easy decision. We’re both passionate about international volunteering and together we have the experience, network and skills to create an organization as complex as UBELONG. The market is also wide open; there is no organization in the world that combines affordability, flexibility and quality like UBELONG.

From a personal standpoint the decision was more difficult. The tale of “entrepreneurs leaving it all behind and following their dreams into the sunset” is a Hollywood myth. Leaving a steady paycheck is scary and stepping from behind a big corporate name to stand alone can be invigorating but also very lonely. Moreover, the famously long hours that investment bankers work are part-time when compared to what you need to put in to launch an organization. Raul and I haven’t worked less than 90 hours a week since 2009, and with how rapidly UBELONG is growing that will continue into 2011.

But I love it. I don’t have a job, I have a passion. As challenging as launching UBELONG has been there is nothing else in the world I would rather be doing.


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