By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Three Fort Hays State University international students spent last year working on a project to assist rural businesses and communities around Kansas.
Fiorella Mendez, 24, of Paraguay; Amadou Diawara, 27; and Mohamed Didi, both of Senegal, created ebooks on human relations, marketing and resources on using AI to easily create digital marketing videos as part of their Rural Project.
Didi received a $650 grant from the graduate school to do research on human resources in rural communities. The three students visited communities surrounding Hays, including Victoria, Russell, Libenthal, Shoenchen and Plainville, and shared their resources.
During his grad studies and through Rotary, Diawara met entrepreneurs from across the area and recognized the need for the resources the Rural Project hoped to offer.
“We wanted to be a part of bringing something to the community because we are all international students, and we all have expertise in certain domains. I am passionate about WebTree technology and AI, and I know how to generate marketing videos with certain software.”
Diawara graduated earlier this month with a master’s degree in marketing.
Didi received his master’s in finance and human resources in December.
Mendez received her undergraduate degree in finance and her graduate degree in marketing from FHSU this spring.
“We thought we should give back to a community that gave so much to us—education or scholarships,” she said. “We thought it would be nice to give to the community and help entrepreneurs locally.”
The human resources guide gave suggestions on how to recruit the right talent for a business or community.
Mendez said many of the small communities in western Kansas are losing population, so recruitment is a real challenge for local small businesses.
Mendez’s marketing guide gave guidance on using new technologies, including social media, to promote businesses.
She said entrepreneurs in rural Kansas are often older and might not feel comfortable using new marketing technology.
Diawara’s guide described how to use Google to create marketing videos with little to no investment. He gave advice on what prompts to use and how to write scripts for the videos.
The three made their resources available for free. They were distributed in person in communities surrounding Hays and through state entrepreneurship partners.
“We wanted to share this knowledge with the most people,” he said.
Diawara added, “I really think it was a great experience because you got to talk to people from a lot of backgrounds. You talked to young entrepreneurs, young people who are working on their family farms, and you learned from them.
“You, of course, want to share your skills and your knowledge, but they have things to teach me. I think it was a good way to learn from each other and learn more about the community.”
Mendez said the people the students met were very friendly, and she enjoyed hearing the stories about their lives.
Diawara said, “We loved the experience, and I learned a lot.”
Didi finished his studies in December and returned to Senegal.
Diawara and Mendez are applying for work permits that would allow them to work an additional year in the United States to gain further work experience.
Barring that, both plan to return to their home countries and work in business.
Although the project has been put on hold, Diawara and Didi worked on a project while in school that would encourage people who had invested in cryptocurrency to use that capital to invest in farming.