People in Salt Lake Valley can now have a shaved ice to refresh themselves during the hot summer, while saving the world with a small contribution at the same time.

Two BYU and University of Utah alumni entrepreneurs have decided to join forces to create a business that can help micro-loan candidates from Africa fund their small businesses.

After ordering from one of the more than 50 flavors at African Ice - including sugar-free and organic options -, customers are given a shilling (the currency used in Kenya), which they can place in one of three containers that have the name and background of a micro-loan applicant.

BYU mechanical engineer graduate Jon Borden came up with the idea as he was working on a company that was sending doctors to South America and needed different ideas for fundraising. Though he didn't get to execute the project at the time, Borden kept the idea in the back of his mind.

Borden and his wife finally started with one location of African Ice in Cottonwood Heights in summer 2007. After a year of operation, Borden has now partnered with Eric Petersen, an architecture graduate from University of Utah.

"The impact that micro-financing has is huge," Borden said. "You are not giving the man a fish, you are teaching the man to fish, and you are giving him a loan, so he can buy the pole."

Borden and Petersen agreed they went into the snow cone shack business because of the simplicity and low risk.

"It's an easy business to do," Petersen said. "There is not much infrastructure around it. It's three months out of the year, so if you look at a low risk business and try to get something started, what's the worst that could happen? It is 3 months and you are done. The best thing that can happen is that it could go well and you continue to expand."

African Ice is partnered with Yehu Micro-financing, a non-profit organization based in Utah Valley, which operates, identifies and manages the loans to African individuals.

"We give them [Yehu] a check, they wire the funds to Africa, and from there they take those funds," Borden said. "They disperse them, and monitor the loans, then they recollect it, and they wire them back to us."

The loan process takes around six to seven months to be recollected, and its repayment rate is more than 95 percent. Most of the people asking for loans are women, and their businesses include a variety of skills such as mending clothes and teaching school, according to Yehu's Web site.

"Micro-loans don't have to be big to affect the people we are helping," Petersen said.

So far this year, African Ice has funded more than 60 loans, and their desire to change the world and help others is still the key to their success.

"That ice cone right there is helping someone get out of poverty," Borden said while pointing to a customer with a snow cone.

Although the two entrepreneurs have seen the business grow and expand, they still consider service as the most satisfying part of the day.

"One of the key factors for me in all this is the element of faith," Borden said. "I had this idea, and I had the opportunity to actually act on it or not. One of the biggest things that I have learned in this entire activity is what true faith is. It's not just belief; faith is something that builds and creates."

Petersen said he wishes someone would imitate their business model and donate and defer their profit for some months, while providing the funds for a micro loan in Africa.

"When people get the idea, and understand what it really is, there is a big smile," Petersen said.

African Ice currently has six locations in the Salt Lake Valley.

Copyright Brigham Young University 2 Jul 2008