On April 4, 2008, the Pan-African Network of Columbia's School of International and Political Affairs hosted its fifth annual African Economic Forum to encourage discussion of core issues relating to African development. Several promising entrepreneurs presented their respective visions for addressing the most pressing social needs for the continent in a panel entitled "Capital Change: Market-Based Philosophies for Social Good." The social entrepreneurs were Adrien Couton, water portfolio manager at the Acumen Fund; Trevor Dudley, founder of the Kids League; Nadine Hack, president of beCause Global Consulting; Wanja Michuki '02, founder of the Highland Tea Company; and Euvin Naidoo, president and CEO of the South African Chamber of Commerce in America.

For entrepreneur Wanja Michuki '02, the epiphany that she was destined for another life path came to her while she steadfastly burned the midnight oil as an investment banking summer associate in 2001. "I was like, what am I doing here? I was doing something I really wasn't passionate about." Realizing that her heart instead remained back in her homeland of Kenya, and wishing to embark upon a career with a broader social mission, Ms. Michuki cofounded the Highland Tea Company with her mother, a Kenyan tea farmer. Using the fair-trade model, the company packages specialty teas grown by her mother and farmers in the same area of Kenya for distribution across North America.