Moses Lee wanted to make his own mark on the world. Now, as the academic program manager and a lecturer at the University of Michigan’s Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE), he feels he has the opportunity to do so. Being a part of the CFE has allowed him to fulfill his passions.

“If I can channel my energies and talents into addressing issues of society and impacting people, it’s more meaningful for me at the end of the day,” said Lee. Not only does he wish to provide this impact, but he also hopes to encourage the same drive in others. “I have a huge passion to see young people achieve their ideals for social change,” he said.

Lee graduated from the university’s Ross School of Business in 2002 with a BBA, and proceeded to get his master's degree in accounting in 2003. He said that at first, he was interested in the prestige of the program and hoped to work in investment banking on Wall Street.

“When I first came here I wanted to be in an elite undergraduate business program,” he said. “I was really interested in business and wanting to make money. It was the vision painted for me as a BBA.”

Lee began an internship at Salomon Smith Barney the summer after his junior year. It was during this time that he began to reconsider a career based solely in corporate finance.

“It actually left me very disillusioned,” he said. “I was working an intense number of hours, and it was just miserable for me.” Lee also said although he enjoyed the work, the culture on Wall Street was not fulfilling.

The following summer, he was offered a full-time position at the firm. Lee decided to defer the offer so he could travel to Kenya with his church to teach at the schools there. It was during the six weeks of his trip that he began to see the world in a new light.

“There’s a whole world outside of the United States that lives very differently than myself,” he said. “I am a very privileged individual. I think it really opened my eyes to the world and it was definitely a world that was in need.”

Upon his return to the United States, Lee had Salomon Smith Barney rescind their offer. He also decided to remain in Ann Arbor and get his master’s degree in accounting through the Ross School of Business. He then worked for Ernst and Young as well as General Motors for a brief period, but he was not fully interested in a career in corporate finance.

“Instead of using my business skill set to improve the bottom line or sell the next widget, I wanted to something more socially impactful and sustainable,” said Lee.

This mindset was what connected him with the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan. He was offered a position with the institute; however the pay was much lower than his current salary. Lee was faced with a difficult decision.

“Do I take a pay cut and do something that I’m really interested in or do I continue to work in the corporate world making more money?” he had to ask himself.

In the end, Lee decided to take the plunge and joined the William Davidson Institute. This helped to fuel his passion in social entrepreneurship.

“For three years I was involved with research, traveled the globe, and was able to interact with businesses,” he said. “I learned a tremendous amount and got more involved.”

From this experience, Lee realized the power of social entrepreneurship. “There is just this growing demand across campus of how people can use their skills and talents not just to invent the next Netbook or the next vehicle, but rather how they can use these skill sets and education to address a social issue,” he said.

This past winter, Lee launched a course called Social Venture Creation through the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship with partner, Nick Tobier. In doing so, he was able to mobilize students from different departments on campus to implement ideas that addressed social issues and make an impact.

“When people think about impact, they think about volunteer work and going out into a community at one moment in time, providing money, services or goods,” he explained. “But this social entrepreneurship is saying let’s create a system a business that can be self-sustaining, that I can give my career to.”

The Social Venture Creation is a strong embodiment of Lee’s passion, and he takes great pride in seeing it expand across the university campus. His role in the program is to provide students with the resources they need to develop their technologies as well as bring in the entrepreneurial aspect.

“You have a bunch of engineers who have the design and technology, but none of them are really taking it to the next level,” he said. “It’s just sitting on a shelf. We want to see how we can avoid just leaving the technology dormant.”

Additionally, Lee cited several projects that he has been working on, particularly one to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS in Africa. He recently received a grant through the Gates Foundation that he is using to pursue this issue.

Lee said that he hopes to see Social Venture Creation and social entrepreneurship grow at the university level and beyond.

“Our hope is that students will be influenced here and when they go they can start something or join a firm and make an impact there,” he said.

Lee said he drew a great deal of influence and support from the members of the CFE, particularly Thomas Zurbuchen, Doug Neal and Aileen Huang-Saad. He also cited his family and Christian faith as underlying sources for his passion.

“My parents are people of faith, and they’ve always aspired for me to do more with my life than make money,” he said. “They want me to make meaning out of my life. Social entrepreneurship has been a spiritual journey for me.”

Ellora Gupta is a junior at the University of Michigan with a strong interest in passionate people. If you want to share your passions or the passions of others, please contact her at egupta@umich.edu.