Helping others find prosperity is Utahn's joy

By November 1999 he and Bette were back in the Philippines, armed with 13 suitcases, 10 laptop computers and enough books to fill a library.

Their goal: to start a business school that would help the impoverished learn how to provide for themselves.

They called it "The Academy for Creating Enterprise" and recruited returned Filipino LDS missionaries who were all-too-typically out of work.

It took two months — and more than a few Philippine pesos — to get the academy established and seat the first class, or batch, of 30 students.

Nine years and 46 batches later, 1,375 students have graduated from the eight-week course. Of those, 52 percent own their own business and another 30 percent have steady jobs — an impressive 82 percent success rate.

The average student accepted into the program is in his mid-20s and has been off his mission — and out of work — for four years.

"We look for those who are sick and tired of sick and tired," says Gibson, who lives in Provo and visits the Philippines about three times a year.

Over the years, the strictly nonprofit academy, which has no ties to the LDS Church or BYU or any other entity, has earned great respect. Just this month the BYU Marriott School of Management, through its Center for Economic Self-Reliance, honored the Gibsons as Social Innovators of the Year.

Meanwhile, additional donors have stepped forward, allowing the 67-year-old Gibson to plot the opening of a similar school in Mexico City in the near future (for information, go to www.the-academy.org).

"This is fun," he says. "I can't wait to see what happens next."

Whatever it turns out to be, it's a safe bet it won't be another retirement.

Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.