SIFE - UAM | Universidad Americana - Nicaragua

                                         MEMO  

To:       SIFE Nicaragua Teams

From:  Raul Amador, Chairman, SIFE Nicaragua

CC:      SIFE Nicaragua Board of Directors, SIFE Nicaragua Alumni and Geovanny Vielmann

Date:  2/2/2009

Re:      SIFE Nicaragua Closure

It is with great disappointment I must inform you that the decision has been made to close the SIFE Nicaragua program with immediate effect. This implies that there will be no national competition, world cup representation or any other official SIFE activity in the country until further notice and all use of the SIFE name and trademark or brand association must cease.

Please note that we do appreciate your commitment to the program thus far and recognize that this sudden decision may result in some challenges for you and your students, especially given that you may have community projects already underway. I’d like to assure you that this decision was not reached at lightly and great effort has been made to keep the program going and develop it into a sustainable operation. Unfortunately however, SIFE Nicaragua has had some challenges the last year in terms of both finance and organizational capacity. The unfortunate reality is that, from an organizational point of view, it is impossible to continue operating the program at this time since some key factors of program success, including resources, are simply not readily available. For this, I and the other SIFE Nicaragua guardians are truly sorry.  

Thank you and your team for your dedication over the years and all the contributions you’ve made to community and national development through the SIFE cause. Though you may no longer publicly use the SIFE brand in any way, we do encourage you to continue on with your organized community projects as committed representatives of your institution or other group. We hope that some day in the future, when the factors are right, SIFE may have the opportunity of being re-introduced to Nicaragua in a more sustainable manner. 

Should you have any questions or require further information please reach out to SIFE Regional Vice President, Geovanny Vielmann at gvielmann@sife.org / Tel: +1.951.907.6810 and she will respond accordingly. I must emphasize however that the decision has already been taken and steps towards execution are at an advanced stage. Please do share this information with all your SIFE students, alumni and relevant administrative leaders.