"My whole goal is to enhance the development of others and while I want to do it from a business perspective, I really just want to help people," Whyte said.  "It was amazing to see how a simple run could have such a profound meaning. From this experience, I've learned that whatever I do, I can do it for a purpose bigger than myself." 

While an Eastern student, Whyte had an internship in India where he learned how ministry is performed alongside business.  It was through this internship that Whyte learned about how he could help Shradda by supporting Burla in the Hyderabad 10K.  "Burla has a hard disability and an incredible drive to help those with other disabilities," Whyte said.  "She was a role model for me, and helped me realize that with my education I want to help people in the same way that she does.  It was truly amazing and inspiring to experience all the courage she has."

While in India, Whyte started on his mission to help others through development as a guest teacher for TENT-India, a ministry geared to holistic development.  Whyte taught a seminar on community development and helped students learn to be rural leaders.  He admits that all of these opportunities have stemmed from the MBA in International Economic Development Program at Eastern, which has been equipping grace-filled servants to partner with the poor in cities such as Nairobi, Mumbai, Mexico City, and other rural communities all over the world for more than 20 years. 

Students are taught to serve with individuals, churches, and ministries in a program that recognizes the multi-faceted causes of poverty.  The program teaches students to recognize the need for holistic intervention strategies that address the underlying economic, social, cultural, political and spiritual challenges abroad and in the United States. As Whyte says, "Eastern really helped me to become the person I am today.  I've learned how to look at the development of others through a spiritual standpoint... and, as always, have God's will through everything."

A Business as Missions (BAM) company that Whyte founded, Belief in Rectitude and Divinity (B.I.R.D) LLC., has been launched.  By collaborating with one of his high school friends, Kevan McDaniel, Whyte says his organization is committed to run on Kingdom principles to make a universal impact across cultures, ethnicities and nationalities, by disseminating positive messages through creative designs. They are developing a clothing line (starting with T-shirts) where all designs are motivated by Scripture. Whyte says, "Our goal is to provide an alternative for the negative signs, phrases and pictures that are commonly used as fashion." Visit their Web site: www.birduniversal.com.

For more information about Eastern University's MBA in International Economic Development program, visit http://eastern.edu/academic/ccgps/sld/iedev/index.html. 

For more information about Shradda or Tent-India, visit www.Shradda.org or www.Tentindia.org. 

The Campolo College of Graduate and Professional Studies at Eastern University offers a broad range of adult, undergraduate and graduate programs from community education to Associate's degrees to its newest Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership. Areas of instruction include business, counseling psychology, education, health administration, leadership, nonprofit management, nursing and urban/international economic development. For more information call 1.800.732.7669, e-mail gpsadm@eastern.edu or visit www.eastern.edu.