Caleb McCullough, The Daily Iowan
When Hayden Vest traveled across the world to aid farmers in Africa, he realized he was a part of something bigger than himself.
Vest, a junior at the University of Iowa, is part of Blue Mangoes, a social enterprise that works with rural communities to create dehydrators for small-scale mango farmers to produce dried fruit before exporting and selling the product in the U.S.
CEO and founder Joshua Shefner started Blue Mangoes after a project during his freshman year of college. Vest began working with Blue Mangoes after receiving a LinkedIn request from Shefner.
Shefner said he was looking to hire employees in May 2018, and Vest’s major in international relations sparked his interest.