Long-distance assistance

Local businessman teams up with head of new university in Zambia to educate future leaders of the African nation.Among Bill Beck’s most prized office tools is a phone plan that allows him to make 3 1/2 hours of calls to Zambia for $20.

The Newport Beach resident calls the southern African country about once a week to check in with his colleague, Moffat Zimba, a native Zambian who is president of Northrise University there.

Beck is executive director of the 2-year-old Christian-based institution, which provides training in ministry and business to about 100 students.

He spends most of his time in a Costa Mesa office, thousands of miles away from the students, so he settles for hearing the students’ testimonies on video.

“It’s a huge motivation for me,” said Beck, a retired clothing business owner.

Zimba and his wife, Doreen, are in the United States through the end of December to spread the word about their university. They are looking for donors who will help sponsor students.

The school, located in Ndola, Zambia, a city of about half a million people, is open to city residents of all denominations.

“We have a lot of brain drain,” Zimba said. “We want people to stay and become employed to help their community.”

Zimba and Beck met while both were employed at Grace Fellowship Church in Costa Mesa.

At the time, Zimba and his wife had steady jobs -- she worked for Microsoft and he was an accountant. But they decided to return to their home town in 2003 to start a university.

“His vision captured my heart,” Beck said. “They had an education, even living with the comforts in America, and they went back to one of the 10 poorest countries.”

Part of Zimba’s motivation comes from his experience with education in his home country. The son of a small-town farmer, he didn’t start his schooling until the age of 9.

When Zimba tried to apply to a university, he was shut out. Only one in every 20 hopeful students can enroll because of space shortages, Zimba said.

Northrise University adds another option for students who don’t attend one of the region’s two public universities or one of the small religious institutions, he said.

There are three full-time faculty members and a number of adjuncts who provide instruction at Northrise. Classes are held in a five-story building in downtown Ndola.

Beck said the university is hoping to build a dorm on a new campus that would allow out-of-town students to enroll. He said it costs about $2,000 per year to send a student through the school.

United States churchgoers and other individual donors provide the bulk of the funding for students and for the school, which has an operating budget of $283,000, Beck said.

Beck said he goes to Zambia annually to check in on the classes. From Costa Mesa, he helps with administrative duties, manages the website and sends e-mail to employees.

“My job is to share the vision,” Beck said. “Helping and educating the poor is a compelling reason to get involved.”

* For more information on Northrise University, visit www.northrise.org.

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter. He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at [email protected].

20051220irrstdncDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Doreen and Moffat Zimba, left, are in town to seek support for Northrise University, a school in Zambia they opened in 2004 in partnership with Bill Beck of Newport Beach, right.