International Trips
At the end of the program, students visit a country/city that highlights the latest trends in entrepreneurship and that offers opportunities for community service, both hallmarks of this program. In the past, students have visited cities in South America and Europe.
This course introduces students to the global environment by working with local startups and accelerators/incubators that are the foundation for a thriving economy.
Policy about trip attendance (PDF)
- Visits to three start-ups taught our students how to start a business in Colombia, about different revenue models, and how a startup can pivot to adjust to their target markets (Torre, PayU, and Rappi).
- We visited HubBogota and learned how a Colombian incubator/accelerator brings in startups and nurtures them through co-working space, expertise, grants, and other resources. This is an essential ingredient for the success of these startups in Colombia.
- Students spent an afternoon at Proyecto de Vida, a community after school program, in the barrios of Bogota. We taught the older students geography and English, they did art projects and dancing with the younger students, and played soccer. This was our traditional community engagement project that we do when we go to South America.
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- Visits to StartUp Peru, which is the national incubator that fosters innovation and entrepreneurial ventures in Peru. Students learn about different incubator models that host, accelerate, cultivate and enable bright young innovators from around the world to work in a creative, co-working environment.
- Learn how a small entrepreneurial family agribusiness (Algarrobos Organicos) works with a state trade organization to develop their Fairtrade products. Algarrobos Organicos collaborates with local farmers to export indigenous farm products from the Amazonian region of Peru.
- Students spent a day at Proyecto Peru, a community after school program, in the barrios of Lima. We worked with the director to clean up a field and make it into a soccer field for the kids. We cleaned and painted two classrooms so that they were usable for the kids to do homework, art projects, and reading. This was our traditional community engagement project that we do when we go to South America.
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- Visits to StartUp Chile, which is the national incubator that fosters innovation and entrepreneurial ventures in Chile. Students learn about different incubator models that host, accelerate, cultivate and enable bright young innovators from around the world to work in a creative, co-working environment.
- Students also visited GM-Chile and Fedex-Chile to learn how these smaller satellite operations have flourished in Chile through an entrepreneurial partnership between the government and industry.
- Focus of several visits to wineries (to Winery Viña De Martino, Concha y Toro) helps students learn how small family wineries can be competitive in a growing global wine market.
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- Took part in learning activities through presentations and site visit to Syngenta. We learned how a large global company like Syngenta works with small family entrepreneurial farms to provide support through agricultural innovation.
- Experienced sustainable art through the innovative, entrepreneurial venture that created Factum Arte in Madrid.
- Increased entrepreneurial business knowledge through interactions with owners at Inapa Paper.
- Comparative case analysis of sustainability strategies to develop innovations by the Port of Lisbon and the Port of Long Beach.
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- Increased business knowledge with organizational visits to small entrepreneurial businesses focused on innovation such as AlterEquo, Tabarrini Winery, APCO Foods, Ococco Coconut Water as well as larger companies such as Cisco-Europe.
- Focus of these visits was to learn about their entrepreneurial ventures and innovation strategies within the EU and Italian legal/regulatory frameworks, business environment, consumer trends, etc.
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