 A 19-hour trans-atlantic flight might not have been an ideal way to kickoff the single most eagerly anticipated two weeks on the Georgetown MBA calendar. But frankly, the two weeks that followed more than made up for the ordeal.
The MSB students on the South Africa Global Integrative spent the first five days attending corporate presentations and fine-tuning their own talks for clients. Senior leaders from McKinsey, ABSA Bank, and Citigroup spoke to the group about the opportunities and the challenges of conducting business in South Africa. And MSB students were able to take lessons to fine-tune their own projects for firms such as IBM, US Aid, Boeing, and African Venture Partners.
On the morning of the last day of the South Africa Global we visited CIDA, a business school that runs completely on donations where all the students are given scholarships to attend. The tour started with a perform-ance by their collegiate acapella group, followed by talks by three students who shared their backgrounds and goals, and how CIDA was enabling them to accomplish their dreams.
A big shout-out to Prof. Lamar Reinsch and Prof. Richard America who were responsible for putting together a set of projects, guest speakers and corporate presentations that truly gave us a good understanding of what was involved with doing business in Africa.
And a big thanks for organizing cultural activities as well. One such highlight of the Global trip was a visit to
Nelson Mandela's house in Soweto.
"I had read a lot about Mandela during my educational career; but to stand in his home made the apartheid struggle come to life and increased my considerable respect for him," said Brian Dolan (MBA '08), who worked on a private equity project for Kingdom Zephyr.
With all the work in Johannesburg behind us, then we had to get down to even more serious business -spring break! You cannot go to Africa and not go on a safari, and many members of the class did just
that, travelling through Kruger National Park. By far, the best part of the safari was spotting a couple of menacing lions.
Our next stop was Cape Town, a stunningly beautiful city near the southern tip of the continent. While some more industrious colleagues spent their time climbing Table Mountain or watching penguins at Cape Point, the rest lounged around, eating seafood and consuming copious amounts of local beverages.
"From a business perspective, South Africa presents many of the same challenges other countries face, but the tourism aspect creates a natural draw," said Elias Aguilera (MBA '08), who worked on a cultural tourism strategy for a hotel with African Venture Partners. "Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities I have
visited, and the safari was a breathtaking experience that left me wanting to know what was next at every turn."
By Upamanyu Sanyal, MBA '08
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