Monday, March 23, 2009
Study Abroad Trip: An essential part of any MBA experience.
My classmates and I just returned today from a 9 day study trip to Colombia and I can confidently speak on behalf on my class that this trip blew our minds away! The trip would not have been possible without the leadership Prof. Sine who is an expert on the country, nor without the tireless coordination of two Colombian classmates of our ours, Santiago Canela and Margaria Blanco.
As part of the trip we got a chance to work on a week long project with a select group of students from Universidad de Los Andes who had to apply and be selected to participate in our project. Never have a I met a group of people so warm and friendly, who went out of their way on a daily basis to make sure we had an amazing experience in their city.
The days were long as each morning we all had to wake up between 5 and 6am. However, the early rise after little or no sleep at night was totally worth it given our schedule which kept us occupied throughout the day.
During the trip we met with the Vice President, Francisco Santos Calderon, who gave us a candid overview of the country, the region and the world in general. To meet someone in his position is not only a great honor but a tremendous learning experience.
We also visited a flower production and export farm. Flowers are a huge export for Colombia and it was a fantastic opportunity for us to see how one of the largest company's in this space engages in this business. Personally, I have never given flowers much importance, but given how many Pesos this business can generate, it certainly changed my mind.
Part of our trip was spent in two divisions of the sprawling Grupo Aval empire. We had a presentation at Banc de Bogota and then another a Porvenir S.A, a pension fund, that talked to us about the fundamentals of the local economy and how each business operates. We also learnt that Colombia currently offers a tremendous opportunity for investment. The impact of the presentations was such that I recall hearing some classmates after each section discussing potential investment opportunities in the country. The capstone of these visits was that we got a chance to meet Luis Carlos Sarmiento Guiterrez who is a 1985 Johnson School alum and is currently being groomed by his father (Luis Carlos Sarmiento)to run Grupo Aval.
Yet another one of the highlights of our trip was a visit to Caracol TV, the country's second largest TV channel. Here we get to see TV production practices and meet some local celebrities. Prof. Sine and some of our classmates were even featured in brief interviews on the morning talk show!
To conclude our trip in Colombia, all the students had a presentation with the companies they were assigned to work on a project with. My team, which comprised of 4 Cornell and 2 Los Andes students worked with Colpatria, a division of GE money on a sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. This project allowed us to dig deep in local coporate culture and practices and gave the company executives a new perspective on initiatives they were considering.
After a hectic week of 14 hour work days followed by social activities that went on into the night, a small group of us from Cornell went on to Cartegena where we spent the weekend learning about the beautiful historic city and basking in the sun by the beach.
The above were just a brief recount of the trips highlights. But, the real value add was in the personal impact we all experienced as part of this trip. The study abroad put us out of our element and challenged our conventional thinking by exposing us to a different culture and style of work/life. We learned more than we could imagine about industries we would never have thought of. But most importantly, we all learnt that when a person is engaged in something that is exciting and fun, they will never find themselves bored or tired, regardless how little sleep they have had the night before.
The Colombia trip was a 9 day challenge with the two themes of knowledge and fun combined together. It made me realize that if we all can find career's that offer a similar experience on a weekly basis, we can definitely find a continuous state of happiness.
As part of the trip we got a chance to work on a week long project with a select group of students from Universidad de Los Andes who had to apply and be selected to participate in our project. Never have a I met a group of people so warm and friendly, who went out of their way on a daily basis to make sure we had an amazing experience in their city.
The days were long as each morning we all had to wake up between 5 and 6am. However, the early rise after little or no sleep at night was totally worth it given our schedule which kept us occupied throughout the day.
During the trip we met with the Vice President, Francisco Santos Calderon, who gave us a candid overview of the country, the region and the world in general. To meet someone in his position is not only a great honor but a tremendous learning experience.
We also visited a flower production and export farm. Flowers are a huge export for Colombia and it was a fantastic opportunity for us to see how one of the largest company's in this space engages in this business. Personally, I have never given flowers much importance, but given how many Pesos this business can generate, it certainly changed my mind.
Part of our trip was spent in two divisions of the sprawling Grupo Aval empire. We had a presentation at Banc de Bogota and then another a Porvenir S.A, a pension fund, that talked to us about the fundamentals of the local economy and how each business operates. We also learnt that Colombia currently offers a tremendous opportunity for investment. The impact of the presentations was such that I recall hearing some classmates after each section discussing potential investment opportunities in the country. The capstone of these visits was that we got a chance to meet Luis Carlos Sarmiento Guiterrez who is a 1985 Johnson School alum and is currently being groomed by his father (Luis Carlos Sarmiento)to run Grupo Aval.
Yet another one of the highlights of our trip was a visit to Caracol TV, the country's second largest TV channel. Here we get to see TV production practices and meet some local celebrities. Prof. Sine and some of our classmates were even featured in brief interviews on the morning talk show!
To conclude our trip in Colombia, all the students had a presentation with the companies they were assigned to work on a project with. My team, which comprised of 4 Cornell and 2 Los Andes students worked with Colpatria, a division of GE money on a sustainable Corporate Social Responsibility initiative. This project allowed us to dig deep in local coporate culture and practices and gave the company executives a new perspective on initiatives they were considering.
After a hectic week of 14 hour work days followed by social activities that went on into the night, a small group of us from Cornell went on to Cartegena where we spent the weekend learning about the beautiful historic city and basking in the sun by the beach.
The above were just a brief recount of the trips highlights. But, the real value add was in the personal impact we all experienced as part of this trip. The study abroad put us out of our element and challenged our conventional thinking by exposing us to a different culture and style of work/life. We learned more than we could imagine about industries we would never have thought of. But most importantly, we all learnt that when a person is engaged in something that is exciting and fun, they will never find themselves bored or tired, regardless how little sleep they have had the night before.
The Colombia trip was a 9 day challenge with the two themes of knowledge and fun combined together. It made me realize that if we all can find career's that offer a similar experience on a weekly basis, we can definitely find a continuous state of happiness.
# posted by Faizan @ 10:49 PM 