Ithaca, New York
February 14, 2006
by
Jihun Sohn,
Cornell University
To make their winter break count
for something more than rest and relaxation, a group of Cornell
students took a 10-day work trip to east Africa, where they
provided Tanzanian seed companies with technical and analytical
assistance.
The six-member team visited two seed companies, both in Arusha,
a fast-growing hub for commerce and trade in northern Tanzania.
"The Cornell team has done for my company in 10 days what would
otherwise take months and thousands of dollars to do through
local service providers," said Rajinder Mand, managing director
of one of the companies, Zanobia Seeds.
Serving as consultants, the students met with company
representatives, visited facilities and learned about business
operations, organizational structure and key concerns. The
Cornell team then put their expertise to work: They built Web
sites, designed promotional brochures and packaged the
companies' profiles into a PowerPoint presentation for marketing
purposes. They also evaluated current business strategies and
made recommendations for short- to long-term marketing plans.
They will provide free follow-up consultations for both
companies until the end of this semester.
"These kinds of essential services, which the students provided,
are often unavailable to Africa's small and medium enterprises
due to limited technological, human capacity and financial
resources," said Edward Mabaya, research associate in the
Department of Applied Economics and Management (AEM) in the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, who led the team.
"Yet a viable, private sector-led seed industry is an important
foundation to agriculture-based development in Africa," Mabaya
added.
About 70 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa lives
in rural areas where the main source of livelihood is
agriculture.
Five students were selected for the trip based on their
specialized skills in Web site design and strategic business
planning -- skills needed by the budding Tanzanian firms. The
trip was part of a field study course (AEM 497/700) offered for
the second year under the Emerging Markets Program in AEM. This
semester, the students will continue writing up a case study and
individual papers related to projects they completed in Tanzania
to earn three credits.
"The course was fantastic!" said Megan Gutleber, a senior AEM
major in the course. "I learned more in this 10-day trip than I
have ever learned in a full semester of in-class work."
Mabaya was not surprised by Gutleber's comments. "Field study
courses are a unique way to integrate Cornell's core activities
-- research, teaching and outreach," he said. "First, field
study courses provide students with an innovative off-campus
hands-on learning and service experience in business and
economic development. They also provide students with a greater
understanding of development processes and applications in an
emerging market context and setting. Last and most importantly,
field study courses provide much-needed technical assistance and
analytical support to underserved businesses and rural
communities."
Next year, the field study course will take another group of
students to an African country, possibly Kenya or Zimbabwe, for
another innovative off-campus experience in business and
economic development.
Jihun Sohn is a second-year Cornell Institute for Public
Affairs graduate student, working toward a Master's of Public
Administration with a concentration in international
development. |