44 Israeli and Palestinian students (20 Palestinians, 17 Israeli Jews, and 7 Israeli Arabs) will learn entrepreneurship skills and establish businesses this summer at Babson College building a spirit of peace and understanding through entrepreneurship to bring back to their countries.Bridging the Cultural Divide Through Entrepreneurship, led by Babson Professor Ted Grossman, will focus on the potential to build global peace and understanding through the study of entrepreneurship.
The course will focus on examining the frameworks of
• entrepreneurship,
• innovation,
• accounting,
• finance,
• marketing,
• sales,
• information technology, and
• social responsibility.
The program is modeled on Babson’s award-winning Foundations of Managing and Entrepreneurship course, which requires every Babson first-year student to develop, fund, and launch a business.
Grossman believes that, “the absence of hope breeds anger, despair, and hatred. Joint entrepreneurship brings disparate people together to create hope, understanding, passion, and a common goal.”
The program is divided into three segments:
• orientation in the Middle East during the last week in May,
• entrepreneurship education at Babson during July-August,
• business launch and management throughout the rest of 2011 back in the Middle East.
Students will:
• Participate in a in-country orientation to better understand each others’ culture, perspective, and aspirations
• Experience Babson’s award-winning Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship course, where they develop concepts for new companies, products, and services to launch upon return to their home countries
• Meet with U.S entrepreneurs and venture capitalists
• Include community service projects in their business plans to show the importance of developing entrepreneurial leaders with a global mindset and a commitment to people, planet, and profits. All company profits will be donated to the students’ community service program
• Receive continuous mentoring from Babson after returning home to ensure successful outcomes for their new ventures
They will split into 2 companies, each made up of students from a variety of cultures, religions, and backgrounds. The 2 company teams will:
• Write a business plan for a venture they will launch in the 16 weeks following their return to the Middle East.
• Receive seed capital from Babson and participate in distance-learning initiatives to keep global faculty and support teams updated.
At the end of 16 weeks, students will complete a Report to the Community in the Middle East, presenting to faculty members, community service organizations, local diplomats and politicians, family members, and fellow classmates.
During their time in the U.S., students will live in Babson’s residence halls. Their cultural education will include weekend recreational trips to Washington, D.C., New York City, Cape Cod, and Fenway Park as well as visits to historical locations in Boston on a weekly basis.
Members of the Babson faculty and members of Babson’s partner institutions in the Middle East will participate in and lead lectures and presentations on such topics as entrepreneurship, accounting, information technology, marketing, creativity and innovation, entrepreneurial economics, organizational behavior, conflict management, mediation, and to carry out the DiSC profile assessment which helps individuals understand their personalities and how they might relate to others in a business environment.
Barbara Spies Blair
Associate Director, Public Relations, Babson College
Babson Park, MA 02457
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
tel: 781-239-4621
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