A group of University of Nebraska-Lincoln students will travel to Panama this winter to assist in developing a market plan for a business there and renovate a cottage.
John Kalu Osiri, the director of International Business Program, developed the idea that students on the trip would work on developing a marketing plan to assist a local teak wood farmer with opening a market for his product in the United States. The farmer they are currently assisting, Luis Rios, only has customers in India and would like to explore the United States market.
Elina Ibrayeva, assistant professor of practice, will take 20 students on the trip to Panama.
To go on the trip, students must complete at least two college semesters and take BSAD 191 or BSAD 491. The students’ majors do not matter. In fact, the group consists of communication, engineering, education leadership, business and international business majors.
Out of the 20 students who are going, half of the group will contact the 25 East Coast states and the other half will contact the West Coast states to talk to potential customers and see who is using teak wood in the United States.
“Students will be contacting potential buyers and study who is using teak wood in the United States, what it is used for and where the teakwood is coming from,” Ibrayeva said.
Students will also renovate a solar-powered cottage in Panama. The cottage project is a competition between two groups of the students, divided between males and females. The groups will renovate two different floors, with one group on each floor.
Students will work with locals from the Oteima Technological University in Panama to create the design for the renovation. The students compete for making the best renovation design, and will be judged by Rios, the members of his advisory board and a team of faculty at the Oteima Technological University.
Ibrayeva said throughout the trip, the students will gain necessary experience for their futures. International business students will use the Spanish language to communicate and all majors will budget and communicate with their team and others around them.
Emily Wiebeck, a senior business management major going on the trip, said she believes the class is beneficial because of the hands-on experience she will gain and because it teaches her what her future will hopefully hold.
“I’m a firm believer that anytime you’re pushed out of your comfort zone, you grow tremendously in positive ways, regardless of if you experience was a positive or negative experience,” Wiebeck said.
The experience this trip gives students for their future is something Ibrayeva said she considers to be very important.
“I wish all classes were like this,” Ibrayeva said. “It would be very beneficial for our students.”