White-sand beaches. Cigars. Rum. Oh, and business and economics too.
The 2016 University of Iowa Winterim lineup will now include a new destination for students interested in studying entrepreneurship and businesses in a communist country — Cuba.
In the face of improving Cuba-U.S. relations and the announcement of President Obama’s historic visit to the island, the UI will offer a one-of-a-kind business and culture class to Cuba designed by Dimy Doresca, the director of the Institute for International Business.
“Students will really get their hands dirty,” he said. “They will roll up their sleeves and do real work, working side by side with Cuban entrepreneurs.”
Around 20 or 25 students will embark on the three-week trip, Doresca said. One group will work with Cuban micro-enterprises, helping with their structures, ideas, and improvements. A second group will do market research for Iowan companies that want to do business in Cuba.
“They’ll learn about the struggles Cubans have been going through to be entrepreneurial, because given the conditions they’re living in, being entrepreneurial in Cuba is a whole different ball game than being entrepreneurial here in the United States or in Iowa,” he said.
Doresca and Autumn Tallman, an associate director for International Programs, traveled to Cuba last October and met with Cuban trade and commerce officials in anticipation of the program’s establishment.
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“It is a hurry-up-and-wait kind of process,” she wrote in an email. “The opportunities are plentiful, but the infrastructure to support this new era of U.S.-Cuba relations will take some time to catch up.”
Tallman said she is particularly excited about students who will explore Iowa business connections in the Cuban agricultural and renewable energy sectors.
UI students can already travel to Cuba through the University Studies Abroad Consortium, which the UI is a member of. However, the consortium program does not specifically focus on business and entrepreneurship opportunities.
Former UI student Kayla Cemensky traveled to Cuba a year ago under the program. She said students absolutely should visit Cuba if they have the chance.
“Now is definitely the time to go before it completely changes,” she said. “I could already see the changes they were making in anticipation of the embargo being lifted and more Americans being able to travel there.”
She said students would take away valuable experiences from a trip to Cuba.
“The government is a whole lot different than ours is,” she said. “Just being able to see it firsthand rather than just reading about it is a whole different experience.”
Doresca believes an emphasis on a people-to-people exchange of views, ideas, and culture will be beneficial for Cuba-U.S. relations.