51视频

07/26/2021
By Ed Brennen

Nabihah Khalid鈥檚 ambition is to become CEO of her own company someday.

If and when that day comes, the Manning School of Business student says 51视频鈥檚 Global Entrepreneurship Exchange (GE2) program will be one of the reasons why.

Khalid was among 120 students from 14 countries who participated in the recent GE2 summer workshop, a free, weeklong, virtual program that teaches students entrepreneurial concepts as they work in teams to build a global venture plan.

Competing against 14 other teams in the culminating pitch contest, Khalid鈥檚 team won with 鈥淏orrowing Bollywood,鈥� a digital platform that would allow users to buy, sell and rent South Asian clothing.

Khalid, an MBA student, says she came up with the idea after struggling to find ethnic clothing stores in the U.S. that sell garments to wear to South Asian events.

鈥淭he GE2 program allowed us to build upon this idea through the use of financial forecasting, marketing, strategic thinking, creative problem-solving and lean design techniques,鈥� she says, referring to the business plan model of testing, reviewing and revising an idea. 鈥淲e were able to take a deep dive on a simple idea and implement it.鈥�

Khalid鈥檚 team included her sister 鈥� and fellow MBA student 鈥� Nimra Khalid, Nan Su Su Naing from Myanmar, and Sai Kondapalli, Arjun Arora and Gangadeep Rana from India.

India was the best represented country at the workshop with 70 students, followed by Algeria (18), Cambodia (10), China (5) and the U.S. (3). Participants also came from Japan, Myanmar, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Nigeria, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Guyana and the Dominican Republic.

The workshop included 90 minutes of classes and mentoring each morning with Prof. Yi Yang, Assoc. Teaching Prof. Ashwin Mehta, Assoc. Prof. Michael Ciuchta and adjunct faculty members Bill Yelle and David Vatalaro.

Jeurys Santiago, a senior business major from Lawrence, Massachusetts, teamed up with Kunthea Teang from Cambodia to work on 鈥淢inds With Purpose,鈥� a venture he started last year to create networking opportunities, such as community service and social events, for local businesses, entrepreneurs and artists.

鈥淚t was a great experience learning how students from different countries operate,鈥� Santiago says.

Rabia Tas, who is from Turkey, says finding time to connect and collaborate virtually with her two teammates from India was a lesson in itself.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not only learning the perspective of marketing or business models, it鈥檚 also learning to do something international. It鈥檚 time management and so much more,鈥� says Tas, whose team earned second place in the pitch competition for 鈥淐heck-Box PPE Access,鈥� a government-coordinated service that would provide personal protective equipment to low-income families.

Mehta, GE2鈥檚 founding program director, was impressed with how much the students were able to accomplish in just one week. While he hopes GE2 programs can resume in-person next year, he says the virtual events are still valuable.

鈥淔orming the network of connections around the globe, you never know how those will work out for you in your future careers,鈥� he told students.

Khalid is certainly glad she participated.

鈥淣o doubt, this program has given me the confidence and resources to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams of being the CEO of my own company,鈥� she says.