Students present business opportunities for Canada in emerging economies

Professor Moses Kiggundu’s BUSI 4717 students recently held a poster fair showcasing their research on doing business in emerging economies and opportunities for Canadians, as part of International Education Week.

Students chose an emerging country and researched a wide range of possible business opportunities for Canada. Their projects explored a wide range of economic and social investment opportunities, including: health care in Saudi Arabia, financial services in Colombia, small businesses in Brazil, trade with China, mining in Ecuador, and solar energy in India, among many others.

“Undergraduate research is a key pathway to critical and creative thinking and doing. This class provided students with the opportunity to gain the knowledge, confidence and personal development that they need to compete in their chosen careers such as international management, trade and investment, international banking, or international development management”, says Professor Kiggundu, who designed the project specifically for the course. “Giving the students the opportunity to work on different emerging economies, both individually and in groups, allows them to see Canada as an interdependent player in the global economy and global society”, he adds.

They researched their topics online using web resources such as the World Bank, the World Economic Forum, and Transparency International along with suggestions from Professor Kiggundu. They were taught what kind of information to look for and how to effectively take other data and make inferences to support their research.

Posters were displayed in the University Centre Galleria and students were on hand to discuss their research.

Most of the students belong to the Bachelor of International Business program and chose countries in line with their backgrounds or language of study.

Amy Sherrard chose Ecuador and mining as an emerging market. She studied abroad in Spain last year and wanted to focus on a Spanish-speaking country.

“It has a lot of resources that aren’t being used. They have a lot to offer in terms of opportunities,” says Sherrard. “Their current GDP relies only on oil and gas.”

If those resources were wiped out, the country would be left with nothing else. It’s for that reason she focused on mining – a rich natural resource that Ecuador has yet to develop but could yield great benefits.

Sherrard not only learned about Ecuador and its resources but also gained valuable research skills, which she expects to use extensively in her future career.

“The project taught us how to apply the knowledge we learned in the classroom to the real world,” says Sherrard. “We researched a lot of data on our emerging economies and used that information to talk about a business opportunity for Canadians. The challenge was displaying all of that information in way that told a story, instead of copying and pasting data onto a poster.”