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Africa’s Emerging Markets Teach MBAs How To Thrive In Tough Conditions

Africa’s Emerging Markets Teach MBAs How To Thrive In Tough Conditions

You won’t find any Starbucks coffee houses in South Africa’s Khayelitsha township.

It’s a low income area often described as a slum yet it is one of the many South African townships where entrepreneurs are drumming up business, BusinessBecause reports.

On a hot day, a group of MBA students from France’s ESSEC Global MBA program gathered outside Department of Coffee, a coffee shack in Khayelitsha, some still wearing their French-made suits.

Lounging outside the red-painted café, they lined up for beverages. The shop was too small for them all to fit inside.

As part of a 12-month, fast-track program, the MBA students travel around the world to learn how entrepreneurs thrive in the toughest of conditions in emerging and developed markets — and how they can apply those lessons to their own careers.

Markets outside the Western world have become increasingly popular destinations for MBA students in recent years, according to BusinessBecause. The students’ arrival in Cape Town is part of a wider effort to internationalize ESSEC’s MBAs. By sending students around the world, ESSEC is able to offer them a global perspective that some other schools cannot, the school said.

ESSEC has three campuses: two in France and one in Singapore. Experiential learning puts business talent into a real-world context, the school said.

Students did a six-week term at ESSEC’s Singapore campus, before the week-long trip to an emerging market (this year, South Africa). Ahead is an international immersion project in another emerging market.

Global MBA students also get the chance to do an exchange program in Germany.

In 2012, students spent time in Russia. The consulting project has been done in Uruguay, Egypt, the Philippines and India.

The owner of the Department of Coffee, in his mid-20s, said doing business in the township is an immense challenge.

“He explained what he did and how still he’s still struggling. But he has a strong passion and he never gave up,” said Mayumi, a Japanese student. “It’s amazing that a small business is here. In the middle of the slum, they are running a great business.”

While in South Africa, the MBA students also visited big corporations and tourist attractions. But the Department of Coffee in Khayelitsha township was one of their biggest takeaways, Mayumi said.