As part of the Penn State Smeal College of Business MBA Program’s global immersion experience, 22 students spent one week in Lima, Peru, in order to experience the business climate and culture.
“We like to provide our students with an opportunity to visit developing economies around the world,” said Doug Thomas, faculty director for the Penn State Smeal MBA Program, who also traveled to Lima with the students. “We chose Peru specifically because of its recent pattern of strong economic growth as well as strong projected growth in the future.”
One of the company visits included a stop at Canadian Mining, which, despite its name, is a Peruvian company—the founder is Canadian. Students also visited with Emilio van Oordt, ’98 MBA and general manager for Sodimac, a chain of home improvement centers in Peru.
“As is always the case on our global immersion trips, we connected with Penn State alumni,” said Thomas. “Emilio and his team shared insights into both their commercial success but also their commitment to investing in the community through donations of products as well as employees’ time and expertise in renovating housing in lower-income communities.
Other companies students visited in Lima included ADEX, Peru’s exporters association; Pragma – Brandgroup; startup accelerator Wayra; Cendeit, an educational development center; and Sodimac, a Chilean home improvement chain directed by Smeal MBA alumnus Emilio van Oordt.
