Complete BUSN200 in Uganda and Take a Safari Tour

Business students will have a unique opportunity in summer 2012 to fulfill their BUSN200 requirement during a trip to Africa. Plans are underway to make possible the BUSN200 Uganda Partnership (BUPS), affiliated with the Business 200 program.

BUSN200 Uganda Partnerships was initiated by Business 200 director Dr. Barbara Gorski and Cliff Nsubuga, an international student from Uganda. BUPS intends to create long-term partnerships between the Opus College of Business and High Field Schools (which serve students in grades 1 through 12) and business schools in Uganda to provide international learning through service opportunities for all partners.

The program plans to take its first 15 business students to Uganda this summer. They will complete their BUSN200 requirement within 15 days of teaching at High Field Schools. Nsubuga adds, “Do you have a passion for something? Is it music, sports or even economics? This is a chance to give help where it’s really needed by sharing your passions.”

The group also plans volunteer activities at the Hope Medical Clinics. Hope Medical Clinics Uganda was founded by Father Dennis Dease, president of the University of St. Thomas, and Hope for the City, a Minnesota nonprofit organization. Hope Medical Clinics Uganda provides people with access to health care services, regardless of income. The organization operates clinics in the Kampala suburbs of Ndejje and Kasubi, and the Ruth Gaylord Maternity and Pediatric Hospital is under construction and on schedule to open in January 2012. St. Thomas alumnus Charles Lugemwa ’03, who serves as in-country director of Hope Medical Clinics Uganda, is manager of data management and data warehousing in the IT Division of the Uganda Revenue Authority.

In Kampala, Gorski, Nsubuga and the other participants also will collaborate with Makerere University business students and Ugandan business people on a brainstorming business project. This will give the St. Thomas students a unique opportunity to apply their business knowledge in a different country and culture – “a must-have skill that gives you an edge in a very competitive global market,” Gorski said.

Students who choose to participate in the program’s inaugural run also will participate in a safari tour at the end of the trip. It will be organized by 1,000 Shades of Green Safari and Tour Company, an ecotourism business founded and operated by Ugandan alumnus Morgan Kisitu ’10. It donates 40 percent of its profits to charitable causes.

The priority application deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 11. For an application email Nsubuga and mention Uganda in the subject line.

To learn more attend an informational meeting at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, in the Business 200 center, Room 215, McNeely Hall, or email Nsubuga.