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Current Programs

GBSN Health and Agribusiness Management and Leadership Workshop

In collaboration with Sub-Saharan African business schools, development partners and international experts, GBSN coordinated a 3-day design workshop that worked towards the development of two new training programs in the field of health management and agribusiness. This workshop focused on the management issues common to both health and agribusiness and how to effectively leverage the multi-disciplinary, practical approach of business schools to better serve these two sectors.

As a result of bringing these actors together, GBSN facilitated the creation of two new consortia of schools, which have the collective resources to seek external partners, raise necessary funding, and develop a shared curriculum of international quality to be adapted for each school’s agribusiness and health markets. With the workshop laying a foundation, the new consortia will develop learning platforms for each sector and subsequently oversee the implementation of the newly developed management programs on an initial pilot basis. During this time the schools will have an opportunity to test the markets and revise the newly established programs accordingly while also extending the programs to include additional local and international partners.

2010 Workshop Participants Updates:

Read Press Release GBSN Convenes Stakeholders in Health Management and Agribusiness (April 19, 2010 NAIROBI, KENYA)

Read Program Update: Next Steps & AABS Partnership

Photo of 2010 Workshop Participants

Goldman Sachs' 10,000 Women Initiative

Since November 2007, GBSN has been working closely with Goldman Sachs and the Goldman Sachs Foundation to develop and implement the 10,000 Women Initiative. GBSN has supported the identification of academic partners globally to participate in 10,000 Women. In addition, GBSN advises the Goldman Sachs Foundation on international best practice in enhancing and supporting business education in developing countries and establishing short-term entrepreneurship education programs.

GBSN, United States International University (USIU) and Michigan State University are working together to improve the management and leadership capacity of small scale agribusiness entrepreneurs through training to improve the quality and increase the productivity of the agricultural sector and thereby contribute to food security in Kenya. Funding is provided by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The project's goal is to design and deliver a certificate program for smallholder agribusiness entrepreneurs by developing relevant training materials in the form of course modules and case studies that focus on specific agriculture, business, finance, organizational effectiveness and entrepreneurial skills.

Case Workshop in Nairobi Kenya USIU will train sixty agribusiness entrepreneurs drawn from all over Kenya, 50% of whom will be women, over a period of 8 months within the project period of 18 months. The project will have an on-going monitoring and evaluation component that will focus on both the program and the graduates. The program will provide wrap- around services to alumni through mentoring, counseling, and networking. Training will be done through the Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship Development (CEED) at USIU.

GBSN is working with USIU faculty to develop 12 new locally relevant case studies for the new course. GBSN’s role is to provide quality assurance of the case studies by overseeing a mentoring program for each of the case writers. A workshop in Nairobi, Kenya kicked off the case-writing (picture at left), bringing together mentors and casewriters for a focused start to the process.

Update: November 2011

Food for Thought

A nascent private sector, far too few qualified faculty members, marginal primary and secondary preparation, and historical ambivalence - or even antagonism - between higher education and the private sector all serve to exacerbate the legacy of insufficient financial investment in graduate management education activities.

-"Assessment of Graduate Management Education", William Davidson Institute, University of Michigan Business School (2003)