iLead students head to Jamaica

A group of 12 Nipissing business students is jetting for Jamaica this week to soak up knowledge and apply management theories. Sun, sand and sweet reggae music are low on the list for this trip.

This year marks the fourth consecutive year that students and faculty from the School of Business have travelled to the North coast of Jamaica through Nipissing’s iLead Business Experience Certificate.

You can follow along and discover what the students are up to. Follow them on Twitter: @ileadjamaica, and they’ll be blogging regularly, here?. The trip departs on Friday, February 13, and returns on Monday, February 23.

For the current trip, the students will return to Great Huts Resort and the Portland Rehabilitation Management Centre, the organizations with which that last year's students worked. Students get the opportunity to learn about business in a developing country while applying their skills, knowledge and talents to solving real management issues. This year’s projects are focused on human resources, especially training, performance evaluation and employee development.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to take our learning outside of the classroom and garner experience. We are all excited to be heading to Jamaica to apply some of the concepts we’ve learned in class to make a difference to an emerging business in a developing country,” said Matt Lewis, a third-year business student who is embarking on his second iLead Jamaica trip. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what impact the consultant report we submitted last year has made, which suggestions have been implemented and how successful they have been.”

The students are joined by two faculty members,Dr. Natalya Brown, assistant professor and program coordinator of economics; and Dr. Leslie Wardley, assistant professor in the school of business.

To help offset the cost of the trip, students have been fundraising throughout the school year and thank the School of Business, Nipissing University Student Union, the International Office and the wider Nipissing University community.