At CIPA, students enjoy a host of opportunities to get involved in hands-on experiential learning. One such opportunity is the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Team program (SMART), which is led by the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development. The SMART Program brings together teams of students and faculty from different programs and pairs them with firms, organizations, or community groups located in developing countries or developing communities. These hands-on projects challenge students to apply the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom in real world settings. This winter break, CIPA students participating in SMART traveled to research locations in Colombia, Kenya, Louisiana, Rwanda, and South Africa. In this post in our series about SMART projects, we have reflections from Brettany who worked on a project to support market research analysis for an agribusiness in Rwanda, as well as Chenyang (Gloria) and Shi (Frankie) who traveled to South Africa to evaluate growth strategies for a lavender business.
Market Research Analysis for Agribusiness in Rwanda
SMART participants:
Brettany Tucker, Economic and Financial Policy, 2018
What was your project?
Market Research Analysis for Ikirezi –an agribusiness that produces essential oils.
What was your role in the project?
Analyzed data, carried out interviews across the country with farmers, upper management and other hotel staff, as well as Ikirezi staff.
What was your favorite part of the trip?
Interacting with the locals!
What did you learn, or what surprised you?
Rwanda was a beautiful country with beautiful people. We were all surprised by the cleanliness of the country!
Evaluating growth strategies for business in South Africa
SMART participants:
Chenyang (Gloria) Cao, Economical and Financial Policy, 2018
Shi (Frankie) Cheng, Economic and Financial Policy, 2018
What was your project?
Our team worked to do Strategy and Management Consulting for Canettevallei lavender farm in Stellenbosch. Canettevallei is tucked away in Stellenboschkloof, a quiet valley situated about 10 km outside Stellenbosch in the Western Cape. We did benchmarking of competitors, developed a marketing strategy, and evaluated growth strategies for the lavender farm.
What was your role in the project?
Frankie’s role was to help develop a marketing strategy for lavender farms using 4P framework to analyze current situations. Gloria held a few different roles: she served as a benchmarking analyst, filmmaker, and worked generally as a consultant on the team.
What was your favorite part of the trip?
Gloria: My client for sure! She is so elegant and friendly with passion and aesthetic of her own products.
Frankie: On the one hand, getting to know local economic and social situations was a rewarding part of our trip. We also had a great time communicating with local entrepreneurs and people. I enjoyed wine tasting and made good friends from a local university.
What did you learn, or what surprised you?
Gloria: The tour of a township impressed me most. I will never forget the daunting stratification between the poor and the wealthy. Extreme economic stratification can exist anywhere in the world, and we barely know anything about their reality unless we get our feet on the ground.
Frankie: I really valued being exposed to the poor and rich areas, and gaining an understanding of why there is such a big gap there.