The Business of Global Engagement
On the surface, escorting tourists to hidden Cairo coffeehouses and finding the best tea in China have little in common with recruiting international students. But in both cases, enterprising international students found the roots of a viable business model in their earlier entrepreneurial efforts. Now each is helping U.S. institutions attract students from far-flung corners of the globe.
The fledgling businesses run by University of Bridgeport alumni Bao Lei and Mostafa Hassan use different business models to provide high-touch support to students unsure about studying in the United States. Both are examples of how “you can pivot your ideas and make them a marketable business,” says Elana Cahill, senior lecturer at the University of Bridgeport’s Ernest C. Trefz School of Business. Cahill is also founder of its Student Entrepreneur Center, which provides a broad range of supports for student-run ventures, including the ones founded by Bao and Hassan.
Their businesses offer lessons about engaging international students, and the experiences of their founders demonstrate how colleges can provide supports to help international students build businesses that can flourish here and abroad, building the kind of cultural bridges that international educators seek to inspire.
Bao Lei, Chinese-American Higher Education Institute
As an undergraduate student at the University of Bridgeport (UB), Bao Lei drew international attention—and a prestigious award from the Chinese government—for her business plan to brand tea from her native country and sell it in the United States. But it was her experience as president of the Chinese Students and Scholars
