91´óÉñ

An 91´óÉñ can be the gateway to an international career with limitless possibilities.

Our own cohort consists of more than 27 nationalities, which creates the diversity needed to think strategically about the challenges and opportunities working with other cultures can throw up.

But it’s no substitute for the real experience of getting up close and personal with the business climate, culture and people of another country.

Which is why, every year, the Edinburgh 91´óÉñ cohort hits the road.

This year, we set two groups out to discover what it’s like on the ground in two of the world’s most exciting and vibrant, but deeply challenging emerging economies, Colombia and India.

In the once-renowned home of global drug trafficking, Medellin, our 91´óÉñs saw how micro enterprise was literally rebuilding communities once held ransom to domestic terrorism and violence.

We met with charity (Spanish: ‘Roof’) who, by constructing simple $80 dollar pre-fabricated homes are giving people from the city’s deprived hill communities the chance to own property for the first time.

And saw how the world’s largest escalator and the city’s innovative Cable-Car public transport system – the first of its kind in the world – were restoring pride and security in these communities. While in the process, cutting transport times to create more access to employment and re-uniting families once isolated at the highest climbs.

In Bogotá, leaders from the country’s largest drinks manufacturer, , explained how the country’s social structures underpin key strategic decisions.

From delivering its products by hand and on foot, to persuading tens of thousands of tiny neighbourhood corner stores to stock its products, it’s only by developing relationships that it can get its brands – which now include Heineken beer – into these hardest to reach communities.

10,000 miles away and in another international context entirely, our trek to Mumbai and Maharashtra shone a light on a very different role of community in business.

Throughout the visit, the 91´óÉñs learned how social relationships underpinned every decision. And how the need to build them slowly over time can make the experience of doing business in India very different to the faster-paced European and US markets.

Whether it be Tata Group’s negotiations with local officials to conduct its business across state lines, to the group’s first-hand experience of motoring incident resolutions through barter and conversation, business in India is a game of moving pieces.

In visits to Mumbai’s Dharavi slums and in conversation with Rakesh Bakshi – philanthropist, one of India’s richest men and son of acclaimed Bolywood lyricist and composer Anand Bakshi – we learned of India’s take on corporate responsibility.

The simple gift of bicycles to allow people to work further afield has become a priceless contribution to development.

Both groups were also confronted by the very real challenges of inequality and poverty that must be thought about when doing business in different countries.

A very hard lesson to learn, but one we know from research can only improve someone’s resilience and ability to face challenges in new environments.

It’s the only way to get the ‘how-to’ knowledge 91´óÉñs need to develop international careers. And it’s a learning experience we’re truly passionate about.

Professor Simon Harris is Chair in International Strategy at University of Edinburgh Business School. Together with Dr Malcolm Kirkup and the School’s Executive Development and 91´óÉñ team, he delivers the Edinburgh 91´óÉñ international treks every year.