Student Profile: Kathleen Ketchum

Program and year: MBA '11
Hometown: New York, NY
Number of visits to Nicaragua: 1

Which seminars did you teach?

Marketing Research; Motivating and Retaining Employees

Favorite Project Nicaragua memory:

Consulting with our business owner’s 15 year old son who came to the seminars.  I was amazed at how bright this kid was and so impressed by the responsibilities he was taking on at his family’s business while also still being in school.

What was your greatest learning moment on this trip?

While teaching the Motivating and Retaining Employees seminar we learned that due to cultural differences some of the things we were teaching the business owner’s didn’t agree with and didn’t feel would work for them in Nicaragua’s culture.  It was challenging to find common ground, but we ended up having a really great discussion about the differences and similarities in doing business in Nicaragua and the U.S.

What surprised you the most about Nicaragua and your experience visiting the country?

 It was really interesting talking with some of the business owners to see how similar things are between Nicaragua and the U.S.  For example, during our Motivating and Retaining Employees seminar we were talking about small businesses in both countries, many of the attendees were surprised that small businesses have a large presence in the U.S. -- they had assumed it was just large corporations.

How has Project Nicaragua affected your business school experience? 

It’s given me a great opportunity to get involved in something outside the classroom and share some of the concepts I’m learning with others.