For Ria Tobaccowala, a Chicago native studying in New York, arriving in the fast-growing southern Ethiopian city of Hawassa was a revelation.
“The first plants are going up, the first airport is being constructed and the first non-dirt roads are being built,” she says. “Seeing how that’s impacting people’s lives was eye-opening.”
Tobaccowala, who is studying for a dual MBA/MFA (Master of Fine Arts) degree at New York University, had spent the previous three months working with four classmates on a strategic plan to protect a swath of land in Hawassa, 175 miles south of Addis Ababa, the capital. Their objective was to shield Hawassa’s lake from dangerous pollutants, create a public park and bolster local infrastructure to support the city’s expansion.
When the team arrived in April, Tobaccowala and her teammates had just a week to finish their proposal before sharing their ideas with Pewodros Gebiba, the city’s mayor.
The group’s biggest priority, though, was to “get an understanding of what it’s like to live in a place that’s going through such rapid economic growth”.
As MBA programmes around the world attempt to impart a global outlook to their students, such understanding is precisely the goal. “I came to business school to become a well-rounded, empathetic global leader,” Tobaccowala says. “I want to understand the changes taking place in the global economy, not just what’s going on in downtown Manhattan.”
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At the end of the project, the students presented their proposals to the mayor. Their plan involves the creation of an environmental buffer zone to preserve Lake Hawassa and the large expanse of land that surrounds it, and the development of a commercial boulevard to increase access to the city.
Sarada Anne, an MBA student from Hyderabad, was part of the team. “In the beginning, we didn’t know what was possible,” she says. “But by the end of our time there, we all felt incredibly invested in the city. We provided a forward-thinking plan for this city to save its beautiful lake and set itself up for sustainable industrialisation.”
Yimegnushal Tadesse is Hawassa’s city manager and worked with the group. “I am really impressed by the students’ work,” she says. “They grasped almost all the challenges that our lake is facing.”
In 2011, NYU’s Stern School of Business launched a series of “signature projects” — experiential learning courses on which MBA students work closely with faculty members to tackle complex challenges. Over the past five years, more than 100 students have taken part in 25 projects in countries including Israel, Haiti, Columbia and Mexico.
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