FGV’s Brazilian School of Public and Business Administration (EBAPE) welcome, on May 12-17, a group of 39 executive MBA students from its partner, the TIAS School for Business and Society, Tilburg University, considered the best higher education institution in the Netherlands.

The one-week module is the result of a reciprocal agreement between institutions, which aims to allow international exposure to students of professional Master’s programs.

Under the coordination of Professor Sam Leal Fouad and the area of International Relations, the program gave visitors the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the opportunities and challenges of business environments in Brazil and Latin America, with particular emphasis on the region’s role as a center for innovation, energy, technology, tourism, and large-scale events.  FGV EBAPE professors and invited speakers were able to offer foreign students local perspectives within a structured program with different subjects each day, covering the economic and political context, Entrepreneurial Culture, Entrepreneurship, Competitiveness, and Multinational Expressions.

One of these speakers was the professor of MBA courses and entrepreneur André Miceli. Founder of Infobase, one of the 50 largest IT integrators in Brazil, and the digital agency IInterativa, the executive is one of the leaders in technology, innovation and digital marketing in Brazil, with over 20 awards in the area, including the best mobile application developed in Brazil in 2014.

FGV EBAPE facilitated direct interaction between a partner of the NGO Naação, which is the most active in the region of Brumadinho, in the state of Minas Gerais, and the TIAS students, who donated R$ 21,900 to the institution, in recognition of their efforts to provide a future for survivors and family members of the victims of the tragedy that occurred in February 2019. The students were also able to listen closely to the experiences of entrepreneurs, as well as senior executives from large multinational companies operating in Brazil, such as Peugeot, Shell, and EY.

The program developed by FGV EBAPE had a strong emphasis on practical activities, which helped consolidate the knowledge acquired in the classroom, considered one of the factors for the good evaluation of the module by visiting students. Students were particularly impressed by the opportunity to network in a multicultural environment, which provided insight into how to do business in emerging markets.