In March, a group of MBA students traveled to Havana for a new course, introduced in Spring 2014, called “Cuba: Sanctions, Reform, Opportunities.” Led by Professors Robert Roach and Susheela Raghavan, the course aims to provide students with an appreciation of the challenges and potential opportunities of doing business in Cuba arising from ongoing economic and political reform as well as changing US-Cuban relations. Students attended lectures on a variety of topics including Cuban culture, race relations, the economy, US trade sanctions, entrepreneurship and the tourism industry. They researched economic development projects in industries ranging from food and medicine to art and tourism, and they met with corporate representatives in sustainable farming, pharmaceuticals, book publishing and the hotel industry.


“Spending time in Cuba before it opens its doors to free trade was an invaluable experience,” said MBA student Tara Mulhall. “It was amazing to see a culture that has been almost self-sufficient for 50 years. They have been able to do so much with so little. It will be really interesting to watch Cuba develop now that the sanctions with the US have been lifted.”