- Rwanda
- Kigali
- South Africa
- Cape Town
- Thailand
- Bangkok
- Vietnam
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Ghana
- Accra
- Kenya
- Nairobi
Frequently asked questions
You can apply to GEI Study Abroad: Global Business by clicking the "Apply Now" button.
GEI Study Abroad: Global Business is a multi-country program, spanning 6 countries, including Rwanda, South Africa, and Thailand.
About Program
Social enterprise is easiest to understand where it is being built, and that is where GEI's Global Business programs take place. In Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Thailand, and Vietnam, you learn alongside entrepreneurs, social enterprises, cooperatives, and the organizations that support them.
Every program is built around learning by doing: site visits, community-engaged projects, and teamwork with local partners and student peers, with guided reflection on what you see and do.
Programs range from a three-week field course and a four- or eight-week practicum to an eight-week Summer Program and a full semester. Every program is hosted by GEI's full-time in-country team, made up of nationals of the country you are in. There are no prerequisites, and U.S. academic credit comes through Hamline University, GEI's school of record.
Program Highlights
- Field-based learning: See how ventures create both economic value and social impact, on visits to startups, social enterprises, and cooperatives
- Hands-on experience: Work with local partners on a project and carry its business side, from costs and funding to growth
- Interdisciplinary teamwork: Collaborate in one team with students from other tracks and local student peers
- Cross-cultural insight: Understand how culture, markets, and community shape enterprise, guided by GEI's in-country team
- Leadership development: Build the skills of a global change leader through weekly reflection on ethics, cross-cultural engagement, and systems thinking
Expanding Program Portfolio
Video and Photos
Impact 🌎
Sustainability
Popular Programs
Bangkok, you study a manufacturing and tourism economy with a growing startup scene and its own idea of a sufficiency economy. Choose a three-week field course, a four-week practicum with Thai student peers, or the eight-week Summer Program. The Summer Program leads to the Certificate in Global Business.
Kenya is where mobile money was born, and Nairobi has grown into a startup hub for East Africa. You join the Global Practicum for four or eight weeks, in one team with Kenyan student peers. You carry the business side of a GEI development initiative: what a solution costs, how it is funded, and how it can grow.
Rwanda has made itself one of the easiest places in Africa to start a company, and Kigali is your base for seeing how. Choose a three-week field course, a four- or eight-week practicum, the Summer Program, or a full semester. Semester students also study Kinyarwanda and carry out their own research project for a local organization.
From Ho Chi Minh City, you see how Vietnam moved from a factory floor for the world to a startup scene that draws investors from across Asia. Choose a three-week field course, a four-week practicum, or the eight-week Summer Program. A full semester adds Vietnamese language study and your own research project for a local organization.
Based in Cape Town, you study an economy where deep financial markets sit beside a large informal sector, with social enterprises working between the two. The Global Practicum runs for four or eight weeks, in one team with South African student peers. Your cohort sees its project through to completion.
Based in Accra, you see how a trading culture centuries old feeds a young startup scene. The Global Practicum runs for four or eight weeks, in one team with Ghanaian student peers. You carry the business side of a GEI development initiative: what a solution costs, how it is funded, and how it can grow.
