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By: Grady Gardner (BSIS '26) January 25, 2025

Grady and his classmates touring the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca.

STAP Morocco provided an amazing opportunity to explore a new culture and a new business sector. Going into this experience, I wanted to learn more about how my interests in technology align with venture capital and deepen my understanding of finance. This program far exceeded my expectations, as I gained significant knowledge about startup and venture capital ecosystems as well as new perspectives regarding the entrepreneurial mindset.

Grady and his classmates meeting with leadership at the Mohammed VI Investment Fund in Rabat. The Fund catalyzes investment using equity and the mobilization of national and international funding.

Meeting with key players in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Morocco deepened my understanding of the efforts to foster technological innovation and entrepreneurship. These efforts are critical for a country’s growth and development. This program brought together people from diverse backgrounds, which I didn’t fully anticipate. I appreciated that participants came from various career paths and educational experiences, creating an environment where I learned a lot from my classmates’ perspectives and professional insights.

Grady enjoying traditional Moroccan couscous with fellow GWSB students Andrew Saetern (AMBA), Parker Schwadron (BS Marketing), Yuanyuan Weng (MAACCY), and Xinrui Wan (GMBA).

Many of my classmates were entrepreneurs or aspiring to become entrepreneurs. It was fascinating to hear about their creative business ideas and aspirations, as well as diverse interpretations of what the entrepreneurial mindset entails. What surprised me the most was discovering the many components that contribute to a flourishing entrepreneurial ecosystem. Coming into the class with limited knowledge of entrepreneurship, I didn’t fully understand its complexity. Meeting with individuals from the government, VC firms, and entrepreneurs at different stages of startup development highlighted that startups involve much more than just creative ideas. Success requires extensive time, effort, and resources.

Grady and his classmates having lunch with business students at the International University of Rabat.

Through my experience, I have grown both professionally and personally. This program sparked a new interest in finance and international business, motivating me to take related courses to deepen my understanding of these fields. The various meetings we attended in Morocco helped me grow professionally by allowing me to actively listen, ask meaningful questions, and develop insights that will be useful in the corporate world. Additionally, I gained a better understanding of how businesses operate and the investment process. This program also exposed me to new fields within technology such as FinTech, AgTech, and HealthTech.

Grady and his classmates during the Casablanca cultural city tour.

On a personal level, this program helped me grow in numerous ways. Having never traveled abroad before, stepping into Morocco and experiencing a new culture was a profound and unforgettable experience. Exploring a new country while learning about a new business sector was incredibly enriching. Being the youngest student in the program and lacking prior knowledge in international business and finance initially felt intimidating and pushed me out of my comfort zone. However, this experience helped me gain confidence, expand my knowledge, and embrace  opportunities for growth. I now have a newfound interest in international business and am motivated to pursue opportunities outside my typical area of study.

Grady and his classmates during the Rabat cultural city tour.

Reflecting on our meetings with Moroccan startup founders, venture capitalists, and business leaders, the session I found most compelling was our meeting with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Administration Reform. What stood out to me was the strategic goal to digitize Morocco’s critical infrastructure by 2030. While we had discussed this goal in our coursework prior to traveling to Morocco, hearing a more in-depth explanation during the meeting was enlightening. As someone interested in technology, I was particularly intrigued by their plans to enhance cloud services, improve connectivity, and foster talent. I appreciated their emphasis on investing in technological innovation and tech startups. This discussion highlighted that achieving digitization requires not only technological advancements but also significant investment in entrepreneurs and future generations of tech professionals.

Grady (right) and his classmates visiting Morocco's Ministry of Digital Transformation and Administration Reform.

I also gained a deeper understanding of what the entrepreneurial mindset means to me. It goes far beyond having a creative business solution and expecting it to succeed. The entrepreneurial mindset involves immense creativity, innovation, hard work, and resilience. I hadn’t fully appreciated how challenging the entrepreneurial journey can be. Entrepreneurs face constant challenges and setbacks, requiring a high level of dedication to adapt and solve problems creatively. This experience showed me that not everyone is suited to be an entrepreneur due to the intense demands of the role. However, I also realized that the entrepreneurial mindset is not limited to business. It can be applied to various aspects of life, serving as a framework for hard work and striving to achieve goals.

Grady and his classmates in front of the Royal Palace in Rabat.

In conclusion, the STAP Morocco program was a transformative experience that expanded my knowledge and perspective on entrepreneurship, venture capital, and the entrepreneurial mindset. I gained professional skills, personal growth, and an appreciation for a new culture and business sectors. This program has inspired me to continue exploring these fields and embrace the entrepreneurial mindset in all areas of my life.

Grady and his classmates at a pitch session hosted by TechnoPark Casablanca.

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By: Riz Rafi (GMBA '25) May 21, 2024

Riz (center) with his CAP team

I experienced many “firsts” throughout CAP. These “firsts” make up the bulk of the knowledge that I gained. I had the opportunity to hone my public speaking and time management skills. I also learned more about how global culture plays a role in business. CAP was an unforgettable holistic learning period which will stay with me not only for the rest of my MBA journey, but also throughout my life.

Working on a consulting project was one of the “firsts” I encountered through CAP. I was apprehensive about consulting because I viewed the work as temporary and surface level. CAP changed my mind. The amount of time and effort put into the work we presented to PwC far exceeded my expectations. Utilizing Friga's TEAM FOCUS framework was an eye opening experience as it was such an effective way to meaningfully organize and convey ideas. Among the other “firsts” was the experience of examining a multifaceted real world business challenge. Previously, as an engineer, I only had experience dealing with technical problems that would arise with products and did not have to consider macroeconomic factors. I mistakenly thought my real-estate themed project with PwC would be narrowly focused. However, diving deeper into the details of the project, our team needed to examine all aspects of Germany's macroeconomic environment in order to find the root of the country’s real estate issues. This was at first overwhelming as I had no idea where to start. My teammates and I were ultimately able to put together a plan to examine the crucial factors impacting the real estate market such as politics and interest rates. Reflecting on the broad range of topics we researched and later presented on, I gained deep understanding far beyond the real estate market and was able to learn how Germany functions as a whole.

Riz and his CAP team along with Industry Partner PwC Germany

In addition, I learned more about Germany’s unique cultural aspects. The first “culture shock” I experienced happened well before traveling to Germany. It was the punctuality expected from my PwC partners. While this was something that was communicated beforehand, the promptness of the partners even during the initial meeting was not something I expected. Oftentimes, the partners showed up earlier than the scheduled meeting times. Since I am not the most punctual person, I had a bit of a learning curve. This experience inspired me to take punctuality more seriously. I will admit that I have made an improvement, but I am still working on perfecting this skill. The Dresden visit was something I was dreading, not due to the location of the cultural experience, but because of the early start time of the visit. I was truly afraid I was going to be late and miss the bus. I set various alarms in order to wake on time and managed to successfully get up with the first alarm! The internal shift of needing to not just be on time, but early, truly worked!

Riz with some of his classmates during the Berlin city cultural tour

The most important growth I experienced during CAP was improving my public speaking skills. Throughout the semester there were plenty of opportunities for me to hone this skill. I ultimately became much more capable and confident speaking in public due to Dr. Messerli’s targeted feedback regarding my presentational speaking strengths and growth areas. During our final presentation with PwC leadership, I ultimately was in command of the content I was presenting on and confident enough to take the lead on answering questions during the Q&A session. CAP's emphasis on presentations helped me gain an essential skill for post-grad.

Riz and his CAP classmates along with Faculty Leader Dr. Hannah Messerli (right)

Overall, CAP has been a journey for me. It was the defining reason why I decided to attend GWSB. CAP far exceeded my expectations. What I assumed to be a minor project with a company in a different country turned out to be so much more. CAP not only allowed me to grow as a person, but also understand the true meaning of globalization in business. 

 

 

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By Mukhammadjon Ataev (MSIB)

Featured above: STAP UK participants in front of Winchester Cathedral. 

My motivation for participating in the Business and the State program was to learn more about privatizations and PPPs, as I am planning to build my career in the sphere of consulting. As a consultant, I will need to gain as much knowledge as possible about business operations, ownership, business ties to government, and trends in the field. This course helped me deep dive into the privatization process, the milestones that occur in privatization, PPPs, and success factors impacting privatization.

Learning about privatization and PPPs in the context of the UK was a great idea. This country has gone through a huge privatization program and their journey in the establishment of PPPs is very useful to learn about best practices, as well as State and Business relationships. Even though I support privatization, throughout the course I could see that privatizations are useful not only for development purposes, but also as a powerful tool in politics since they can be used by politicians to gain votes and improve their image.  

Featured in right image: the author in front of the Thames River and the Houses of Parliament in London. 

Mukhammadjon Ataev in front of the Thames River and the Houses of Parliament in London.

The program was very interesting, because it was organized with speakers from different backgrounds and industries that showcased privatization from various perspectives. I especially enjoyed that the course allowed us to apply our knowledge in different industries and political viewpoints. I was also excited that speakers were not just from academia, but were professionals in different spheres, sharing their point of view and knowledge based on their own experience. As I believe that theories always should be tested in practice, it was great to have a mix of theoretical and experience-based knowledge. 

Privatization of Public Utilities and Alumni Reception

Featured in the above image: STAP UK participants at the Royal Automobile Club in London. 

Meeting with Cat Hobbs from “We Own It” was very interesting and gave another perspective on the privatization process. A lot of public utilities’ privatizations have taken place throughout history— some of which were successful, while others were not. In the case of water privatization in the UK, the matter was neither one nor the other. Compared to the Argentinian fall in privatizing its water system, the UK hasn’t run into any problems during the process, as their currency was stable and the process went smoothly. However, we can see that long-term issues might appear.

One contributing factor to this possibility is public opinion. The main concerns of the public currently are the quality of the water in the rivers and increasing prices. From the business perspective, the improvement of water quality needs additional investment. While this action will lead to increased prices, it is also an important factor for the public. Now the UK is in a difficult position where actions are needed, but each mistake could cost billions of dollars. As a result, this issue has become a powerful tool in the hands of politicians who can manipulate the issue to gain votes.  

This lecture was also very helpful for me on a personal level, since my home country is currently undergoing huge reforms and liberalization. The government of my country started the privatization of state-owned enterprises a few years ago and we are now at a point where the privatization of public utilities is a heavily contested issue. In this way, our talk with Cat Hobbs of “We Own It” was enlightening. Her lecture taught me a lot of the considerations that my country could learn from in our own debates back home.  

After the lecture, we attended a GW Alumni reception at the Royal Automobile Club. This was a great opportunity to meet with alumni and learn about their journey after graduation. I was especially fascinated by their differences in career development post-graduation. 

Featured in the above image: STAP UK participants at the GWSB Alumni Reception in London. 

It was wonderful to see how they were able to succeed in a very competitive job market, but still have time to gather and promote GW abroad. During the reception, I was able to talk with many people with fascinating backgrounds. One highlight of the evening was talking to an alum with expertise in my field— they even agreed that we should collaborate together in the future.  

PPP’s in the Sphere of Defense

When I hear “privatization” or “PPP,” I mostly think of state-owned companies such as airlines, railways, and national enterprises. However, in the case of the British Army Logistic Corps, I learned how even defense can be established in the form of PPP. It was interesting to learn from someone who worked during these reforms and could speak to how they took place, as well as how the UK did it back in the 90’s. This came to be one of the most valuable lectures we attended because it was a totally different perspective from my own and was delivered by the firsthand source.   

The Royal Logistics Corps Museum near Winchester, England.

When I hear “privatization” or “PPP,” I mostly think of state-owned companies such as airlines, railways, and national enterprises. However, in the case of the British Army Logistic Corps, I learned how even defense can be established in the form of PPP. It was interesting to learn from someone who worked during these reforms and could speak to how they took place, as well as how the UK did it back in the 90’s. This came to be one of the most valuable lectures we attended because it was a totally different perspective from my own and was delivered by the firsthand source.   

Featured in image to the left: the Royal Logistics Corp Museum.

During this lecture, we learned that contracting the defense is a great saving opportunity for the government. Innovations in industry can have an impact on other spheres. As a result, the government may soon get the latest technological solutions if it contracts with private companies. While I learned a lot during this session, I was also left with some new questions of my own—namely, how safe is it to contract the defense sphere when taking national security and potential dependence on private companies into consideration?

In addition to the British Army Logistic Corps, I loved the city of Winchester and our tour around town. Being there, I could feel the atmosphere of history, royalty, and richness of the U.K. Learning more about the history of churches in the country and its place in politics was interesting to me. In the end, I left Winchester feeling that it was even more emblematic of Great Britain than London. The architecture and history in this beautiful city were second to none.

Featured in right image: Winchester Cathedral. 

Winchester Cathedral.

Conclusion

Overall, I loved this course because of the mix of theoretical and experience-based knowledge. By combining these two, I was able to see a lot of similarities between practice and theory. This was useful in learning best practices, while also recognizing that some industries face difficulties in privatizing. One of the most notable difficulties in implementing privatization is balancing it with public opinion and the influence of politics.

Mukhammadjon Ataev posing with Lord Neil Kinnock.

Another great aspect of the program was the cohort of classmates taking the course. Our cohort consisted of students from different majors, as well as professional backgrounds. It was nice to hear their perspectives on the subject matter and learn more about their careers. Our group was full of curious people who asked a wide range of questions according to their perspectives. This helped me to look at each issue from different angles and enriched our course discussions. 

Finally, I was surprised by how people care about politics in the UK and how they stand for their viewpoints. They enjoy sharing and defending their ideas, which leads to interesting political discussions. In particular, I loved the meeting with Lord Kinnock to hear his point of view on current political trends and learn more about his career as he went through the long journey of being from a worker's family to achieving the status of a Lord. I was inspired by his story, straightforwardness, and character, proving that there is no limitation if a person works hard and believes in their ideas. 

Featured in the left image: the author posing with Lord Neil Kinnock.

Last, but not least, I want to thank G&EE for working with Prof Weiner and our TA Holly for organizing such an informative and well-established course. As this was my second STAP, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for the G&EE team (especially, for Olivia and Marie) for their great work that has been done behind the scenes, as well as their support during my visa application processes.  

Featured above: students touring the Winchester Cathedral. 

Author with guest speaker.

Featured above: the author posing with guest speaker, Lt. Col. Edward Waite-Roberts.

Featured above: the Houses of Parliament and Elizabeth Tower over the Thames River. 

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By Rachel Johnson, PMBA student.

Featured above: The author and classmates posing in Westminster. 

In the PMBA program, most of my course work is business oriented and given my job in finance, I am not often brought outside of my “corporate bubble” (for lack of better term). But throughout this course I was able to stretch my brain and expand my thinking via discussions on public policy, political views, personal beliefs, and business alike through the lens of learning about Public Private Partnerships (PPP). I found that the diversity of speakers we had throughout the week allowed me to analyze each speaker’s opinion on a certain issue or aspect of PPP and determine for myself the pros/cons of their points of view and weigh them against my own opinions. I appreciated that all the speakers were so candid in providing their personal opinions.

I found it interesting to hear from so many politicians on Parliament Day and about their careers and how they came to civil service. I enjoyed most being able to draw my own conclusions from each lecture, and it was nice to see practical/real application of PPP from our first lecture at Long Harbour with Christophe de Taurines but then contrast that with the theoretical/political applications later in the week with Robert Marcus and Lord Neil Kinnock. 

When I studied abroad in London during my undergraduate degree, I took a modern British history course that covered UK politics from the Thatcher premiership to present, significant popular culture events, significant events that the UK was involved in, etc. and I think it prepared me more for this course and our time in London in addition to the readings on PPP mixed with the current events on the Royal Mail, the HS1 and others, which I think complimented the course well. It was good to have the structure of academic perspective before going into sessions with speakers that addressed some of the challenges around PPP from a practical application standpoint. 

One of the more theoretical sessions on the trip was our lecture in Cambridge with Professor Newbery. Despite its academic nature, I did note that the theme of this lecture was consistent with that of Richard Threlfall’s meeting at KPMG, where both highlighted that the consistent ideological struggle of PPP is that the public sector doesn’t understand the motivations of private sector and vice versa. I think many of our speakers stayed true to this tune and I think it was a key take away from the trip overall. 

Featured above: The author pictured outside the Great Hall in Winchester Castle.

I got something out of each discussion that we had, but from my business mind perspective I enjoyed Long Harbour and the discussion on the Fawley Waterside Project the best, as Christophe was an engaging speaker and supported each question in the room as well as stimulated all of us to think about how the project could be successful. Additionally, I enjoyed the presentation style of Richard Threlfall the best as he came prepared to discuss a wide range of topics but allowed natural flow of conversation via questions. I think that was the most engaging and encouraged the most participation of everyone in the group. 

I also liked that it was just a meeting, where he was sitting with us, as opposed to lecture style. I was surprised from KPMG that it was almost all climate initiative focused, but given that many of the industries discussed (EVs, water, energy) have flipped between or had opportunities to be privatized or nationalized, it fit in well with the issues facing those industries today with climate change. Something I would have loved to delve into more, especially on the political side with our speakers that work in civil service, would be the aspect of accountability as it pertains to the government.  

Featured in left image: The author and classmates in front of Buckingham Palace.

This trip has meant a lot to me as it was a chance for me to return to a country I love and am fascinated by. We share a special relationship with the UK and being able to continue my education outside of the MBA program was enlightening and fulfilling. Highlights for me included continuing the debates and debriefs outside of the lectures, the walking tours, and spending time with my peers as we got to learn about each other’s careers, personal goals, opinions, personalities, etc. I also learned how to ‘punt’ in Cambridge and was proud of myself that I didn’t tip the vessel into the water; it was a great team building exercise! I learned so much from my peers and our speakers and came away from the trip with a deep appreciation for the various career paths of those circling the work of Public Private Partnerships. There is great value in intellectual debates amongst peers and a joining of concepts in how the world works. I wish everyone the best in their continued education journeys and I hope to return to the UK again soon and even follow up with fellow GW alumni I met at the Royal Automobile Club networking event. 

Featured in right image: The author "punting" in Cambridge. 

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