B-Schools : Engaging the Cotton Industry

Businessweek reports on an initiative to engage Senegal's cotton industry by the HEC School of Management.Bertrand Moingeon a professor at the school outlines some of their goals:

Students would be enrolled—especially those concentrating on sustainable business—in what happens at the local level in the different villages. We can see having students who go into villages and organize meetings with the local cotton producers and could contribute to knowledge-sharing forums. We think that some students, just as they did in Bangladesh, will write their research project or dissertation on these experiences in Africa...At the end of the day, what we expect is that we have an impact on the economy of this sector. If we increase the managerial skills at all levels of this industry, we will foster the competitiveness of this sector. This same knowledge can then be applied to other industries in Africa.