Through financial literacy lessons and business consulting, a group of Oakland University students helped residents of the rural poverty-stricken Panamanian community of Ipeti Embera better analyze information to aid their economic stability.
Through the weeklong trip in late August, 14 Oakland University students conducted workshops to teach villagers basic business skills and consulted with small groups about individual businesses, which ranged from making and selling hand-crafted goods, to raising pigs and crops.
From helping a group of artisans identify markets for their wares to conducting a cost-benefit analysis to help a village family decide between raising pigs for breeding or slaughter, the students learned the value of micro-finance in underdeveloped countries.
They also found the cultural exchange a powerful way to grow and learn.
“The trip was amazing. It was really great to make connections across cultural barriers,” says Phillip Johnson, Finance major and President of OU’s Global Business Brigades organization. “Panama is a beautiful country.”
Fellow traveler and Vice President of the group Jasmine Moseley agrees.
“I had an amazing experience. I met so many new friends and really focused on helping the community,” the Accounting major says. “The trip started off as a challenge for me because I was 
forced to come out of my comfort zone. But that was part of my goal, I wanted to push myself by being part of something completely new and foreign.”
Both gained so much from the experience that they plan to join in future brigades.
The Oakland University students traveled with faculty advisers Management & Marketing Professor Mark Simon and Economics Professor Ron Tracy.
Through financial literacy lessons and business consulting, a group of Oakland University students helped residents of the rural poverty-stricken Panamanian community of Ipeti Embera better analyze information to aid their economic stability.