Angus Kingon, professor of engineering, and a team of graduate students will develop a course on technology innovation for the University of Cape Town in South Africa as part of an initiative introduced this month by the investment bank Goldman Sachs, which seeks to bring business education to 10,000 women in developing countries.
The 10,000 Women initiative, which the bank announced March 5, will get $100 million from Goldman Sachs over the next five years to develop new markets, raise the rate of GDP growth in developing countries and create business ventures that can compete internationally.
The initiative will rely largely upon partnerships of American and British institutions with institutions abroad. Brown is the only American university participating in the program that is not a business school. In partnering with the University of Cape Town, Brown builds on a pre-existing relationship formed by faculty and student exchanges in the past, said Kingon, who is originally from South Africa.
Kingon's project seeks to develop teaching methods to build "entrepreneurship capacity" within Africa to create successful businesses that can bring African nations on a level playing field with the developed world, he said. This, he said, can be achieved by focusing on technology innovation.
"Most programs like this create microenterprises" that give jobs to a few people, Kingon said. "That's not what we're trying to do. We want to create growing jobs that can compete in the world economy."
At the University of Cape Town, about 220 students in engineering and business graduate programs will take part in the pilot program, according to Goldman Sachs' Web site. Along with Kingon, graduate students in Brown's Program in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship will also help measure the results of the partnership. The pilot program will eventually spread beyond the graduate level to teach other students, Kingon said.
"Brown is particularly well known for social entrepreneurship," said Vasuki Nesiah, director of international affairs at Brown. "Right now, that is known nationally. This makes it global."
Assistant to the President Marisa Quinn said Kingon's research will be published in academic journals and as a report for Goldman Sachs and will not involve the campus community as a whole. "This is a grant that a faculty member received and will be treated in that manner," she said.
Regardless, Brown's involvement with the 10,000 Women initiative will help create international bonds that improve Brown's standing globally, Nesiah said.
"Partnerships are always mutually beneficial," she said. "Every external engagement can help strengthen Brown."
In addition to financial support for research by Western schools and tuition for women in developing countries, some Goldman Sachs employees will assist with mentorship and post-graduate support, according a press release on the firm's Web site.
Particularly in Africa, a continent of 900 million people where only 2,600 women are currently pursuing MBAs, giving women a chance to learn effective management strategies has been shown to improve wages and stimulate economic growth within a country, according to the Web site.
In December, Goldman Sachs approached Brown to participate in the program and put out a call for faculty proposals at the University, Quinn said.
Although President Ruth Simmons sits on Goldman Sachs' board of directors, that was not an important factor to Brown's being recruited into the initiative, Quinn said. "The fact that President Simmons is a leading female educator has more to do with it."
Brown's involvement, Quinn said, "was part of an interest in advancing internationalization initiatives."
"This seemed to fit nicely into that," she said. "It's part of an ongoing effort to provide opportunities for faculty and students here and abroad who are becoming increasingly globally aware."
Partnering business schools include some of the nation's best, including Harvard Business School and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
