Zicklin Undergrads Travel to Panama to Offer Consulting Services

Last spring, while other college students were sunbathing in Cancun and Daytona Beach, a group of Zicklin School undergraduates was doing something less hedonistic: offering their business skills for free to small business owners in rural Panama.  

The weeklong visit, which was sponsored by Blackstone LaunchPad, took place as part of a course called Special Topics in Entrepreneurship, explained Chris Meyer, PhD, a lecturer in Zicklin’s Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, who taught the class and traveled with the students. The students, 15 in total, visited two communities in Panama’s Coclé province: Membrillo, where they consulted for two artisans, and Cerro Corral, where they worked with a farmer and the owner of a small store.  

Students made interactive presentations to each community on marketing, inventory management, and financial management. They held several meetings with their clients to learn about their businesses, goals, and challenges and to gain the Panamanians’ trust by sharing about themselves. On the final day of the trip, students presented deliverables, including business plans, sales and inventory management sheets, and logos, and other marketing materials.  

Senior Alexis Galindo (BBA, ’25), an entrepreneurship major, decided to apply for the class—which was open only to entrepreneurship majors and minors—after learning about it from a friend. “It sounded like a fantastic opportunity to get firsthand, real-world consulting experience,” he said. 

Alexis and the three other students in his group worked with Jennifer, a small business owner with a kiosk that sold chicken, rice, bread, and other daily necessities like toothpaste and cleaning products. She had been able to grow the business from an initial $100 loan, but revenue growth had plateaued, and her brand diversification remained limited. 

After interviewing Jennifer, Alexis and his classmates learned that she was mostly keeping track of everything in her head. “My group gave her a crash course in financial literacy to make sure she understood the daily ledger of what she sold and that she was tracking her inventory so she could better plan her restocking trips for the following week,” he said. They also provided a monthly budget sheet and found ways she could save money and keep expanding the business.  

A few months after returning to New York, Alexis and his group received a thank-you email from Jennifer’s son. “It was heartwarming to hear back from them,” Alexis said.  

Alexis said he had two main takeaways from the experience.  

The first was the deep bonds he built: “Often in college you just go to class and then go home,” he noted. “But this class was big on relationships. During the week we were there, I developed lifelong friendships with my classmates.”  

The second was more surprising—and a lesson for the group. “As a business student, I was all about large profit margins before I went to Panama,” Alexis said. “But for Jennifer, it was more about the community. She had the only store in her tiny community and wanted to make sure her customers could get high-quality products at affordable prices. So, I learned that there is a balance between profits, communities, and relationships that we should all strive to achieve.”  

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