Wittenborg University can provide paid research projects for international students in collaboration with Dutch companies.
A recent example of this is two African students from Wittenborg who recently completed research assignments for local company, DUBOS B.V. that currently imports wood from Romania. The two Wittenborg students, Agnes Dzomo and Serge Gwabene, researched whether there is a possible market in the Netherlands and Belgium for the company to also import organic forest fruit like berries and wild mushrooms from Romania.
Both students will be attending Wittenborg’s African Business-to-Business Event on Thursday, the 6th of November 2014, which will provide a platform for Dutch companies interested in expanding their business to Africa and to network with other companies and stakeholders in Africa. The event will also seek to highlight the economic opportunities and potential of the continent.
The students were supervised by the head of Wittenborg’s Research Centre, Dr Teun Wolters.
Agnes, from Cameroon, who speaks fluent French and English assisted with the project as part of her internship module. “It’s a company run by two Dutch entrepreneurs who are just starting out with the idea. I got the job through Wittenborg itself, that helps students find internships. My job was to investigate the current organic market in the Netherlands and determine whether there is space for a new entrant. I believe the company was happy with my work and it has since found a distributor through which to sell their products. All in all, I enjoyed the work.”
Serge, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, focused on market access regulation and profiling prospective customers and distributors. “It was challenging because it was very difficult to get updated data and there were many constraints financially in getting primary data,” he said.
He will use the experience at DUBOS to complete his graduation assignment.
The website for the project is www.dubosplus.nl
WUP 1/11/2014
©WUAS Press
by Anesca Smith