An assignment in Isabel Benjamin-Alvarado’s international business course led her to submit an application for the global business competition and travel to Thailand to compete this summer.
July 19, 2024
By TCU Neeley School of Business
This summer, Isabel Benjamin-Alvarado traveled to Chiang Rai, Thailand, representing TCU and her Professional MBA cohort in the X-Culture Global Business Week competition. She returned home with a trophy for the top award, and a higher regard for the skills she’s gaining in the MBA program.
Benjamin-Alvarado and her three teammates, who came from the United Kingdom by way of Spain, Boston and Thailand, were tasked with developing a five-year expansion plan for the CEO of a growing convenience mart business in Thailand.
“I would not have been able to go through a contest like this and win without having the first year of my MBA,” Benjamin-Alvarado said. “We were asking questions that were more informed and came in with lots of confidence.”
This opportunity began in the fall when Benjamin-Alvarado took an international business course taught by David Allen, senior associate dean for graduate programs and the Luther A. Henderson University Chari in Leadership. One assignment was to work with a team of students from various locations around the world and submit a business plan for an assigned company to the X-Culture Global Business contest. By scoring in the top 25% of the submissions, Benjamin-Alvarado qualified to join this summer’s competition in Thailand.
“I had never been to Asia,” Benjamin-Alvarado said. “It ended up being one of the coolest experiences. Once I got there, I met students of all ages, undergrad and in MBA programs like myself.”
After presenting their expansion plan to the CEO of the Thai convenience mart business, Benjamin-Alvarado and her team learned that he planned to implement elements of their plan in the weeks following the competition.
Learn more about TCU Neeley’s Professional MBA program.
