Group Project

The main output of this program is the presentation of the case study. At the beginning of the course, everyone was assigned to a group which has the specific product or service. The goal is to develop the startup business model using the product or service.

I was assigned a team consisting of 5 members and they other than I were Indian students. Three of them were undergraduate students from KLE university and the other one was MBA student from AURO university. Our assigned project was “CHATBOT” which is AI based conversation service like Siri in iPhone. And we discussed how we can tap into this technology for the healthcare industry, especially for a hospital to reduce the waiting time and to improve the quality of healthcare services.

The process of the business model development was very exciting but tough. To understand the customer, we had to implement the market research including customer interview. We went to hospitals in Hubli to interview physicians and hospital administration staffs and we finally collected 16 interview samples.

The biggest challenge was the preparation for the presentation. The given presentation time was only 15 minutes but the preparation required more than 1 week! The group that has team members who have different background and culture needs more time than usual to understand each opinion.

But finally, we made it complete the presentation and delivered in an effective way. I learned a lot from this group project and the team members became life-long friends!

Takuro Kusano

The Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation course provides not only learnings for the start-up but also the experience of the local culture.

Last Sunday, we went to a local theme park in Hubli called Rock Garden. There were many exhibitions and statues that show the traditional Indian life, house, and artistic works. My Indian friends kindly explained each exhibition and the history of India etc. The Rock Garden also has many activities inside such as the zip coaster and the house ride. Especially, the mud bath was the most exciting activity. I, unfortunately, did not have the clothes to change and could not enter it but everyone playing in the mud bath looked very excited.

During we stay there, there were a lot of children and we, especially student from abroad, were surrounded by them in many times. One of my friends said to me that the foreign people is very rare here and for some of the kids, we are the first and last foreigner they meet in their lives. I felt like I was a celebrity but sometimes felt fear a little bit.

The goal of the course is approaching but I want to stay more and don’t wanna leave Hubli!

Takuro Kusano

My name is Takurou Kusano and I am joining the Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation course from Tokyo, Japan. I am an online MBA student of Umass Lowell so this is my first experience of learning in a “real” class in the series of MBA program. 

Before I came to Hubli, I was a little bit nerves because only two students are from Japan and I wondered I can fit in the unfamiliar environment of India. Actually, other >70 students are from mainly India, and others come from China and US. We had very diversified multi-cultural, multi-discipline group!

The class has been really interesting so far and the lectures and activities on the Entrepreneurship are more than my expectation. Honestly speaking, I sometimes have difficulties to catch English spoken by Indian students thus I always ask my teammates to summarize the discussion and the instruction etc.

The course will continue until next Friday and I look forward to the learnings and experiences coming up.