Creating a Business Abroad By: Janelle DaCosta

One day, in my college Spanish Translation and Business class, my teacher announced the prompt for our final project. We were to create a business, any business we wanted, and pitch it to a team of “already successful entrepreneurs” (our classmates). The chosen business, would be “funded” to begin it’s start up venture (extra credit points). Anxious to get started, I immediately asked my professor for the details of the project.

Professor Byrd told me it could be anything we wanted, either a product or service. She said there were no specifics other than to treat this like a real innovate idea. We were free to create anything we wanted, but must present in Spanish for at least 20 minutes! Seeing as this was going to be a long presentation, I ran back home, and started brainstorming ideas.

Choosing Argentina to promote my product, I started thinking of what was in high demand there. All the sudden it hit me! Maintaining beauty and appearance for Argentinian women was of upmost importance in their culture. Finally, a foundation in which I could plan. After much research, I discovered that many of the make up products are tested on animals. As an animal rights advocate myself, I thought of promoting an all natural eyes, lips, and face make up line!

I got down to business spending weeks researching different local vendors and suppliers, retail spaces, how similar companies operate in the USA, testing methods, and transportation costs and got to work creating my profit loss statement. I complied my ideas into a PowerPoint Presentation, filled with realistic photos, projected budget sheets, and laws and regulations. Professor Byrd even encouraged me to create a physical sample of my products (which entailed designing a label to wrap around my existing make up products) to present to the board of entrepreneurs.

Before I knew it, it was presentation day. Nervous, excited, and actually passionate about my new natural make up line, Belleza Natural, my name was called to present…

I was off to a rocky start at the beginning of my presentation, shuffling my notecards, staring away from the board of entrepreneurs. As soon as the presentation begun, it was over, 22 minutes later! I was feeling confident with my professor giving me a thumbs up from the audience and a flood of questions to me backed up by exceptional and professional answers.

Soon, the rest of the presenters pitched their businesses and it was time to vote! As the professor tallied the results, I sat in the audience unsure of if I would win. As the professor approached the front of the room, she announced that I was the winner! As the class left when the end of the hour was up, my professor congratulated me and said how innovative and ecofriendly my business was. She also said I would have gotten an A with, or without the extra credit points!

The End My professor was nothing but encouraging in my final assignment. She did not give her students any strict guidelines or rules, because she wanted us to explore other cultures abroad, study their values and traditions, and create a business we are truly passionate about that could mold into the other countries business system. One strategy Professor Byrd used from the NACCCE report, which was stated on page 56, is “To enable young people to embrace and understand cultural diversity by bringing them into contact with attitudes, values, and traditions of other cultures.” The other strategy she practiced for this final assignment in her instruction was also stated in the NACCCE report, is “To enable young people to recognize and understand their own cultural values and assumptions.” She did this by allowing us to apply what we are passionate about, what we value, and what we are good at to this final project.

Reference Robinson, K. (1999). All our futures: Creativity, culture, and education [Report]. Retrieved from