THE importance of strategic thinking, the concept of business as a powerful development tool, and universal similarities of the human experience highlighted a unique exchange enjoyed by 16 young Jamaicans and 30 students visiting from Northeastern University in Boston, USA, on March 5.

The Jamaicans are participants in Phase 2 of the Youth Upliftment Through Employment (YUTE) programme, some of whom have benefited from training in marketing and entrepreneurship during the first phase of the programme which ended in December 2013.

The visiting students, led by Associate Academic Specialist, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Professor Dennis Shaughnessy, are members of Northeastern University’s Social Enterprise Institute and its Capstone programme.

The cultural exchange was the brainchild of Jamaica’s Ali Matalon, an honours student at Northeastern University, and led by YUTE Executive Director Alicia Glasgow. It was hosted by YUTE Chairman Joseph Matalon and his wife Tracy at their home in St Andrew.

Highlights included discussions exploring innovative options for solving world problems, team building games focusing on business tools such as strategic thinking, planning and execution, and informal personal exchanges between the two groups.

The Social Enterprise Institute is a resource centre housed in Northeastern’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business. It empowers students to be socially motivated, global business leaders.

The Capstone programme is an advanced-level project course that can be interdisciplinary and requires students to integrate what they have learned through their academic coursework and their experiential learning experience. Its social enterprise component is grounded in the belief that business can be a powerful development tool by utilising enterprise-based solutions to solve some of the world’s most pressing social problems.

The Social Enterprise Institute’s practical approach to academics and business implementation has a lot in common with the objectives and approach of the YUTE programme. YUTE is geared towards building technical and social skills to increase employability and provide economic and entrepreneurial opportunities for ‘at risk’ youth from Kingston’s urban areas.

Ali Matalon noted that she was interested in getting the two groups together so that they could “learn from each other and plant mutual seeds to explore options in reaching solutions to social and economic challenges”.

YUTE Chairman Joseph Matalon noted in his greetings that he was personally happy for the cultural and life experience exchange between the two groups. This sentiment was echoed by Professor Shaughnessy, who noted that cultural exchange and the exploration of options were key to different and more effective ways of addressing social and entrepreneurial challenges.

Glasgow noted that the YUTE participants were excited with the opportunity to share their ideas with the Northeastern group, and by the possibility of collaborative efforts to help highlight the importance of training and application.