La Sierra University biz school hosts State Dept. tour for Middle East reps

They arrived at La Sierra University from 10 Middle Eastern countries, each with their own unique interests, challenges and experiences, each intent on gleaning new ideas they can put into practice back home.

The group, comprised of 13 business and economic development professionals from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Yemen spent July 5th at La Sierra University learning about the School of Business Students In Free Enterprise team and their entrepreneurial and economic empowerment projects. They also gleaned advice on philanthropic and nonprofit development from Jim Erickson, director of the business school's Center for Philanthropy. During their Riverside stay, the group also met with leaders of the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce and the International Relations Council of Riverside.

It was the group's third stop on an educational tour of the United States under a U.S. State Department International Visitor Leadership Program. They toured Washington D.C. and Philadelphia before arriving in Riverside. The program's goals included providing an overview of the origins of federalism in the United States and of its free market economic system, while offering networking opportunities for the exchange of entrepreneurial and managerial strategies.

The visitors also came “to see how things work in America and to see how Americans conduct their daily lives,” one group member said through a State Department interpreter.