Global Entrepreneurship Lab

Unfortunately, no. We spend the summer recruiting projects based on your response to our survey assessing student interests regarding location, industry, domain, and type. Our projects are sourced from emerging market countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa and target country locations, project domain, industry and type based on your response to our summer surveys. Project recruitment aligns with student input and the final portfolio of approved projects will be made available for student viewing in late August.

Student teams review all projects and submit applications ranking their project preferences. We recruit 10% more projects than expected student teams; so, not all recruited projects will be matched. G-Lab faculty meet to review host company project proposals and then discuss each team’s application materials (e.g., student CVs, project ranking, and team statement). The G-Lab faculty make the final team project match.

We align our project recruitment efforts with student input; however, we do not guarantee any person or team a specific project in a specific country.

G-Lab students are encouraged, but not required, to form teams of four before class begins. Because the course has a three week onsite travel component, you should team with classmates you can successfully live and work with in a foreign country for several weeks. Also keep in mind that your team should be comprised of individuals with a broad range of skills since you won’t know any project specifics in advance. That said, G-Lab faculty will help to organize students not on a team of four during the first week of class.

After many years of experience, we do not allow teams of five; and only allow teams of three under extraordinary circumstances (e.g., course enrollment numbers). There are both logistical reasons for this (e.g., ground transport, onsite accommodations, airfare and lodging costs paid by the host company, etc.), as well as ‘level of effort issues’ (e.g., free-rider effect with five or balancing the project work load with a team of three). If a situation evolves so a team is reduced to three members, agreements must then be secured with the host so the project can be rescoped and other adjustments made.

Teams often work on internationalization strategies, new market entry analysis, capital-raising strategies (domestic and foreign), marketing analysis, pricing research, product development, technology commercialization, and competitive landscape assessment. Projects sometimes also involve finance, pricing and market research, process improvement, logistics, workforce management, and business development.

Yes, the three week IAP onsite is mandatory unless —like 2020 and 2021— there are global travel restrictions that make international travel impossible.

The exact G-Lab onsite dates during IAP are determined and agreed upon by your team and your host during your early team and host company meetings.

No. We recruit hosts to participate in G-Lab by stipulating that students will work remotely (on campus fall term) and for three weeks (full time during IAP) in country at their office location. In addition to needing the time to complete your project, our sponsoring hosts incur considerable costs, including their time to arrange for their G-Lab team’s onsite. It’s important that teams are onsite, at the same time, for the full three weeks.

Not exactly. While G-Lab doesn’t run beyond IAP, we do ask teams to participate in the Action Learning Poster Day which typically occurs between 11:30 am - 1:00 pm one weekday within the first two weeks of the spring term (i.e., in person, on campus following the IAP onsite).

Host companies cover student roundtrip airfare and onsite lodging. MIT Sloan covers costs such as visa (if required) and some incidentals (on a case-by-case basis). Students are responsible for their onsite ground transportation and food, although hosts typically arrange to cover transport costs to/from the office and office lunches. However, students’ weekends are their own and they are therefore responsible for their excursions and sightseeing costs. We suggest students anticipate setting aside about $1,000-$1,500 for personal expenses related to the G-Lab onsite.