Africa Healthcare Network recently had the opportunity to host a team of students from Harvard Business School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania for one week as part of a required first-year course at Harvard Business School called the FIELD Global Immersion. AHN was one of 157 FIELD Global Partners spanning 13 countries around the world. Together these Global Partners combined to host more than 920 Harvard Business School students in all.

“We are pleased to be working with Harvard Business School to provide students with a real-world learning experience in Tanzania.” said CEO Nikhil Pereira-Kamath. “We feel certain that the students were able to gather insights here that they would never be able to glean from a classroom discussion alone, and our team benefitted as well. The HBS students supported AHN’s effort to educate doctors and patients in East Africa about CKD, with the goal of identifying patients early and managing the disease to delay kidney failure.”

The FIELD Global Immersion is a course designed to strengthen and develop students’ global intelligence – their ability to manage and operate effectively across cultures and business contexts. AHN executives had been working with the team remotely in the months leading up to their arrival in country. While here, the students pitched their ideas to the leadership team, conducted field research with consumers around Dar es Salaam and presented their final recommendations to management. The purpose of this immersive experience is to provide students with the opportunity to do real fieldwork in an unfamiliar context.

Harvard is quick to acknowledge that this important learning experience would not be possible without the Global Partners.

“We are extremely grateful to Africa Healthcare Network and all the FIELD Global Partner organizations for all they do on behalf of our students,” said Professor Juan Alcacer, the faculty head of FIELD. “The students benefit immeasurably from this experience and we hope the partner organizations do as well.”