In the summer of 2002, Dakhli and Dr. Earl Picard, international development specialist with Georgia State’s International Affairs Office, visited Egypt to assess the
various needs and opportunities. Together with the stakeholders, they plotted out a multistage program that included research, training, course development
and a clear strategy that would help AIT make this a self-sustaining program. The project started with an intensive "training of the trainers" phase that involved
four of Robinson’s faculty (Sevo Eroglu, Detmar Straub, Joan Gabel, and Chris Lemley) working closely with four AIT fellows to develop their capacity to teach and
administer professional training programs.
The result was a professional certification program (qualified students were also permitted to take individual courses) consisting of eight courses: E-commerce Strategy, Global Operations & Logistics Management, IT Project Management, Knowledge & IS Management, Management of Information Services, International Marketing,
Customer Relationship Management, and Business Communications.
Once everything was developed and the program was in place, the next step was to fill seats. Robinson marketing professor Sevo Eroglu developed a marketing plan and led a set of focus groups with the Cairo MBA grads in order to "Egyptianize" the program. "Sevo’s early involvement in the training of the Egyptian trainers was instrumental in ensuring that the program was responsive to the needs of the local Egyptian managers," said Dakhli. "In addition to the focus groups, we basically did all of the traditional things that we do here in the States to market the program, such as open houses, company visits and advertising."
In the end, the program was successful and attracted students from throughout Egypt, many representing major organizations, including DHL Egypt, the Egyptian Exporters Association, Egyptian Traders, Vodafone Egypt, Maritime Company, CI Bank and Exxon/Mobile.
Each course was taught in English by Robinson faculty members who split their time between Alexandria and a classroom facility in Cairo through a partnership with Cairo-based NileSoft International. Students in Alexandria and Cairo participated in class discussions and projects via video conferencing.
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