Muna Umar - AMSIB student

Testimonial

As an AMSIB student who genuinely enjoys traveling, I tend to grab every chance I get to hop on a plane and discover new places. Last year, another opportunity to travel came along when I read about the minor offered by the Amsterdam School of International Business (AMSIB): Building Partnerships in Thailand. A minor is a 20-week programme in which you can choose a specialisation.

As an AMSIB student who enjoys traveling, I tend to grab every chance to discover new places. Last year, another opportunity to travel came along with the minor offered by AMSIB.
Student - Amsterdam School of International Business

I was intrigued by this minor and immediately decided to take on this challenge. In order to apply, I needed to find a Dutch hiring organisation to execute a sourcing assignment for in Bangkok, Thailand.

I choose the Dutch ice cream company: ‘t IJscuypje. On day one I teamed up with Laura in the Netherlands, who worked at ‘t IJscuypje. Our assignment involved expanding the product line of ‘t IJscuypje with new Thai style inspired ice cream rolls. Prior to our departure to Bangkok, we had two intensive months of following courses, conducting desk research and contacting Thai stakeholders by phone and email to schedule meetings with them in advance.

We then flew to Bangkok and had 30 days to conduct a market research. On weekdays, we had classes in the morning, followed by excursions in the afternoon. In the evenings we met with several Thai stakeholders, visited conferences and other networking events. The long days soon paid off because we successfully managed to execute our research, and build a valuable network in Bangkok within the given time.

Once we were back in Amsterdam, we shared our findings with ‘t IJscuypje and they were very pleased with the results.

I added the Thailand experience to my resume and started looking for an internship at a company. Surprisingly, all employers reacted with the same enthusiasm about the minor. Thanks to my Thailand experience, I found an amazing internship within two weeks. This internship allows me, again, to travel monthly with my colleagues.

So if you also suffer from wanderlust, I advise you to gain as much international experience as you possibly can during our study!