Business School Academics Participate in British Council Creative Sparks Event in Kazakhstan

Lincoln International Business School academics Dr Olanrewaju Olaoye (Larry) and Dr Arman Mazhikeyev, with the support of colleagues in partner institutions, KRIU and BAISHEV Universities, recently delivered a range of activities and workshops on creative enterprise in Kazakhstan.

As you will see from the accompanying video, Larry delivered a session to undergraduate students focusing on generating business ideas. There was also a competition to develop a business plan, along with writing a pitch. A boot-camp style event was also held for participants, with students presenting their business plans, with the top three groups winning a prize.

Whilst Larry was busy delivering the aforementioned activities, Arman was also using his expertise to assist students with a range of workshops focusing on emotional intelligence, the regional economy, public goods and tender and supply lines.  Following the week of sessions, a survey found that 100% of attendees agreed that the delivered activities had enhanced their knowledge and understanding of entrepreneurship.

This work has been enabled and funded by the British Council Creative Sparks project. During the visit, Larry and Arman began the formal implementation of another scheme funded by the British Council entitled ‘Interlinks Trans National Education [TNE] project’. This is aimed at fostering higher education projects between UK and Kazakhstani universities and a meeting with both Senior Leadership Teams allowed for deliverables to be set and agreed.

Moving forward, a memorandum of understanding will be developed between the University of Lincoln and relevant Kazakhstan Universities. This will enable the submission of an application for an academics mobility scheme, along with the TNE project.  Larry commented:

The potential for successful collaboration between the University of Lincoln and Kazakhstan partners is strong and we look forward to fulfilling our aims, cemented with another visit in May 2022.We are grateful to the British Council for funding, along with the many colleagues who have helped us reach this point in the project”