Graduate students in the Marketing (M.Sc.) program are participating in a virtual negotiation initiative, BAIN – Becoming an International Negotiator, which launched its inaugural cohort in April 2021.

We are pleased to announce that this pilot project received funding for the 2021/2022 academic year through the International Virtual Academic Collaboration (IVAC) program, offered by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

This project fosters global engagement within a digital learning environment, providing 43 marketing graduate students from Kenya, Ghana, and Germany with valuable, hands-on negotiation experience. Students in the Marketing master’s program at H-BRS engage in negotiations to enter the African market, working with their counterparts from the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana and the University of Nairobi (UoN) in Kenya. The initiative was headed by Regina C. Brautlacht, Senior Lecturer in Business Communication and instructor of Business Communication and Negotiation at H-BRS, in collaboration with Dr. Gloria Agyapong (UCC) and Dr. Joseph Owino † 2023 (UoN). In 2024, Dr. Zurah Mohammed from Moi University joined the project, following the sudden passing of Dr. Owino.

The project’s goal is to immerse students in international negotiation processes through a customized case study, developed by our African colleagues. Feedback from students has been overwhelmingly positive.

Additionally, Professor Jürgen Bode and his graduate students in Marketing Implementation/International Marketing joined the collaboration, offering African students the opportunity to work on a case study focused on entering the German and EU markets.

Since its inception, BAIN has successfully conducted two summer schools at H-BRS and one at UCC in Ghana. The project has received support, funded by IVAC/DAAD in 2022 and Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre in 2023.

Participating Universities:

• Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences
  Sankt Augustin, Germany
  Project Lead and Country Coordinator: Regina C. Brautlacht, M.A.
   
• https://ucc.edu.gh/
  Cape Coast, Ghana
  Country Coordinator: Dr. Gloria Agyapong
   
• https://www.uonbi.ac.ke/
  Nairobi, Kenya
  Country Coordinator: Dr. Joseph Owino † (2023)
• Nairobi, Kenya
  Country Coordinator: Dr. Zura Mohammed
  Moi University