Howdy! My name is Keely Kidd and over the past winter break, I went on a study abroad trip through the Mays Business School to Costa Rica! This trip lasted about two weeks and was one of the most transformational trips I have ever been on! Getting to dive into the culture and operations behind the Costa Rican businesses was highly informative and the lessons I learned will stick with me forever.
The businesses we visited seemed to have underlying similarities including marketing strategies, environmentally friendly practices, and passion for the business. Every business we visited said that its main marketing strategy is word of mouth. The United States also uses word of mouth, but it is usually not the main marketing strategy that most businesses use. Another underlying similarity was environmentally friendly practices including biodegradable coffee capsules (Caf? Britt), boxes made of excess cacao shells instead of plastic (Sib? Chocolate Company), and making sure to not cut down any trees (Bogarin Nature Trail). We learned that the environment is especially important to the country of Costa Rica. They have laws against cutting down trees and taking pictures with the animals to continue to protect the environment around them. This was one of the major differences I saw between the United States and Costa Rica. The United States is much less focused on the environment than Costa Rica. The businesses also had a huge passion behind their business. Each owner?s business started out as a dream or something they were enthusiastic about and wanted to share with the world. This really showed me what I would want my business to look like later down the road because having that passion made a difference in how people reacted to each company. Without passion or a purpose, your business can become just another chocolate company.
On this trip, we traveled all over the country of Costa Rica and also stayed for the majority of the trip with a host family. Most of the host families only spoke Spanish, including mine. This part of the trip was the one I was most nervous about but ended up enjoying the best. This experience allowed me to experience the culture of Costa Rica firsthand and really get to know the amazing people they have! We got to try tons of Costa Rican cuisine and also learned how to make traditional dishes in our cooking class! The culture-related activities really helped me understand the reasoning behind why Costa Rica does certain things.
We learned in our lectures that it is extremely hard for people in Costa Rica to open their own businesses because of all of the laws and taxes that they have from the government. During our company visits, every business owner spoke about the trials they faced and eventually overcame, and this really encouraged me. They all encouraged us to continue pursuing whatever dreams we had and to never give up. This led to my biggest takeaway from the trip?you can truly do anything you put your mind to. This experience was one that I will never forget, and I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to be a part of it. Pura Vida!
