Coca-Cola, US Sponsor Students to Global Business Institute
By Reem Qadan
http://english.wafa.ps/index.php?action=detail&id=20048

RAMALLAH, June 13, 2012 (WAFA) – The Ramallah-based National Beverage
Company (NBC), owner of Coca-Cola Company, and the United States Consulate
General in Jerusalem Wednesday said they are sponsoring participation of 13
Palestinian university students in the Global Business Institute in the USA.

The announcement was made at Coca-Cola premises by NBC chairman and chief
executive officer Zahi Khouri and US Consul General Daniel Rubinstein.

Coca-Cola and the US State Department will fully fund the participation of
the winning students from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip for one month on
an exchange program to learn about business and entrepreneurship at Indiana
University in the US.

Khouri congratulated the winning students and called on them to receive and
bring back the best of what US business institutes can offer, stressing the
importance of presenting the Palestinian society and reality to the American
public.

Rubinstein, on his part, also congratulated the students for enrolling in
the prestigious “original education experience,” which is part of the
Coca-Cola’s support of Partners for a New Beginning (PNB), an alliance of
public-private partnerships committed to deepening engagement between US and
local communities on issues of education, exchange, economic opportunity,
and science and technology.

Winning student Basel Saydeh, a third-year Computer Science student from
Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron, was among several hundred
college students who applied to the Coca-Cola Global Business Institute
scholarship.

Saydeh’s idea was to establish an employment unit in the Hebron governorate
to coordinate the requirements of the labor market with the academic
institutions to close the large gap between the number of university
graduates and job opportunities. His entrepreneurial idea is being
implemented in four universities in Hebron and he aspires to implement it
nationwide.

Saydeh said a judging committee screened the various projects submitted and
brought them to vote on the social network Facebook to get a feedback from
the community. His was one of the 13 winners.

R.Q./M.S.