Washington, D.C. is a hub where business and politics are interwoven together; the GLOBE Batch 6 students have the privilege to join a study trip to this city from 23-27 October 2012, allowing them to appreciate just how crucial a role the city has been playing in getting the country going. One of the highlights of the trip include visit to the US Small Business Administration office. The visit gave the students a glimpse of the hard facts for starting up and maintaining the operation of a small and medium business, as well as the US government initiatives in giving small business owners a hand. At that point of time, the US employment rate was staggering at best. The speaker could not have hit home a harder message on the importance of aiding business owners to succeed.
Another highlight would be the visiting of a lobbyist group who worked their magic in the Capitol through direct and indirect persuasion to the Senate and the House of Representatives. In the past, students would have thought that business and legislative power should never go together to avoid detriments like corruption. After the visit, the students came to understand that the marriage of business people and policy makers really could work, provided that sufficient transparency was in place to expose all possibilities of conflicts of interests.
Firm visits aside, the students hit multiple attraction points around the city, including Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, the National Park, the White House, the Capitol and whatnot.