IGEI ACTIVITIES
Small Business Boot Camp
IGEI learners receive a rapid introduction to all the steps needed to move a business idea from inception to an investor pitch. Delivered by business professionals from Lehigh's Small Business Development Center, students work together to create feasibility studies, business plans, marketing plans, financial plans, and ultimately a business pitch presented to a panel of expert consultants. The Small Business Bootcamp gives IGEI participants their first taste of the program's learning-by-doing approach!
Lehigh Concentration Course 
In addition to attending sessions with Lehigh faculty and industry leaders, IGEI participants have the opportunity to select a concentration course, focusing on an area of particular interest to explore in greater depth. Concentration course options vary from year to year based on faculty availability, and can include such topics as fintech, branding and marketing, AI and Business, ESG, technical entrepreneurship, among others.
Leadership Development Workshops
At IGEI, we believe that Global Leadership is a mindset, a skillset, and a way of being that is informed by an understanding of how systems work and interconnect, that is committed to working within complex contexts of difference, and that is dedicated to learning within changing circumstances as we aim to create a more just and sustainable world. Learners have the opportunity to discover more about who they are, what they care about, and what kind of impact they want to have in their communities and in the world.
Design Thinking Immersion
Did you know Albert Einstein said that if he had an hour to solve a problem, he'd spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about the solution?
In partnership with the Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Innovation, at IGEI we spend time thinking deeply about challenges, the people affected by them, and how to formulate the right questions to define challenges accurately before starting down the path of developing innovative solutions to problems that matter.
Intrapreneurship Business Consulting Project
An internship within the program, the business consulting project places IGEI learners at the heart of a local business to address a real-life need or issue. Working in small groups under the supervision of a mentor, project teams use the skills and strategies learned in the program to do research, analyze results, and make recommendations related to market trends, consumer preferences, competitor products: each project is unique and tailored to the needs of the client. Past client companies include Just Born, Lackawanna College, PBS39, The Stone House Group and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, among many others. The business consulting project epitomizes IGEI's philosophy of learning by doing through hands-on, collaborative, project-based work.
Field Trips and Business Visits
IGEI heads out of the classroom for field trips to New York City and Philadelphia as well as visits to local and regional businesses. Meet business executives and get an inside perspective on everything from startups to global corporations.
Intercultural Learning and Collaboration
Each year, IGEI welcomes a global cohort of learners to Lehigh's campus. Since the program's start in 2001, citizens of more than 66 countries have participated in IGEI!
Our global perspective is not found only in the demographics of our participants and staff. As part of Lehigh's Office of International Affairs, IGEI's curriculum is grounded in our signature SOWL (self-other-world learning) pedagogical model, through which we prepare students intellectually, experientially, and personally to engage the world, address global challenges, and live lives of meaning.
Fun and Life-long Friendships
At IGEI, participants live, work, and play with a global cohort of future leaders who share their drive and passions. Today's friends are tomorrow's classmates, future colleagues, and creative collaborators. The connections made at IGEI can last a lifetime, forming the core of a professional network that will aid you on your path to success.