At Iowa, Dimy Doresca launches small- to mid-size Iowa businesses into global ventures at the Institute for International Business.
Launching global ventures
Dimy Doresca knows what it takes to launch a global business. As an international business consultant, he’s dealt with foreign banks and insurance companies, recruited foreign representatives for domestic companies, negotiated contracts, and networked with foreign officials to set up international offices throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.
At Iowa, he launches small- to mid-size Iowa businesses into global ventures at the Institute for International Business, connecting clients with undergraduate student consulting teams.
“Our students conduct risk analyses, looking at all the four major international risks: cross-cultural, financial, commercial, and political,” Doresca says. “They formulate market-entry strategies for client companies and help them find partners or ways to get into the foreign markets.”
Last fall, Iowa-based architectural signage company ASI came to the Tippie College of Business with a request: to help them penetrate the Middle East signage market. Doresca assigned a student consulting team, drawn from majors across the university, to conduct a market analysis, and connected the team with an alumnus based in the Middle East for resources on the ground. After the team identified interested distributors that could serve as ASI representatives in the Middle East, the company is now establishing partners in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait.
Student consulting teams within the Institute for International Business also travel overseas to help local micro-entrepreneurs create marketing strategies for their businesses and find new sources of revenue. A recent Belize trip paired students with micro-entrepreneurs working to promote Mayan arts, restaurants, and schools.
“My greatest satisfaction is the time that I’m spending with the students, mentoring them and bridging the gap between what they learn in the classroom and how they put it into practice in the real world.”