This past January, five second-year Oregon MBA students from the college's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center headed on a trip to Doha, Qatar, to take part in the Qatar 2022 Women's Soccer Challenge advertising competition.

The team was one of three—out of an initial pool of thirty-three—selected to present their ideas for growing Qatari girls" engagement with soccer to the Qatar 2022 Supreme Committee, organizers of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Warsaw Center managing director Paul Swangard accompanied the group on the trip.

During their five-day stay, team members soaked up the region's culture. Activities included a desert safari, a sail aboard a dhow, and a tour of Doha's Museum of Islamic Art. The team used the insights they gleaned from these experiences to fine tune their campaign.

“We were constantly picking up clues from the culture," said team member Elizabeth Brock, MBA '14, explaining the value of experiencing Qatar first-hand.

The Oregon team took third place in the competition, and the experience continues to give back. Inspired by her time in Qatar, Brock has begun working on a class project to create athletic apparel that fits the needs of young Middle Eastern women. Elements of the group's presentation will also likely be implemented in Qatar in years to come.

“FIFA now owns the rights to our presentation, so we are extremely excited about the potential of what we did," added Brock.

All in all, it was an additional and unexpected experience afforded to Warsaw Center students in the Oregon MBA, making the program that much more rewarding.

Download the MBAs' presentation and read a blog post about the trip by Stephanie Baugh, MBA '14.