The U.S. State Department and a presidential initiative created a program to enhance the business leadership skills of a select group of young professional women from Arab speaking Middle Eastern countries. Bids went out to major, highly ranked universities. Goizueta and Duke won as program partners for several consecutive years to design and execute this immense program. Participants were female executives residing and working in over twelve different Middle Eastern countries, such as Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, and United Arab Emirates.
The program was a five month, extensive program, with one month of classroom education and the remainder of the time being spent at internships at some of the top Fortune 500 companies in the United States. Goizueta, along with Duke, provided the classroom experience, but the universities also remained as coaches and mentors for the women throughout their internships. Classroom content was typical MBA business acumen. Action-based learning components included business challenge projects, simulations, company visits, learning labs, focusing on self-awareness and self-regulation, case studies, and facilitated discussions.