Students Selected to Raise Ohio Companies International Market Presence

May 2022

Pictured above: Ohio Export Internship Program participants, along with members of the instructing staff from CSU on a field trip to visit local manufacturer Skylift in Lorain, Ohio.

Eleven students have been selected to participate in the Ohio Export Internship Program (OEIP) at the Monte Ahuja College of Business at Cleveland State University.

The program, created by the Ohio Department of Development and offered at Cleveland State University, Ohio State University, Youngstown State University, and the University of Dayton, matches students with an Ohio company for a  full-time paid summer internship to work on projects including export compliance, market research, market expansion and international business plans.

Prior to this year, 29 students have participated in the OEIP at CSU since 2017. Of those, 22 have received internship extensions, part-time, or full-time job offers as a result of their internship experience. Statewide, going into this year, the OEIP has trained 359 students, who have been placed in 214 Ohio companies. Those students are credited with assisting those companies reach 365 new international markets, distributors, or customers since its inception in 2012.

Students selected for this highly selective program completed specialized coursework in exporting during the Spring 2022 semester taught by Nate Ward, Director of the Global Business Center and trade advisor with the Export Assistance Network at the CSU SBDC. Students interested in applying for next year, should visit the application here.

This year's participants are:

Cleveland State University:

• Daniel Kovalev-Gasparyan, a sophomore Management major will be at the Cleveland Vibrator Company in Cleveland
• Rushik Bandodkar, an MBA student, will be at Checkpoint Surgical in Independence
• Steven Johnson, a senior in Operations and Supply Chain Management, will be at Jergens, Inc. in Cleveland
• David Puckett, a junior Business Administration major, will be at Kaden Publishing in Westlake
• Rosalina Keglovic, a sophomore double major Marketing and International Business, will be at L & R Racing in Brunswick
• Rayah Alsukhayri, a junior majoring in Marketing with a minor in Entrepreneurship, will be at Malco Products, Inc. in Barberton
• Yasmeen Yaghmour, a senior double major in International Business and Marketing, will be at Ohio Lumex in Solon
• Rachel Anderson, a senior in Operation Supply Chain Management, will be at SIFCO Applied Surface Concepts in Independence
• Shannan Phillips, a senor in Human Resource Management, will be at Terves Inc. in Euclid
• Ahmed Almudhi, a junior majoring in Finance, will be at Zircoa Inc. in Solon

Tiffin University

• Jessica Emmert, an MBA student, will be matched with 212 Environmental Products in Hamilton

Pictured below: Ohio Export Internship Program participants, along with members of the instructing staff from CSU welcome the start of summer during their annual "meet and greet" to acclimate those new to the region in the Flats. This year in addition to the above "home grown" Cleveland State cohort, we are hosting Joe from the Youngstown State University cohort and David from the University of Dayton. In total, our SBDC EAN hosts 14 of the 52 interns statewide in the Cleveland-Akron region.