EWU Students Attend Business Conference in Finland

Only 150 of the world’s elite business students were invited to the 2025 X-Culture Global Business Week Symposium, in Vaasa, Finland. Eastern Washington University’s Kimarie Fox and Antonio Cazarez were among them.

Fox and Cazarez, both students in EWU’s School of Business, are veterans of Abrahim Soleimani’s International Business course, IBUS 470. As part of the course, Associate Professor Soleimani, who specializes in international business, has introduced his students to “X-Culture,” an experiential learning model with an international focus on business and collaboration.

In the X-Culture program, students are placed in global virtual teams of up to six students — each from a different country. Over the course of the term, these multicultural teams collaborate to address everyday challenges faced by real businesses, helping these companies evolve to establish their goals of international expansion. EWU has participated in the X-Culture program since 2013.

With most team members residing in continents like Europe, Asia and Africa, one of the more difficult aspects of the collaboration is working around a variety of time zones, Soleimani said.

“It’s not just a project,” Soleimani said of X-Culture, “it’s also a firsthand experience of working across cultures and learning how international business is actually done.”

This year’s exclusive, invitation-only gathering in Finland introduced participating students to prominent academics and business leaders from around the world. Previous X-Culture symposiums have been held in countries such as Italy, Canada, Poland and Thailand.

The week-long event featured a rigorous schedule of lectures, professional development workshops, company site visits and cultural excursions. Fox, Cazarez and the other student participants were also able to meet face-to-face with executives from the companies they’d consulted for virtually.

It made for an exhausting but exhilarating trip, Fox said. “I was busy from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day. On top of lectures, visiting the company site, cultural activities and down time to get dinner each night,” she explained, “my team and I had to work on, then present, a marketing idea to a company worth billions of dollars.”

During the symposium, some 25 teams presented their final proposals to various company representatives before concluding the event with a formal gala dinner at Strampen, one of Finland’s oldest restaurants. Fox’s team partnered with Wärtsilä, a company in Finland that specializes in sustainable fuels and energy. Cazarez’s team collaborated with Zip Adventure Park, a Finnish zipline and climbing facility.

“The skills students develop through this experience stay with them,” Soleimani said. “They will use them in their future careers and businesses. It’s transformative.”

Working with people from all around the world, all in one conference, helps participants “grow beyond [their] comfort zone,” he added.

“It’s like opening a window to a new world. There is so much out there to learn – and no limits,” Soleimani said.

**Story written by Rachel Weinberg. Lorna Harris is a contributing writer.