7 SDG 4 Quality Education – Kinobi

Group Reflection

For the past couple of weeks, we (Group 31) have been working on COIL projects. Each of our universities, the University of Guelph, IPMI International Business School, and Universidad de Navarra, assigned this project to us. We were tasked to make a project covering a company that fits UN SDGs global goals and make a story and a poster about a for-profit company that fits at least one UN SDGs global goal. We needed to have an interview with the company about their innovation and how their innovation positively impacts the people around them. We have This project in total that took 7 weeks to do. As a group, we have been working tirelessly to finish each assignment given to us each week. Our dynamic has been flawless, with each of us finishing the work that we have been assigned to perform.

Kinobi is a SaaS firm that focuses on ETEC, and their career management platform revolves around the UN SDGs (Joshua, 2023). The company especially meets SDG 8, “Decent Work and Economic Growth,” by boosting student job access through the use of a robust CV builder and employment site. Additionally, SDG 4, “Quality Education,” is supported via the “Kinobi Scholarship ” function, which offers links to exchange programmes and scholarships. This dual approach reflects Kinobi’s goal of giving students the tools to pursue occupations that solve global concerns and have an impact, in addition to advancing more general educational objectives (Singapore Management University. Entrepreneurial lessons,2021).

We admire Kinobi for their noteworthy contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly for pushing SDG 8—decent job and economic growth—and SDG 4—high-quality education. The incorporation of a scholarship function, CV builder, and career management platform by the organization displays a well-rounded approach and a commitment to tackling global employment and educational challenges.

Analyzing and understanding the industry that Kinobi pursues business in has allowed us to deeply understand the great work that the firm has done in its space. Education is one of the most important aspects of an individual’s life, and Kinobi has depicted the greatness that can come out of when people work together to achieve a common goal. We realized that the skill development traits that Kinobi offers students, allows them to achieve greater success in the workforce, and in turn, profit society immensely. Job opportunities are filled by the students that are provided with these incredible skills, therefore the unemployment rate in the countries Kinobi does business in becomes lower. We believe everyone can learn new skills, and you know how the saying goes, “Knowledge is power”.

The Aim2Flourish story made us more knowledgeable and conscious about the impacts on society and environment that a business can create for the better of the civilization. Also, we are now more conscious at the time of decision making, in which we will try to integrate sustainability and social responsibility into our own business situation strategies as well as having values that promote the well-being of the business and the wider community. The project showed us how to collaborate and work together for a sustainable and socially responsive business, which we will use once we become part of a company and incorporate this in our own future circumstances, depending on our values. Moreover, we may be influenced in our approach to business challenges, leading us to seek solutions that not only contribute to their financial success but also have a positive impact on society.

Working on this project with people from different countries has brought to the group several cross-cultural experiences. Culture shapes how people perceive the world, interact with each other, and make decisions, so when working with people from other different cultures we have learnt how to work all together as a team and how to make decisions regarding the assignments we had to do. Knowing about each other cultures (cross-cultural knowledge) has taught as to avoid misunderstandings caused by miscommunication, build trust as a team and understand the differences on the decision-making and problem-solving approaches each culture has .We also learned how to properly communicate between each other and how to express our ideas as well as sharing our opinions, always with respect.

The team’s cross-cultural experience produced illuminating findings that enhanced the ideas taught in our classes. Our study has demonstrated how crucial cultural intelligence is for handling divergent opinions and encouraging fruitful collaboration. Our intercultural communication training helped students become more understanding and flexible with different communication styles, which decreased the likelihood of miscommunication. The team’s education in appreciating and respecting different traditions also highlighted the significance of cultural sensitivity, a topic that frequently comes up in our curriculum. The practical implementation of leadership and teamwork ideas in cross-cultural situations brought attention to the intricacy of global collaboration and underscored the significance of adaptability and receptiveness. In the end, the experience emphasized the practical application of the theoretical knowledge acquired and validated the need for a thorough approach to cross-cultural partnerships.

In our courses, we’ve all learned that corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is essential in the running of a business. It can be the backbone of a firms whole entire business plan, and in our scenario, Kinobi strives off of the use of CSR. The firms business plan is to educate students to ensure they are ready for the working world, and one could realize how impactful the firm is regarding this ideology. Our connected understanding of CSR has greater supplemented our team work, as we were all on the same page for many parts of the assignment.

First, we talked and discussed what the delivery was about so that everybody could understand what was about. Then, since we chose Michael’s business, he and Mixandro did the interview because they knew the person being interviewed and it was easier for them to contact her. We mostly divided the tasks by ease and quantity. We had a very open communication through the Whatsapp group to check everything was going correctly and to ask concerns or challenges about the task. We had a shared document to help maintain transparency and allow the group’s members to stay informed about everybody’s progress. Also, our group faced some difficulties, but we were able to adapt and be flexible to those changes by redistributing tasks and helping each other. Moreover, some of us reviewed the work and provided feedback to improve it. It was great working on this group because there was good communication and organization, mutual respect and a shared understanding of the project goals that ended in success.

During our group work, we found things that worked for our group and those that did not. At first, we planned to have group communication on Instagram, but sending files and communicating was too much of a hassle. In the end, we ended up using WhatsApp to communicate. Our first idea to meet at the same time as when we first had the introduction proved very convenient for all team members. It is not too late and not too early for all of us. To make it more convenient for all of us, we decided to use Google Docs to submit any writing and to merge all of our work into one document. This idea was very well executed, making our work process much more efficient.

Individual Reflections

Divo: It has been exciting during the weeks we have worked together on this project. This experience was the first time I had this kind of project where I had to do it with someone from a different country. Most of our work is divided relatively among every team member, so we are all included. There have been some challenges regarding the assignment, mainly regarding different time zones th9at caused delayed responses on our WhatsApp group. To mitigate this, we encourage each other to finish our work as soon as possible so we’ll have enough time to cross-check everything before assignment submission. As for success, I would say that we’re one of the most productive groups for COIL assignments. All the work we submit is generally received well, and we can submit the assignments way before the due date. Despite different time zones, we still work efficiently and communicate well.

Sofia: It was great working with them on this project together. It was a different experience compared to the ones that I had had, but it was fun. We had some challenges, like time-zone, but we were able to manage it and work through it, it wasn’t a big challenge for us. We had a really good coordination, we divided the work and everybody tried to do their part on time and as soon as possible. Also, communication was very important to get to this, without it, we couldn’t have achieved success and have the project done on time. We were very productive during our zoom meetings, which was awesome, however, punctuality wasn’t the strength of some members of the group. It was great working with this team and meeting new people from other countries and cultures from other parts of the world.

Mixandro: After taking part in COIL program, I gained a lot of experience, benefits and tips, such as managing companies both domestically and abroad with different cultures, we can take examples of culture management from various continents. Some good examples can be inspiration for me, if that one day I work and having a challenges, I can manage a company properly by taking positive examples and ignoring the negative ones, also being able to help our company with our knowledge. By caring about the environment, community and remaining sunstained for long-term sustainable competitive advantage. Also we can share our opinion with students from various countries in this COIL program. By understanding the character and etiquette of students from various countries.

Brady: As a member of this group, I felt welcomed and appreciated by my fellow team members from across the globe. This assignment taught me so many important things about sustainability and other practices. As many of our team members also know, the time zone differences did pose a bit of a challenge for us, but ultimately we pulled through and everything worked out. Everyone spoke great English, so conversating was not really an issue, which was great.

Alejandra: When we were told in class we had to do an assignment working in groups with people from different countries, I was pretty excited. This has been an amazing experience from which I have learned plenty of things. We all worked together nicely and handled all the activities on time, trying to do them as soon as possible. We faced some challenges like the different time-zones, specially when we wanted to meet on zoom but we managed to work through it. Communication was not a problem at all because we all tried our best to understand and express ourselves and we all spoke good English. It was great to work with them and a fantastic opportunity to get to know people from different countries around the globe.