In April, Mehdi Majidi reached an agreement with Akou Investment Management for an academic cooperation which will begin with the organization of an international case competition in fall 2010. Graduate and undergraduate students around the world will be invited to develop viable business plans for ‘off grid solar energy electricity generation to serve small communities, villages of 100-1000 people, where electricity will enable new business opportunities and local sustainable development’. The winners will be rewarded and winning projects will be presented to a third party investor for financing from large financial institutions such as the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Kreditansalt fu Wiederaufbau (KfW), the African Development Bank (AFD), etc…  Nadia Popova (AUP 2003) initiated the collaboration between Professor Majidi and Akou Investment after the successful result of AUP’s first case competition in spring 2010. For the first case competition, AUP students offered marketing strategy solutions for AINA, an NGO providing photojournalism education to girls in Afghanistan. Twenty-one graduate and undergraduate students formed five teams and competed in a collaborative structured procedure. Students' proposals were evaluated by a group of judges—AUP faculty members and outside professionals. In the fall, students will implement the winning solution through the internship program at AINA.

Dr. Majidi is a university faculty and an international consultant with more than 25 years experience in private and public management and international business. His key expertise and knowledge lie in the areas of international business strategy, cross-cultural management, and engaging the private sector in socioeconomic development. He is especially skilled in strategic planning and the implementation of international mergers, acquisitions, and alliances (IMAAs). In this area, he focuses on cultural differences as a decisive factor in addition to financial and economic considerations.

His consulting projects include industrial development, workforce development, implementation of information technology in education, and the design of a solution to measure, monitor, and evaluate the dynamics of the socioeconomic progress of a country based on international standards indexes. He has consulted for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Department of Education (ED), and the World Bank.

Dr. Majidi won the French Entrepreneurs National Award. He has worked in different countries and speaks several languages.

Cultural Factors in International Mergers and Acquisitions: When and Where Culture Matters; the International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management, Vol. 6, 2006.

The Strategic Value of Cross-cultural Expertise; Working papers, the Faculty Research Forum of the Washington Consortium of Business Schools, 2004.

The Information Communication Technology (ICT) Penetration and Skills Gap Analysis (SGA). Co-authored; a report for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Egyptian government to assess the use of ICT in industries and educational systems and recommend policies and actions to respond to immediate inquiries for ICT skills covering the local, regional, and global markets, 2003.

Going Global: Global Fix Management Consulting Services Global Induction Version 3.0, PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP July (1998): 1-24.

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