With resumed trade on horizon, Wharton hopes to spark discourse about Cuban business

Wharton is playing its own role in recent U.S. policy changes by facilitating discourse surrounding the recently-announced reopening of Cuban trade.

On April 1, Wharton will host the Cuba Opportunity Summit in New York City, a conference that will bring together leading business and legal experts to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with doing business in Cuba.

The decision to hold the Summit came after the Dec. 17 announcement by President Barack Obama that the U.S. would move to normalize relations with Cuba and lift the trade embargo that has been in place since 1962 .

Knowledge@Wharton, Wharton’s online magazine; the Lauder Institute, the dual degree graduate-level program between Wharton and the College; and the event consulting group Momentum are collaborating to organize the Summit.

The decision to put together a Summit came almost immediately after Obama’s announcement. “I see it as part of Wharton’s mission to help business people around the world to find out what it will mean when business relations between the U.S. and Cuba are normalized,” Editor-in-Chief of Knowledge@Wharton and Summit host Mukul Pandya said.

Director of the Lauder Institute, Wharton Management Professor and co-chair of the Summit Mauro F. Guillén stressed the significance of the recent political developments. “A part of the world that was closed is now opening up,” Guillén said. “Cuba is so close to the U.S. that this whole thing is bound to have a lot of impact.”

President and CEO of the major Summit sponsor Tres Mares Group and 1997 College and Wharton graduate Faquiry Diaz Cala will co-chair the Summit. “A lot of the information [about the situation] available now has been superfluous,” Diaz Cala said. “Wharton will engage in very in-depth research about the current regulations and the opportunities available.”

Coincidentally, 15 graduate students in the Lauder Institute program traveled to Cuba on a week-long educational trip over winter break, which was organized well before the policy changes were announced. The students had the opportunity to meet with local economists, urban planners, Cuban diplomats and the head of the U.S. Interests Section, which functions as a de facto embassy in Cuba, though a real embassy will open once trade with the nation is normalized. While abroad, the students gained perspective on how the upcoming governmental negotiations will impact Cubans’ lives.

A first-year Lauder Institute student and Cuba trip participant Pjeter Dushku recognizes Wharton’s potential impact. “There is a lot of need for discussion about business in Cuba right now. 86 percent of enterprise [in Cuba] is from the government,” Dushku said. “A very small percentage of business comes from the private sector.”

Guillén said that the Summit organizers hope to bring Cubans — not just representatives from American companies and the U.S. government — to the conference. “The potential from both sides is so huge. We want this to be a two-way street,” he said.

The organizers also hope to hold a second Summit in Havana later this year.

The names of the corporations and government officials who will speak at the Summit have not yet been confirmed, although Diaz Cala said that they would like to have representatives from the State Department, the Department of Commerce and from the White House.

The Summit organizers have also secured a major media sponsorship, whose name will be released on Wednesday, Diaz Cala confirmed.

However, both students and Summit organizers understand that they must remain cautiously optimistic about the current political rhetoric and media hype surrounding the policy change.

Diaz Cala noted that tangible change will be gradual. “The opportunity will become real once the administration decides to change the policy and once the Cubans have decided to accept the policies. We have to figure out where we stand and go one step at a time.”

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