It’s not every day you meet with a delegation from a country halfway around the globe. But that’s just what Assistant Dean Troy D’Ambrosio did yesterday here at the David Eccles School of Business.

The Honorable Martinho Bachi Codo, Consul General of Angola, and his delegation, joined us to learn about business education, entrepreneurship and innovation at the Eccles School.

As director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, D’Ambrosio was the perfect one to introduce Consul General Codo to the concept of Lassonde Studios — which he could see being built a couple hundred yards from our vantage point on a cold winter’s day — and the many events and opportunities our students have to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, and even secure funding for new student business ventures.

The hour-long tour of the Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building and meeting included representatives from University of Utah President Pershing’s office as well as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Consul General Codo expressed an interest in exploring ways the Eccles School can work with the Republic of Angola and its college-age students to provide education and real-world experience that would help strengthen his country’s economy.

Together, we agreed to pursue ideas for delivering graduate education and a University of Utah experience for Angolans.

Consul General Codo’s visit is one of many diplomatic visits we host at the David Eccles School on a regular basis, especially as word spreads about our top 25 entrepreneurship program with its degrees, certificates and campus-wide events.

The meeting and its future outcome represent a small piece of the unique and individual #EcclesExperience for students.