Cargill helps UW expand international internship offerings

The Minneapolis-based Cargill Corp. is helping UW–Madison students take their first plunge into the global marketplace.

As part of Cargill’s Higher Education Initiative, the company has provided one of its employees on loan to UW–Madison to create a self-sustaining network of international internships. The goal is to work with industry to find work- abroad opportunities for students in agriculture, business and engineering.

“Cargill has long considered UW–Madison an important university,” says Juan Banda, here since July as the director of international career development. “Sending me here to work on UW initiatives is another way of showing support for the university.”

The company has been a major employer of UW–Madison students for years and has financially supported a number of research programs and faculty, Banda says. The university is one of five Midwestern universities named a “core school” for Cargill, which makes available research grants, scholarships, fellowships and internship programs.

Banda says the initiative recognizes how important international experience is for employers. “You hear a lot of buzzwords about the global economy, but many firms have been interested in international markets for a long time,” he says.

So far, Banda says the program has commitments from companies to hire five international interns beginning this summer. They include CitiBank International in Germany; S.C. Johnson Wax in Madrid; the international research-and-development arm of Pillsbury in Minneapolis; and Siemens Corp., which will sponsor two interns at a nuclear-fuels division in Germany.

Last year, Cargill sponsored two business-school interns in Beijing, China.

Banda is negotiating with another dozen companies this spring, and hopes to arrange at least four internships each in agriculture, engineering and business. He hopes to double the participating companies in the second year. “We want these first opportunities to work well so we can leverage our success and develop long-term relationships with the companies,” he says.

Rather than a corporate goodwill gesture, Banda says he is emphasizing the economic benefits companies will see in grooming international talent. “There has to be a value proposition for both the student and the company,” says Banda.

Alumni played a key role in getting UW–Madison named a core school, Banda says. Ernest Miceck, chief executive officer of Cargill, is a UW–Madison chemical engineering graduate; and Dan Huber, president of Cargill’s Asia Pacific sector, earned a business degree here and was recently named a distinguished business alumnus. Alumni in other countries are frequently the first industry contacts for Banda.

Banda says the goal is for students to essentially break even financially. Student salaries are likely to cover travel and living expenses, but grants may be provided for travel and additional costs.

Cargill is an international marketer, processor and distributor of agricultural, food, financial and industrial products. The company has approximately 79,000 employees in more than 1,000 locations in 72 countries, with business activities in 100 more.

For more information about the internships, contact Banda at (608) 265- 4206.