Ohio State’s Global Business Internships: Boost Your Career with OEIP

The placards for lawmakers were printed. The coffee urns, polished. Under the grand rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse, an event called “Global Trade in Action” was unfolding last week. But the real story wasn’t in the prepared remarks or the ceremonial certificates. It was in the hands of the students, like Nicole Sciuva and Alpha Bah, who stood there holding them. They hadn’t just studied international business; they’d conducted it from cubicles in Columbus and Delaware, Ohio, analyzing export plans and negotiating with suppliers in Italy. They were the human output of a quiet but potent economic experiment: the Ohio Export Internship Program (OEIP).

As a journalist who spends most days parsing Federal Reserve statements and corporate 10-K filings, I’m often skeptical of state-led economic initiatives. Too often, they’re long on press releases and short on tangible outcomes. But here, the data points had names and stories. OEIP, a partnership forged between The Ohio State University and the Ohio Department of Development, is a deliberate, almost surgical, response to a chronic national problem: the glaring skills gap in global trade. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that while exports are a critical component of GDP, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)—which comprise over 99% of all U.S. businesses—consistently cite a lack of expertise as a top barrier to entering foreign markets. OEIP attacks that barrier at its root.

The program’s mechanics are tellingly rigorous. It’s not a casual summer job. Selected students must first complete a full spring semester course on global business operations. Only then are they placed into 12-week internships with small to mid-sized Ohio companies. Their mandate is concrete: assess a company’s export readiness and contribute directly to its international strategy. Dominic DiCamillo, who directs these efforts at Ohio State, frames it as applied learning with immediate stakes. “They’re helping companies enter new markets or improve on some part of their export plan,” he told me. This isn’t theoretical. For student Alpha Bah, a logistics major, it meant coordinating with a critical supplier in Italy for manufacturer T.J. Clark International. That’s a real-world supply chain negotiation with real costs and deadlines happening from a desk in Delaware, Ohio.

The economic logic is compellingly simple, a point Lydia Mihalik, Director of the Ohio Department of Development, made forcefully at the Statehouse. “None of what we’re building in Ohio happens without people,” she said. She’s right. A state can offer all the tax incentives in the world, but without a pipeline of talent that understands harmonized tariff codes, Incoterms and cross-cultural negotiation, its companies stall at the border. OEIP is a direct investment in that pipeline. The students gain irreplaceable experience without needing an expensive semester abroad. The companies—often lean operations without dedicated international staff—gain a motivated, trained resource to unlock new revenue streams. It’s a classic two-sided market being solved by the state.

What makes OEIP particularly noteworthy, however, is its replicable structure. It’s not a one-university novelty. As Nate Ward of Cleveland State University noted, the program has expanded to include over 18 universities across Ohio. Each institution teaches the foundational course, creating a standardized talent pool for businesses statewide. This scalability is crucial. It turns a pilot program into a sustainable workforce development strategy. Melissa Torres, an Ohio State alumna and now CEO of The Forum on Education Abroad, captured the broader implication during her keynote. “This program creates the next generation of small business leaders for the state,” she said. That’s the endgame: not just a few more export contracts, but a deep bench of globally competent managers who will lead Ohio companies for decades.

In my conversations with economic development officials from other states, there’s a palpable envy for this kind of public-private-academic alignment. DiCamillo confirmed it, noting, “I’m not aware of any other programs that bring together universities, government and businesses to work in such a way. And it’s something that other states have reached out to us to ask, ‘How do we do it?’” In an era of fragmented political will, Ohio has engineered a pragmatic coalition where all parties benefit. The universities fulfill their land-grant missions, the state boosts its economic metrics, businesses grow, and students launch careers.

The certificates handed out under the Statehouse dome were more than paper. They were proof of concept. For student Nicole Sciuva, her internship with Shaffer Distributing Co. revealed an entire career path in international trade she hadn’t considered. That’s how you build an economy—one student, one company, one export plan at a time. In the high-stakes game of global competitiveness, Ohio is betting on its own human capital. Based on the poised, capable graduates I saw being recognized last week, it’s a bet that’s already paying dividends.

• Students gain real-world experience.
• Companies unlock new revenue streams.
• Partnerships between universities and government.
• Standardized talent pool for businesses.
• Addressing the skills gap in global trade.
• Program has expanded across Ohio universities.