by Shubha Ghosh, Crandall Melvin Professor of Law and Director, Technology Commercialization Law Program and SIPLI
Michelle Rafenomanjato, Fulbright scholar from Madagascar, is currently pursuing a LLM program at Syracuse University College of Law with a focus on business law. Previously, she had worked as a legal counsel for Madagascar Conseil International, a prominent Malagasy law firm specializing in Business Law. She holds a master in public international law from Versailles University (France) and a PhD in international law from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law ( China).
As a Fulbright Scholar, Michelle was invited to participate in a Fulbright Enrichment Seminar on the topic of Technology, Start-ups, and Entrepreneurship, held in Salt Lake City in February.
Michelle and the other participants, representing in total 160 countries, heard the entrepreneurship journey of Dr. Dinesh Patel, co-founder of several biotechnology companies. Theyalso learned about the entrepreurial ecosystem for invention and innovation in Salt Lake City through Ari Bruening, President of Envision Utah, Cydni Tetro, co-founder and President of Women Tech Council and Clint Betts, Executive Director of Silicon Slopes. In addition to that, they had the chance to visit Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a multidisciplinary center for student entrepreneurs from any major.
As Michelle describes her experience: “In a few words, it was a unique opportunity to see the challenges faced by entrepreneurs, the non-legal keys to success for any entrepreneur and the importance of interdisciplinary teamwork (engineer, business, law).”
Welcome, Michelle, and thanks for sharing your rich experiences as an attorney and Fulbright Scholars with Syracuse University College of Law!