Is A Full Time MBA The Best Option For Aspiring Entrepreneurs?
The answer is a straight no! In this increasingly competitive corporate world, it just doesn’t make any more sense to spend 2 years just to earn a degree. When you have a solid business idea, then the smartest thing to do is to start working on your start up as soon as you can. Entrepreneurial MBA programmes offer you that opportunity to work full time on developing your business and yet earn an MBA degree as well.
Earn A Degree, Build A Business
Bryan Fedorak had a unique idea of developing a countertop cocktail mixer that offered popular drinks just at a single push of a button. So when he studied MBA at Wilfrid Laurier University, Fedorak was focussed on working on his cocktail idea. The concept, developed by him and 2 other friends, had the potential to become a hit among the young crowds. Thus the trio enrolled in the LaunchPad program at Wilfrid Laurier.
This programme, popular as the only Canadian programme developed for learners who plan to launch a start up and earn an MBA at the same time, helped the students to learn about basics related to start ups and how to further develop their ideas during the course of their study. Fedorak says “(LaunchPad) counts for course credit, but you don’t really take it for the marks. You take it to start a business.”
Study Business, Not Theory
The hands-on approach adopted by the programme enabled Fedorak and other students to understand the core elements of business fast and also learn from their own mistakes. For example, the trio tested their business idea by speaking with some potential customers and realised that they failed to focus on the true target market for their cocktail mixer named Max.
Fedorak adds “We thought it was going to be people our age, 20 to 25, and students, but we discovered it’s probably going to be more older, working people with a little more income, and they’re probably going to give it as gifts.” At present the Max team is developing the proof-of-concept prototype for their countertop cocktail mixer and has also modified various features based on the feedback they received.
Gain Real-Life Experience With Entrepreneurial MBA
Earlier, it was considered a rare occurrence in MBA programmes that students would acquire real-world business experience. Now most colleges and universities offering Entrepreneurial MBA focus on proving real-life insights to their students to give them an enhanced understanding of the market and industry. Various institutes like Sauder School of Business (University of British Columbia), Schulich School of Business (York University), the University of New Brunswick and Queen’s University, are providing increasing number of option for entrepreneurship studies. Moreover other institutions are including consulting and work placements to support their students further.
As you can clearly see, Entrepreneurial MBA programmes now focus on developing the business skills of new and aspiring entrepreneurs and enable them to venture into the business world with confidence and passion.
What do you think about Entrepreneurial MBA programmes? How do you think it can help in your start up? Feel free to share your views, ideas and thoughts by commenting below. We would love to hear from you.