Nine out of ten startup enterprises are estimated to fail frequently. Entrepreneurs have a risk, and you might not see significant rewards for a while.
However, entrepreneurs are increasingly making business schools their home. While not an absolute necessity, an MBA is seen more and more as one of the keys to starting a successful enterprise in the business world.
The chances are not in your favor when you start your own firm
In fact, 1 in 5 MBA graduates from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2020 went on to create their own businesses. And it was much easier for them to do it with the planning they were taught at their MBA college. More than one in ten MBA graduates from Harvard Business School did the same. Graduates of business schools with an entrepreneurial spirit have founded a number of profitable companies, including Nike, Bloomberg, and Grab.
So, is an MBA required to start your own business? The quick response is no. Without one, many business owners have built successful enterprises.
However, it appears that having an MBA will improve your chances of success.
This is why:
– You can develop vital leadership abilities.
Many graduates of MBA programs are considered as “leadership factories,” rapidly moving up the corporate ladder to positions in the C-suite.
– MBA graduates are considered to be leaders.
According to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s Corporate Recruiters Survey, the top three abilities employers look for in business school graduates are strategic thinking, communication, and adaptability (GMAC).
Entrepreneurs need to be the leaders of their businesses both internally and externally. Internally to organize teams and externally to marketing a product and growing the firm. Thus these leadership abilities are equally crucial to them.
For many people, leadership is a skill that must be learned and is not something that can be taught from a book. For developing these talents and using them in your own startup, an MBA may be essential.
To start a business, you need the necessary tools. Whether to go franchise or not, you need those necessary tools as well.
MBA
Even if you think you have the next big startup concept, if you don’t have a strong business strategy to support it, it’s probably doomed to fail.
For individuals wishing to gain an understanding of how organizations are conducted, MBA programs provide a rigorous introduction to business. They aid students in understanding how all the various parts of a firm come together.
Daniella Genas, an Aston Business School MBA alumni, always knew she wanted to be an entrepreneur: she had the grit, the resolve, and the ideas, but, according to Genas, not a robust enough academic foundation.
I didn’t have any business theory understanding. I had an operational perspective that I gained from doing it, but I didn’t have a theoretical foundation that would have affected what I was doing operationally, says Daniella.
She was able to effectively create “She’s The Boss International,” a coaching and consulting company assisting other female entrepreneurs, thanks to her MBA’s foundation in finance and accounting.
You can use startup ecologies
Strong startup ecosystems surround successful enterprises. Systems that include networks of incubators, investors, accelerators, other entrepreneurs, and availability of talent,
Numerous towns all over the world have developed a reputation for entrepreneurship. Distinction from Berlin and Birmingham in Europe to Vancouver and Austin in North America, similar to Silicon Valley. Notoriety in the benchmark for startup ecosystems.
An MBA may be the ideal tool for accessing those ecosystems. Business schools frequently serve as the epicenter of innovation in these startup areas due to their trifecta of research, funding, and a rich talent pool.
For instance, Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis gives students the opportunity to work on MBA consulting projects with startups. This is where they can support founders throughout the early phases of a company and provide insights that assist their business strategy.
MBA candidates who want to become entrepreneurs should take advantage of this chance, according to Doug Vilhard, an Olin professor. The ability to practice is different from having the chance to learn, according to Doug. The ecosystem in St. Louis actually encourages interaction with it outside. You might come across a potential business partner. Or even sit next to future Fortune 500 CEOs and presidents in your MBA class.
Bright minds from many industries are brought together in the MBA classroom, which might produce the ideal talent mix for starting a firm.
Sarah Paiji and John Mescari grew close throughout their MBA at Harvard Business School.
A few years after graduating, they collaborated to start Blueland with the goal of eradicating plastic waste through the use of reusable cleaning supplies.
While networking at business school can mean meeting potential employers or establishing global ties, for MBAs who aspire to become entrepreneurs, it may mean locating the final component of their eventual company.
A business can be started while pursuing an MBA.
Not content with discovering crucial entrepreneurship knowledge and getting to know potential business partners? Actually, several MBA programs give students the opportunity to start their own firms. Some business schools have their own internal incubators. The EMLYON Business School Startup Incubator, for example, helps students who want to start their own businesses.
In other instances, starting a business is covered in the course material. Artem Bocharov, an MBA candidate at the UBC Sauder School of Business, founded the winery technology company. BarrelWise was part of his MBA project. On the Sauder Technology Entrepreneurship curriculum, the BarrelWise team came together at random. They were selected for the university’s HATCH startup accelerator after completing the school’s Lean Launchpad program. They then had access to workspace and various technologies as well as a US$10,000 grant from UBC.
Many entrepreneurs succeed without having a business degree. Therefore having an MBA is not the end all be all of entrepreneurship. But your chances of starting and running a successful firm are slim.
Why not improve your prospects by enhancing your network, talents, and resources by pursuing an MBA?