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Some MBA Students Avoid Job Search by Starting Companies
By Chris Hassan
Posted May 11, 2012 10:51 PM
Some MBA students embrace the entrepreneurial spirit after graduation.As Master of Business Administration (MBA) students near the end of their studies, many focus on finding a job while others do not even bother to send out resumes. That is because they instead go on to launch their own companies.
The idea of becoming an entrepreneur is quite appealing for many young adults. In fact, a 2011 survey conducted by the nonprofit youth organization Young Invincibles found that 54% of individuals between the ages of 18 and 34 have either started a business or would like to, according to a press release.
Adam Albright numbers among these young adults. This month, Albright will earn his MBA degree from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, The Tennessean reports. However, rather than go to work for someone else’s company, Albright will apply the knowledge and skills he acquired to developing RentStuff.com, the business he and his friends own.
RentStuff.com allows people to loan out items like bicycles, lawnmowers and cameras for a daily fee. To date, the company has raised roughly $750,000 in venture and early stage funding, according to The Tennessean. Now, Albright and his co-founders’ focus is to test the service in the Chicago market before going national.
"For me, it was just about getting hit with an idea and wanting to run with it," Albright tells The Tennessean.
Albright is far from the only Vanderbilt student with an interest in developing a venture, as Owen students are behind two other growing ventures. Contigo Financial is designed to provide the working poor with banking services, while Georgie Beauty produces high-end fake eyelashes.
As students like Albright shift their attention away from competing for jobs and instead focus on developing their own companies, several schools are taking steps to attract them to their advanced business programs.
Among these institutions is the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Amy Hillman, the school’s dean, writes in The Huffington Post that the university’s new master’s in management degree program will provide young entrepreneurs with an opportunity to gain competitive skills they can put to use as a business owner or as an employee. Beginning this fall, students who enroll will enhance their knowledge in such business areas as accounting, marketing and finance over a nine-month period.
