THE popular conception of the entrepreneur is that of Richard Branson or Michael Dell, the school or college dropout who builds a corporate empire. A new breed of entrepreneur, however, is emerging alongside the ranks of teenage business whiz-kids.
While many still attend the school of hard knocks, others are increasingly adding the magic letters MBA to their names on the way to running their own business. At Said Business School at Oxford University, between 80 and 90 per cent of prospective MBA students expressed an interest in starting a company. It is a similar story elsewhere.
“Something has definitely happened in the past 20 years,” says Simon Parker, director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Durham Business School. “People now are more interested in running their own business. They believe it is a more exciting, more autonomous way of doing things, rather than being a wage slave in a company.”
There is no question that the traditional MBA track has much to offer. “Entrepreneurs still need a solid knowledge in operations, marketing, finance and strategy,” says Ignacio de la Vega, director of the entrepreneurship department at Instituto de Empresa Business School in Madrid.
This on its own is not enough, however. “You must develop other skills,” says Fiona Reid, director of the new entrepreneurship centre at Said, listing these as “determination, adaptability, excellent communication — particularly in relationships with investors — negotiation skills, the ability to work in a team to galvanise other people to work for you, and to keep the spirit of the company going. ”
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Business schools have been quick to adapt their curriculum. Said launched its Entrepreneurship Said centre last month. The centre integrates the teaching, research and practice of entrepreneurship at Oxford University and acts as a gateway to the university’s entrepreneurial activities.
The Manchester Business School offers a hands-on incubator entrepreneurship project as an elective. Students, as part of MBA project teams, help fledgling businesses to develop a rigorous, sustainable business model.
Another specialist elective is London Business School’s experience-centred entrepreneurship summer school.
Business schools understand that classes on new business development alone do not make a successful entrepreneur. That is why the best schools provide a range of other activities — for example, business-plan competitions.
Coming up with a good idea is only a fraction of the battle. Finding finance is essential and business schools can help here too. “You can teach students how to raise money, but they don’t always understand how long it takes, how carefully honed their communication skills have to be or what the investors want,” says Reid. “We do an elective on entrepreneurial finance, but we also have about five or six events annually, when investors tell students exactly what they are looking for.”
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So are business schools meeting the needs of their MBA entrepreneurs? The proof is in the success stories.
A quarter of business plans written by MBA students at Instituto de Empresa reach fruition. Proyecto NETI, its joint venture with the Spanish firm Amena, has promoted the creation of more than 50 technology companies.
At SBS, companies founded by MBA alumni have raised more than £25 million in venture finance and employ 800.
There will always be the odd self-taught success story, of course. But in the future expect to see the letters MBA on the CVs of many more successful entrepreneurs.
CASE STUDY: BUSINESS AND SCIENCE MAKE SEAMLESS FIT
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JUSTIN FRY comes from an entrepreneurial family so it was no surprise when he started his own business after university. Success proved elusive, so he moved to the US to work in the software industry while planning his comeback, Steve Coomber writes.
Soon Fry was heading back to Britain to take an MBA. The plan was to find a science-based university with a business school, seek out a scientist with a good idea and start a business. Impressed with Said Business School’s track record, Fry settled on Oxford.
“My background is marketing and sales,” he says. “I needed to learn about subjects such as the venture capital market and intellectual property.” Fry met Bernard Stark at the university’s department of engineering and started working on a business plan. The next year he founded Seamless Display Ltd, a company that specialises in LCD screen technology, now based in Texas.
His advice is not to get distracted. “From day one I made it known what I wanted. Business school takes a lot of money and time. You must be sure why you are doing it.”