UK BUSINESS SCHOOLS OPEN DOORS FOR ENTREPRENEURS


Banking, management consulting and industry have long been the most popular destinations for graduates of MBA programmes, but top business schools are doing more to help their students start their own ventures.


With hiring and salaries relatively flat in the finance and corporate worlds, starting a business is looking more appealing to young professionals who have the experience and contacts to hit the ground running.


Several business schools now run their own “incubators” with access to expertise, office space and investment from venture capitalists. MBAs also have the chance to refine their business plans by participating in several regional and international business plan competitions each year.


At BusinessBecause we’ve recently spoken to many students who have forgone safe MBA careers for a shot at starting their own firm.


Sonu Bubna graduated from the Lancaster University Management School MBA in 2010. While on the programme she participated in the school’s New Venture Challenge, raising £50,000 for a start-up run by a fellow student. “If I can help people with investments for their


own business… why not start my own?” she thought.


Bubna teamed up with fellow Lancaster MBA Manoj Krishnapillai, and a biochemistry Phd student Shams Qamar Usmani to launch Gaea Naturals. The firm has developed a technology for biological water purification, which uses a special strain of bacteria to eliminate contaminants from water.


The team made it to the finals of the prestigious global Rice Business Plan Competition in 2010, held by Rice University in Texas. Gaea Naturals has since been accepted onto the Oxygen Accelerator Programme in the UK, which invests expertise and money in teams with strong and realistic


business ideas. For Bubna, the contacts and advice she gained on the Lancaster MBA have helped her make a major step change from KPMG consultant to leading a biotech company.


Another recent example comes from Manchester Business School, where two students stumbled on an opportunity to start a business in India. Suva Ghosh and Amogh Khutiala, who completed the 18-month Manchester MBA in 2011, did a consultancy project with US digital marketing agency Brandmovers as part of their programme.


During the project they looked at different growth opportunities, strategies and markets for


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