Harvard Business School MBAs Forgo Internships to Travel US: MBA News

By QS Contributor Updated Jun 15, 2014

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Harvard Business School Students Working for Free in Bid to Foster a Community of Entrepreneurs

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They call themselves MBAs across America and take as their starting point a belief that the future of American business lies squarely in the hands of the entrepreneurs. In fact, these first-year MBA students from Harvard Business School have such faith in the value of entrepreneurs that they have eschewed the traditional path taken by MBAs, of taking an internship with a large company in the hope of landing a permanent position at its end, to hit the road on their own independent enterprise.

The MBA students number four in total, with each coming from a different industry background encompassing technology, retail, marketing and economic policy. Their project’s principal aim is to encourage more MBA students to cast their gaze away from the high-rise boardrooms of the world’s largest markets and corporations and into the office parks, home offices, and workshops of the small to medium sized businesses that, they argue, fuel innovation.

They also hope to learn a lot in the process through hands-on experience and coming to a greater understanding of the complexities now inherent in the world of small business. In return they offer the kind of knowledge that has seen them successfully enroll at Harvard Business School –including trends, strategy and networking as well as a great deal of enthusiasm – and at no charge.

Harvard Business School Students Working for Free in Bid to Foster a Community of Entrepreneurs

According to the group’s website, the project’s vision is, “to build a community of folks across the country who are committed to entrepreneurship, whether they be business leaders, journalists, experts at places like HBS or even the young techie who thinks she may be the next Mark Zuckerberg.”

The group has already worked with a salon owner who is recycling hair clippings for fertilizer in Detroit and in Montana; they helped another young entrepreneur to organize a music festival geared at raising funds for her non-profit organization, the Red Ants Pants Foundation.

Next on the list is to meet with Tony Hsieh, CEO of the online shoe and clothing shop, Zappos, now based in Las Vegas. The MBA students will discuss Hsieh’s latest venture – an ambitious multi-platform project that will take in arts, education and real estate in an effort to kick-start the economic regeneration and diversification of an entire city.

So, whilst most their Harvard Business School peers have been trying to make the most out of their hard-won internships with their promise of a job-offer upon completion, the MBAs across America will instead take their summer adventure to heart when they return for the second year of their MBA program.

For, it’s something that they hope can impact on rest of their careers and indeed on other MBA students and graduates in the US and beyond.

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