Once upon a time, executives undertook an MBA to accelerate their career or change industries.
Sydney University has also noted a rise in the number of MBA students looking to go it alone, and in the number of students who develop a business idea with a fellow pupil and decide to start a business. Richards says she focused her MBA studies on solving AmpleFolk business problems, building a comprehensive business plan, a growth strategy spanning five to 10 years and scenario planning for risk mitigation. It was all new to her, she says: “I didn’t even know how to create a spreadsheet.”David Mallett, Yanun Project Services
“I enjoyed that type of work. I spent some time in the construction industry and then a couple of years with Iluka Resources,” he says. “I’ve been a really good operational-type person, but I needed to step out of that and be on the balcony looking down.”Mallett graduated this month and his company is up and running, consulting on capital works projects across the nation for clients such as Defence, the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation, and Aurecon .
The plan is to grow the First Nations pool of professional resources in Australia, and Mallett says the system has worked well with BHP. Defence contractor BAE Systems is soon to take part. The corporations, he adds, have been extremely supportive of the model and the opportunity to provide Indigenous Australians with professional expertise.