MBAs Across America: Helping Entrepreneurs Make A Bigger Difference

Babson Team One. Photo courtesy of Babson Team One

The Babson team arrived in Detroit eager to make an impact. Sweet Potato Sensations is a family-owned bakery and café and the owners wanted to be able to increase profits to be able to pay themselves at a full-time salary rate. Simple enough, right? Just check the profitability of the company and go from there. Not so.

The bakery owners didn’t know if their accounting practices were congruent with standard business accounting practices. The first task switched to examining the individual baking process to make sure business expenses and individual products made sense.

“Everything in the classroom is clear,” says team member Jennifer Odera. “We learned quickly people do not always have a formula for decision making. I had to learn to be okay without having a complete formula. Sometimes you just start with a great idea or service and you figure out the rest along the way.”

PUTTING THE PAST BEHIND, OVER BREAKFAST

The Babson team used a few unique strategies to try to make their weeks go smoother. Each Sunday morning the team gathered for breakfast and had a feedback and check-in session. The idea was to give feedback on how each individual was doing as well as discuss things that did and did not work during the previous week.

“It was a great way for us to leave any negative feelings in the previous week and helped develop our friendships,” says Odera.

An extra effort was also put into developing rapport and connections with the entrepreneurs. Each Sunday, the team took the entrepreneur they would be working with out for dinner.

“You had to build the trust and credibility with each entrepreneur first,” Odera says. “After building that initial relationship, it was much easier to give recommendations.”

“A HARD AND GRUELING SUMMER” CREATES LASTING RELATIONSHIPS

There was an overwhelming consensus of willingness to undergo another experience like this, and a shared feeling that relationships created this summer will transcend time and space.

“It is a hard and grueling summer,” says Gerald. “It pushes you and demands a lot from you. But if the MBAs participating commit to it with a mind and heart of service, it will absolutely be a life-changing experience.”

Gerald says the goal of next summer’s trip is to not get bigger, but to get better.

“We want to create the biggest impact for the entrepreneurs,” Gerald says. “It doesn’t take us growing 200% but does require us refining the model to make it even better going into next year.”

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