Greater Richmond has long been recognized as a financial and legal center, recently as a creative hub and now as a budding epicenter for entrepreneurs.
And lucky for RVA, there are resources ready, waiting, and most importantly, eager to help. Armed with big ideas and lean teams, many new entrepreneurs find themselves struggling to balance the long-term, researched based strategic needs of their business with managing overall customer experience and day-to-day operations.
The good news is that the answer that many local entrepreneurs have been looking for is practically in their own backyard, or more specifically — at the University of Richmond’s Robins School.
As a part of the MBA program at the University of Richmond, students must complete a Capstone course, a semester long project that challenges them to comprehensively integrate concepts learned throughout the program and solve a strategic, research-based problem facing a local organization.
Caroline Harding, founder and president of Talk LC, says, “We were very impressed with our Capstone experience. The amount of research that our student invested in us was very impressive, as was the access he gained and his quick understanding of our business model. Most importantly, the suggestions he provided have helped us tremendously as we move forward and grow our business.”
Dr. Richard Coughlan, Senior Associate Dean and Director of the University of Richmond MBA program, says, “These projects are an important part of the MBA curriculum, providing our students with an opportunity to act as consultants near the end of their course of study. The best projects illustrate how various aspects of business tie together. Links among marketing, operations and strategy, for example, are more visible in a real-life business.”
The good news for local businesses doesn’t stop there. Capstone projects are available to organizations of all shapes and sizes, at all levels of maturity and are carefully matched with students, and advisors who share a passion for the issue under study. Plus, the entire experience is free to the organization. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
Article from Issue #16