As the world continues to grapple with COVID-19, many individuals have looked for ways to help, including current MBA students and graduates. Sarika Mendu and Amina Edwards (HBS, ‘20) are two such students who have worked together to start MBA Response. To share more about this initiative, I spoke to Sarika Mendu, Admina Edwards, and the rest of the MBAs Fight COVID-19 team to learn more about how their organization started, how they rallied MBA students together, and some of the work they’ve been able to do to support businesses as they fight COVID-19.
MBASchooled: Tell us about MBAs Response How did you get started with this idea?
Last semester, we (Amina and I) took Public Entrepreneurship, a second-year elective course taught by Senior Lecturer Mitch Weiss. When the coronavirus pandemic struck, fellow course participants and Prof. Weiss came together to discuss how to mobilize the resources we have by virtue of being part of HBS. Amina and I both had a similar idea of mobilizing MBA students to use their skills to help small businesses, nonprofits and organizations that are struggling due to COVID-19. In the last two months, we’ve expanded to 10 MBA programs, 750+ students and 200+ projects.
MBASchooled: What are your goals or aspirations with starting this program?
We are inspired by medical professionals and other frontline workers who are risking their lives everyday to fight COVID-19. While MBAs are not “essential workers,” we do have skills that can be useful to small businesses, nonprofits and organizations, which will require tremendous support, not only today, but also over the next several years. Our goal is to provide support wherever we can.
We also believe that service should be a part of every MBA student’s experience, beyond COVID-19. A graduate degree is an incredible investment in one’s own career, but should also be about giving back to the broader community.
MBASchooled: How did you go about recruiting MBA students as well as businesses or organizations to submit projects?
We’ve been blown away by how organically the initiative has grown. What started with reaching out to professors and manually matching them with students to support COVID-19 related projects has morphed into over 700 students across 10 school chapters including our first European chapter school, IESE in Barcelona. Other school chapters include: Kellogg, Tuck, Wharton, Stanford, HBS, IESE, Georgetown, Duke, Boston University and Ross. We’ve been lucky to partner with Catalant, a Boston-based tech firm founded by two HBS grads, who have allowed us to use their matching platform for free and been incredibly generous partners.
MBASchooled: Do you have any early results or examples of this working so far?
Example 1: A group of HBS students helped small businesses access funding available through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Working in collaboration with HBS professors
Example 2: A group of students helped the CEO of St. Vincent Hospital model the hospital’s upcoming PPE needs. After identifying what drives PPE and vent usage, they visualized historical data to help her better understand trends in current usage patterns and build their own epidemiological model to forecast PPE usage
More examples can be found here
MBASchooled: What has been the response from MBA students?
They are so excited to volunteer! One of the best parts of our jobs is getting to read the applications students send to project sponsors. Our peers are so thoughtful in their stories of why and how they want to contribute. We’ve found that MBA students are eager to do their part, and we’re proud to help them find opportunities.
MBASchooled: Even though this is in the early stages, what have you learned as you’ve built this program?
This experience has been such an incredible learning opportunity – we’re learning so much everyday. One thing that has particularly blown us away is the generosity of MBA students, faculty, and staff – so many students have been willing to give their time and talent and this really would not have been possible without all of their support.
MBASchooled: Where can people find more information?
Visit our website https://www.mbasfightcovid19.com/ or email us at admin@mbasfightcovid19.com