MBAs with international development/Small business Focus

simonsnell

1 2

Posted May 05, 2010 23:00

Hi,
I'd really like to know if anyone would recommend any particular MBA course which would help me get further into a career in small business/micro-enterprise consultancy in the developing world (Latin America).

I've found the MBA in Sustainable Development at Brandeis, and the MBA in Economic Development at Eastern University. Does anyone have any experience of these, or could give other ideas?

Thanks

PS: I have a GMAT score of 690

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ralph

692 1.074

Posted May 07, 2010 17:08

Well, most importantly, if you could post the rest of your profile details (work experience, undergrad gpa, etc), that would help.

Just curious - what attracts you about the MBA in sustainable development at Brandeis? Sustainable development seems like a hot topic right now, but I'm not sure how it would fit in to consultancy in Latin America.

Otherwise, what I understand about doing business in Latin America is that it's often easier to break into the economies there by doing an MBA in the country you're looking at. Check out these articles on this website:

http://www.find-mba.com/article/378/mba-programs-in-emerging-markets-mexico

http://www.find-mba.com/article/362/mba-programs-in-emerging-markets-brazil

Those are focused on Mexico and Brazil, respectively, which both have burgeoning MBA scenes with programs taught in English. Of course, learning Spanish or Portuguese would be important if you plan on doing business there.

What country in particular are you considering? Do you know Spanish?

In Argentina, I know there's a one-year MBA at IAE Business School, taught in English. And in Chile there's one at Adolfo Ibanez University.

Other than that, you can look at programs that are located in the United States that have travel classes that go to Latin America. niversity of Illinois at Chicago's MBA has a few of these, as does Stanford off the top of my head.

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simonsnell

1 2

Posted May 09, 2010 16:33

Hi Ralph,
Thanks for the reply. My undergrad degree (GPA3.1) was in Business Admin, (1991 Bath university, UK).
I have 5 years commercial experience in sales, 7 years in project development, appraisal, support etc as part of a grant awarding body, and 18 months voluntary experience in Bolivia working as a micro-enterprise consultant with Food for the Hungry. My Spanish is pretty good.

My objective is to work for a development agency, assisting small enterprises to start and grow, probably in one of the developing countries in L America.

My reading of the details about the Brandeis course is that it is both a recognised MBA, and covers a number of development studies areas, including micro-finance/enterprise, and development economics.

Eastern University's course is pretty much everything I would like to do: http://www.eastern.edu/academic/ccgps/sld/pdf/MBA-2-4-09.pdf, except that it's not an internationally accredited MBA.

Any other thoughts?

Thanks again,
Simon