You don’t need MBA to be an entrepreneur

You don’t need MBA to be an entrepreneur

• Written by  Ruth Olurounbi

The other time I was in a group meeting that had to do with starting 

up your own business. The facilitator asked us why some of us are 

afraid of starting our business and what we thought we needed to 

be our own bosses. A guy in the group offered that he thought an 

MBA was necessary to be your own boss and that he would never 

start his own business without one. He’s an engineering graduate. 

After a long debate that lasted 25 minutes, the facilitator drummed 

it into our heads that we do not need an MBA to start a business. 

He said although it wouldn’t be all that bad to have one, it really didn’t 

matter if you had or not. After all, Bill Gates was a Havard dropout 

and that didn’t stop him from starting his own company.

IF you are like some of us who thought having an MBA was the prerequisite to starting a company, 

I will refer you to Aliko Dangote and the likes in the country.

In the meantime, Guy Kawasaki, an entrepreneur, author and the chief executive of Garage 

Technology Ventures, a venture-capital investment bank for tech firms (in the United States of 

America), has expert answers to all your questions about starting a business.  

Kawasaki was previously an Apple Fellow at Apple Computers and is also the author of seven 

books. He has a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from UCLA, as well as an honorary 

doctorate from Babson College. He is on the board of BitPass, a micro-payments systems 

company for online content.

In responding to what the value of an MBA is these days for young college graduates who want 

to start their own company,  said probably not that much. “I don’t think an MBA matter very much 

for starting a company. A much better educational background is an engineering degree. You can 

always hire MBAs, but if you don’t have the ability to conceptualise and deliver a product, you’ve 

got nothing. By the way, the founders of Apple Computer, Microsoft , Yahoo! and Google don’t 

have MBAs, but I digress,”  he explained.

If you have been looking for an answer to the question whether  or not a good education is a key 

to success in the business world, then here’s an answer for you. “If by education you mean book

learning and class attending, then the answer is no. If by education, you mean the totality of 

experiences in your life, then the answer is yes. For example, someone could never attend college 

and still be a great entrepreneur. And someone could get a Ph.D. in management and not be able 

to operate a lemonade stand,” Kawasaki said.

But then the question is can you succeed with a good team and hard work even if your initial idea 

is not a winner? Kawasaki said “Sure. Most initial ideas are not winners anyway. You have to be 

flexible: Sometimes you start with a great idea and a lousy team. Then you get rid of the team. 

Other times you start with a lousy idea and a great team. Then you get rid of the idea. Great 

companies often make radical changes in direction as the times change. Nokia, for example, 

started in forest products.”

So, what criteria should be used to determine what to do with a failing company? Invest more 

and try to save it or just fold?

Kawasaki said he doesn’t really know the answer to this question, but from what he could tell,  “

mostly you come to learn that you should or shouldn’t have invested more with hindsight.”