MBAs Ace National Competition While Helping Small Business Deal With COVID-19

On the same May weekend that UAlbany celebrated the Class of 2020 with a virtual commencement, MBA students put their education to good use, helping the local economy. Through the Small Business Challenge, students worked with local business owners on the survival challenges wrought by COVID-19. Eleven highly ranked MBA programs, including Yale, New York University, Carnegie Mellon and UCLA, tasked 470 students to provide hands-on consulting to the 175 small businesses participating in the 48-hour virtual hackathon.

“The beauty of this project is that it is a great example of win-win. Our MBA students helped the small business community while also engaging in valuable experiential learning, networking with our alumni who are acting as mentors, and joining with other MBAs across the country to help others. Instead of being 'stuck at home,' our MBA students used this time as an opportunity to make a difference," said Associate Dean for Graduate Programs Janet Marler, who spearheaded the effort with Associate Dean for International Initiatives Rita Biswas and MBA student Gabrielle Kamaker '20.

UAlbany Places Third Nationally with Farmer’s Market Innovation

A UAlbany team won third place in the national competition for their idea for a farm-to-table subscription meal service box.  They worked with the well-established Troy Waterfront Farmers Market, which was struggling during the pandemic. Social distancing restrictions directly interfered with the business model of a traditional farmers market, resulting in a lack of support to local farmers who were struggling to move their produce.

“They went from attracting 15,000 customers on an average live-market Saturday with 110 vendors in the market, to only 25 vendors in a parking lot that allowed just 50 customers into the market for a 20-minute time slot,” according to Justin Collins '21. Collins worked with fellow MBA students Ashna Sikand '21, Oswaldo Aldaz '21 and Whitney Philippi '21 on the winning project.

Albany Businesses Helped by Competition

Other small businesses advised by the MBAs included restaurants, a clothing store, a funeral home, an art studio, a window cleaning service, a bakery and a historical society.

Two brick-and-mortar retail stores in downtown Albany, Fresh & Fly and the Fort Orange General Store, were closed as non-essential businesses.  Students came up with advice to keep them afloat.

Fresh & Fly

Due to the pandemic, Fresh & Fly online sales grew in importance. The MBA team advised Fresh & Fly, owned by UAlbany alumnus Angelo Maddox '05, on an effective and professional online presence, maintaining that it is crucial for a small business to succeed. “We came up with the solution to update Fresh & Fly’s website and implement an easier and more comfortable online shopping experience for the consumer. We believe increasing his follower count on social media networks, such as Instagram, where he can post direct links to his store and items being sold, can be a great way to increase sales in the long run,” according to MBA Jamie-Lee Minkley '21,

Rahsaan Graham '21, who also worked on the Fresh & Fly team, said, “We also had to consider what would have the best return on investment and would grow his business beyond his current customer demographic, so we needed to consider niche and multicultural marketing.”

Minkley added, “It was important to us that the solution we come up with is easily implemented but will affect Angelo and his business in the long-run. Though it may take time to increase the number of followers he has, updating his website is a simple fix that can have a great impact overall.”

Fort Orange General Store

The Fort Orange General Store’s active social media presence was not translating into online sales. MBA student Makenzie Carroll '19, '21 contributed to the effort to remedy that. “The store is rather successful with its events and in-store sales, so we believed that Schuyler should use social media platforms and other online tools to help increase brand awareness,” said Carroll. Her team focused on Instagram TV videos with links to the products that he sells online. 

“As a business owner, gaining a fresh perspective and strategic plan for my business from a group of talented young professionals after only 48 hours made it worthwhile, but the ability to connect with each of my team members made it truly enjoyable!” said Schuyler Bull, owner of Fort Orange, “It was exciting to watch the team present their plan for my business to the judges. I was impressed by their professionalism and ability to accurately portray our challenge and solution and was not surprised that they finished in second place in the local competition.”

Competition Coordinated by an MBA

Weekend MBA student Gabrielle Kamaker '20 missed her own commencement to coordinate the competition alongside faculty, Janet Marler and Rita Biswas, who encouraged the MBA class to participate.

Kamaker, whose day job is a finance associate at biotechnology firm Ecovative Design, adeptly organized the event with little notice to fundraise, connect with small business and recruit students who had completed finals just days before.

Marler was impressed with Kamaker’s professionalism and ability to get the competition up and running with little time and resources. “Gabie did an amazing job. She was an MVP,” said Marler.

MBAs Loved It

The UAlbany teams were recruited by faculty.  Though the competition was optional, MBAs joined in for the opportunity to get real-time consulting experience.  Carroll, from the Fort Orange team, said, “I decided to do it because I thought it helped me tackle crisis management in a business setting head on.”

“In a time where people were uncertain about things, it was great to see everyone just strive to work towards helping the small business that they were partnered with. Not only did it help formulate real solutions, it also helped hundreds of MBAs from across the country to gain valuable experience,” said Collins, from the winning farmer's market team.

Weekend MBA student Graham noted that his entire cohort opted in.  He said, “It was great to see that the real-time application of what we are learning in our programs, along with our current work experience, could be so practical and valued by business owners that are trying to maintain and grow their business.  They really valued our input. And it was great to be able to contribute to the COVID 19 response in this unique yet practical way.”

Warren Dennis ’18, ’21 appreciated the insight as to how small businesses operate and how they handle quick, necessary adaptations. “Given the small time frame that we were allotted to work with, our team realized how crucial it is to be able to come up with radical yet effective ways of overcoming these types of obstacles. This competition modeled a challenge that we all may face after our graduate studies and getting insight and exposure to such can help better shape us for what’s to come in our future careers,” he said.

Fresh and Fly team member Minkley said, “The best part of the competition was working with individuals who offer a different area of expertise and therefore, provide unique conversations that allowed us to learn and grow on a professional and personal level.”

Carroll speaks well of the experience. “My favorite part about the competition was the brainstorming aspect.  My two peers, Alicia Mink '18, '20, '21 and Hong Fei Huang '19, '21, and I had so many great ideas, and it was fun to hear what everyone else was thinking.  It helped me learn how to work on a team more efficiently during a time crunch. I would recommend this challenge to other MBA students if they have the chance.  It was a tough 48 hours, but it was worth it!” she said.

All Hands on Deck

Many School of Business faculty served as mentors, including Standish Professor of Entrepreneurship Bill Wales, who mentored the winning team. "The MBA teams I helped mentor were extremely smart, creative and receptive to feedback. I was glad to be able to help the teams see how they might further enhance their ideas so as to be as impactful as possible upon their client's needs."

Small Business Competition Team Mentors

Business Professionals

Jack Bastow '15
Ann Finnegan '14
Dan Finkle
Sheldon Goldstein
Stephen Hartmann
Joshua Landau '95
Jon Nardi '10
Robert Schwartz
Chris Wessell ‘02, ‘04

School of Business faculty and staff

Rita Biswas
Aaron Brauner
Shobha Chengalur-Smith
Guy D Fernando
Sanjay Goel
Aleksandra Kovacheva
Tony Manes
Janet H Marler
Paul Miesing
Saggi Nevo
Nilanjan Sen
Kinsun Tam
Bill Wales