{"id":5742,"date":"2016-11-15T09:51:29","date_gmt":"2016-11-15T15:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/?p=5742"},"modified":"2016-11-15T09:55:41","modified_gmt":"2016-11-15T15:55:41","slug":"social-entrepreneurship-offers-sau-mba-student-chance-give-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/2016\/social-entrepreneurship-offers-sau-mba-student-chance-give-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Entrepreneurship offers SAU MBA student chance to give back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"kristen-pickett-for-mba-se\"<\/a>Kristen Pickett, an online MBA student at Southern Arkansas University, said she is inspired to help entrepreneurs create the most important piece of their business \u2013 a plan.<\/p>\n

Pickett, a native of Horatio, Ark., received her undergraduate degree in Entrepreneurial Finance in May 2016 and is now pursuing her MBA with an emphasis in Social Entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an undergraduate, I always enjoyed writing business plans,\u201d Pickett said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to start my own business but I would love to help someone else start their own.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The MBA is offered through the Rankin College of Business at SAU and is fully accredited by AACSB International, the premier accrediting body for colleges and schools of business. It is delivered on-campus or entirely online and requires 30 hours to complete. SAU\u2019s online MBA was recently ranked the No. 3 Best Buy among distance MBAs by GetEducated.com\u2019s national online degree review team. This affordability ranking is based on a comprehensive review of more than 180 competing, AACSB-accredited MBAs. Online MBA Today, in its published rankings of the Top 35 Online MBA programs in supply chain management, places SAU at No. 28 in the nation.<\/p>\n

SAU\u2019s MBA is available with three areas of emphasis: the general MBA, supply chain management and agriculture business. A student can complete either program in a traditional night setting, through online delivery or a combination of the two.<\/p>\n

Pickett said her MBA emphasis will help her give something back to the community through business. \u201cThis whole idea of social entrepreneurship stems from a little coffee shop in Italy, where people \u2018pay it forward,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019ll pay extra for a cup of coffee for the next person who maybe can\u2019t pay. The idea came to the United States, to a place called Rosa\u2019s Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia. They have an entire wall there covered with sticky notes from people who benefited because others paid extra.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inspired by the restaurant\u2019s idea of making a difference, Pickett said she wants to help entrepreneurs develop their business plans. She said she first learned of the idea via the SAU Business Student Advisory Council and decided, \u201cThat\u2019s what I want to do.\u201d Working as a graduate assistant for the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center\/ Continuing Education, she said it is \u201cneat to get to help people see their ideas and dreams come to life. That\u2019s how I feel like I can give back. It\u2019s taking that extra step.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said it is important for all businesses to have a plan and she hopes social entrepreneurship, or the idea of giving back, can be integrated into the plans she helps write. \u201cI enjoy the whole process of writing business plans, seeing what all goes into it,\u201d she said. \u201cFinancial projections are the most difficult unless there is a lot of market research already out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole idea behind the plan is for you to know your business inside and out,\u201d Pickett said. \u201cWill it actually work? A lot of times, entrepreneurs don\u2019t understand how hard it is to start a business until they write their plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she would encourage anyone thinking about starting a business to go through the Small Business Development Center. \u201cIf you don\u2019t put the time in on the plan, you won\u2019t start the business. That\u2019s what\u2019s great about the center, it\u2019s where entrepreneurship students can come and write those plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new MBA program has a psychology component due to its element of human interaction. \u201cI\u2019m taking two classes in my first semester as an MBA student.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she enjoys people, which is one reason Social Entrepreneurship has such appeal to her. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to focus just on numbers, you also focus on the people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Pickett said that she is the only business major in her family. \u201cThey all work in health care,\u201d she said. \u201cI went with business because I feel there is a lot of opportunity with that degree program. With a business degree, you can do pretty much anything, if you work hard enough. I think our business school graduates are well-rounded and prepared for the world. I love the professors and atmosphere of the Rankin College of Business; they always have an open door policy, they\u2019ll stop on a dime to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the College of Business \u201coffers so many opportunities, so many internships that help you find a job later in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rankin College is awesome but I can say the same about SAU,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not every university where the president actually knows your name. That\u2019s why I came to SAU. People are so much friendlier here. It\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on SAU\u2019s MBA programs, visit https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/academics\/program\/master-of-business-administration\/ or contact Dr. Christie Hough, associate professor of management, at crhough@saumag.edu or call 870-235-4305.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kristen Pickett, an online MBA student at Southern Arkansas University, said she is inspired to help entrepreneurs create the most important piece of their business \u2013 a plan. Pickett, a native of Horatio, Ark., received her undergraduate degree in Entrepreneurial Finance in May 2016 and is now pursuing her MBA with an emphasis in Social… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":5743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[271,140,32641,7753],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-college-of-business","9":"category-featured-layout","10":"category-homepage","11":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.saumag.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}