MBAs Without Borders

April 26, 2007 2:13 AM

MBAs Without Borders - the Médecins Sans Frontières of the business world. [via the slightly alarming Springwise]
posted by patricio (17 comments total)

The cynic in me thinks that there won't be many MBAs who would sign up for something like this since most people get an MBA so they can get a high-paying job in the First World.

So, let's see if my inner cynic is on target:

MBAs Without Borders (MWB) was founded in Canada in 2004. In 2006, MWB sent 10 MBAs and worked in 11 countries. To put that into perspective, we sent only 1 MBA in all of 2005.

Damn.
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:16 AM on April 26, 2007

Send them all away. Their work here is done.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:55 AM on April 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

"The cynic in me thinks that there won't be many MBAs who would sign up for something like this since most people get an MBA so they can get a high-paying job in the First World."

Well, speaking only for myself and my niche view of Investment Banking, I know more than a few people who have done just this, but on their own. So something like this that can provide a framework and any support is tremendously exciting.

After spending several months working/living in Lagos and getting to know a large number of Nigerians, I've often thought of returning to help them out somehow.
posted by Mutant at 3:56 AM on April 26, 2007

It's just as well. MBAs are largely unskilled labor, unless some sub-Saharan country has a sudden and urgent need to have a shitload of powerpoint presentations done overnight.
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 3:58 AM on April 26, 2007 [4 favorites]

Full disclosure: me has MBA
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 4:14 AM on April 26, 2007

The cynic in me was expecting another painfully unfunny piece from The Yes Men. Pleasantly surprised that this is real.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 4:20 AM on April 26, 2007

Well, we have the capital without borders, and now the bosses without borders--how about some labor without borders, you know, please. not to complain too much.
posted by eustatic at 4:27 AM on April 26, 2007

Curious that many of the positions are internal to "MBAs Without Borders" while others aren't.

I wonder what differences, if any, there are in terms of support if you were to sign directly onto an employer other than "MBAs Without Borders"?

Seems like unless you've spent time living or working in the host country it would be unwise to sign up directly for a job.
posted by Mutant at 4:30 AM on April 26, 2007

MBA: Empowering the well off via the Peter Principle.
posted by eriko at 5:14 AM on April 26, 2007

MBAs Without Borders - Bringing bottom-line thinking to the rest of the world
posted by Thorzdad at 5:33 AM on April 26, 2007

Slightly alarming Springwise?
posted by Zinger at 5:57 AM on April 26, 2007

MBAs are largely unskilled labor, unless some sub-Saharan country has a sudden and urgent need to have a shitload of powerpoint presentations done overnight.

Also, there's good eatin' on them.
posted by Guy Innagorillasuit at 6:59 AM on April 26, 2007

Inspiring, excellent site. Just forwarded it to a good friend, who, I think, will pass it on to others who will be able to put the information to practical use. Thanks so much.
posted by nickyskye at 8:18 AM on April 26, 2007

MBAs Without Borders: Because the lower classes of the third world haven't been screwed hard enough.
posted by Pope Guilty at 8:45 AM on April 26, 2007

Engaged in the field of international development Monetizing everything in society into easily broken up chunks so my that friends can come in for a cushy consulting job, produce some nice IMF friendly loan systems and austerity restructuring based on said monetization, thus enabling the ruling elite kleptocracy to continue sucking the country dry with skimoffs from the IMF process, thus allowing consultants to jet off back to their friends in their walled compounds and talk about the great work they've done thus enabling international corporations access to a truly un-level playing field 'market' while the country receives a brief fillip before sliding back into helplessness, poorer culturally and physically after being homogenized, having its social support networks and subsidies destroyed in the name of market efficiency and 'adjustment' and coopted into an endless cycle of debt and external-economic-target servitude.

Fixed that for ya, sport. Mission statements are so much better, when, you know, they're fleshed out a little.
posted by lalochezia at 9:04 AM on April 26, 2007

Boy, the way you guys are talking, a person would think that MBA stands for Moneycrazed Bottomline Asshole. Of course, that would be completely cra - What?

They are? It does? But - but - aren't they the ones who have been perfecting OUR economy?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:50 AM on April 26, 2007

Yeah, what's so "slightly alarming" about Springwise?
posted by zardoz at 10:56 PM on April 26, 2007