From B-School to the Big House

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plans: car restoration, eco-lighting

"It is amazing when I found out there are more MBA students and more schools that keep signing up for this advising program," says Phi Tren, the interim chief executive officer of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program and a former inmate who graduated from the program's first class. "When we first started, we'd have maybe two or three participants assigned to one MBA student. Now for every inmate, we have two or three advisors."

One of the recent MBA advisors is Jacqueline Simpson, 25, who graduated from Baylor's MBA program last spring and was involved with the Prison Entrepreneurship Program while a student. Over two years, she advised three inmates. Of these, one who had been charged with murder wanted to start a car-restoration business. A second, in jail for felony firearms possession, planned to open an eco-friendly lighting company upon release. Simpson did everything from helping them polish their résumés to giving them advice on their business plans, even attending their graduation from the prison program.

"I tried to give them any suggestions I could because I knew how important it was for them to get a job once they got out of the system," said Simpson. "Between their history and the economy now, everything is just going against their odds, so they need all the help they can get."

Beyond the satisfaction that comes with helping a prisoner fine-tune a business plan, there are tangible benefits for student volunteers. The program helps MBA students build mentoring and coaching skills, making them stronger candidates when it comes time to look for a job, says Billington, Mays' career services director.

"my plan really had value"

"I think it makes them better managers because they have to advise and mentor someone about business concepts who, for the most part, has no business education," she says. "They can then say to an employer: 'If I'm doing this out in the community and not getting paid for it, just imagine what I'm going to do for you if you hire me for your business.'quot;

The long-term benefits of the programs are perhaps felt most keenly by its graduates, who take MBA-level skills they've learned in the program and apply them to the real world upon graduation. Jeff Offutt graduated from the Prison Entrepreneurship Program in April 2008 and last summer started his own printing company, Houston-based Jita Printing. Offutt worked with two MBA advisors during his time in prison, as well as with other MBA students who came to visit the prison and gave him feedback on his plan during "pitch" nights. The students' advice and guidance helped him build up the confidence to start his own business, he says.

"The fact that they would come by on a Friday night and spend time with me made me feel that my plan really had value and that people cared," Offutt says. "The love that I felt from the program was for me the main ingredient. All of the business concepts we learned were just icing on the cake."

Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.

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