Business Plot #1: Exporting Human Capital

This is a first draft. It’s not intended as a pitch or an application for a loan.

Summary: This company will assist underemployed MBA graduates from Ivy League institutions to find work in China.

The Problem: I believe that many (if not most) recent graduates from elite business schools are underemployed.

Traditional US-only employment agencies, recruiters, and head-hunters have largely given up on hiring recent graduates, as there’s an excess of experienced workers on the market.

Many of these graduates are counting on a corporate recovery that may never occur. It’s unclear to me as to how US-based companies are supposed to compete with investment banking concerns that can borrow from the Federal Reserve at below 1% through the discount window. The political environment in the Western world indicates that huge amounts of money will be distributed to various state governments.

This means that most companies will find that the money flowing from the Federal Reserve directly into government and investment banking coffers will crowd out most ordinary investment.

Few are serving the vast quantities of underemployed and highly educated young people in the US. While many of them can do quite well as contractors, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, not everyone is quite so independently minded.

Western governments are focusing on bailouts for indebted governments while simultaneously cutting jobs and welfare rolls. The prospects for domestic recovery are weak due to political and monetary factors. Many of these graduates are sitting around waiting for conventional domestic jobs that are unlikely to ever appear.

The Solution: I intend to build the business in stages, with the intention of creating a model employment agency and immigration facilitation service that will be widely emulated.

Limiting the market to Ivy League MBAs makes it simpler to develop a high-quality service. Creating a general-service employment agency would overwhelm limited resources with applications and generate brand confusion.

Ideally, this service will create a steady flow of human capital to China, generating new opportunities for other businesses. Other entrepreneurs may be willing to wait for political solutions to the deep structural flaws in the US business environment, but long experience and historical knowledge leaves me skeptical of that possibility.

Stages of Development

1. Research. I will self-fund this stage, seek investment from friends & family, and may raise further seed funds through Kickstarter and other sources.

2. Seminar I’ll develop a seminar course either alone or with the assistance of others for the target market to walk prospects through the process of emigrating to China.

3. Learning Products Instructional DVDs and other learning material are the natural progression from the seminar. This develops customer interest while providing additional revenue streams.

4. Employment Firm The seminar and line of learning products leads to the development of a job placement firm with relentless customer service.