School News: Masagung Graduate School of Management

Student Entrepreneurs Pitch Business Ideas, Compete for Startup Funding

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At the second annual Startup Summit, presented on campus by USF’s Startup Club, five teams pitched business ideas to four judges with experience in the startup world. One team received $10,000 from the Office of the Provost to fund its project. Students were given five minutes to pitch their ideas.

MSMI Practicum Partnerships

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The Master of Science in Marketing Intelligence program continues to build robust partnerships with both domestic and international companies, including startups. Notable companies that have collaborated with MSMI students on their practicum assignments include Vagaro (a B2B unicorn company), Curated Bids (an emerging online marketplace for adventure vehicles), a Filipino skincare company, and a major consumer packaged goods company. Students performed marketing research for these companies and presented marketing strategy options to senior executives.

MSEI Students Compete for Hult Prize in Mexico

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Three Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation students Usman Sarwar, Erin Richardson, and Jesse Mark traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, in June for the regional summit where they competed among 400 teams for the coveted Hult Prize. Overall, more than 10,000 teams from 120 countries gathered in locations around the globe aspiring to win the $1 million prize that goes to a startup focused on tackling one of the world's most pressing social issues.

The USF team co-founded PerseVR, their virtual reality solution for senior mobility therapy. Though the school’s team did not advance to the global finals, the students said the experience was transformative, and they credited their experience with the USF Startup Summit as instrumental in preparing them to compete alongside social entrepreneurs worldwide.

In Overseas Immersion, Management Students Learn Consulting on the Fly

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On a working immersion in the Netherlands in March, 16 graduate students from the School of Management visited eight organizations in eight days, practicing speed consulting as they went.

At each stop, students from the MBA and MPA programs listened to the client describe its challenges. The students then brainstormed, formed teams, “normed” or tested their ideas, and then pitched their solutions to the client — all in about two hours.

Masagung Career Outcomes

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Based on a survey of December 2023 and May 2024 graduates:

• 63% of graduates who were seeking full-time employment were employed six months after graduation
• 26% of part-time working students were promoted while studying at USF
• 5% started a business before graduating
• 36% performed an internship before graduating

MIM Program for Sustainable Business Solutions in the News

In August, Poets&Quants posted an article announcing the newly created Master in Management (MIM) program for Sustainable Business Solutions. The MIM will launch in its online (and part-time) format with a Sustainable Business Management concentration in Spring 2025. In Fall 2025, the in-person (full-time) version will launch with a Business Tech concentration.

Alumnus Launches AI Project that Makes Learning a Language Easier

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Valerio Mirarchi MBA ’24 came up with the idea for an AI project while tutoring USF students studying Italian. He created Duets.ai for his MBA program’s Innovation class as a way to apply AI to conversations between students and teachers, in order to help language students achieve speaking proficiency.

Executive Education Doubles Growth

Interest in the school’s executive education offerings continues to rebound from the pandemic. The school is focusing on new partnerships and programs that are driving interest in Executive Education resulting in increased revenues. In addition to offering week-long Silicon Valley Immersions, partnerships with Hyundai Motor Company, SuccessCOACHING, and Zschool continue to drive this growth. New director of executive education John Coughlan is now leading the program, as Tom Maier, is now overseeing professional development and business partnerships in the Provost’s Office.

Furthermore, local Catholic parishes are benefiting from the new school’s Pastoral Administration Program. Over the span of four days, local priests are learning to more effectively administer their parishes.