Bringing entrepreneurship alive through our MBA

Thank you to Daler Boltaev for sharing his experience of our MBA: Entrepreneurship, run in partnership with Draper University in the US.

“I first want to thank you all for giving me the opportunity to make it real. It would not happen without Richmond American University London.

From the first day at Draper, I felt a total immersion atmosphere.

We spent the first day almost entirely with the founder of the university, American venture capitalist Tim Draper. The university campus is located in the town of San Mateo in Silicon Valley, in the building of the former Lincoln Hotel. The campus has everything you need. There is even a swimming pool and gym.

However, Draper is unique in its approach to what entrepreneurship is. This is reflected in the way the program is structured. In fact, the only students there were us (Richmond students), and the rest of the cohort consisted of entrepreneurs – young people obsessed with their projects. It is huge luck for a student who wants to start their own business to find themselves in the company of such fanatically obsessed entrepreneurs. During the course, invited speakers (entrepreneurs, investors, bloggers, etc.) came to us and shared their experience, knowledge and contacts.

Of course, the most memorable part of the program was the survival week. If before the week of survival the participants were still a little strangers, then after a week in the mountains of northern California on the shores of the Pacific Ocean without any means of communication, absolutely all the participants were closer than ever. Survival Week taught us to value friendship and support. Conditions of limited resources have pushed us to be more resourceful and learn to manage these resources more consciously. The details of what we went through will remain secret. In the end, what happens in survival remains in survival.

The rest of the program went by very quickly.

The bonus was that I made new friends and acquired new useful connections. I still keep in close contact with many of the program participants.

I am grateful to Draper University and all its staff and cohort for these unforgettable five weeks.”