Have a Business Problem? Get Help From RIT’s Executive MBA’s—At NO Charge

Donald Trump, Martha Stewart and Rochester Institute of Technology all have something in common—an apprentice program. The truth is—RIT’s College of Business offered an “Apprentice” program long before it achieved popularity on the airwaves.

RIT calls it the Capstone Project, where ambitious consultants from the College of Business Executive MBA program (EMBA) spend a 20-week period defining and analyzing a client’s problems in areas such as manufacturing, finance, business strategy, marketing, human resource management and information systems.

The best part is that there’s no charge for local companies to hire these RIT business “apprentices” who have helped strengthen more than 20 local businesses in the past ten years—from JML Optical Industries, Inc., and Lightnin Corporation, to DeCarolis Truck Rental and the United Way of Greater Rochester, Inc.

“We see the ‘Capstone Projects’ as both a service to Rochester’s business community and an opportunity for our Executive MBA candidates to demonstrate their expertise,” says Brian O’Neil, director of graduate business programs at RIT’s College of Business. “We are always reviewing applications from new organizations, trying to discover problems that will challenge our EMBA students.”

The project, which involves EMBA students who have completed two demanding years of course work, is under the guidance of faculty members as well as host company executives.

Companies that wish to participate in the Capstone Project must contact RIT’s Executive MBA office at 475-7435 or embamail@rit.edu before October 17.