The MBA that worked around life

While many new mums spend parental leave navigating life with a newborn, for Jenny the time was right to begin her postgraduate journey. When her baby was eight-weeks old, she enrolled in the University of Auckland’s Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme as a part-time student.

"It was the right time for me to challenge myself in a different way, alongside motherhood," she says. "And it all naturally fell into place."

Up until 2024, the MBA programme was taught onsite, but since being offered online, its popularity has grown, especially with University staff like Jenny.

"It really helps that I’m night owl," she laughs. "And I was very lucky that my daughter was a good sleeper! So, when she napped in the evenings, I’d use that time to catch up on lectures or do self-guided study."

As with many degrees specialising in business, the MBA is taught on a quarterly basis and covers a range of topics, from te ao Māori business principles to finance. All these are touchstones that help students to further progress their professional development and confidence. For Jenny, learning these new skills was the most crucial part of her journey.

"This time I didn’t just focus on the grades – I truly showed up because I wanted to learn," she says.

Jenny found that rather than making compromises, the MBA ended up working around her life.

"I’ve been diligent throughout my MBA," she adds. "If I didn’t have an assignment that week, I made sure I didn’t work at all on weekends. It was important that I took a break and had that precious family time. I’ve been able to pace myself and make it work."

The MBA also helped Jenny to bring to life a budding business idea.

"I don’t know if I recommend starting a business at the same time as starting your MBA," Jenny says. "But I feel like every course that I’ve studied in this programme has added some value to my start-up."

In its early days, Jenny’s start-up garnered interest and feedback from both her peers and lecturers, all of which helped to further shape the business.

Jointly founded by Jenny and friend Kelly Haysom, the start-up, The Teacher’s Connections, aims to connect families with trusted educators who can support them with tutoring, babysitting and other supplementary learning opportunities.

"I was a teacher before joining the University," she says. "And the idea came to us when we were looking for babysitters for our little ones. As I don’t have family in New Zealand, it was tricky to find someone we could truly trust to look after our kids."

Both Jenny and her friend realised that all practicing teachers have undergone vetting processes necessary for them to work with children.

"They were already police-checked, had first aid training and were great with children," she says. "These are people who really know what they’re doing, and we saw this as a great opportunity."

Since its launch, the business became a nationwide network, with over 250 contractors on their team, even being named a finalised at this year’s 2degrees Auckland Business Awards as a people’s choice awards nominee.

"It’s been amazing to see this seed of an idea grow into something this big," she says.  

Transitioning from an education background to one in business administration was daunting, but as her MBA journey progressed, Jenny found similarities between the two disciplines.

“I was worried about getting used to a whole new way of learning,” she says.

“I thought it would be incredibly challenging. But a lot of the skills I’ve learnt as an education graduate are transferable. If you can write a dissertation or an essay, there’s nothing stopping you from writing a business report.”

She also credits her teachers, who helped her learn business concepts in a tangible way.

“There’s a real difference between learning accounting online and looking at a spreadsheet versus applying it to your own business,” she says. “Learning so practically gave me the confidence to assess the decisions I was making and understand the real impact they could have on a business.”

Another resource she easily tapped into was her classmates, who hail from diverse industries across Aotearoa. Jenny says their experience and knowledge gave her better insights into the regional challenges they face and helped to foster a culture of collaboration and community.

“Being part of this diverse cohort has been invaluable,” she says. “When you have a problem, whether it has to do with accounting or supply chain issues, you have a network of people you can reach out to informally.”

Beyond the virtual classroom and her start-up, her studies have also been instrumental to her current role as a programmes manager.

“The specific courses on leadership and business analytics were incredibly useful for me,” she reflects.

“One example of many is how they helped me better understand conversion data and enrolment patterns, enabling more strategic decisions around recruitment and priorities for both the team and wider business unit.”

While she has two quarters left to complete the programme, Jenny says the MBA has already enriched her professional capabilities. And she encourages staff who are interested in the programme to go for it.

“The MBA allows you to balance your studies with work and life," she says.

"Sometimes it’s very easy to want to just stick to things you’re good at, but when you step out of your comfort zone you learn the most! This programme will challenge you in the best possible way.”

– Shreta Rayan, Staff communications specialist