A spur of the moment walk at UBC changed Rob Atkins’ life.
In the summer of 1997, the Bournemouth, U.K. native had just left the company
he had started in London and was planning on having an adventuresome vacation
with his wife, Stephanie, in B.C.
Within two days of getting to Vancouver, they discovered Stephanie was pregnant
with their first child.
“We had wanted a really adventurous holiday but we couldn’t do that with Stephanie
being pregnant so we ended up with a lot of free time on our hands,” says Atkins
with a wry grin.
So instead the couple spent much of their time exploring the city by foot.
With only a few days remaining in their vacation, they took a last-minute walk
through UBC.
“We were walking on campus and I happened to go into the Henry Angus building
and picked up a brochure on the MBA program,” says Atkins.
At that point, Atkins had already been thinking about returning to school
after almost a decade in the workplace.
After graduating in 1988 with his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration,
Atkins worked for Hewlett Packard in London for 12 months before he ventured
off with a colleague to start his own computer-reselling business.
At first, they operated out of his partner’s bedroom in London, but eventually
the company grew to the point that when they sold it in 1996, it was a 50-employee
firm with revenues of [[sterling]]33 million.
“During my seven years of working, I learned a lot,” admits Atkins. “But one
of the reasons why we sold the company was because we didn’t believe we had
the knowledge or experience to grow it further.”
As part of the sale of his company, Atkins had agreed to stay on for two years
to help in the transition, plus he viewed it as a chance to learn how to expand
the business. Unfortunately, like many entrepreneurs who stay on at the company
they built after its sale, Atkins couldn’t stomach some of the changes he saw.
He left, on amicable terms, after a year.
“I always knew I wanted to run another business and make it bigger and thought
that an MBA would give me the knowledge and skills to do that,” he says.
With that in mind and the fact that a non-competition clause that prevented
him from operating another computer-related business in the UK, he applied to
UBC’s Master of Business Administration program.
“If I hadn’t been accepted by UBC, I wouldn’t have done an MBA,” says Atkins
citing the allure of UBC’s 15-month program when compared to a typical two-year
MBA at most other universities.
“Two years is a big commitment, especially when you have a wife and child
to consider,” says Atkins.
For someone who says he “did the minimum to get through” during his undergraduate
days, returning to school was hard work. Atkins readily admits that the first
16 weeks of the program was a shock to his system. He typically spent five to
six hours a day in classes and an additional four hours nightly studying and
working on assignments.
But he’s happy with the results. Not only does he believe that UBC’s program
has filled in gaps in his business knowledge but it will help him be a better
entrepreneur as well.
“I really feel like I have learned a lot from the program. The accounting,
strategy, marketing and finance courses have been particularly useful and I
certainly think they will help in my next venture.”
Atkins points out that the diverse and international mix of his classmates
has enhanced his studies at UBC. There are lawyers, doctors and even a professional
tennis player in his class.
“There are some exceptional students in the class and I have learned a lot
from them too,” he says.
Atkins isn’t sure whether he will return to England after completing his MBA
— he has drafted a business plan for an Internet-based company and may launch
it in Canada. With his wife pregnant again, Atkins, the entrepreneur, feels
confident he’ll be ready to tackle the business world again once armed with
his MBA.
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