#GivingTuesday / May 5, 2020
Lifework, in partnership with MBA students from 10+ top universities nationwide, are responding to meet the needs of small businesses devastated by the current crisis by hosting the Small Business School Challenge, a 48 hour virtual accelerated workshop to help strategize and guide small businesses during this pandemic.
What started as a grassroots effort to help connect small business owners reeling to adapt and make changes to their business to stay afloat has turned into a nationally coordinated campaign bringing together hundreds of MBA students and business leaders to team up with small business owners and put their collective business acumen to work on their behalf.
Commitments of support have already come in from more than a dozen institutions such as NYU, UC-Berkeley and Yale SOM. The MBA students are being challenged to focus on preparing these businesses to thrive through the coming downturn, not just survive. The students are in competition to create the most viable and innovative strategies for their business owner clients, but it’s the business owners who truly benefit from awarded prize money, resource kits, and personalized support over the 2-day event.
“A future without small local business, where only the large chains survive this crisis, is a very bleak future indeed. As an MBA grad and cofounder of LifeWork, my team and I felt ideally placed to put together an event to bring the strategy and support of MBA students and business leaders from across the country to the small businesses who need it right now,” shares event organizer David Corfield.
People can show their generosity in a variety of ways during #GivingTuesdayNow and through the following week, whether it’s sponsoring a local small business to participate in the event, donating in support of a competing team or university, purchasing a virtual ticket to attend the presentation of the winning teams’ plans for small businesses, or simply sharing the campaign to help put it in front of those who can benefit most, every act of generosity counts.
Media Contact: David Corfield, LifeWork, david@lifeworkonline.com