Meeting the changing needs of black MBAs - effectiveness of National Black MBA Association - Masters of Business degree

Black Enterprise, Oct, 1993 by Dawn M. Baskerville

NBMBAA has been resoundingly successful in its original objective. From a roster that numbered less than 100 in its earliest days, the nonprofit organization's membership has swelled to 2,700 professionals, organized into 27 chapters and representing many of the nation's largest corporations. John A. Byrne, author of The Best B Schools (McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, $14.95), places the nation's MBA enrollment at 200,000 students, up from 49,000 a decade ago. NBMBAA identifies about 15% of these students as African-Americans, graduating at a rate of about 2,500 per year over the last decade.

On the issue of career advancement, however, the reality has fallen far short of the expectation. Blacks have made great strides in obtaining managerial positions throughout industry, but their numbers are still dismally low. While African-Americans represent 12% of the population, according to Census and Labor Bureau statistics, they make up only 6% of the nation's executives, administrators and managers. Thwarted by the additional hurdle of a now cemented-over glass ceiling, black MBAs have been humbled, learning not to believe the hype formerly associated with their degree.

But all's not lost The MBA remains the degree of choice for discriminating employers searching for more-bang-for-the-buck managers. "In danger of losing its global competitive edge, U.S. business now looks to B-schools to provide them wah innovative, self-starting leaders wfth accredited skills to push back the competition," notes Dr. Edward D. Irons, dean of Clark Atlanta University's business school.

As the only professional organization comprised almost entirely of the black business management elite (only 2% of its members are non-MBAs), NBMBAA's potential influence in the marketplace is considerable. That's why the impact is far-reaching when it hits its mark, as it does with its professional development programs and networking forums. "The corporate fundraising, project management and strategic planning experience I've gotten through my involvement with NBMBAA will be a great help in my case study analyses as I pursue my degree," says Cheryl Joan Jenkins, manager of client services at Farrar, Straus & Giroux publishers in New York City and a student member of the organization's New York chapter.

When it misses, as it has in being slow to administer to its entrepreneurial and senior-level executive ranks, the repercussions are just as apparent. Daphne Brown, a vice president at Houston investment banking firm Walton Johnson and Co., speaks for many nonmembers when she says: "I found the organization was more beneficial to me while I was pursuing my MBA than it ever was once I'd earned it and required more senior-level guidance."

For some MBAs with an entrepreneurial bent, membership was ruled out, since members on the corporate track got the lion's share of attention. "Because I've applied my MBA towards an entrepreneurial route, I never saw where any of their programs addressed my needs, so I subsequently never joined," says Christina M. Dunbar, a senior vice president for Levmark Corp., a private investment firm in New Rochelle, N.Y.