By Emily Daniels
College of Business
where are they now?
Each year, Dividends magazine features some of the many College of Business students, faculty and alumni that are doing fascinating things. But do you ever wonder what any of them are up to now? We caught up with two of our recent graduates to see what they’ve been doing since we first reported on them.
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY
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COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
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Anna Barker
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ou may recall a story from 2016’s Dividends about thensenior Anna Barker. After stumbling upon MSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Outreach in 2015, Barker founded her own startup company that focused on minimizing the risk of fire-related disasters by using comprehensive fire detection and analysis technology. Fast forward to the spring of 2017. Anna teamed up with fellow COB students Allen Coe and Hassan Tariq to compete with students from 34 universities across the United States and Canada in the AIG University Innovation Challenge. They were selected as one of the four finalist teams to pitch their most creative concepts and business models to reduce business risk and improve operations using technology to a panel of AIG Insurance executives in Houston. The team won first place after pitching their fire-prevention business plan. “AIG has the potential to leverage data and analytics-based information from existing resources that can be integrated with this technology to help make smarter decisions and reduce losses,” says Barker. “It was so encouraging that they were able to see that potential as well.” After the competition, AIG offered Barker a position as a technology analyst at its office in Charlotte. After much careful consideration, Barker turned down the offer in order to work with fellow MSU entrepreneurs at Vibe, LLC, as the Director of Business Development, which would allow her to pursue her own venture.
“I think that staying in a startup setting really fosters an entrepreneurial mindset,” states Barker. “I have the opportunity to experience situations and gain skills that will be so valuable for my future with a company that is on a tremendous growth trajectory.” Photo by Russ Houston
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