Five Cal State Northridge business students have just demonstrated what happens when a powerful work ethic meets an idea whose time has come.

Graduate students Marine Palamutyan and Greg Groom knew that earning an MBA while working full time was going to be tough, but come on. Noses to the grindstone, they spent their summer weekends and holidays—including July 4 and Father’s Day—with fellow students Joel Bellon, Vivian Ikupolati and Wenbin Zhao, polishing their final graduate project.

The end result was worth the missed parties and picnics. They came up with a business plan to help a Westlake Village-based company called GreenWave Energy Solutions realize its goal of harnessing the energy of Pacific Ocean waves into an alternative power source for consumers.

“They completed a full semester’s work in one third the time,” said Deborah Cours, director of graduate and evening programs for CSUN’s College of Business and Economics. “Their business plan hit the main highlights, the financial model is impressive, and they’ve provided the client with documents they can edit and polish for their various purposes.”

CSUN’s MBA Consulting Project gives students the chance to learn, before they earn their degrees, what it’s like to draw up a real world business plan.

The team was asked to create in only two months a business plan for GreenWave Energy Solutions, founded to create wave energy projects and technology based economic development that will produce environmentally-friendly electricity and sustainable job growth.

The time is right, said Groom, for the introduction of another renewable energy resource besides wind and solar power. “The federal government has said a certain percent of power must come from renewable resources. That percentage can’t be met by wind and solar alone.”

All of the team members work full time, but spent hours on the Internet learning about the ocean, wave technology, the environment, machinery, and federal and state laws and regulations. More than 850 e-mails flew back and forth during their seven labor-intensive weeks together.

“Every time we found something—information, research,” said Palamutyan, “we passed it on to the person who needed it. We worked weekends and had many sleepless nights, but we were determined to do a good job.”

— Brenda Roberts

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