Jackson Photo courtesy NBC

Sometimes losing really pays off big time. Just ask Kwame Jackson (MBA ’00), runner-up in reality TV’s latest hit series, The Apprentice. Jackson chucked his job at Goldman Sachs to make a run at besting fifteen other would-be apprentices for a one-year, $250K gig with Ã...øber-mogul Donald Trump. Twenty-two million people tuned in for the live final episode when Trump fired Jackson — “too textbook” — and hired cigar entrepreneur Bill Rancic.

So what’s next? “I’m taking advantage of every kind of capitalistic opportunity from the whole celebrity effect,” Jackson told Greta Van Susteren of Fox News (April 16, 2004). “I’ll be doing endorsements, book deals, et cetera.” He’s also planning to launch a media company and looking to raise $5 to $20 million for the start-up over the next year.

Then there’s the surprise investment management job offer from Mark Cuban, billionaire Internet entrepreneur and owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. Being runner-up isn’t so bad after all, Jackson told Van Susteren. “I think where God closes a door, he opens a window,” said Jackson. “And you’ve got to look for the draft, and the draft has definitely come my way.”

Meanwhile, what about the HBS experience? Did it help? “Without a doubt,” Jackson told Alan Murray of CNBC (April 16, 2004). “What you learn there is how to present yourself in a succinct fashion and really be articulate and know that you have to defend your ideas in tough situations.”

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