"The idea came about during the Christmas holidays," he said. "I had lots of days to kill and nothing to do."
When he returned in the new year, ideas were brewing. Vignesh has a strong background in technology and halfway through the full-time MBA program, the idea of an ecommerce startup began to take flight.
He is the founder and CEO of Agile Cyber Solutions, a company that provides software solutions to global clients - including cloud computing, website design and mobile apps. Vignesh met his business partners during the Cranfield MBA.
All four of them.
"Within two months, we were clear that it had to be created by five people," he said. "They are all Cranfield MBAs from the same cohort."
Vignesh, along with classmates Basheer Shaik, Adam Cox, Sanjay Kaler and Matt Wilkinson, all met at Cranfield's campus and have grown the business to 17 employees across two continents.
Many MBAs meet their business partners at b-school and that would make this an interesting story. But six different board members, past and present, were all part of the same 2011 cohort. Even clients are from the Cranfield MBA program.
"Me and Basheer had the opportunity to test-start the idea during an MBA project," said Vignesh. "But we were clear that we had to have multiple directors to get the best ideas from everyone around us.
"Our initial model was a business school project for a client that was trying to build a marketing solutions tool. We did this with the School of Management at Cranfield and they were really happy with the result.
"This proved our business model worked in the UK."
It may have proved profitable in Britain, but the company is split across England and India. Agile Cyber Solutions is headquartered in East Sussex but operations are carried out in Tamil Nadu. Vignesh says that the costs associated with running the start-up are much cheaper in India and this gives them an "economic advantage."
"Other companies in India with a similar business model employ people that have to travel far away from their homes," he explained. "But our employees don't move. They work from their home areas and that keeps the costs low."
The company was launched around two months after the MBA program finished and between the five of them, the management team have over six decades of experience across a range of industries.
Vignesh has a passion for technology and worked in a corporate career for over 14 years. After gaining a Management Accounting qualification, he worked in the chemicals and IT services industries before beginning an MBA in the UK.
While all of the company's board members are MBAs, they each have different backgrounds and bring different skills to the business. Vignesh, Basheer and Sanjay run the operations, while Adam is a strategy consultant. Matt is involved in strategic marketing and public relations.
Cranfield is one of the highest business schools in the UK's MBA Rankings, and although almost 90 per cent of MBAs are employed within three months of graduating, entrepreneurship is an increasingly popular option.
Figures show that global MBA entrepreneurship is on the rise. The 17,000 Cranfield alumni provide a strong network of connections to kick-start a business, and Vignesh knew the Cranfield MBA would take his career to the next level.
"I thought my career needed a fillip," he said. "Cranfield really helped me develop leadership experience. It strengthened me personally and gave me the confidence to go on my own.
"I thought this would advance my corporate career, but by the end of the program, it was clear that I needed to be on my own and work on a few entrepreneurial concepts."
After investing thousands in an MBA education, it is always a risk to launch your own company. Vignesh's start-up was in "investment-mode" for the first three months and it has not always been plain-sailing.
"The initial challenge was to say: 'I don’t expect any money back until after at least a year'," he said. "The business model needed setting up and then we had to grow to a scale where it could sustain its own costs.
"The scale was a little scary. But we were confident.
"The challenge today is convincing employees in India to stay at home and work for us and we still have this challenge today."
By the fourth month of operations, the Cranfield five were making a profit. Most of their clients are based in the UK but approximately 40 per cent are in the US - mainly on the East Coast.
One of the start-ups main projects, a web and mobile app solution for a chain of 30 nurseries across the UK, was developed by a Cranfield classmate. Agile Cyber Solutions is very much a Cranfield-born company.
The business has gone from strength to strength and Vignesh thinks it will continue to grow. An MBA from Cranfield has given him great confidence.
"First of all, I wanted the networks you get on an MBA," he said. "But Cranfield has given me a ring-side view of an enterprise and also gave me the confidence to give up a corporation job.
"I thought this start-up idea would work, but Cranfield gave me the confidence and tools to peruse it."
Vignesh hopes to continue expanding and plans to hire more employees. He would like to provide internships for students at local universities and colleges in India.
The five board membeers may be running an international operation, but it is at Cranfield in the UK that they found the confidence to tackle a start-up.
Entrepreneurship is more popular than ever and debate still centers on whether business school is necessary for start-up success. Many go it alone, while others claim a Masters was essential.
The unlikely journey of these MBAs gives weight to the latter.
For Vignesh, the seed of entrepreneurship was planted before he began an MBA. But he has the Christmas holiday to thank for his bright idea.
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