By DAVID BERTOLA
dbertola@bizjournals.com | 716-541-1621

Like many small-business owners, Damian Parker was having trouble finding time to do everything necessary to run his company, English Pork Pie Co.

"It's virtually impossible," he said.

Parker, a native of Yorkshire, England, wasn't able to address the marketing needs of his three-year-old company. He also wanted to improve customer service and develop a new brand and website. He employs seven people who make European meat pies sold through food distributors to British and Irish pubs throughout the United States.

He eventually found Buffalo MBA Consulting, a pro bono, student-run management consulting firm comprised of University at Buffalo MBA students. They evaluated English Pork Pie's various business areas, distributed surveys and recommended improvements. They also helped Parker launch his U.S. brand.

"We didn't have time to do all that because we were busy making products," said Parker, whose business will expand to Canada.

Founded in fall 2010, Buffalo MBA Consulting offers services such as business-plan development, strategy reports, market research, financial assessments and human resources consulting.

"The hope is to have a positive impact on businesses in Buffalo and Western New York," said the firm's president and senior consultant, Joshua Randle.

He describes it as a voluntary service organization that aims to support the local economy, as well as for-profit companies and not-for-profits.

Randle and eight full-time MBA students comprise the group, which receives no funding. When asked by founder Farzad Jalil to join, he said he wasn't all that interested.

"But (Jalil's) mission and vision to influence change in the community and local economy got me interested," said Randle, who graduated from Harvard University's Executive Leadership Program. He also graduated from Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute, where he studied not-for-profit leadership. 

"There's no incentive, no pay, but there's the entrepreneurial spirit of it and seeing the success of those I work with and those we help," he said of Buffalo MBA Consulting.

"What you do in business school is different from what you do in the real world," he said.

Randle and Katarzyna Dec, Dave Saunders and Terri Zelasko represent half of the founding members; the other half left upon graduation in May.

By the end of December, Buffalo MBA Consulting will choose seven successors from a pool of 16 candidates who, like them, are MBA students. The process to choose a company to assist is just as competitive. Randle said demand usually outpaces supply: The goal of Buffalo MBA Consulting is to help six or so companies from about 30 applicants every year.