Brave Bison Acquires Mark Ritson’s MiniMBA

​Brave Bison has acquired MiniMBA, the marketing training platform. Founded in 2016 by marketing professor Mark Ritson, MiniMBA provides MBA-level training in marketing, brand and management using an online platform and virtual teaching to over 6,000 delegates every year.

Boasting alumni of more than 40,000 professionals drawn from 78% of Interbrand’s Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, MiniMBA recruits individual marketers directly as well as working with a host of major companies to train and upskill their marketing teams. Clients include American Express, McDonald’s, Nestle, Salesforce, Red Bull, Oracle, Google, and Tesco.

The MiniMBA forms the cornerstone of a new skills and capabilities practice within Brave Bison, led by MiniMBA CEO, Tim Plyming. This new practice will sit alongside but operate independently from the company’s existing marketing businesses, benefitting from access to Brave Bison’s award-winning AI team and technology development hubs as it expands into new global markets and curricula. The founder of MiniMBA, award-winning marketing professor Mark Ritson, will continue to teach the MiniMBA and will become a top 5 shareholder in Brave Bison, having personally participated in Brave Bison’s fundraising to acquire MiniMBA.

​Oli Green, executive chairman of Brave Bison, said, “Today’s marketers are operating in an environment that is more complex than ever. With culture fragmented and technology constantly evolving, the need to move with agility and think strategically has never been more paramount.

At a time when the acceleration of AI has our industry looking inward, our focus is firmly outward to the needs of brands and the people behind them. MiniMBA’s mission is to give CMOs and their teams the common language and strategic foundation they need to thrive in this new world. We look forward to working closely with the team to reaffirm the power of brand as a global business driver, enabled by AI and underpinned by shared marketing principles.”

Commenting on the announcement, Mark Ritson said, “I am well known for my general disdain at the state of many, perhaps most, marketing outfits. But I have been genuinely impressed from the very outset with the way Brave Bison operate and their vision for the future. We could not have found a better home for MiniMBA. And, given the vision and growth mindset that I have seen first-hand, becoming a significant shareholder in Brave Bison and member of the team is enormously attractive”.

Tim Plyming, CEO, MiniMBA added, “I’m delighted that MiniMBA has found a true partner for growth in Brave Bison; an organisation firmly focused on helping CMOs capitalise on the complexity of modern marketing. With Brave Bison’s backing, we’ll be building on the success of the MiniMBA model to create a truly future-focused offering that equips the global business leaders of today and tomorrow with the universal current and future industry standard in marketing strategy.”