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The Jacques Nasser Scholarships

RMIT alumnus Jac Nasser made his name as a businessman on the world stage. Through an investment of more than $420,000 in scholarships he is helping to ensure that others get a chance to do the same.

The Jacques Nasser Scholarships are a reflection of RMIT’s continued ability to develop the brightest business minds. They were established for students of the Bachelor of Business (Entrepreneurship) program, a hands-on undergraduate degree and the only one of its kind in Australia. The program prepares graduates to become innovative, global business leaders.

Mr Nasser financed his way through business studies at RMIT by buying, fixing and selling cars. After graduation in 1968 he rose through the auto industry and in 1999 became President and Chief Executive of the global Ford business. Today he is a New York Managing Director of One Equity Partners, an arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co, and sits on the board of international companies including BHP Billiton.

At the time of announcing the scholarships, Mr Nasser said: “I have established the endowment in recognition of what RMIT has helped me to achieve and with the vision of developing entrepreneurship capabilities in Australia that, in turn, will develop a stronger community.”

Each year, five travel bursaries of up to $2,000 each assist Entrepreneurship students to travel to an entrepreneurship conference held overseas. Business start-up grants of $2,000 are made to the top five first- or second-year students. And two awards of $2,500 are made to students whose home is more than 100 kilometres from Melbourne.

John Roney, one of seven children in a family that grows cereals and runs merinos at Axedale, 30 kilometres east of Bendigo, received the Rural and Regional Bursary in 2006. The money helped him to start up a suit-selling business with fellow students as part of his program. Later he was able to travel to China.

“I went to a textiles factory north of Shanghai where some of my father’s wool is sold. It made me interested in the potential of Chinese wool processing and what it might mean for Australian farmers,” he says.

So taken was Mr Roney with business opportunities in China that he stayed on to do an internship there. He is learning Japanese. He plans to learn Chinese. He is a young entrepreneur in the making, inspired and assisted by a great Australian business thinker.

“To win the Jacques Nasser bursary was amazing,” he says. “I just hope that one day I might be as successful as him.”