Why wait? Business grads buying firms to install themselves as CEO - BBC News BBC Homepage Skip to content Accessibility Help Your account Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds More menu More menu Search BBC Home News Sport Earth Reel Worklife Travel Culture Future Music TV Weather Sounds Close menu BBC News Menu Home Climate World UK Business Tech Science Entertainment & Arts Health In Pictures More BBC Verify Newsbeat Business New Tech Economy Technology of Business Artificial Intelligence Africa Business Paths to Success Why wait? Business grads buying firms to install themselves as CEO Image source, Ania Aliev Image caption, Ania Aliev bought a business for her to own and run after she left college By Chris Marshall Business reporter Published 3 September 2026 Confined to her hospital bed as she waited for her baby to be induced, Ania Aliev was attempting to finalise a deal to buy a company and put herself in the top job. "I was answering investors and emailing people, and the investors were yelling at me 'you need to focus on having your child right now!'," says Aliev, who was 27-years-old at the time in late 2023. A recent MBA (Master of Business Administration) graduate from the prestigious Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, she gave birth to a boy. Just three months later she was owner and CEO of Massachusetts-based medical equipment business Life Support Systems. It used to be the case that US business course graduates would leave university and typically either join a corporate giant to try to work their way to the top, or else form their own start-up. But some, impatient to be the boss of an established firm, are instead now borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy such a business and install themselves as the boss. Is such entrepreneurial go-getting to be applauded, or is it excessive youthful chutzpah? And how do the employees react when a 20-something with little experienc