Building a Business - and a Better Victoria

How a Victorian founder is using an MBA to sharpen his leadership, scale with purpose, and build a network where it matters most - at home.

• Name: Josh Murray
• Current Role: Founder & COO, Josh’s Rainbow Eggs
• Program: Full-Time MBA, Melbourne Business School
• Cohort: 2025–2027
• Notables: Good Friday Appeal Ambassador; Named as Herald Sun’s Future Victoria: The 25 Victorians under 25; elected SRC Cohort Representative at MBS.

From Blue-Green Eggs to Big Ideas

Josh’s story begins on a small hobby farm in Victoria, where curiosity, and a handful of colourful eggs, sparked a lifelong passion for business. At just nine years old, Josh started keeping Araucana chickens, a rare South American breed known for laying striking blue and green eggs. What began as an experiment in caring for a few unusual hens quickly turned into something more. “We had about forty different breeds at one point,” Josh laughs. “The eggs came in every shade from pastel blue to olive green. Neighbours loved them, and before long we were selling out every weekend.”

Those early farmers’ markets became his first lessons in brand, storytelling, and customer connection. Every conversation was direct feedback; every sale, a small act of trust. “When we connect with the right customer, there’s a real relationship,” he says. “Give people a great product and a great story, and even a grocery run feels a little more exciting.”

From those beginnings, Rainbow Eggs grew into a thriving Victorian agribusiness, now supplying major retailers such as Coles and Woolworths. But for Josh, the story isn’t about volume or scale - it’s about purpose, people, and potential. “I want to be remembered as a great Victorian.” “For giving back to the community that has embraced me in a way I never could have expected”

Why Melbourne Business School

As the business grew, Josh realised he needed to formalise his business training he’d learnt on the job and settled on an MBA. Josh explored programs from London to the US and Copenhagen. In the end, the answer was local, and strategic.

Inside the MBA Experience

Just weeks into the MBA, Josh describes the pace as unlike anything he’s experienced in the classroom. “I’m a self-starter, I read the books and listen to podcasts, but this is different.” he says. “At MBS, some of the best minds in business are telling me what I need to know, why it matters, and how to apply it. I’m learning at a rate I’ve never felt before.” Balancing full-time study with hands-on leadership at Rainbow Eggs is demanding. There are still days he steps in to run operations but the translation from classroom to boardroom is immediate. “Even now, I feel better about myself as an executive. I know what to expect from myself and from my team. The MBA has helped me build that clarity.”

Building Structure, Clarity and Confidence

For Josh, the MBA experience has been less about changing who he is, and more about refining how he thinks. As a founder who has been leading teams since his teens, he entered Melbourne Business School with an entrepreneurial mindset and a wealth of practical experience. What he sought was discipline, frameworks, and the ability to translate instinct into strategy.

For Josh, transformation isn’t theoretical, it’s lived daily in the overlap between study and enterprise, between ambition and accountability.

Purpose Beyond Profit

Josh’s leadership journey extends well beyond business metrics. At just 25, he has been recognised as Herald Sun's Future Victoria: The 25 Victorians under 25 and chosen as a Good Friday Appeal Ambassador. So far, Josh’s Rainbow Eggs has already donated 3 million eggs to various food charities around Victoria. And in their upcoming initiative Josh’s Rainbow Eggs will be donating 20 cents from every pack of Rainbow Eggs sold to Secondbite and OzHarvest to help alleviate food scarcity in Australia.“If I think too much about the money, it’s not exciting,” he says. “What motivates me is finding ways to give back, to make a tangible difference for others.”

For Josh, success is defined not just by growth, but by gratitude - for the people, place, and purpose that continue to shape him. That same spirit of service drives his approach within the MBA community. He was recently elected as SRC Cohort Representative, a role that reflects the trust and connection he’s earned among peers. “It meant a lot that people believed in me,” he reflects.

For Future Students

Josh’s advice to prospective students is grounded in self-awareness: “Start with honest self-assessment. I knew my gaps: quantitative skills and leadership mental structures. The MBA is helping me strengthen those areas and think more strategically.” He also points to the value of seeing education as an investment in longevity. The ability to keep evolving as a leader. “If you want to reach your full potential as a leader, you need a foundation that supports growth. The MBA can give you that.”

Made. Not born. – Personal Interpretation

For Josh, Made. Not born. is both personal and practical. “No one’s born with it. People call you a “natural” after sixteen years of doing the work,’ he says. ‘To me, it means running a long-term strategy for who you want to become - year by year, skill by skill, decision by decision.’ He measures progress in tangible ways: teams led, systems improved, and ideas clarified. “When I measure how I’ve improved I ask myself if I am a better leader than I was yesterday, am I doing all I can to give back? And where will I be in five years if I continue making progress at this pace?”