What Do MBAs Want For Christmas? Some Unexpected Treats!

 

It’s coming up to Christmas and time for all you hard-working MBAs to take a well-earned break and open your presents with the rest of us.

 

We caught up with some of our  members to find out what's on their Christmas wish list this year, and we were a little surprised. Previous Christmas wish-lists have featured iPhones, Caribbean vacations and investment banking jobs, but it seems MBAs are keeping it real and going back to good old-fashioned values. Read on to find out what these MBAs are asking Santa for in 2012. They also entrusted us to put in an extra word with Santa for them....

 

First to respond was Samson Okulaja. He’s a Nigerian fella who recently completed his MBA at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia. Samson’s IT prowess landed him the role of Catalog Manager at Live Sports 365, an e-commerce company in Bangalore, India. Samson also manages his family business in Nigeria remotely, so he's a busy man! He runs Helpstudyabroad.com, an education consultancy that helps students gain admission to universities outside their home country.

 

For Christmas, Samson would love for Santa to make it rain like he’s in a rap video. That means 100 dollar bills, not Kanye West in a soggy fur coat. He wants to move himself forward financially; particularly in relation to the web business. He’s set a turnover target of Naira 2 million (approximately US$13,000), and he’s close to hitting that if he works tirelessly. 

 

Jennifer Smith graduated from the University Of Bath School Of Management in 2002, with a concentration in Marketing and E-Commerce. She’s currently the director of digital marketing solutions for book publishing group Macmillan and is based in New York City. Jennifer and her husband recently welcomed a child into their family.

 

This Christmas, she’s looking forward to reuniting with family in Totnes, Devon, at her mother-in-law’s house. It will be the first time that some of her husband’s family will meet her nine month old daughter so they’re all very excited. All Jennifer wishes for is that all her family and friends are healthy and truly happy because "people are the most important part of our lives". 

 

Alistair Watson also had a spectacular year. He welcomed his first son into the world, landed a job with REDA Oilfield and received a distinction on his management project at the Bradford University School of Management. Alistair did Bradford's 10 month Accelerated MBA and his Christmas wish list includes a coffee machine and meeting his ambitious 2012 sales target at work - there's still a few days Alistair! 

 

Swati Randev-Verma just moved back to swanky Dubai after a rigorous year on the Aston Business School full-time MBA. She’s loving being back with family, settling into her new job as community manager at KorpKo, a company with investments in fashion, lifestyle, technology and design. She's also just put down a deposit for her car…check her out! 

 

She does tell us that being close to home, which for her is India, trumps all of the above. She’s looking forward to a small but cosy Christmas with her in-laws, little nieces and nephews, best friends, and her adorable little God-daughter who just turned one. Swati would like world peace for Christmas. Seriously, she is not kidding about that one!

 

Disclaimer: We do not hold any extra sway with Santa so please don’t blame us if you don’t get any of the things you asked for. However, if world peace does happen we are taking full credit!