Following a US education and six years in banking, Nigerian Adegboyega Adegbola wants just one more accomplishment before he returns to his homeland in hopes of making a difference.
“My primary focus is to help the country’s growth,” says Adegbola, who graduated from Prairie View A&M University, TX, a decade ago and later worked in Nigeria’s Standard Chartered Bank for six years. “There was no business being developed [in Nigeria].”
In order to make a difference in the oil-rich nation, an advanced degree in business and management is essential, according to Adegbola: “The notion in Nigeria is that an MBA is the first door to higher management.”
“Tools of management” and “skills to manage people better” were the main areas in which Adegbola is eager to improve. So when his brother sent him the Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) web link, the 35-year-old Lagos native was hooked.
“Looking through the website,” Adegbola recalls, “One element caught my attention. It was the concept of management in practice and the opportunity to dirty his hands with real-world business problems.
“The School seems very much into practice and working with the real world. I have the feeling I can develop a mind for management [there],” he continues.
Adegbola also considered the world’s No.1 ranked London Business School and business education powerhouse Warwick Business School, but became convinced that Lancaster would be “best value for money”.
The Financial Times calculates “value for money” by using the salary earned by alumni today, course length and fees. The Lancaster MBA has been in the world’s top four in this category for the last four years.
Adegbola says the Lancaster MBA program, ranked 24th in the world, 10th in Europe and 4th in the UK, is much more than just affordable.
“The School hasn't only taught us management and the tools of being a manager, but it has also stressed and promoted leadership through practical learning, and encouraged us to be leaders not simply managers,” he says.
The university’s career office has also been busy, working on enhancing students’ employment possibilities upon graduating. Adegbola says career office staff has been advising how best they can approach going back to work since “day one of welcoming the new class.”
The Lancaster faculty are “accessible, comfortable and hungry for further success.”
“I am ecstatic!” Adegbola says of his overall MBA experience in Lancaster. “We paid a lot of money to study here, and they [faculty and staff] recognize it and have built a strong relationship with the students.”
Having been educated in both the UK and the US, Adegbola says he prefers the British system because it’s more “inspiring”.
Adegbola finds the definition of achievement is different in each: “The notion of excellence is subjective in the US. For example the best in your class is measured by everyone else, whereas the UK system tells you: ‘what Bill Gates has done is excellence. Try to top him.’
“I like being given a bigger example to remind me: ‘this is what you need to learn and who you need to become’,” he says.
Though he’s only been studying the MBA for three-and-a-half months, Adegbola is confident he will earn a “much deeper and more profound understanding of business” by the time he completes his studies.
“It [the MBA] pushes you to think quickly, effectively and progressively. It really pushes your limits,” he says. His biggest challenge right now is “finding enough time to do all the assignments”.
However, Adegbola’s real challenges will begin when he returns to Nigeria.
“I am planning to work for myself and put my managerial skills to use making Nigeria a sustainable society,” he says. “That’s the reason I came to Lancaster to learn.”
“And I have a dream to become the president of Nigeria one day.”
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