INTERVIEW
An MBA allows you not only to be a leader but also to be a manager – which I think are distinctly different things
I did about four different consulting projects throughout my MBA. I learnt quite a bit because I was an entrepreneur – still am – but as an entrepreneur, you see business from one perspective. Doing this MBA, you’re seeing businesses from a different perspective because now you’re in that position where you’re trying to help solve problems for these different organisations, and using the theory that you have learnt in the MBA to affect these businesses. It was quite a good experience and I learnt a lot, and it has propelled me to do what I’m doing now, which is working as a consultant at Accenture. During your programme, you were Head of Speakers and Performers for TEDx Aston. Can you tell me about this and how it impacted your Business School experience? TEDx was a fantastic experience. It was probably one of my favourite experiences throughout my entire tenure at Aston. As Head of Speakers and Performers, I procured speakers and the performers for the events. Together with my Co-head, Noor, I networked with different individuals to narrow our choices to a top six who would be the speakers at the event. That experience was very special to me because it was the very first time that we got to invite international speakers and I had the chance to invite two speakers from my home country. This was very important for me because I wanted to show that we have amazing talent in Jamaica.
This was one of the opportunities that Aston provides. It’s a business clinic, where you work in a team with students from all over the world. My team had students from about six or eight countries. Together, we had to solve a communication problem for a company. My team thought that I was somehow impactful on the team, and they all decided to nominate me. I ended up winning the Global Business Champion, which was an amazing experience. What advice would you give someone thinking about completing their MBA? For me, I think an MBA is a really good degree to have if you want to become an entrepreneur or you want to progress in your career. The MBA opens your mind and it allows you to think from different perspectives. For example, as an entrepreneur, I now have an understanding of what it is to create a product and then build that business. An MBA does allows you not only to be a leader but also to be a manager – which I think are distinctly different things. The MBA helps you to rip apart the business and understand how each of its different facets work together and why they’re important. It helps you to pull together all the knowledge you have to solve problems. Understanding how to solve problems is very important for any career path you take, and I think that an MBA prepares you for that.
Jamaica is very popular when it comes to athletics because we have Usain Bolt, and it’s famous for reggae music because of Bob Marley. I wanted to show different sides of Jamaica. There’s the business side – which is why I invited Zachary Harding – and the more nurturing side, hence I invited Dr Terri-Karelle Reid. You were part of the Aston MBA mentoring scheme. Can you tell me what you gained from this experience and what traits you think make a good mentor? At Aston, as part of our MBA programme, they look at your profile and then they choose, or help to choose, a mentor for you. While I was there, I was mentored by a wonderful individual – Glen Conybeare. I think some of the key things that make a really good mentor is basically me describing Glen. He was very easy to talk to and I could get a lot of information from him based on his experiences. He shared his experiences, the ups and downs, with me and he also guided me. It is because of Glen that I was interested in Accenture. He knew my background and then he helped guide me to make better career choices. Guidance and just being open are some of the things that are important in being a mentor. You also completed the Global Business Challenge and were named Global Business Champion. Could you tell us a little bit more about the challenge and what you had to do?
38 |
Ambition | BE IN BRILLIANT COMPANY
Made with FlippingBook - Share PDF online