Meet the MBA Class of 2020: Olabisi Ayodeji, IMD Business School

Olabisi Ayodeji

IMD Business School

“I am curious by nature, enjoy listening to stories and music, and meeting new people.”

Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria

Fun Fact About Yourself: If you can hear music around me, you will probably also find me singing and/or dancing!

Undergraduate School and Major: American University of Nigeria; BSc Petroleum Chemistry

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Tellimer (formerly Exotix Capital) – Associate Director, Equity Research

What quality best describes your MBA classmates and why? Resilient! It’s been an uncertain and challenging year for almost everyone for various reasons, including the pandemic. In spite of this, I have found that my classmates have remained very positive, engaged, and supportive despite all the disruptions that we have had to contend with.

Aside from classmates, what part of the school’s MBA programming led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? IMD was my top choice due to its renowned leadership stream, solid reputation in executive education, and strong alumni network. I firmly believe the program’s focus on developing individuals, in addition to providing technical business training, generates improved leadership potential. I was also eager to join a strong network of professionals and benefit from IMD’s connections with the global business community.

IMD has a reputation for being intense, with heavy reading and assignments. Did the school live up to its reputation? What did you do to get through the workload? It certainly did, particularly during the earlier part of the program. Fortunately, a lot of the training is geared towards teamwork and collaboration. As a result, the challenging workload provided a great opportunity to learn to work with others to optimize performance and results.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I am most proud of my career progression as an investment professional, including my recent promotion to Associate Director level, despite not having an academic background in finance. Considering that I had only spent four years working in finance compared to the previous manager’s over 10 years’ experience, I am happy to have received continuous positive testimonials from my superiors for the part I played in sustaining the firm’s Nigeria business and rebuilding and leading the firm’s research team.

Describe your biggest accomplishment at IMD so far: Earlier in the year, I was part of a team of six MBAs who worked with a startup to plan the launch of a new product line within its existing business. Using our analyses and research, the startup was able to raise EUR1.0mn from investors to further the project.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? Given my academic background in Petroleum Chemistry and limited formal education in finance, I wanted a chance to gain a more structured knowledge of the global business environment, which would complement the work experience I have in finance. I also wanted the opportunity to advance professionally and broaden my perspective through international experience and interactions with a very diverse cohort.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? London Business School, INSEAD

What did you do during the application process that enabled you to get accepted into IMD? In researching programs that would be most suitable for me, IMD stood out, especially because of its renowned leadership stream, solid reputation in executive education, and strong alumni network. I was clear in expressing how important these factors were to me when applying to highlight my fit, as well as the perspective and contributions that I knew I would bring on board to classmates and program activities.

What is the biggest epiphany you’ve gained about yourself or the world since you started at IMD? I am a lot more mindful of the importance of self-awareness in forming and maintaining healthy relationships in professional and personal spaces. Learning the links between knowing one’s self, genuinely seeking to improve, and attaining success has been extremely enlightening.

DON’T MISS: MEET IMD’S MBA CLASS OF 2020