Meet London Business School’s MBA Class Of 2026

They are a class of chameleons…in the best sense of the word.

They are team players who can adapt to their peers and bring out their best.

They are integrative thinkers who can identify every angle and blend disparate ideas together.

They are first adopters who are always asking why and formulating how.

They are world citizens, beholden neither to rigid ideology nor momentary passion.

Most of all, the MBA Class of 2026 is authentic. At the London Business School, you won’t find MBAs donning camouflage. Versatile and open, they just naturally adapt to any environment. More accurately, the atmosphere inevitably takes on their best qualities.

FROM LAWYERS TO VENTURE CAPITALISTS AND ENTREPRENEURS

Prapti Patel, for one, is a woman for all seasons: a self-described “lawyer-turned-social impact consultant-turned-venture capitalist” who tells P&Q that there is nothing she can’t do once she sets her mind to it. Among her biggest achievements, Patel says, is launching an Urban Tech and Sustainability practice at a VC firm – one that became its highest revenue generator within two years. As an MBA at London Business School, Patel adds, she expects to help her classmates make equally daunting career transitions.

“I have successfully pivoted my career twice thus far: first from law to social impact consulting at Dasra, and then into early-stage venture capital at Anthill Ventures. I have done this by setting intentional goals, breaking them down into achievable steps, and then following through – and I’m happy to bring this skillset to my MBA class. I know that many of my classmates hope to use the MBA to transition from one industry or function to another, and I look forward to helping them do so.”

Patel will find a kindred spirit in Susan Ren, a Cambridge-trained corporate litigator who moved into an early-stage SaaS company whose backers include Y-Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz. For Ren, making this transition – which required her to change her entire mindset – marked the biggest achievement of her career.

“Jumping into the scrappy, early-stage startup world from the structured environment of “big law” was a real leap of faith. Going from a rather risk-averse, perfectionist corporate lawyer, supported by teams of juniors and specialists, into a results-driven “get stuff done” operator who always needs to deliver irrespective of resources has been a tough but rewarding evolution. I worked my way up with no operational experience (having barely touched Excel or slide decks before!) and had to quickly become comfortable with learning and executing fast. In startups, you have to wear many hats and solve problems creatively. It’s incredibly rare to come across the same problem twice – that’s what makes it so exciting and addictive.”

JOINING THE SPACE RACE

Nay Myo Maung, a native of Myanmar, is another class member with dual talents that make him as much a powerhouse as a chameleon. Before business school, he worked as a medical doctor in the UK’s National Health Service, after previously practicing medicine in “war-torn” nations. Along with being a physician, Myo Maung is an entrepreneur, running a medica education firm for over a decade. At the same time, Bayo Adelaja studied English Literature as an undergrad and collected master’s degrees in Culture and Society and Health, Population, and Society at the London School of Economics. The CEO of a non-profit, Adelaja’s claim to fame is earning an MBE – a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire – and receiving an audience with Princess Anne at Windsor Palace. Six years ago, Charlotte Barnes launched Ven Store, which she describes as a “knitwear-focused, luxury retail brand.” Not only did Barnes’ venture survived through COVID, but it made news at the highest levels.

“The brand achieved international recognition, building a wonderful community of customers all over the globe and attracting over 15,000 unique monthly website visitors,” Barnes tells P&Q. “A notable highlight was a fantastic feature in the Wall Street Journal that led to every unit of stock selling out in under 48 hours.”

Looking for an Elon Musk in the Class of 2026? Meet Jasper Ryan, a founding member and head of strategy and business development for VXB Aerospace. Basically, his firm designs space systems powered by AI. With 30,000-60,000 satellites expected to be in orbit with the next decade – compared to 8,000 now – it is a space ripe for growth and disruption, Ryan says. After leaving a “stable” consulting job, Ryan adds, he is looking forward to driving some breakthroughs in the space industry.

“Alongside the other two members of the founding team, we grew the company to nine people in a year, won $2M in grant funding and completed two products in record time, putting Australia on the map as the 11th country capable of building Hall effect propulsion for the next generation of satellites. Starting without any space industry experience, I worked hard to build a strong enough technical understanding of systems engineering and propulsion to effectively understand our customers’ needs, shape our strategy around them, and ensure our product teams were aligned.”

Looking ahead, Ryan hopes to master the investment side of business at LBS. In addition, he believes the program will expose him to cultural nuances outside the Western world. “This has been critical at VXB when engaging with satellite manufacturers in Japan and Korea,” he adds. “I enjoyed discovering the stark cultural differences in our business behaviours when hosting delegations, building relationships, and tailoring our marketing strategies. The space industry has a strong emphasis on international collaboration, and I’m looking forward to learning more from my international peers at LBS about the unique cultural influences on business practices in our home countries.”

RESOURCEFUL, VERSATILE SOUNDING BOARDS

Like many class members, Elizabeth Njenga has dived into entrepreneurship, leading a real estate investment trust. Nelson Conteh, a Stanford grad, worked in consulting before business school. Two of his engagements resulting in his clients landing $2.2 billion dollars in funding from the American Environment Protection Agency to support solar installations in low-income households. Gabriel Melo has spearheaded billion-dollar deals for one of Brazil’s top private equity funds. At the same time, Verity Evans, a warfare officer, navigated one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 Destroyers.

“This summer I was asked to return to sea to navigate HMS Diamond – a 200-metre air defense destroyer – during its deployment engaging in active combat to defend merchant shipping vessels against Houthi attacks in the Southern Red Sea. The ship successfully defeated incoming missiles on a number of occasions, defending the Ship’s company and the lives of innocent civilians who were under attack while carrying out routine shipping movements in the region.”

These experiences, Evans adds, will provide her classmates with perspectives that come from more high-stakes, fast-moving situations where decisions are made in a “1×2 meter cabin in the middle of the ocean.”

Indeed, the Class of 2026 brings a number of special talents to the class. Bayo Adelaja describes herself as a “sounding board” who brings calm and insight when times grow tough. Others might call Andrew Young a triple threat who has moved from finance to political philosophy to climate philanthropy over the past seven years. Mahlet Yared hopes to lean into her public policy experience she gained working in the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office – where she once found herself in the same room as Donald Trump and Nahindra Modi. For Charlotte Barnes, maybe the most important quality she can impart on her classmates is the resourcefulness she gained from being an entrepreneur.

“Whether working in fashion publishing or creating my own start-up, I have worked with very limited budgets and often under great time pressure. In fashion editorial, it is not unheard of to have to produce a shoot with just one day’s notice, whilst running a start-up presents daily unknown challenges. One minute I could be tracking down and successfully persuading a prestigious manufacturer to take a chance on an unknown brand; the next I could be launching an innovative, low-cost marketing campaign, such as the successful collaboration I ran with a top London restaurant during the pandemic. I have become highly resourceful and adept at crafting innovative solutions to overcome challenges.”

A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Outside of class, Gabriel Melo indulges in cycling, hiking, and surfing, while Jasper Ryan pursues rock climbing and bouldering. Andrew Young performed off-Broadway while he worked in finance by day.  Ishan Kapur, most recently an equity research associate for HSBC, is a master of one-minute chess. And the Class of 2026 even includes a resident celebrity.

“I starred in two episodes of Silent Witness, a BBC television series,” writes Nay Myo Maung.

Earlier this year, The Financial Times ranked the London Business School 5th for International Course Experience, which measures the breadth and quality of overseas internships and exchanges. While the coursework carries a distinctively international flavor, it is the international student body that is one of LBS’ most distinctive features. 90% of the Class of 2026 hails from outside the United Kingdom, which is actually down four points from the previous year.  As a whole, 65 countries are represented in the class according to the school.

For LBS graduates, a global perspective is one of the great takeaways of the MBA experience. At a micro level, through their informal discussions and formal classroom responsibilities, MBAs gain a deep understanding of how business is conducted across a wide range of nations. This includes the cultural expectations and political realities that often define success and failure in these regions. At a macro level, these daily cultural exchanges reinforce a sensitivity to perception and context, training students how to connect and build relationships with people whose language and heritage are very different than their own. Even more, it prepares students for careers where they work with peers whose operational structures and work styles are equally divergent.

“There is no such thing as a hard border,” observes Susan Ren. “Even if you’re working for a national company, it is inevitable that you will be influenced by, collaborating with, or competing against others in your industry across the world. Learning to better understand diverse viewpoints, gaining exposure to different approaches to problem-solving and communication, and, most of all, developing empathy for others, will be invaluable in all business scenarios, from negotiation to leadership.”

Along with a daily education in international business practices, the London Business School approach also provides a far-flung network that MBAs can tap into for expertise, access, and even jobs. “I don’t take it lightly that upon graduation, my professional and personal network is literally going to span continents,” adds Prapti Patel. “This is an invaluable asset as we will all have the opportunity to gain insights into each other’s perspectives, business environments, and opportunities long after we have all left the classroom.”

Next Page: Interview with Helen Foley, MBA Programme Director

Page 3: Profiles of 13 Members of the Class of 2026