Bayo Adelaja

London Business School

“I am a Nigerian-British social entrepreneur, mentor, and advocate for social mobility and financial inclusion.”

Hometown: Ikoyi, Lagos

Fun Fact About Yourself: I was forced into public speaking. In 2016, I was running one of my first events to promote my company and had over 150 attendees packed into a tiny venue to see two speakers who both cancelled at the last minute! I had horrible stage fright, but I couldn’t just send people home. Consequently, I made an impromptu speech about hidden expertise and hosted the rest of the night as a Q+A between audience members. Now, I’m so comfortable with public speaking I get paid to do it all over the world.

Undergraduate School and Major:

London School of Economics, MSc Culture and Society

London School of Economics, MSc Health, Population and Society

Durham University, BA (Hons) English Literature

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Do it Now Now, CEO

What makes London such a great place to earn an MBA degree? London is an interconnected wonderland with an unbelievably diverse population. EVERYTHING is in London. Also, everyone is in London, or at least they come to the city a few times a year. There is a vibrant startup scene that’s really welcoming, a strong social innovation sector that I’m passionate about, and ease of doing business here is second-to-none.

London Business School is one of the most culturally and professionally diverse MBA programs in the world. How do you see these global perspectives enhancing the value of your business education over the next two years? I am astounded by the leaps-and-bounds in tech innovation happening in various parts of the world, with different regions becoming known for divergent types of technological advancements. Being part of the LBS community will allow me access to this knowledge.  It will be as though I had travelled to all those places and got to sit down to talk with some of their best minds about our shared passion for technology, innovation, entrepreneurship and human advancement.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of London Business School’s MBA curriculum and programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The entrepreneurship school is the part of the program I am most excited about. Despite running a successful organization for many years, I am really looking forward to deepening my knowledge and getting to know more about how different businesses operate, innovate and grow over time.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at London Business School? I’m most excited to join the Women’s Touch Rugby Club. I really want to have the full graduate school experience, which means going beyond the usual study groups and lectures to actually doing the fun things as well. To that end, I’m extremely excited to get involved with the other women that have been lucky enough to receive a scholarship from the Laidlaw Foundation. It promises to be a wonderful and varied community of thought-provoking and compassionate women who are poised to do something great. By building strong relationships with the other LBS Laidlaw Scholars as well as the Foundation’s scholarship recipients in other prestigious universities, I’m sure there’ll be a lot to learn and much fun to be had as well!

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I was awarded an MBE for services to entrepreneurship, social mobility, and financial inclusion. That meant I got to take my entire family inside Windsor Palace to meet Princess Anne. I’ve got unlimited brownie points with them now.

What is your unique quality that will enable you to make a big contribution to the Class of 2026? I’m a really useful sounding board. It may not be the most exciting skill, but it is a valuable one when times get tough. I look forward to helping my classmates through whatever intellectual or emotional scrapes they find themselves in.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into London Business School’s MBA program? Talk to the Recruitment and Admissions team. They were so helpful. I asked so many questions and was constantly reaching out when I needed support throughout the process. Everyone was kind, supportive, and understanding. There really is no such thing as a stupid question (unless it’s a question that’s been included in the detailed FAQ documents).

DON’T MISS: MEET LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL’S MBA CLASS OF 2026