Meet Oxford Saïd’s Inaugural Class Of Future Leader Scholars

Nathaniel (Unathi) Harding

MBA class year/ specialization: 2025, Social Entrepreneurship
Hometown/ Home Country: San Francisco, California, USA

I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley, a predominantly Asian, middle-to-upper-class area just outside Los Angeles, California. I mention race because, although my father is African-American and my mother is White, most of my friends growing up were Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. I spent most of my time with my babysitter and her family, who were from Saudi Arabia, and most people on the street assumed I was Latino due to the color of my skin. I thus learned early how unique different cultures can be, yet also saw how, regardless of one’s background, people are people — and we all share the same human emotions and a desire for ourselves and our loved ones to flourish.

With these insights in mind, I attended Davidson College where I designed and completed a Bachelor of Arts in Education & Community Studies before beginning my career as an international education and exchange program leader. While I loved traveling the world, I grew eager to shift from talking about human rights challenges in various countries to instead address them more directly. I thus moved to San Francisco, where I served as a Strategy Consultant & Leadership Coach supporting nonprofits/NGOs and philanthropists advancing equity and justice in the U.S. and globally.

After co-authoring research on How Philanthropy Can Support Systems-Change Leaders, I spent several years designing and facilitating national initiatives to transform the U.S. education and philanthropy systems toward equity. Now, as an Oxford Black Leaders Scholar at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, I’m pursuing my MBA with a focus on launching Spark: The Global Flourishing Foundations Course, a hybrid, intergenerational education program supporting young adults and Learning & Development professionals to (1) teach participants key global goals (e.g., the UN SDGs, human flourishing, Inner Development Goals, ESG), (2) help them apply these insights in their daily lives for individual and collective flourishing, and (3) support them after the program in enhancing their schools’ & companies’ talent development systems to align them with global impact goals.

Summary of your professional background prior to MBA:

I have seven-plus years supporting social impact strategy and operations, including as a(n):

• International Education & Exchange Program Leader
• Strategy Consultant
• Leadership Coach
• Senior Manager of Systems Change Initiatives
• Nonprofit Board Member

Why did you pursue an MBA?

While most of the leaders I’ve worked with are clear about the problem(s) they want to solve in the world, few have articulated a clear vision for a world we desire. With that in mind, I am pursuing my MBA to harness my talent, time, and treasure toward co-creating future companies, networks, and initiatives that align our personal purposes with shared, global goals — and doing so alongside classmates, faculty, and staff from around the world. While I am particularly excited to launch Spark (described above) through my coursework, I also aim to align diverse individuals with shared purpose through my service as the Clubs & Oxford Business Networks Officer on the Saïd Student Council, Co-Chair of Oxford’s Social Impact Business Network, and Co-Founder of Oxford’s new Global Social Impact Club.

Why did you choose Oxford Saïd’s MBA?

I chose Oxford Saïd’s MBA for three reasons: (1) its internationally diverse students and faculty, (2) its commitment to “impact from within,” and (3) its strength in social entrepreneurship education.

After years leading national initiatives in the U.S., I felt strongly that learning with and from people from other countries and cultures would be critical for refining my understanding of and effectiveness in the world, particularly given my interest in aligning personal purposes with globally shared goals.

Saïd Business School’s expressed commitment to “impact” thus fit naturally with my interests, as I seek to leverage the tools of business to contribute toward a world where all people and planet Earth flourish.

Finally, given Oxford Saïd’s legacy of leadership in research, teaching, and co-curricular support for social entrepreneurship, particularly its partnerships with the Skoll Centre, I felt confident that the Oxford MBA at Saïd Business School was a natural next step for my journey.

What has been the hallmark of the experience so far?

This is TOUGH. Every day in Oxford feels different in a way that’s beautiful and hard to describe. At its best, my experience has been marked by moments of unquestionable “flow” — where I feel, without doubt, that I am exactly where I’m meant to be, doing exactly what I’m meant to do. Examples include when I was called to the stage to give a speech after my appointment as the Clubs & Business Networks Officer on the Saïd Student Council for the 2024-25 academic year was announced, and I came up, with no remarks prepared, and spoke openly from the heart about my excitement to not only learn together in class but also practice, play, and grow together through our relationships and projects — and how, to me, that’s what Clubs & Networks are all about. That was a special moment.

What has been the most valuable?

The most valuable aspect of my Oxford MBA experience has simply been the space to do my soul’s work. I spend a great deal of my days and nights here running — running to class, running to meetings, running to guest lectures, running to college exchanges — and writing — essays for class, emails for events, media pieces like these. My Oxford MBA experience has included an enormous amount of work — the only logical response for how we, as the early graduates of the “anxious generation,” can respond to a world drastically off track from achieving the goals the previous generations had set forth (i.e., the Sustainable Development Goals, et al.).

To be clear, though: I’m not complaining. I’m grateful, and I enjoy the purposeful devotion of my time and energy. Knowing that I give my full effort to optimizing my contributions toward a world we all desire enables me to enjoy the process without reservations. Being surrounded by people striving for excellence at all hours of the day — in libraries, cafés, or wherever — has helped me find a sense of belonging and common purpose amidst Oxford’s myriad sub-communities, which I’ve found can provide both comfort and inspiration day-to-day.

What does the Oxford Saïd Black Leaders’ Scholarship mean to you personally and to your ability to pursue an MBA?

I wouldn’t have been able to pursue an MBA without the Oxford Black Leaders Scholarship. The scholarship, to me, means I have both the ability and responsibility to leverage the MBA to the fullest extent possible. While that might sound intense, a lot of “fully leveraging” the experience means being as present as possible for it. In an ever-changing world, and especially in a place like Oxford where opportunities abound, focusing our attention on what matters most can be challenging.

As an Oxford Black Leaders Scholar, I enjoy the gift and challenge of honouring a lineage of Black ancestors who have championed values of courage, love, and resilience — tending to the well-being of ourselves and our communities while staying resolute in the effort toward a world where all people, regardless of their backgrounds or identities, flourish.

What leadership aspirations do you have for after the MBA program?

After the MBA, we’ll continue to expand Spark! My aspiration is for Spark to support a broader movement to expand and fulfil humanity’s commitment to achieve global goals. A 2025 article reported that, “According to the latest data available, from 8% (in the UK) to 12% (in the United States) of the general population indicate they heard or read about the Sustainable Development Goals and declare (or pretend) to know what the SDGs are.”

If we’re serious about achieving a world where all people flourish, then everyone has a role to play. Spark intends to bridge the gap from the general population seeing the achievement of global goals as the United Nations’ job to instead cultivating a society of worldwide shared responsibility, where we each understand and offer our contributions toward fulfilling a shared vision for a world where all people and planet Earth flourish.

What are you most looking forward to in the next term of your program?

Electives!! We are just finishing the core MBA curriculum, which means next term I’ll have the opportunity to dive deeper into the areas of social entrepreneurship that most excite me: classes like The Entrepreneurship Project, Strategy for Impact, Doing Business in Africa, and Governance and Ethics — to name a few!

Anything else you’d like add?

I worked with a Life Coach prior to the MBA to identify and define my seven core values, which provided essential guidance as I navigated applying to the MBA and have continued to guide my experience during the program so far. I highly recommend taking the time to identify, define, and strengthen your core values.

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