Abigael Bamgboye

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania & The Lauder Institute

“Polymath, community-builder, home-maker, working to drive social impact through market forces, lover of learning.”

Hometown: London, England

Fun fact about yourself: I used to run a YouTube channel teaching people DIY and how to sew clothes

Undergraduate School and Degree: Imperial College, Masters of Engineering

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Senior Associate Consultant, Bain and Company, London

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? Founder, Lengua

Where will you be working after graduation? Bain and Company

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School:

School Awards:

• Joseph Wharton Fellow
• Moelis Fellow
• VIP-X SF Cohort Participant (Venture accelerator)
• 2025 Jacobsen Global Venture Award Winner (Entrepreneurship prize)

Leadership Roles:

• Wharton Christian Fellowship Co-President
• McNulty Leadership Venture Fellow
• Venture Fellow Alumni Committee Chair
• Social Impact Club CFO
• Entrepreneurship Club Board – Creating careers events for the clubs 500+ members
• Wharton Africa Business Forum – New Venture Competition Reviewer and Operations, reviewing over 150 applications for $30,000 of funding

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? The extracurricular achievement I am most proud of is my role co-leading Wharton’s Christian Fellowship (WCF). I’m particularly proud of this role because for half of my premiumship, I was remote – studying at Wharton’s San Francisco Campus, while the rest of the board and membership were in Philadelphia. As a result, it has been incredible to see that I was still able to drive results from a distance, and that my efforts to build intentionally and substantive community have yielded fruit.

Faith is a very personal experience, and it can fall to the wayside in all of the demands of an MBA. Yet I have been blessed to see that by serving, I have not only grown as a leader, but been a part of other people’s deep and non-career related growth during their MBA. Furthermore, though at the start of the year many members of the board did not know each other, we have evolved into a high-performing team that has managed to deliver over 30 events on campus and quadruple attendance at off-campus activities (retreat, New York conference) despite juggling multiple additional responsibilities outside of our WCF commitments.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? Professionally, I am most proud of trying to take an idea from a class project to a real product. Lengua is a language practice app that enables non-native speakers to avoid losing their spoken language skills, by providing opportunities to practice real, spoken conversation, with an AI language practice coach. It addresses the problem of language maintenance by providing regular speaking practice. In addition, it offers a customized, adaptive curriculum that caters to your needs and interests, instead of the fixed and mundane language tracks typically offered by traditional language platforms.

I spent my MBA summer connecting with early-stage founders, doing market research and conducting customer interviews. In the process, I learned about how to architect an AI-first voice app, and leverage cursor, windsurf and other agentic coding platforms to try to turn the idea into a tangible experience. I even got to meet several members of Duolingo’s product, design and AI teams. This journey allowed me to leverage the strategy skillset I built while working in Consulting, in addition to building a product management skillset from lived experience. While Lengua isn’t yet on the market, this experience taught me a lot about emerging voice AI, vetting technical talent, bridging functional skill gaps, and developing a realistic business case and go-to-market approach.

In the future, I look forward to bringing Lengua into the world and to building on the learning I gained through this journey.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Wharton for its flexible curriculum and truly multi-modal and interdisciplinary learning opportunities (e.g., Leadership Ventures, Global Modular Courses, Practicum classes).

I was also attracted to Wharton’s ESG initiative and its extensive programming around impact investing (classes, Turner MIINT Competition, other impact investing initiatives such WIVA and WIIP) and entrepreneurship (Venture Lab and student-led VCs). In addition, it has been exceptional to study an MA in International Studies at Penn’s Lauder Institute. I also loved Philadelphia when I visited.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Gad Allon – He teaches an awesome, actionable course (Scaling Operations) and he’s also an incredible and inspirational human being. I consider myself blessed that I got to learn from him and that I get to stay in touch. He famously runs running office hours, which were a great way to learn about life, value, and how to balance a personal and professional life.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? Excluding Scaling Operations, my favourite course was Regional Analysis (political economy). It gave me a new form of literacy; understanding the link between politics and economics, the role and influence of national and international organizations, and how they function and also don’t function. The future is global and literacy of both the past and present political economic circumstances will be an invaluable skillset for interpreting future events.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? During the MBA, I have experimented the maximum possible; I’m doing a dual degree, I ran an ultramarathon, I’ve been part of several clubs, I’ve tried to take an idea from 0 to 1, I’ve lived in 3 different cities, and I’ve also taken part in outdoor leadership experiences. I’ve grown so much as a person – every week I’ve been challenged, and every semester I’ve been able to apply the learnings I gained from the previous one. I left no opportunity unturned, so I’m content with what I learned personally, professionally and academically during this MBA.

If I were to do anything differently, I would start my networking activities before the MBA started. I learned so much from speaking to alumni and industry professionals, but I found that it has been so busy that it has been difficult to network and deepen relationships to the extent that I would have liked. Hence, I’m looking forward to connecting with new people when I’m an alumnus.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? The most impactful case study was on Cloudflare and the organizational culture challenges they faced while rapidly scaling. It was particularly memorable because a week later we got to visit their headquarters and discuss aspects of the case with an alumnus. My biggest lesson was spotting patterns and risks to business operations before they arise. It was also fascinating to see what stood out to the Executive MBA classmates with whom I took the class.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? It’s a great place to be a student. Philadelphia is walkable and relatively affordable. It’s fun to live in center city, and you can choose to be neighbors with classmates around Rittenhouse, or you can choose to be more anonymous and live in the city as a ‘normal adult’. It gives you flexibility to choose your lifestyle, whilst also being an easy place to build community – most MBAs move to Philadelphia and do not have prior relationships here.

What business leader do you admire most? Jessica Kim, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of ianacare

I first encountered her at the Believers in Business 2025 conference. I admire her because of her character and achievements as a serial entrepreneur. She’s achieved two successful exits, and operates an innovative business model for the healthcare anti-burnout platform ianacare, where the beneficiary does not pay for the service.

She has navigated testing moments in her entrepreneurial journey, and it has been inspiring to see how her personal walk with God has influenced her leadership style and how she seeks to grow people compassionately and intentionally. I admire her because she models leadership that can weather difficult storms and be countercultural yet effective.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? I’ve seen Wharton and Lauder professors experiment with AI in different ways. My favorite was using ChatGPT’s AI voice feature to do a multi-round simulation exercise.

Using AI is a chance to accelerate putting the theory I’m learning in class into practice. Eric Bradlow, a marketing professor and Head of Wharton’s AI & Analytics Initiative, gave us many chances to see how after learning core theory, with AI tools we have the power of an expert team from day 1.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Eyram Adezde

Eyram is an embodiment of kindness, resilience and adventure. She is a gem of a friend; warm, welcoming and dependable. Furthermore, she has really leaned into the idea of stretch experiences – in first year, she undertook a major expedition (Wharton Leadership Venture) in Patagonia. Although she was scared and out of her comfort zone, over the week-long adventure she embraced the chance to grow.

She also has such a broad circle here (in the MBA and with Philly locals), and she is liked and respected by all that know her. I’ve watched her persevere through family health dilemmas and recruiting setbacks, and make gametime decisions when a critical input has arrived late. Yet she navigates this all with such grace and generosity. I admire her excellent character.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?

Become a permanent member of an investment committee and sit on the boards of the companies where I’ve invested.

Launch a scholarship or prize and mentor the recipients.

What made Abigael such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2026?

“As part of the SSF program, Abigael was not only an engaged student but was also involved in a number of extracurricular activities, both social and career-focused, while she also worked on her own entrepreneurial endeavor. Participating in Wharton’s VIP accelerator program, she was able to gain traction on her business idea but also took the extra time to be an involved member of the class whether it was participating in school-organized events or raising her hand to lead a Fireside Chat that the MBA Career Management Department organized. Since the SSF program occurs during the Fall of the students’ second year, I sometimes notice a declining involvement in school-related activities and leadership roles among the students; however, Abigael has consistently stepped up whether it was running for Student Life Fellow for the SSF Class or being a good ambassador for the class when connecting with alumni, students, and WEMBAs. All the while she’s done it with a positive, can-do attitude. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed having her in the program and would nominate her without hesitation.”

Christiana Wu
Head of Semester in San Francisco Program
MBA Career Management

DON’T MISS: THE 100 BEST & BRIGHTEST MBAS: CLASS OF 2026

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