Melissa Akita

Cambridge Judge Business School

“Purpose-driven strategist and entrepreneur building global pathways for African Innovation, SMEs and Women Leaders to thrive.”

Hometown: Accra, Ghana

Fun fact about yourself: I’m a mother of two amazing boys, and my eldest son and I share the same birth month, just a week apart. Another fun fact, if I’m allowed a second, is that studying at Cambridge truly feels like a full-circle moment for me. My grandfather whom I admired, Jeremias Mama Akita, also came to Cambridge in 1945 to study for his Bachelor’s Degree in History.

Undergraduate School and Degree: BSc. Business Administration, Ashesi University, Ghana (2013-2017)

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? Manager, KPMG Ghana

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? N/A I was working at KPMG Ghana so I did not have to intern during the summer.

Where will you be working after graduation? Currently exploring SME development and strategy consulting roles

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: Cambridge Africa Business Network; Co-Chair of the Cambridge Africa Business Conference; Co-Chair of the Africa Special Interest Group (SIG); Third Place, Cambridge MBA AI Hackathon (Team Competition); Shortlisted for Cambridge Climate Challenge Competition and Queens’ Entrepreneurship Society Prize Competition; Navarino Scholarship Recipient, Wolfson College Women’s Entrepreneur Scholarship

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? As part of the leadership of the Cambridge Africa Business Network and the Africa Special Interest Group, I have focused on creating platforms that connect students with leaders shaping Africa’s economic future. One highlight was organizing a fintech conversation event with Oremeyi Akah, Chief Customer Officer at Interswitch, and Tosin Eniolorunda Founder and CEO of Moniepoint in February 2026. The discussion gave students direct insight into how African fintech companies are scaling financial access across the continent. Beyond events, I have also mentored prospective African students considering Cambridge, helping them navigate the application process and transition into the MBA.

For me, these efforts matter because representation and access shape opportunity. If more African students can see themselves in spaces like Cambridge and connect with leaders building transformative companies back home, then we are strengthening the pipeline of future leaders for the continent.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? My proudest professional achievement was leading a team at KPMG Ghana to design the firm’s first Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SME) Centre of Excellence. The initiative aimed to create a hub connecting entrepreneurs with training, capital, and investor networks so they could scale their businesses more effectively. I led the team that developed the concept, secured senior leadership buy-in, and collaborated with colleagues at KPMG Kenya who were launching a similar initiative. The experience pushed me to harness diverse perspectives within the team and translate our ideas into a practical concept note that could move quickly into implementation.

Before leaving KPMG, I was proud to see the Centre progress into its implementation phase. What makes this accomplishment meaningful is not just the project itself, but the platform it creates—one that will continue supporting SMEs, including women-led businesses, with the skills, confidence, and networks needed to grow and attract investment.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Cambridge Judge Business School for its emphasis on real-world exposure and the opportunity to learn by doing. Through the Cambridge Venture Project, I worked on quantum communications strategy for a telecommunications client, and through my Global Consulting Project I am advising a maritime technology firm on AI strategy. These experiences have stretched my thinking beyond my background in consulting and challenged me to quickly understand unfamiliar sectors.

Equally compelling is the program’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, where ideas move quickly from discussion to experimentation. Across the wider Cambridge community, frequent pitching competitions encourage students to test and refine real ventures. Within this environment, I have been developing a waste management venture focused on plastic and used cooking oil in Ghana and Mexico with my MBA classmate Felipe De la Torre Wejebe, turning classroom ideas into tangible solutions.

This experience has reinforced what makes Cambridge distinctive: it is not just a place to study business, but a place where you actively build, experiment, and learn across industries.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? It is incredibly difficult to choose just one professor because so many have been more than lecturers—they have been true cheerleaders. However, if I had to pick one my favorite MBA professor was Jeremy Hutchison-Krupat, who taught me the Managing Innovation Strategically elective. What made his class exceptional was how he translated complex innovation concepts into memorable, hands-on experiences. Through creative exercises like a Pictionary challenge that illustrated the importance of pivoting when ideas are misunderstood, and the classic paper-clip exercise that pushed us to rethink how many uses a simple object could have, he showed how creativity, experimentation, and persistence drive innovation.

What stood out most was his ability to connect these activities to real strategic frameworks and case studies. The class constantly moved between theory and practice, helping us understand not just what innovation looks like, but how leaders can deliberately create environments where new ideas thrive. It was one of the few classes where you could truly feel innovation happening in real time.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favorite MBA course was the Negotiation Lab because each class immersed us in realistic simulations that required navigating competing interests, emotional awareness, and careful preparation. Reflecting on each exercise helped me better understand my own negotiation style and how understanding the other party’s motivations can turn tense situations into collaborative outcomes. It was one of the most practical skills I gained during the MBA.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? One of my favorite MBA events was the “Around the Globe in One Day” Cultural Festival at Cambridge Judge Business School. Students from across the world brought their cultures to life through food, music, art, and performances. One highlight was a friendly Ghana versus Nigeria Jollof competition, where the queue for the rice seemed endless as classmates from around the world lined up to taste West African food. Across the hall, the Lebanese SIG wrote my name in Arabic; the Chinese SIG hosted calligraphy stations; the Japanese SIG led tea-making sessions; and students danced together as the Africa SIG served food and performed. What stood out most was how student-led the event was.

Cultural Day captured the spirit of Cambridge Judge: a community where diversity is not just represented but celebrated, and where students actively create spaces to learn from one another beyond the classroom.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? If I could do one thing differently, it would be to spend more time exploring the wider Cambridge college community. Much of the university’s history and culture lives within its colleges—in the traditions, the architecture, and most importantly the people. During the MBA, I’ve visited 12 of the 31 colleges for formal dinners and brunches, and each experience has offered a glimpse into a different part of the Cambridge story. With such a short MBA program, those shared meals and conversations are often where the most diverse and lasting friendships begin. The good news is that I still have a few months left—so my unofficial MBA goal now is to work my way through the remaining 19 colleges before graduation, one formal dinner/brunch at a time.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? One of the most impactful case studies I encountered in business school examined ARM and its ecosystem strategy in the semiconductor industry. ARM is a Cambridge-founded semiconductor design and technology company, so studying its story while at Cambridge Judge Business School felt particularly special. Unlike companies such as Intel, which design and manufacture their own chips, ARM operates a fabless model. It designs the architecture and licenses it to semiconductor companies that produce chips for device manufacturers. Instead of controlling the value chain, ARM orchestrates an ecosystem of partners including chipmakers, software developers, and device companies who build products on its architecture.

The biggest lesson I took away was that strategy does not always require ownership or control. In many modern industries, competitive advantage comes from shaping the platform others depend on. ARM became the invisible architecture behind billions of devices by enabling hundreds of partners to innovate on top of its designs.

Shout out to Dr. Chris Coleridge for all the interesting case studies in strategy class and going the extra mile to explain concepts like economic profit to me during office hours.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Cambridge is a city of bicycles, and I’m glad I learned to ride one here. One of my favorite parts of daily life was walking or cycling past centuries-old colleges on the way to class and ending the day in conversations with classmates building startups or researching the next scientific breakthrough.

What makes Cambridge truly special is its sense of serendipity. Conversations happen everywhere—at college formals, over coffee, or at the many events happening across town (sometimes two or three at the same time, forcing you to make the difficult choice of which one to attend). Those moments often open up your thinking in unexpected ways. It is a place where history, beauty, and curiosity collide, constantly reminding you that learning extends far beyond the classroom.

What business leader do you admire most? The business leader I admire most is Lucy Quist. As the first Ghanaian woman to serve as CEO of Airtel Ghana, she demonstrated that leadership in traditionally male-dominated industries is possible with courage, competence, and conviction. Beyond her corporate achievements, her book The Bold New Normal encourages individuals and institutions to rethink what leadership, and opportunity can look like in Africa.

What I admire most is her commitment to empowering others to challenge limiting narratives and create new pathways for success. Her work reminds me that leadership is not only about professional achievement, but also about expanding what others believe is possible.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? Cambridge Judge has integrated AI across several parts of the MBA experience. One example was an elective led by Dr. Mark Bloomfield, where I sat in on sessions exploring AI agents and simulations of cases using ElevenLabs and Claude. The course was particularly insightful because industry speakers from banks and consulting firms shared how they are already applying AI in real business contexts.

I also participated in the Cambridge MBA AI Hackathon, where my team, Black Panthers, developed a platform using vibe coding on Loveable to help founders identify which marketing channels generate the most revenue. Using AI-driven forecasting and rapid prototyping tools, we built a concept that could help entrepreneurs predict which channels to invest in. AI also appeared in case discussions across the curriculum. In strategy, we analyzed OpenAI’s competitive landscape against firms like Google, Microsoft, Anthropic and Meta, while in governance class, we simulated a boardroom scenario responding to Sam Altman’s announcement of OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft, which had not been discussed with the board beforehand.

Coming into the MBA with a focus on strategic consulting, these experiences helped me see AI not just as a technological trend, but as a strategic tool that will reshape how businesses compete and make decisions.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? The classmate I admire most is Davida Wang. As President of the Cambridge Student Society, she has an incredible ability to bring people together and create opportunities for others. She was part of the team that organized an event connecting Cambridge students with peers at Oxford and London Business School, helping build a broader sense of community across business schools.

What I admire most is how much she invests in the everyday experience of our cohort. She coordinated practical initiatives such as new tent cards for our class in Lent term and, together with her twin sister, has been a consistent photographer for our year group, sharing moments from events with everyone in our group chat. She also supported the winter drive for the homeless organized during the Christmas period.

Despite managing a social media platform with over 5-million followers, Davida remains deeply committed to our community. She worked tirelessly to secure sponsorship so more classmates could attend MBAT. Her energy and generosity stand out—she uses her influence not just for personal success, but to create opportunities for others.

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

1. Lead a global initiative that mobilizes capital, partnerships, and market access to accelerate entrepreneurship and private sector growth across Africa, particularly for women-led businesses.

2. Scale my Cambridge MBA blog into a global platform where students from business schools share authentic stories of MBA life to help future applicants make more informed choices.

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

“Melissa combines exceptional leadership, global perspective, and entrepreneurial drive while balancing the responsibilities of being a mother of two. A KPMG leader and entrepreneur prior to the MBA, she has quickly become a central figure in the Cambridge community. She serves as Co-Chair of both the Cambridge Africa Business Network and the 2026 Cambridge Africa Business Conference, helping convene global leaders across business, finance, and policy to advance conversations around capital, innovation, and pan-African scale. Melissa also organised the Africa Innovation Series at Cambridge Judge Business School, bringing influential industry voices to campus, and led a delegation of Ghanaian postgraduate students to the Ghana High Commission in London to engage Her Excellency Sabah Zita Benson on how students abroad can contribute meaningfully to Ghana’s development. Her leadership extends to fostering the next generation of African MBA candidates through candid mentorship sessions for prospective applicants. At the same time, she continues to excel in the collaborative and innovative spirit of the MBA programme; most recently with her team placing third at the Cambridge MBA Vibe Coding Hackathon, demonstrating both intellectual curiosity and a willingness to stretch beyond traditional business boundaries.”

Melissa is also the scholar of the prestigious Navarino Award.

Charlotte Russell-Green
Head of MBA Recruitment & Admissions

 

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