Tevarus Naicker

Cambridge Judge Business School

“Medical doctor turned social impact strategist, collecting bold ideas, meaningful work and many side quests.”

Hometown: Cape Town, South Africa

Fun fact about yourself: I am unusually good at rhythmic spin, and I especially enjoy a 90s-diva-themed class. Add good lighting, a dumbbell as a prop mic, and I call that a party.

Undergraduate School and Degree: Stellenbosch University, Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? I worked at The DG Murray Trust as Innovation Director leading the ‘All Children on Track’ portfolio, with responsibility for strategy across four opportunities: early childhood development, maternal and child nutrition, foundational learning and literacy, and caregiver support systems that improve outcomes for children.

Where did you intern during the summer of 2025? To be confirmed

Where will you be working after graduation? To be confirmed

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: At Cambridge, I have tried to contribute to the MBA community in ways that are both practical and people-centred. I am a Chevening Scholar, a recipient of the Professor Jochen Runde MBA Scholarship, and a Cambridge Trust Scholar. Alongside the MBA, I have contributed to the wider Cambridge community as an invigilator at Sidney Sussex College and as a member of the Cambridge African Business Network, Pride and Healthcare special interest groups.

I have also represented Cambridge in a number of selective opportunities, including Cambridge i-Teams, where I supported a medtech founder with commercialisation, and the Penn Healthcare Case Competition, where our Cambridge team was one of 20 selected globally. Through the Cambridge MBA Podcast, I have shared advice on applying to the MBA, the student experience, and life at Cambridge. Perhaps most meaningfully, I have informally supported MBA students building health and wellness start-ups, and it has been deeply rewarding to see those projects grow from ideas on paper into fully developed pitch decks.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I arrived at business school with a strong clinical and social-impact background, and one of my goals was to encourage my peers to think about business not only as a tool for growth, but also as a tool for public good. One of the achievements I am most proud of was being invited to join a cross-disciplinary team for the Penn Healthcare Case Competition, where we brought together perspectives from business, finance and population health to tackle a real-world healthcare challenge. Although we did not progress to the final round, I found the experience deeply meaningful because it shifted how the team thought about impact. It reinforced my belief that you do not need to be a doctor to shape better health systems; you need to care about the problem, understand the people it affects, and be committed to building solutions that serve them well.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? One of the achievements I am most proud of in my professional career was being promoted early, as a young doctor, to lead a provincial Covid-19 and primary healthcare mobile unit operation in South Africa. I chose a less traditional path because I wanted to help make vaccines and essential care accessible to hard-to-reach communities. In that role, I led 81 staff across clinical care, community mobilisation, logistics and administration, helping deliver care to more than 600,000 patients.

This work was about more than providing care. One of our core goals was youth medical education, so we built Keready, meaning “I am ready,” a jargon-free, judgement-free health campaign designed to speak to young people in their own language. Through multiple forms of media, the campaign helped dispel myths, build trust and increase youth vaccination uptake. What makes this experience so meaningful to me is the scale of the responsibility I was given so early in my career, and the chance to see what committed teams can achieve when they work with communities, not just for them. It remains one of the defining privileges of my career and the moment that sparked my interest in business school.

Why did you choose this business school? I chose Cambridge Judge Business School because I needed a place that could turn ideas into action. For years, I have wanted to build something of my own, although my sister would probably describe this less generously as me having “no direction” because I’ve pitched her a new business idea almost every week. If my cat is being especially cute, I am suddenly planning a premium cat tree company. If I have a great post-gym coffee, I am ready to launch a coffee franchise with a weekly flavour drop. Alongside the many health and social-impact ideas I have carried for years, the list goes on.

What drew me to Cambridge was that it felt like a place where those ideas could be tested properly. The programme’s emphasis on solving real problems with real people in real time, especially through the Cambridge Venture Project and Global Consulting Project, meant I could move beyond theory and start asking harder questions about what is actually viable. Just as importantly, being in the Silicon Fen ecosystem has meant proximity to founders, operators and experts I can actually meet for coffee and learn from directly. I came to Cambridge with many ideas and I am definitely leaving with sharper judgement and a plan.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? Having received the Professor Jochen Runde MBA Scholarship for South African Nationals and then been taught by Professor Runde himself in microeconomics, I will admit my answer is not exactly operating in a perfectly competitive market of alternatives. But the real reason goes beyond that. What stayed with me was what he represented as much as his ability to teach microeconomics in a way that made sense to a doctor and helped me apply it to my own sector. As a South African who built a career within such a prestigious institution, he made something that once felt distant seem possible.

As a first-generation university graduate, I found that deeply inspiring. His example reminded me that if you work hard, seek out opportunity, and keep knocking on the right doors, what once felt impossible can become your reality. I also appreciated the simplicity and truth of his broader message: work hard, party hard, and build meaningful relationships. He reinforced for me that the value of business school lies not only in mastering concepts, but also in the networks, perspective and confidence you build along the way.

What was your favorite course as an MBA? My favourite course was Negotiations with Professor Mark de Rond because it felt like equal parts strategy, psychology, and theatre. Each week brought a new simulation, new classmates, new roles, and often delightfully unusual challenges. Since my dramatic arts career peaked in primary school, I did not expect to enjoy that element as much as I did, but it made the learning far more vivid. In an intense one-year MBA, I really appreciated a course that went beyond standard participation and made us apply theory through experience. Having worked in the children’s sector, I have long believed that games can be a serious way to teach serious things, and Negotiations proved exactly that.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? I should admit that another reason I chose Cambridge was that I secretly wanted my own Hogwarts and Harry Potter experience. So one of my favourite traditions has definitely been the college formal hall dinners. Because the business school is connected to Cambridge’s collegiate system, there is a lovely rhythm of starting or ending term by gathering at a college formal with classmates for dinner and drinks. Getting dressed up in formal wear and gown-like robes was always something I hoped I would experience, but what made it truly special was what it reflected about the school.

For me, it showed that Cambridge values connection as much as achievement. Bringing people together over food, tradition and conversation creates a sense of belonging that cuts across cultures and backgrounds. In a diverse (43 nationalities reflected in my cohort) and intense MBA year, those moments mattered. They are also, unsurprisingly, where a very large portion of my camera roll storage disappeared.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? Coming from a very sunny South Africa, I would have embraced the cold much sooner. It definitely limited how many face-to-face events I said yes to at the start, and in hindsight I wish I had pushed through that earlier. More broadly, I would also have made even more time to reflect and connect. One of the best parts of Cambridge is that there is always something intellectually or socially-enriching happening, whether through the University, the college system or the Cambridge Union. Looking back, I would have loved the superpower of being in more than one place at once, simply because there were so many remarkable people and conversations to learn from.

What was the most impactful case study you had in business school and what was the biggest lesson you learned from it? Rather than a traditional business case study, the most impactful learning experience for me was my Management Praxis essay reflecting on team dynamics during the Cambridge Venture Project. I worked in a team of six people from six nationalities across five continents, each bringing different expertise to a real client challenge. While I come from South Africa, a country shaped by diversity, this experience helped me understand much more practically what it takes to unlock the power of diverse teams.

The biggest lesson I learned was that diversity alone is not enough. It becomes powerful when paired with empathy, trust, and intentional efforts to create psychological safety. I was fortunate to work with a fantastic team who made me more aware of how to lead in a way that helps people feel heard, valued, and able to contribute fully. That experience stayed with me because it turned team diversity from something I appreciated in theory into something I understood much more deeply in practice.

What business leader do you admire most? The business leader I most admire is Adrian Gore, founder of Discovery Limited. As both a doctor and a member of Discovery, I have long been fascinated by the idea of building a business where improving people’s health behaviours is part of the core value proposition. The use of incentives, wearable technology, and data to encourage healthier choices showed me that commercial success and positive social impact do not have to sit in tension; they can reinforce one another.

What I admire most is that this is a clear example of business being used for good. Adrian did not just build a successful company around insurance and financial services; he also found a way to make better health outcomes part of the model itself. On a personal level, that approach has made me more intentional about looking after my own mind and body.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? Cambridge Judge Business School had its own dedicated AI large language model, but more importantly, AI was embedded in the MBA as a practical tool for learning and problem-solving. I found it especially useful for improving productivity, prototyping ideas and stress-testing my assumptions. My biggest insight was that AI can sharpen thinking, but it cannot replace lived experience, ethics, or human judgement. I also appreciated the school’s emphasis on using it transparently and responsibly.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Venu Gopinath Nukavarapu is one of the MBA classmates I most admire. He came to Cambridge with deep product and technical experience, but what stood out most was how generously he shared it. When I was stress-testing startup ideas, Venu made time to help me challenge my assumptions and build confidence in trying new technical skills.

What sets him apart is that he extended that generosity to the wider cohort. He hosted practical workshops in his own time on topics like vibe coding and building websites, helping classmates without technical backgrounds get hands-on quickly. To me, Venu represents the hidden curriculum of the MBA: the peer learning that never appears on a transcript but stays with you for life. He is also one of the cohort’s great connectors, always bringing people together.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? First, I would like to take at least one of my many start-up ideas all the way to launch and have the courage to go all in. I have spent years generating ideas, and one of my professional goals is to stop letting them live only as possibilities and instead build one into something real.

Second, I would like to advance to the highest level of a strategy role in a space that meaningfully expands access to health, education and economic opportunity for vulnerable communities. Clinical medicine taught me to value impact one patient at a time; strategy is where I believe you can create that impact at scale. Both matter deeply to me, and over time I would love to grow into a chief executive role leading that kind of mission-driven organisation.

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

“Tevarus is a purpose-driven leader committed to tackling systemic inequality through public health and innovation. A Chevening Scholar, he began his career as a medical doctor in rural South Africa, where treating patients with multi-drug-resistant TB exposed him to the deep structural inequities shaping the country’s health outcomes. Motivated to drive systems-level change, he later led a youth-friendly mobile health clinic delivering accessible, non-judgmental care and COVID-19 vaccine education to underserved young people. Prior to the Cambridge MBA, he served as Director of Innovation at DG Murray Trust, where he led the All Children on Track portfolio, focused on ensuring every child in South Africa can thrive. At Cambridge Judge Business School, Tevarus has continued to demonstrate both leadership and community spirit: he contributes to the school’s new podcast, actively supports recruitment and outreach to prospective MBA students, and is a committed member of the Sidney Sussex rowing team. His blend of clinical expertise, social innovation leadership, and collaborative spirit makes him an exceptional example of the impact-driven leaders the Cambridge MBA seeks to develop.”

Charlotte Russell-Green
Head of MBA Recruitment & Admissions

DON’T MISS: MBAS TO WATCH: CLASS OF 2026

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