Meet The Texas McCombs MBA Class of 2021

Tochi Kanu-Ivi 

University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business

“A girl with a bias for action, because intention alone never gets anything done!”

Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria

Fun Fact About Yourself: I once acted in a short film. I was the leader of a dance troop in University. I can’t swim, but I love to hang out by the pool and beach.

Undergraduate School and Major: Covenant University, Nigeria. Graduated with 1st Class degree (honors cum laude) in Management Information Systems

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: KPMG, Senior Associate

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Starting a “Women in Technology” club called “Tech in Heels” in KPMG Nigeria. The goal of the club was to create a hub where women can grow in leadership and hone technical skills. My career evolved for the better when I plugged into mentor relationships and programs that provided a nurturing ground for my skills and expertise, and it was fulfilling to do the same for other young career women.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Supportive! I was a third-round admit and once I got connected to some Texas McCombs students, they kept checking in on me to make sure I was up to date on pre-MBA activities, requirements and upcoming conferences. It’s quite refreshing to know your classmates want to see you win.

What makes Austin such a great place to earn an MBA? I love the growing tech hub that is Austin! The Austin community is thriving with technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship at its center. This aligns with the trajectory of my career. It is literarily where all the action is, plus the weather is great! 

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you?  During my research, I came across a sentence on the McCombs MBA website that reads “Growing independently together” and it stuck! I like that McCombs recognizes the unique mix of skill and perspective one can have as an individual and brings that into a collaborative context, where the synergy created from the combined uniqueness of different individuals yields greater impact. I am a stickler for collaboration and I love to learn new cultures. Being in an environment that fosters that kind of interaction with both community and people was a huge criterion for me.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am looking forward to the MBA+ Leadership Program, and I hope to participate in the Board Fellows Program.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? “What was the weakest part of your application?” Everyone tries to put their best foot forward during the application process, so to be asked to point out a weakness in my application was challenging.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? In a nutshell, it was continuous improvement. After a couple of years in the workforce, it became obvious to me that making money was just not enough (important, but not enough). I wanted to expand my horizon, broaden my toolkit, and go beyond the boundary of knowledge that I was comfortable with. I describe it as a disruptive change, the type that shakes up everything you know, knocks you out of your comfort zone and causes you to grow! This is what this MBA program means to me; an opportunity to stretch myself, enhance leadership and business skills, build my professional and personal network…a platform to GROW.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? None. McCombs was the one!

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I considered several factors during school research, but the top criteria I focused on were the following: the school’s overall ranking, an assurance that I was getting the best quality MBA, the professional exposure it offers, and the school culture. On professional exposure, I was on the lookout for the caliber of companies that recruit at the school. On culture, I wanted a school that goes beyond academics and emphasizes experiential learning and community and social interactions. Also, the school’s diversity and inclusion profile mattered to me (the more diverse the student mix, the richer the experience). Most of my research was done through school websites, student videos, and online B-school comparison tools, but I got the richest context from McCombs alumni I found on LinkedIn and from friends who live in the US. I am in Technology as a career for the long-haul, McCombs not only met my top criteria, its location in Austin is also consistent with my interests.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? A few days before my graduation from Covenant University, I sat in my dorm room and reflected on the best parts of my years in college. Beyond the academics, I was grateful for the leadership lessons I got while in school. I wondered how different my life would have been if I had gotten those leadership lessons as a teenager. It was at that moment that the idea for a teenage summer leadership camp dropped. A year later, I co-founded a social organization in Nigeria called Eagles’ HOPE Foundation and we have organized teenage summer leadership camps for seven years, reaching over 3000 teenagers across 3 states in Nigeria. Starting the summer camp was my first step towards creating platforms that help other people excel. Additionally, I have found ways to incorporate social work in whatever environment I find myself. Doing this is more than a hobby, it’s a passion I will carry on for a lifetime.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? In 10 years, I see myself as a Product Strategist with a technology startup, creating value through products that matter. I am particularly interested in products that enhance education and learning as well as products that drive financial inclusion, and my target market is emerging markets/economies.

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