‘Education, global network pivotal to human capital development in Africa’

Hannah B. Acquah, West African representative of the MBA Tour, in this interview with KELECHI EWUZIE speaks about the MBA Tour to Nigeria this week and its contribution to the development of human capital in Nigeria and West Africa market. Excerpt:

What is the level of improvement of the tour in Nigeria and West Africa market?

We were supposed to have a tour last year but because of Ebola, we had to postpone it to this year. So, between 2013 and now we have new universities that will be coming for the fair. We have confirmed that Hult International Business School, USA; IE Business School, Spain; IESE Business School, Spain and Manchester Business School, UK; will be a part of the tour.

Since we have fewer universities this year, we are going to have more intense break-out sessions. Last time, we had 10 universities and all prospective candidates wanting to hear from them, so we had to give 30 to maximum 45 minutes because of the questions that candidates have. But now, we can go into more depth into the universities and students can ask more question and we are also looking at getting representatives from US to talk about going to the US to school.

We know that some students find it difficult when they get admission to reputable universities and it is hard to get the student visa. So, we are trying to use the fact that we have fewer schools to put more nourishment in the conference.

We also have representative to talk to the participants at the conference on GMAT. As you are aware, GMAT is what these universities use for their testing because the GMAT is a bit higher than the GRE in regards to quality of test. So, the bigger more prestigious universities require that.

The representative will have a longer period to train people on how to pass the GMAT; will do some test sample questions just to see how it works. This is to eliminate the false answer, so you are now battling with one, which is the right answer and another one which is false. This year will be more quality with the nourishment we will be providing to the candidates coming.

How impactful will this MBA Tour be for prospective candidates in Nigeria and West Africa generally?

We are aware that Nigerians love education. This is another reason why our conference is very much successful in Nigeria and to attend the conference is totally free. As you are aware, many people are looking for ways to better educate themselves so they can become better employees and business women and men.

For example, Dangote Group and Honeywell Group all started small. It always starts somewhere. Dangote did not go to Harvard and he is a very strong businessman. We have people like that in Nigeria. There are people who have built their own conglomerate but didn’t show partnership because the conglomerate is international.

We have a lot of Nigerians who study outside and so we know a lot can afford it. We let them see that when you do things in partnership, it really goes a long way. You are not just doing things in Nigeria, but doing things that embodies a network.

Once you go to Harvard, the network you leave with is a very valuable network. By the time you have finished growing your company for maybe three, four years and you are able to trade with Singapore or Kenya, you would have met credible like-minded people in your network at Harvard that you can start leaning on as to want to expand your business or service other part of the globe.

The MBA training is great because findings have shown that there is a great African market untapped. By engaging yourself in such institution, where you have like-minded individuals, it is good to take advantage of it, so that when you do come back to Nigeria, become that entrepreneur you always dream of becoming and carry the business outside Nigeria well.

This is what is currently going on and I think education and global network with credible people will be a good way.

Kindly give more details about the MBA Tour

The tour is just one day and it is the 24th of January at the Eko Hotel Lagos. Some candidates aware of the various universities coming have applied to go to a university. Maybe some of them have gotten admission or in the process of doing interviews after applying or sending their CVs. Some who are waiting for interviews do not have to fly all the way to America, they can come to Lagos and have their interviews here in the conference with the officers.

In other countries, a lot of candidates see this MBA Tour as a very useful tool because many people may not have the money to travel abroad, so when they come to conferences they will use the opportunity to have the face-to-face interview with representatives of the school they are prospecting .

Secondly, we will like to engage with candidates and engage with businesses. There are some businesses that hire a lot of MBA students and they meet the HR to see if there are collaborations.

Many Nigerians who are leaving their universities and want to come back to Nigeria, this is because many of the top companies are looking for MBA students as well. So, we try to see that what we are doing in America is useful to Ghana and Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa to the organisation sphere. So, they can use that opportunity.

What are the key countries you are looking at that have more prospects for the MBA Tour?

In regards to business school in education in America, there is Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya. Apart from Nigeria and Ghana which is close, we still have some African countries coming to that particular country for the MBA tour. In South Africa, all the way down South, you will see Zimbabwe, and other neighbouring countries coming to the South African conference. So, it is open for not just South Africa but the neighbouring countries. So, we try and put it in strategic position where people can easily come.

Are there plans in the future for universities abroad to set up their centres in Nigeria to also help develop the local market?

I am not sure what the long term plans of the university representatives are. We reach out to Lagos Business School. They like them so much that they ask them to join us. Not just for Nigeria but also in South Africa and Kenya. We want to continue to ask them for future engagement.

We really appreciate Lagos Business School and so we can see through their eyes that you can have affordable, professional university locally. We are hoping that we get more current universities in Nigeria holding true the merits of education just as Lagos Business School has shown and proven over the years.

A good number of Africans want to get an experience outside Africa. A lot of Africans for the past 30 years have been relocating back home and we are hoping that they do return that is why we are reaching out to the private sector to see what we can do on our own end in America to see that the candidates come back and they fit into the various businesses that are looking to hire them.

What are expectations of the universities coming and what are the prospective candidates expecting to get, both value for money and other incentives?

Participants coming to the conference will have the privilege of having their interview right at the venue, they get to better understand how to pass the GMAT, they get to know the requirements to get into the top business world.

It is very competitive because we have many of our candidates across the world doing the same thing, so you have to be good enough. Participants will have information on how to get the visa and how to guarantee security. So, they get to meet with the various universities and ask those questions and get all the needed information that will equip them to applying and getting ready for them to do their MBA.

We can show them examples of those that have graduated in less than three months and are doing well today in various businesses and this will encourage participants. This statistics emphasise how they help you with your career development. Those few hours will be parked with a lot of information that you can take. And for those who are asking why they should do MBA over a Masters or PHD, this would be answered on that day.

Registration is free and I will recommend that they register as soon as possible because the event is this week Saturday. BusinessDay is one of our sponsors.