Ten Esan

Background

Experience prior to joining Imperial 

Prior to Imperial, I served as the General Counsel to a Royal Family in Nigeria where I provided legal services for the management of (arguably) the largest private commercial real estate portfolio in Nigeria.  
 
I also developed a keen interest in equities research, and in 2019 had the honour of joining in the ringing of the closing bell of the Nigerian Stock Exchange after emerging as a finalist in the first-ever hackathon designed to promote millennials’ participation in the capital market.  

My decision to study the Full-Time MBA 

I decided to study an MBA to gain global business expertise, strengthen my competency in finance and be at the forefront of innovation; and these were very clear components of the Imperial College Business School Full-Time MBA programme. This made it an easy choice for me, aside from the appeal of living in London. 

The programme

Securing a scholarship 

I self-funded my MBA and am also glad to be a recipient of the Future Leaders Scholarship, which went a long way to ease the burden. 

What makes Imperial stand out 

While I may not have any basis for comparison, the focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability are three things that will scarcely escape your notice in Imperial’s MBA programme. The smaller cohort makes for more intimate relationships with most of your peers and a more personalised relationship with the faculty. Furthermore, being part of the larger Imperial College community is also quite a unique experience as it is a well-recognised powerhouse of engineering and technology. 

Building confidence in an ever-changing environment  

My key takeaway has been the opportunity to redefine myself with a more global view and the confidence to thrive in a fast-changing world. I am also taking with me a very acute skillset and a strong global network. 

My learning experience  

The most rewarding part of the programme has been the learning experience. Each class is rich in information and the faculty is very high quality and passionate, which makes learning fun.  

My favourite module has been Economics; primarily because of the clarity it gives in understanding the business environment. I also thoroughly enjoyed Professor Celia Moore’s classes, Ethics and Organisational Behaviour. Something that I didn’t see myself doing before I joined the programme is coding. I had to do that for the Data Analytics module. 

I enjoyed the electives this year and I really enjoyed the opportunity to take a deep dive into the various areas of specialisation that I had been considering which include finance, sustainability and artificial Intelligence. 

What was your favourite elective?

My personal favourite elective was Sustainability and Competitive Advantage by Professor Christiane Bode, closely followed by Digital Transformation by Dr. Cathy Mulligan. I found both professors to be the most engaging, and very empathic in their teaching styles, particularly Dr. Bode. Aside from the fact that the Sustainability module came highly recommended by an alumnus, I personally found it very fulfilling to attend. The case studies were very insightful, as were the invited guests who were truly engaging.

Group projects: an eye-opening experience 

Group projects have been fun, although time-consuming. Going through the creative process and seeing everyone come up with unique perspectives and different approaches to solving things is quite an eye-opening experience in a group of super-smart and super-competent people. 

The Strategic Consulting Project was the perfect application for all that we had learned during the Business Problem Solving module in the second semester of the programme. Dealing with a live client and taking time to understand their business problem and systematically map out a solution, do the research under the guidance of both the faculty and the client, and eventually present our key learnings and insight has been a very useful learning experience which I will take with me for the rest of my career. It was particularly notable that the research involved a field that I (as well as most of the team) had little or no prior knowledge of, and by the end of the project we were all quite formidable on the subject. 

Opportunities

Taking on leadership roles at the Business School 

I serve as the President of the Africa Business Club, am part of the Student Investment Fund and I am also a Student Ambassador for the Enterprise Lab. In these roles, it has been a pleasure being able to reach out to a very wide network of people in various fields who share a common identity as part of the Imperial College community. 

A future career in Finance  

After completing the Full-Time MBA, I would like to take on the most difficult challenge I can find and try to solve it using the skills I have developed. More specifically, my career goals have been to strengthen my finance skills and get into buy side equity research. I have seen significant improvement in my finance skills courtesy of the Corporate Finance and Investment and Risk Management modules, but I am still applying for roles so I will keep my fingers crossed.