Reaching the Best and Brightest

“Being awarded the LBS Sloan MSc Excellence in Leadership Award gave me additional encouragement. I felt like the School had seen that I had something to contribute; it felt like a validation that I was making the right decision, I was in the right place, and I was the right person for that place.”

Prior to studying at LBS, Henrique ran Isolar, a social enterprise that empowered the residents of low-income communities to improve – and ultimately transform – their lives. When the 2020 pandemic hit, Insolar’s operations had to be put on hold, and this gave Henrique the time to reflect on his career. His experience made him realise the best way to take his impact-driven mission to the next level was to invest in his leadership skills.

“Embrace the opportunity as a transformative experience for your life rather than just an academic experience.”

With its focus on empowering people with diverse experiences to become global leaders, applying for the Sloan programme was a natural choice. “I appreciate alumni supporting scholarships at London Business School and am forever grateful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. My advice to people considering the Sloan programme… embrace the opportunity as a transformative experience for your life rather than just an academic experience.”

After a career that began in aeronautical engineering, and then moved on to private equity, Nasi Rwigema decided that an MBA would help to improve his understanding of the commercial world. Receiving the Mo Ibrahim Foundation Scholarship made this desire a reality. “I was beyond grateful to be awarded the Scholarship – it made my entrepreneurial ambitions post-LBS more pursuable. Beyond the financial support, I’ve enjoyed working with the charitable foundation and spending time with Dr Ibrahim. He is a role model for me.”

At LBS, Nasi developed and tested his idea for a start-up: a ‘LinkedIn’ for low-skilled Africans. The idea for this online professional network was born out of Nasi’s experience building power plants across Africa. There, he saw how difficult it was for blue-collar workers to position themselves in the marketplace.

“LBS has been the best place to stress-test my start-up idea. You’re given free expert advice all the time. My classmates’ feedback was critical, helping me to articulate what I want my business to do.”

It was at LBS Entrepreneurship Summer School that Nasi’s idea began to blossom into a start-up. “LBS has been the best place to stress-test my start-up idea. You’re given free expert advice all the time. My classmates’ feedback was critical, helping me to articulate what I want my business to do. My MBA ambition was to turn myself into a high-output, high-functioning thinker. I had two years of sword-sharpening with some of the brightest minds,” says Nasi. “You get to dream much bigger at LBS.”