Segun Dada shares a bit on his MBA experience

Segun Dada, MBA10

A fantastic evening indeed it was when MBA's from Lagos Business School met their counterparts from Stanford at Radisson Blu, Victoria Island, Lagos.

It was not an evening of too much eating as I would have expected, but meeting these Stanford guys was well worth it. The three remarkable personalities I remember meeting are Andrew, Rachael and Mary Ellen. Plus I narrowly missed Aliko Dangote but my sharp colleague (Chukwuka and Toyin) were in the right place at the right time.

Toyin and Chukwuka with Aliko Dangote

Segun with Rachael

The purpose of this meeting was for the MBA's from stanford to rob minds and obtain ideas from their counterparts in one of the leading business schools on the African continent.

I spoke with Rachael the longest and she was so much fun. She practically got so much information about Nigeria out of me that I became exhausted. We talked about governance, electricity, lecture patterns, college, entrepreneurship, golf, to mention a few.


She has a passion for media and intends to know more about nollywood but unfortunately, I ain't the best in such areas. Of course, we talked about American politics....she is a Democrat. We talked on how the Republican contenders were wearing themselves and their party out and creating more room for Obama to snatch a big win. It was easy to tell how entirely different politics was practiced  in our beloved country Nigeria. I left her with a few names like Obasanjo, Tinubu, Jonathan and probably a few questions for the Lagos state governor, Raji Fashola in during his meeting with them the next day.

Meeting Mary Ellen who happens to be the team leader and the brain behind the trip to Nigeria was really exciting. She is so much fun to interact with, she's got so much energy and believe me, there is never a dull moment with her. She believes greatly in "flexibility" and this is the word she used to describe internet down time, power outage and lack of air conditioning experienced during the trip to Nigeria. In many parts of Nigeria, these are described as luxuries one can totally survive without.

LBS and Stanford MBA's

Segun with Andrew

Then I met Andrew. From the moment I saw him, I smelt Finance! as in this kind of Venture capitalist guys with sharp suits and fast cars...lol. He did not disappoint me at all. This is a guy that has a private equity company that has built two schools in Ghana and provides quality education at less than half the price....now, that's major.

Generally, it was plenty of fun hanging out with guys from Stanford, I hope we can pay them a visit too.

Segun with Aliko Dangote

As for my narrowly missing Aliko Dangote, we were able to meet a few weeks later....and hopefully, we are working on mapping out an all inclusively profitable course for entrepreneurship on the African continent.






Segun Dada is a full time MBA student of Lagos Business School and can be reached via email; olusegun.dada@lbs.net.ng, you can also read more from him on his blog www.segun-dada.blogspot.com, follow him on twitter @segundada