Cambridge is one of the most charming places for me in the world, and being that it is more than a year since I graduated from my programme, I was happy to attend MBA Future Forum as an alumna.
The forum, which ran from 19-21 June, was a great chance to connect with current students, and also attend industry/niche lectures by seasoned MBA alumni, now working in various leadership capacities in diverse industries.
I was present on Thursday and Friday and attended 3 sessions on each day according to my interests.
Day 1: Welcome speech & three sessions
& A new direction for Cambridge Judge Business School
Before I dive into the recap of my time and the sessions I chose to attend at the MBA Future Forum, I would like to note that during the welcome speech, the new Dean Gishan Dissanaike introduced a new strategy and focus for Cambridge Judge Business School, which will be entrepreneurship, sustainability and responsible business and leadership in a turbulent world, especially now that supply chain, technology, political, and cybersecurity disruptions are becoming the norm.
First session: The opportunities and challenges of multi-generational investment
The first lecture I attended was by Tariq Shah OBE , the CEO of Vigo Group, who is a 2019-2022 Cambridge Executive MBA alumni. He is a Doncaster born businessman social investor and philanthropist. In addition to that, he is a member of HM government, and is also a chair or a board member on various boards, his personal experience on the governance architecture, principles and challenges of family business were insightful. My key takeaway from the session, was that family businesses need to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive to avoid stagnation, because their is nothing sustainable about going bust.
Tariq Shah has also mentored me before in 2024, and this was a good chance to reconnect, and no doubt, I made the most of the hour I had with him after the session.
Second session: People in energy: Powering the energy transition
Energy, is adjacent to the construction industry, and so my second lecture session was People in Energy: Powering the Energy Transition, by Stephanie Del Carpio who is a partner and associate director at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). She is a 2015 MBA alumna, and a core member of the BCG, specialising in large scale transformation in support of energy transition. The key takeaway from her talk, which also was a pleasant surprise, is that while data and technology are important in the energy transition, they only account for 30% of the change. People and process changes, take up 70% of the legwork required, as these have proven to be the most crucial factors to succeed.
Side-note: Elana Mulvay had a question on increasing diversity and inclusion in the industry as, similar to the Women in Construction numbers I shared about last week from the London International Disputes Week (LIDW) event, energy has 23% women, while construction lags behind at 14%. I shared my thoughts that women have to be introduced and made aware that these industries are interesting and stable from a young age! See the post here: Breaking Barriers – Women in Construction
Third session: Private equity – Focus on value creation
My last session on Day 1 of the Forum was on private equity, which was being led by Mugheer Dirwish, the Managing Director of Advention . He is a 2015 Cambridge MBA alumni, and key takeaway is that now private equity firms are focusing more on value creation, more than the potential of a company. He noted that the current market reality is that now returns must come from genuine improvement to companies performance, growing revenue and improving efficiencies. He shared about the value creation undertaken by Harry’s and ghd, and how the improved their profit margins and increased their market share.
Day 2: Three sessions and MBA alumni dinner
First session: E-commerce unlocked: Trends and strategies to stay ahead in a dynamic industry
The session was led by Somesh Dwivedi Global E-commerce Director at Essity, who has also worked in Big Tech (Amazon, Google) and CPG industries, and is a 2015 Cambridge MBA alumni. I loved that he emphasised that we need to have a broader view of eCommerce beyond Amazon, and to learn from other non-Western marketplaces such as Wechat the Chinese super app, and the giant Latin America Mercado Libre marketplace. By the end of the session, my perspective of eCommerce and the use of AI on such platforms to adapt to changing consumer behavior (such as Rufus on Amazon) had broadened.
Second session: Family wealth management
This session was led by Simon De Young , who is a Market Senior Partner in Cambridge leading PwC‘s business and team in Cambridge and East of England. He is a University of Cambridge alumni, and he drew from his wealth of professional experience in managing family business. I liked that he
- Shared with us the typical development trajectory of a family office; from being a successful entrepreneur to hiring a trusted advisor due to growing complexity, to finally having a structured family office due to more complexity.
- Emphasised that succession planning takes a long time in family businesses.
- Shared the 3 main structures a family office can take when catering to integrated ownership, different investment beliefs within a family when expanding, and when fully diversified with no family businesses remaining.
Interval: Crossing paths, reunions & full-circle moments
I was glad to reconnect with Lord Karan Bilimoria, founder of Cobra Beer, who so happened to be at the lobby as I was going for the third session of the day. He so gracefully gave us a guest lecture while I was a student at the Cambridge Union back in 2023.
I was delighted to see Margaret O’Neill, Sadia Cuthbert and Cecile Gani from the Cambridge MBA careers office, who during my MBA programme, I consulted on several occasions. I also bumped into Prof Chris Coleridge who taught entrepreneurship when I was a student, who is now teaching strategy. I was happy to tell him in person that I absolutely loved his post about relocating to the UK 35 years ago!
Also had a coffee with Laurie Hill who reached out for advice while considering the MBA last year, and now he’s about to finish the programme. We had a good chat about careers, the Cambridge experience, and the next steps.
Third session: The value driven company
Guido van Garderen, senior marketing lecturer at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) led us through this session, to show that when offerings are similar, how a company goes about things, can become its competitive edge. Both Meredith Bird and I thoroughly enjoyed due to the Robert Dilts NLP framework worksheets he shared during the session, (covering purpose, identity, values and beliefs, capabilities, behavior and environment.) It was enlightening to have a post-session chat with him, where we delved into identity politics, and also how we, as individuals see ourselves through the framework.
My key takeaway from what he said was that, if you anchor up the framework, say on identity change may will happen, but if you anchor down, say on environment or behaviour, change may happen.
MBA alumni dinner: The fun part!
On Friday evening, I had a fantastic time dining together with other alumni from various years. It was a chance to reconnect, meet new faces and listen to the work experiences of those who were at the table. Notably, I was sat right opposite Benjamin Davis, (Cambridge MBA 2002/2003) outgoing CEO of Octopus Investments which was delightful, as during my MBA programme back in 2023, I had undertaken my Global Consulting Project at Octopus Capital. Thank you Mary Priddey and the CJBS alumni team for such a wonderful evening!
During these days, I also connected with Daniil Shcherbakov, Nana Mohan Zhou, Gbola I. Afonja, Eren Kopuz, Daniil Shcherbakov, Rosin Patel, Yahya Azeem, Mitchell Young, Joanna Philip, Shweta Menon and Benjamin Tennant.
To conclude:
These two vibrant and insightful days were a powerful reminder on why Cambridge remains a charming and meaningful place for me. The Cambridge Judge Business School corridors, classes and cafe, are places where intellectual exchange, personal development and a collaborative community come together.
From reconnecting with peers, professors (special thanks to Prof. Maria Ubiali and Prof. Lionel Paoelella!) and mentors, to gaining fresh insights from industry leaders, the MBA Future Forum was both educative and inspiring. I’m grateful for the conversations, connections and continued learning. I hope this recap gave a glimpse into what made the experience impactful for me.
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