Most times, people do reflect on their career journey and the need for self-development. I have always believed that the foundation of any ‘self-development’ is actually ‘self-realization’ and ‘conscious commitment’. I did a reflection on my self-development and the need to enrol in the MBA programme of LBS became apparent. This reflection led me into enrolling for the EMBA programme with the Lagos Business School (LBS). I was offered admission for the programme after the pre-entry test and interview with a faculty.
I thereafter completed my registration and joined the orientation and brush-up programme. This, indeed commenced my journey of ‘self-realization’. The orientation programme of the school was structured to provide a smooth transition into the serious academic work life, as well as the social life of LBS. The students were informed of the structured timetable for the two academic sessions of about twelve months each. Thoughts were revolving round my head – how would I cope with this programme? Must I even do this programme? The strong drive for self-development keeps banging in my head and this was the great motivation that spurred me on. We were trained on the use of the e-learning platform for the details of the courses and materials, as well as how to access the link for submitting assignments. We were also informed of the importance of attendance and the active participation to classes as panacea to success as an LBS student. After the orientation programme, I joined the brush-up programme which was targeted to help improve the students’ knowledge in some of the courses, prior to the proper commencement of the semester. These words ‘assignment’ and ‘compulsory attendance to classes’ skipped my heart beat…as I wondered on the implication of these. Although the fascinating part of the orientation programme was the sumptuous lunch that we were served in school during the programme. Indeed, it was a thought to behold.
With my non-financial background, it was rather awkward being in class for ‘Corporate Financial Accounting’ (CFA) and Data Analytics (DA) courses. These courses were serious nightmares to me as I struggle with their basis at the onset. However, I’m really grateful to the course facilitators that made the courses not only simple for me, but easy to assimilate.
The CFA course was aimed to help develop the students’ financial accounting skills and help to better understand the financial information companies produce to investors and shareholders. I experienced initial difficulties in comprehending this course, but now, I can comfortably interpret the balance sheets of companies while highlighting the Assets, Liabilities and Owners Equity. I can also identify the different accounts in a statement while highlighting the Profit and Loss as well as the Revenue and Expenses. I now understand how the financial statements are prepared; these were achieved by the series of exercises and assignments given by the facilitator. Each given exercise and assignment offers an opportunity for learning and practice outside the class.
The DA course was designed to guide students on the key steps to address particular problem faced by business. The course is actually applications-oriented and uses problem scenario approach to introduce quantitative technique in generating a solution or recommendation. While I still struggle with the full interpretation of the problem scenario and applicable solution, I know understand the dynamics with the use of Excel sheet and how it can be used to represent a problem scenario.
My journey so far with the EMBA programme of the Lagos Business School has indeed revealed that ‘Learning never exhausts the mind’ and ‘You can only achieve what the mind is able to conceive’. What do you think of this journey? #EMBA28
Dinner and Dream