I grew up believing that knowledge is power. My father has had the most impact on my life in this regard. He always emphasised learning; learning something new every day was his way of life. Even though I didn’t fully understand this principle in my younger years, I still adhered to his philosophy. It wasn’t until my fifth year in business that I realised my competitive advantage was knowing more than my competitor. When I realised this, I assessed myself and discovered that the primary skill I lacked was accounting and bookkeeping. Everyone I talked to about how to handle the books for my company had a different idea; I didn’t even know how to put all of those ideas together. I would disagree with their methods even when I hired consultants. Everything was convoluted. As the company grew, so did the difficulties. It was obvious to me that I needed new skills to move on from this stage of my life.
I took on the challenge of learning accounting from the ground up, and as a result, my business grew beyond that stage, and I was able to manage the challenges we faced. It’s been ten years since I began learning accounting, and it appears that just knowing accounting isn’t going to get me to the next level of business. As I considered my next steps, I remembered that I had tried to start an MBA class at LBS but couldn’t fit it into my work schedule. I decided to revisit the Lagos Business School website out of curiosity. It was there: a modular executive master’s degree in business administration. The programme looked interesting; this is exactly what I needed, I thought. After that, LBS web bots began following me around the internet. Google, Facebook—everywhere I went, there was either an LBS or an MBA programme. Of course, as a patriotic Nigerian, I had no doubt that I wanted a programme based in Nigeria that would provide value. It also helped that my elder brother, who was a professor, had told me a great deal about LBS. There it was: the decision had been made, and I would be attending the LBS modular executive MBA programme. It appeared to be the ideal programme, in which I would work full-time and attend school part-time. Only 1 week per month—a very simple programme, I thought. I applied right away, received calls, took the entrance exams everything was going according to plan; no sweat broken. Everyone in the process was extremely pleasant. I got the call for the interview soon enough. The interviewer asked if I was sure I could keep up with this programme. According to him, it can be an intense program, possibly stressful. My response was that nothing worthwhile is easy. There is no reward if there is no risk. I should have paused a bit here, on reflection, I should have asked him what he meant.
I’m halfway through my first semester, and it’s clear that I underestimated the amount of work required to keep up with the programme. For someone as well-read and knowledgeable as myself, I was confident that the majority of the work would be things I already knew, and what more could I be taught? Let’s just say it’s been an eye-opening experience thus far. I’m glad I went ahead with it. I’m glad I persuaded myself to participate in this programme. It’s only been about two months, but this feels like one of the most important decisions I’ve ever made. I’m looking forward to more challenging and enlightening experiences as I navigate the world of education as an adult.
