Bayes MBA consultants trek to Africa

The Evening Executive MBA and the Modular Executive MBA cohorts celebrated International Consultancy Week for the 21st year this spring by visiting businesses in Kenya.

From 17-23 March, a cohort of students from Bayes visited sites in Nairobi, Kenya. Ranging from small start-up companies to large organisations, student projects typically focused on developing solutions for business development strategies, including marketing, HR, finance or operational challenges. With just one week to engage with companies, learn of the challenges and submit potential solutions, students had the opportunity to apply their MBA learning and reflect on their skills as consultants, leaders and team players in a different market, economy and culture.

Ndubuisi Uchea, CEO of Word on the Curb and an Evening Executive MBA (2025) student, said:

“My project was with Mdundo, a music distribution platform that gives consumers legal access to African music. Their business challenge was centred around increasing profitability and increasing the value generated from their relationship with the 150,000 + artists on their platform. The MBA helped us tackle this problem by providing us with a structured consultancy framework which allowed us to distil the uncovered business problems into clear workstreams to present back to the client.

"My favourite part of the trip was speaking with a local musical artist called Kipsang as part of the data collection phase of our consultancy week. It was a moment that provided immersion to the area and culture we spent a week in and provided such illuminating insight that was central to the story we were able to tell on the final day of the week."

As a significant part of Bayes’ core curriculum since 2003, annual consultancy trips to international emerging markets have been offered to students, which have provided them with great experience of working with businesses and facing real-world challenges outside of the classroom. With previous trips to Ireland, Iceland, Chile and Poland, this week serves as an integrative element of the Executive MBA core teaching, bringing together the theoretical elements of the programme in a practical experience.

Natalie Coleshill, Licensee Owner of The Milford Arms and an Evening Executive MBA (2025) student, commented:

“International consultancy week was an extraordinary opportunity for personal and professional growth. Not only was it like being on holiday with a big group of friends, meaning you could enjoy the down time and the locality, it was also a massive opportunity to learn. Personally, experiencing another culture and enjoying a new country with my cohort was amazing fun.

“However, the professional development was even more valuable. To be out of my comfort zone and working with a new group on a new business in an entirely new ecosystem has given me such confidence because I now know I can deliver. I was also able to learn many new skills from my new team so I have no doubt my professional skills have developed as well as memories that will last a lifetime. After all, it's pretty impressive to have been an international consultant even if it was just for one week!

“We were fortunate to work with a very innovative tech start-up, Afristec, which has developed Lunna, a super app platform developed specifically for the African market sensitive to the many local communities. They wanted us to develop a go-to market strategy and assist with raising a $10 million investment. The project was so exciting to be a part of and the company was a joy to work with. They really looked after us and made us feel a part of their team. We really believe they will succeed and it will be  incredible to be a part of a journey that could have such a positive impact on local communities for social good.”

Video highlights of the trip can be seen on Instagram.