Ansumana Bai-Marrow

What experience did you have prior to studying the Global Online MBA?

I’ve worked in finance all my life within compliance and I am particularly proud of becoming a Chief Compliance Officer. I spent so many years of my career working hard to get to the top of my field and take tremendous pride in having done so. Not without challenge and toil, I may add. 

I’m also very proud to have recently featured on the EMpower 100 Ethnic Minority Executive Role Models 2021 list, supported by Yahoo. Making an impact on industry via diversity and inclusion initiatives is something I am very passionate about. I know I wouldn’t be where I am today if people in positions of influence were not pro-equality, pro-equity, meritocratic and progressive. In fact, the recent launch of Imperial’s Presidential Scholarship for Black Students is a tremendous initiative, which I hope proves successful and lasting. It is just one of many ‘soft indicators’ that reveals a little about the type of university that Imperial is and aspires to be. 

Why did you chose to study an MBA at Imperial? 

Studying an MBA was something I always desired to do but never could! Working within compliance — which is about monitoring and influencing human behaviour — you realise there are commercial aspects of the business you are not necessarily exposed to. As a relatively senior member of my organisation, I recently began to feel that that the commercial gap was too wide, and finally took the plunge. Imperial College Business School is a prestigious institution with a worldwide reputation. I have kept an eye on Imperial over the last five to seven years. It has been on my list of potential institutions if I ever studied an MBA. The School is practical, filled with accomplished academic staff and practitioners, and has been on an upward trend over a long period of time. Once I had actually applied, I was impressed by the application process and the support provided by the Business School while making my application. 

What are you enjoying learning about the most? 

I have been blown away by the rigour of the programme so far. The depth of the material and the commanding grasp of the topics by the academic team has been impressive. I have learned so much already and have been challenged by being introduced to new perspectives and academic theories. I already feel like I have been enhanced as a person and as an employee because I am gaining novel insights into the world of business, and reading and discussing real-world case studies. Academics aside, we are put into small groups called ‘syndicates’ of five to seven people. I would say your experience on the programme is viewed through the lens of your syndicate group. Given that group work is such a high percentage of the final mark, it’s so important to have a good shared experience and working relationship with the rest of your syndicate. It also means there are a group of people also suffering to meet the same deadlines as you, which oddly enough relieves some of the pressure! Shared successes, shared endeavours. 

How has your experience been studying online?

Imperial’s online learning platform, The Hub, provides tremendous flexibility when it comes to preparing for classes. Given my job and the fact I have children, often I find myself going through the materials and watching lectures very early in the morning or very late at night, or going through multiple lectures and videos during the weekend. As a place for all of our readings, assignments, extra resources, data sources, notifications from tutors and more, The Hub is an extremely powerful tool and lens through which to see and work through the Global Online MBA materials and an ally when it comes to staying on top of all of your deliverables as a student. 

Another benefit of it being an online, global programme is that many of the live sessions, of which there are several in a week, are held multiple times through the day. For somebody in the London time zone, that gives a lot of options. I can choose to attend a morning session, an evening session, or sometimes even an afternoon session if that works best for me that day! 

"Imperial’s online learning platform, The Hub, provides tremendous flexibility when it comes to preparing for classes."

How are you planning to use your MBA for your future career? 

My original plan was to do an MBA to bolster my skills, given my seniority. I also feel the MBA will increase my appreciation of what the commercial and organisational considerations are of running/ managing a firm. Time will tell how best I utilise my new skills. 

Imperial College Business School Careers has been amazing. From the psychometric testing, to CV reviews, one-to-one career consultations and facilitated career strategy sessions, there has been so much value added in terms of me thinking about my own career journey. Careers has also hosted a number of beneficial seminars — some of which I described earlier — on negotiation and the C-suite. You are forced to think about the future path you might take. This can be both very painful and very rewarding at the same time. I’ve found the process of being forced to think about my career action plan and strategy a beneficial and life altering exercise.