Rolake Akinkugbe

Not one to rest on her achievements or allow her intellectual curiosity to stagnate, Rolake recently felt a need to broaden her horizons and gain a new way of looking at the world and business. An executive MBA program appealed, she says, because: “I was looking for a program that could help frame and ground all of my workplace experience in a rigorous academic setting, without losing the real-world feel of my daily professional life. TRIUM came closest to meeting that central criteria.”

A self-described travel fan with “extremely itchy feet,” she was attracted to the cultural experiences, diverse “world-class” faculty, and international travel opportunities that TRIUM offered. She explains: “The module structure in different markets itself reflects both the diversity of the faculty, the cohort and the industries we all work.” Rolake adds that in the energy sector, global perspective is imperative. “Business in Africa and Nigeria is evolving every day through technological change, and change brought about by global economic events, often beyond our control. As a frontier market professional I have no choice but to stay connected, and keep abreast of global economic and political development. While I have solid knowledge of local markets and have also been exposed to global markets via previous professional experience and learning, TRIUM joins the two dots.”

One key industry challenge Rolake has encountered is that sustainable energy tends to automatically fall into the “impact investment bucket,” which can potentially limit the types of investment sources it can attract and stymies her own efforts. TRIUM, she says, has helped her consider how she can better articulate the real business and economic case of why sustainable energy investments make sense. She explains: “There are very few executive programs these days that teach you any new academic theories to apply in the business world. The true value of a world-class executive program is how it really helps you connect the dots in business, make sense of real-world phenomenon, anticipate new market trends that could impact the bottom line and reposition your own leadership or management strategy to take advantage of new economic opportunities. The TRIUM program has a unique way of capturing real-world events and trends and making academic sense of them.”

On the subject of anticipating new market trends, Rolake says that the technology and innovation module at Singularity University in California was invaluable and fortified her belief that the future will see a paradigm shift when it comes to investment in renewable energy. “I am attracted to the world of innovation and technology, which is very crucial to the future of the energy industry. I have a particular interest in how tech and innovation can help companies access and structure finance for energy projects and also help investors monitor their investments in projects, without using financial intermediaries such as banks and other financial advisers,” she says. “The California module helped confirm what I had been thinking all along.”

Beyond the academic rigor and international exposure TRIUM offers, Rolake says that the most enriching and insightful aspect of the program is “hands down” her class of 2018 colleagues. “They are some of the most inspiring, dynamic and energetic bunch of people I’ve ever met. The richness and depth of their life experiences and professional paths has motivated me more than I could ever have imagined,” she says. “Ultimately these are men and women, who have reached, are about to reach, or will surely reach the pinnacle of their careers. Being able to ask them about their journeys and probe their aspirations often provides useful lessons for me. Despite the diversity in our experience and industries, we are united by this common thirst for learning, success and achievement.”

Rolake is confident that her experience with TRIUM will add significant value to her career—she expects to increase her earning power and fast-track to executive management and says her participation in the program has already paved way for new internal growth opportunities and responsibilities within FBN Merchant Bank, as well as external ones.

In my part of the world, the very fact of attendance and enrolment in a world-class EMBA program like TRIUM goes a long way in positively changing perception of your skills, ability and potential. I’m only halfway through the class of 2018, but I can already tell where this is headed—for good.

• Favorite module: London/Module 1, because of the mere excitement of anything being done for the first time. Nothing ever replaces that initial buzz!
• Favorite professor: Sonia Marciano
• Favorite Course: Corporate Finance
• Words to live (or work) by?: Plan!! Plan for assignments, plan for reading, plan for tuition payments! Just PLAN.
• If I had a month off work to do anything I wanted, I would: Sleep. (No, really, I would.)
• If I wasn’t in this profession, I would be: A jazz pianist, touring the London and New York circuit.
• I define “professional success” as: Deciding how I spend my time doing the things I really love doing, and doing them profitably.