[Video] Life Update: 7 Milestones that marked the Past 2 Years.

When it became official

Hard to believe it's been over 2 years since I started this blog... and almost that long since I last posted (eek!). For those lucky enough to have started an MBA since then, first of all, Congrats! Second of all, I'm sure you now understand.

The entire experience was a whirlwind. The most resounding piece of advice (and perhaps the most valuable) I received at the beginning was to truly live in the moment as 2 years will fly by really quickly. 2 years have flown by and boy, were they right!

A bit of an update on me. 7 milestones since I started the blog.

4 ways living in Lagos affected my GMAT experience

Just a few tid bits from my experience that some of my Lagos peeps might find interesting.

Here are a few ways life in Gidi affected my GMAT experience.

'Sure banker' questions the adcom will have about your MBA application

This photo came up on Page 1 of my search results when I typed 'Africans' into the Google Images search bar.

As I scrolled through the results, I came across similar images that made me cringe.

There is a whole world out there with an image, or in this case, images of Africa that reflect very little about our true potential. Before the advent of platforms like CNN African Voices, EbonyLife TV, Forbes Africa, the rest of the world had very little insight into how much potential truly lay in Africa.

And many still do. You may already know that some people from other parts of the world still get surprised when they realise that people from Africa can actually speak good English.

Whether we choose to accept it or not, there is a perception issue that we will all have to overcome if we plan on competing on a global scale, be it in business or in education.

My fellow Africans, prejudiced as this may sound, here are some questions I'm certain the adcom will have about your candidacy when you apply for an MBA at a top b-school.

3 websites you should bookmark if you're really serious about nailing the GMAT

Like I mentioned in one of my previous posts, the GMAT was one of the toughest parts of the application process for me.

When I was about to start studying for it, I knew looking online would be a good place to start. So, I did just that. However, because I wasn't sure exactly where to look, I ended up looking everywhere.

Because my access to electricity and stable internet was so limited, I would save web pages to my desktop or to a memory stick instead of reading them on the spot. The images usually came out funny when I re-opened them but at least that way, I was sure I could read the text without internet access if I had to.

Also, because my search was so widespread, I read so much but retained very little.

Information overload happened very quickly.

If you're in study-mode and you're trying to avoid such a situation, here are 3 really good websites that helped me focus my online trolling efforts.

Mistakes you might be making at work that could cost you a seat at a top b-school

Harvard's MBA class of 2015 is dominated by North Americans with less than 1% of the classroom coming from Africa. One could argue that because majority of applicants are from the US, Americans would naturally dominate the admissions pool. While that could be true, I'm not here to argue for or against it. What I'm here to do is to share thoughts that I hope will help future applicants increase that African statistic by at least a few percentage points.

The points I have outlined are based on recurring themes I've observed in my personal experience working with people from varied cultural backgrounds, including Africans. My intention is not to criticize, but to create awareness about attitudes that could be leaving dents in the application quality of people from my demographic.

I hope you'll find some of these points helpful in shaping how you approach work in relation to your MBA ambitions.

6 pieces of advice I wish I got when I decided to go after an MBA

If I had N100 for every b-school admissions post I read that was supposed to help in 'getting started'... let's just say my bank account wouldn't have suffered as much as it did when I paid the $250 application fee to each of the schools I applied to.


When I decided I wanted an MBA, I started probably just like you; I pitched a tent, lit lanterns, and settled into life as a cyber hunter; I read almost every MBA blog, forum and comment my mouse could click on until my brain felt like it was going to explode from all the information.

Kudos to the internet though. There is a whole lot of information out there and I would highly recommend it as a starting point for anyone who is serious about getting into a top MBA program.

On my blog, I want to provide advice that will be helpful to MBA hopefuls - especially those from African countries - and that doesn't overlap (too much) with information that is already out there. Difficult feat but I'll try my best.

To start off, here are six pieces of advice I wish I got when I was starting out: