Shift in motivation from socially-minded candidates
• Students now more interested in creating social impact, gaining peer respect
While concurring with global research that found MBA students increasingly want to change the world for the better, studies among African MBA students cite greater urgency in this regard.
Moreover, says career services manager at the University of Cape Town (UCT) Graduate School of Business (GSB), Amena Hayat, a growing number of socially-minded MBA candidates are enrolling in South African business schools where there are opportunities to practise what they preach.
Hayat points to a recent Graduate Management Admissions Councils (GMAC) study, which surveyed 5, 900 MBA candidates in 15 different countries. It found that MBA students are becoming less motivated by monetary gain and more interested in creating social impact, gaining international exposure and being respected by their peers.
The study found 27% believed that an MBA brought them professional respect while 14% were “global strivers” who are keen to work abroad with an internationally recognised degree. Ten percent were found to be “balanced careerists” interested in improving their professional standing and income. The GMAC study designated 12% “impactful innovators — candidates motivated primarily by making a positive impact on the world.
When looking at the study’s findings for Africa, however, the statistics were different. A much higher percentage of students fell into the “impactful innovators” category. “The UCT GSBs’ own research found a similar pattern; a higher percentage of applicants (about 25%) are interested in social impact and innovation, and are looking for the skills to bring their ideas to life,” says Hayat.
Such students, she believes, are drawn to the UCT GSB primarily because of its Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which was established at the school in 2011 and has built a reputation as being among the top five academic centres in the world in terms of social impact.
It’s no coincidence, says Hayat, that the majority of these students are millennials who — while criticised for being selfabsorbed and social media obsessed — are believed to have a heightened sense of social purpose and responsibility.
This corresponds with observations made by global executive search firm Odgers Berndtson Sub-Saharan Africa during its annual CEOx1Day programme, a global initiative designed to uncover promising future leaders by giving MBA students the chance “to walk in a CEO’s shoes for a day”.
“It has become clear that the emerging business leader values responsible capitalism, social entrepreneurship, innovation and ethical leadership,” says the company’s CEO Leon Ayo. “Business schools that want to attract the interest of the (millennial) market need to shift towards an emphasis on these in their curricula. CEOx1Day candidates have expressed during the programme that they would create their own organisations if existing companies did not share these values.”
Hayat believes that the UCT GSB appeals to more socially minded individuals because they recognise innovating and making an impact require more than theory. “Students need to learn how to implement innovative ideas, a process that requires a complex skills-set, including humility and empathy.”
Her colleague, acting head of the UCT GSB, associate professor Kosheek Sewchurran, upholds this view. “Managers don’t operate on a plane removed from activity around them, where they can employ abstract, rational thinking to lay out their options and pick the most applicable theory. They are constantly in situations that require ongoing adjustments and adaptations rather than pre-designed plans. Put another way, we can teach theory, but we can’t teach wisdom. That only comes from practice and experience,” he says.