Adebobola Vincent Owoseni, Wharton MBA Class of 2025
Adebobola Vincent Owoseni, Wharton MBA Class of 2025Age: 27
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Paul Quinn College
Pre-MBA Work Experience (role, company, years): I worked in real estate private equity in Dallas, TX for five years before attending business school – two years at Crow Holdings Capital and three years at Avery Capital, a startup firm led by a former NBA player and coach. While working full-time, I worked part-time at Impact Ventures, a startup accelerator focused on developing companies led by underrepresented founders, for 18 months.
Why did you make the decision to attend business school? Why now?
My primary career goal is to improve consumer outcomes with technology applications, primarily through early/growth-stage companies. I plan to accomplish this by operating and investing in tech companies. Five years of working in real estate PE taught me how to acquire and manage an asset, but I wanted to be more aligned with my consumer focus. I decided business school was an effective way to explore this interest while building leadership skills and relationships with highly talented peers.
Why did you choose Wharton? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
My desire to develop my skill set as an operator played a significant role in my application to business school and I realized that Wharton’s unique Marketing and Operations concentration would by an effective way to develop these skills. As a Nigerian-American, I have an interest in the development of African countries and other emerging markets – this led me to seek a school with a reputation for global impact. Wharton’s Lauder program, GIP, and GMP programs all displayed its commitment to global leadership. Wharton also has a strong reputation for private equity and venture capital, which played well into my interests.
Being born and raised in the melting pot and commerce hub that is NYC and having global aspirations led me to seek a location that exemplified these characteristics. Wharton is an extremely diverse school, and I am often in shock at the fact that some of my classes are over 50% comprised of international/first-generation students. Philly is also a diverse city and a commerce hub in its own right, with ease of access to NYC and DC. Lastly, Wharton’s robust leadership development programming will prepare me to become a leader of global consequence.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to the Class of 2025?
One of my most valuable contributions to the class of 2025 is creative problem-solving in high-pressure environments. Being employee #2 at a startup real estate private equity firm required me to wear a number of hats and step in to solve problems beyond my comfort level. I’ve negotiated the acquisition of commercial real estate assets worth over $10M with brokers who were twice my age and then managed the performance of those assets and am proud of the growth I underwent through those moments.
While I worked at Impact Ventures in 2020, I coordinated a demo day to showcase our startups to potential investors. The world had just been hit by COVID-19 and the accelerator’s CEO and I had to adjust the format of the event to ensure its success. I displayed adaptability in my leadership and solved challenging problems in the midst of uncertainty, creating a valuable experience for both our founders and our network of investors.
A second contribution that I find just as valuable is my ability to build bridges between diverse groups of people. I actively place myself in diverse communities, seeking to engage people of different backgrounds and build deep connections. Doing so often requires a bit of discomfort, however, I embrace the discomfort because the fruit that these engagements bring.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself that didn’t get included on your application:
I used to skateboard! I’m 6’3” so most people don’t believe this, but I used to skateboard religiously from middle school through early college. I can probably still land a 360 flip on a good day.
Post-MBA career interests:
In the near future, I’m interested in private equity operations/VC operations. In the mid-term I’m aiming for CEO/Founder/C-Suite Executive of a consumer tech startup. My long-term goal is to be a General Partner of VC firm focused on Africa and other emerging markets. I’m also interested in foreign diplomacy long-term.
Advice for Current Prospective Applicants:
–What is one thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process?
I prepared for my MBA applications through a program called Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT). The MLT curriculum includes performing deep introspection in which you highlight the top 5 personal traits that you want to communicate to your desired business schools.
Performing this exercise helped me gain clarity and my top traits created the lens through which I communicated my personal story in my essays. This helped tremendously and I’d highly recommend this exercise for all applicants.
–What is one thing you would change or do differently?
One thing I would change is my second GMAT approach. I was practicing my math problems on the yellow dry erase graph paper book and was told that, historically, that is what was used for quant problems on the test. I took the test at home due to the policy changes that came from COVID-19. At the beginning of the test, I learned that yellow dry erase books were no longer acceptable, and I had to use a white dry erase board of a specific size!
I scrambled around my house to find a white dry-erase board and couldn’t find one. You can only imagine the stress I endured in this moment. I ended up cutting a piece of the dry erase paper on my wall and taping it to a rectangular cardboard cutout from a sneaker box I had – this was all done in less than 10 minutes so I could start my exam on time (talk about creative problem solving in high-pressure environments!). Fortunately, my DIY whiteboard was accepted, and I was able to start the test, however I was now in the worst mental state due to my stress and didn’t achieve my desired score.
–What is one part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it?
I would have skipped the process of finding the best GMAT training for me through trial and error – and spending a few thousand dollars in the process. Yikes. Asking MLT faculty and current business school students about the most effective GMAT prep resources and then evaluating them helped me land on the program that was right for me. Moral of the story: Ask people who know the way for help – it will save you time and money.
What is your initial impression of the Wharton students/culture/community?
The Wharton community is extremely welcoming – this came as a surprise to me. Between the process of submitting my application to acceptance, I had about 30 interactions with Wharton students, faculty, and alumni. Several of the interactions were initiated by current students who checked on me to ask if I needed anything. I found this to be rare and it signaled to me that selecting Wharton was the right choice.
What is one thing you have learned about Wharton that has surprised you?
Wharton’s emphasis on teamwork and leadership is intentionally woven into the student experience. Prior to the start of the semester, all students participate in a one-month course called Foundations of Teamwork and Leadership. This course taught us practical lessons on how to be a better teammate and leader while putting us through simulations that tested those character traits. Although it was the first class we took, I imagine it will be one of the most important.
What is one thing you are most anxious about in your first year?
Budget management – it feels like money is flying out of my pocket! Student clubs and trips can get EXPENSIVE and I am actively working to prioritize the areas I want to allocate funds to.
What is one thing you are most excited about in your first year?
Ironically, the same trips and clubs! We will likely never have an opportunity to bond with so many amazing people at this scale ever again, so I am excited to travel with and create wonderful memories with my classmates.
