Asade Tolu, INSEAD’s MBA Class of 2024
Asade Tolu, INSEAD’s MBA Class of 2024Age: 24
Hometown: Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
Undergraduate Institution and Major: University of Lagos, B.Sc. Economics
Pre-MBA Work Experience (role, company, years): Phillips Consulting, Intern, 6 months; McKinsey & Company, Business Analyst, 2 and a half years; AgroMall, Chief of Staff, 1 and a half years
Why did you make the decision to attend business school? Why now?
After having spent 24 years of my life in Nigeria, working across two sectors, the one thing lacking in my experiences was the global perspective and understanding. I was keen on expanding my network and world-view, and I set out to apply to a few business schools in Europe, with INSEAD as my primary target.
I believe everybody has inflection points which they experience in life. I’ve personally experienced two of those. The first was when I quit my consulting role, to be closer to grass-root development, and the second was my decision to apply to business school. It is not often that we admit our own limitations, in terms of skills, network and growth – and the choice to invest in my learning was one such inflection point.
Why did you choose INSEAD? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
My full-time work experience since inception has been dynamic. With a focus on ensuring the start of my career has been filled with accelerated learning, I have tended to work and learn with organizations that emulate this. Since leaving the university, the three organizations that I have worked for have had accelerated apprenticeship as a focus. Working directly with senior management to pick up technical skills and intangibles has been the focal point of my four years+ career, and would continue to the foreseeable future.
In order to get an improvement in my skills and consolidate my experiences, it is important to improve my learning in a diverse, multicultural setting to understand the business world. Continuous and multicultural experiences is one of the reasons why I was interested in joining the immersive experience at INSEAD. The ability to gain hard technical skills to improve my knowledge as a business operator is one I relish. Joining a diverse, multicultural group is one that provides a significant peer-to-peer learning opportunity and makes connections to last a lifetime.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to the Class of 2024?
The class of 2024 has been very well placed in terms of the collective experience it has drawn. Across the relevant candidates, we have built working careers through a global pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine way, disruptions through artificial intelligence, machine learning and the boon of political uncertainty in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Eastern Europe.
Listening to how people navigated successful private and public sector organizations through bouts of uncertainty and the skills as well as connections leveraged upon provides a truly unique learning opportunity.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself that didn’t get included on your application:
My interest in reviewing African literature as a prospective/potential literature critic.
Post-MBA career interests:
I am interested in understanding the role finance and raising capital make in providing relevant impact in specific industries and geographies. Working in the investment banking space to understand structured finance, its varying deployment capabilities, and the relevant criteria for investment readiness is of great importance to me.
Advice for Current Prospective Applicants:
–What is one thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process?
Leveraging support from alumni and senior colleagues is the best system for application essays and interview preparations.
–What is one thing you would change or do differently?
Not leaving it so late for all my relevant MBA applications, submitting two days before the deadlines, and finalizing video interviews on deadline day was not ideal.
–What is one part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it?
GMAT, getting ready for GMAT while balancing work requirements was a little painful. The goal in sight helped me push through night readings.
What is your initial impression of the INSEAD students/culture/community?
Smart, deliberate and supportive group of people with very clear plans on what to index on to help everyone as well as themselves get the best of the experience.
What is one thing you have learned about INSEAD that has surprised you?
How early into the process you have to have recruitment at the back of your mind and begin intentional efforts towards it.
What is one thing you are most anxious about in your first year?
Getting into my ideal job in my ideal location, it is extremely competitive, but I am working on it.
What is one thing you are most excited about in your first year?
This would sound corny, but all the connections I would get to make.
