Getting to My Heriot-Watt MBA From Liberia Whilst Managing A Demanding And Senior Career
My MBA journey with Edinburgh Business School (EBS) has been an emotional roller-coaster and a challenging experience. I started the online learning Masters at Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, a year after I qualified as a chartered accountant; on the recommendation of my former boss. I expected it to be easy, given my academic and professional background. I was in for a surprise.
Given my role as Director of Donor Financed Projects for the Government of Liberia, I am constantly engaged with development partners (World Bank, African Development Bank, SiDA, etc). So, work demands were an ever-present pressure on my study time. The EBS MBA demanded significant effort in the quantity and the quality of my time. But, I also wanted to maintain a reasonable social life. I was in a difficult place as I could not seem to reconcile all of these pressures. At one point in time, I felt like giving up since I was not making meaningful progress with my MBA. I had to defer several exams as I was simply not prepared for them.
However, something kept telling me not to give up. I decided to book a counselling session with Dr. Omodele Jones of FJP. He leads the firm that has recruited EBS students in The Gambia, Sierra Leone and my country, Liberia for over a decade. I knew that there had been several graduates in all three countries. FJP had promised to be there for students when help is needed. After all, Dr Jones himself was a Masters and Doctoral graduate of Heriot-Watt University; and understands very keenly the quality of the EBS program and the intense demands of combining it with a senior and busy career.
I had been avoiding FJP’s invitations for counselling. Now, I decided to take up the offer. The session with Dr. Jones was very helpful. He made it clear that I was only admitted by FJP because I have the right foundation for success. He reviewed my approach to study and delivered frank and experienced advice on the management of my time. He also reminded me of advice on my study and exam technique, and priority management, which had been given in the free induction session when I started the program. Clearly, I had not fully heeded the advice.
Given his belief in my capability, he promised to seek the support of the university on a technical matter of importance to me. He delivered on that. Ultimately, he said, there was no short cut: I had to follow the experience of others, and invest the time needed for a prize that was within my reach or I had to quit: the choice was mine to make.
I decided to rise up to the occasion. He was right. The skill of the balancing of demanding work and the time needed by my personal development was very much part of the prize on offer from the online learning Heriot-Watt MBA, one of the world’s oldest of its kind. Dr Jones had reminded me of an induction advice from him: “it is easy - by design - to start an EBS MBA, but it is tough to get out with the MBA: the exit standards are uncompromisingly high”. That was his reason for promoting the program in West Africa: Quality, without Compromise!
One needs to be prepared mentally and emotionally in order to pursue the program at EBS. In addition, you need to be willing to make the trade-off with your social engagements outside work hours. Investment needs sacrifice for the reward to come. Since that counselling session, I did not look back: my command of the knowledge and skills base and my exam performance was flawless. Last month, in August 2021, I was proud to receive notice of my successful completion of my final exam. I now await my graduation ceremony later this year.
Let me borrow this quote from Winston Churchill: "Success is not Final; Failure is not Fatal: It is the Courage to Continue that Counts".
Papin Daniels Jr. MBA (Heriot-Watt) BBA (LU) CA (Ghana) CFE
Vice-President, Liberia Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Director, Donor-financed Projects
Project Financial Management Unit,
Ministry of Finance & Development Planning,
Government of Liberia