The recipient of the 2007 Odgers Prize, MBA graduate Charles Ifedi, was judged as the student with the highest potential for a management career. The £5,000 prize, sponsored by Cranfield School of Management alumnus Ian Odgers (right) of top executive search company Odgers, Ray and Berndtson, was established in 1987.

After the presentation of the Odgers Prize, Professor Michael Osbaldeston, one of the judging panel members, said, “Charles has had a very successful career to date in Nigeria, both as a consultant and in a start-up company. The panel was impressed ….and confidently expects that he will achieve a major leadership role across the African continent.”

ReConnect Africa spoke to Ifedi, who has now joined American Express, about his career success and how his MBA has made a difference.

RCA: Congratulations on your prize, Charles. Can you tell us a bit about your background?

CI: I am Nigerian. I graduated from University of Ilorin in Nigeria in January 1999 where I studied Computer Science. I graduated with a First Class and won a number of prizes there also, including: Best Graduating Student in Faculty of Science, Best Graduating Student in Computer Science, Best Final Year Student in Computer Science and Best Graduating Student in Department of Mathematics (97/98 session).

I started my career as a software developer while I was still in University and continued after I graduated. I joined PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2000, moved to Accenture in 2001 and went back to PwC after a year. I am also a Certified Information Security Auditor

RCA: You were involved in a start-up company in Nigeria. What was the company set up to do and how well did you succeed?

CI:  Nine months after I went back to PwC, I left again and joined the pioneer staff and management team of InterSwitch Limited, a payment processing company in January 2003. InterSwitch is Nigeria’s leading Transaction Switching and Payment Processing Company, with the largest number of banks, cards, channels, products and customer-base.

I left InterSwitch in Sept 2006 to come and do my MBA in Cranfield. At that time, InterSwitch was driving more than 90% of the banks in Nigeria, over 4.5m cards, 1000 ATMs, 2000 POS terminals and monthly transactions in excess of US$25m. This has significantly increased (e.g. they have 100% of the banks now) and they are the de facto payment processing company in Nigeria. It is currently a highly successful company - started with equity equivalent of US$1.5m but is now worth more than US$15m. At the time of leaving, my designation was Group Head, Business Solutions and I was ranked No. 3 in the company. The key responsibilities of my department included the design, development and management of card and electronic payment solutions, project management and quality assurance, business development and market expansion (Local and International) as well as corporate marketing, sales and technical sales support.

RCA: What motivated you to come to the UK to study for an MBA?

CI:  I chose to come to the UK to do an MBA for a few reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, was to get more international exposure, since I had been studying and working in Nigeria all my life. Although I had travelled abroad quite a bit, I felt coming to the UK would increase my exposure and my network. I chose Cranfield School of Management because I could only afford to give up one year for the MBA, and wanted a school that had a high average "number of years’ experience".

“I believe that with God's guidance and the right balance of hard work and timing (being at the right place at the right time) you can achieve anything...”

Then another focus I had was personal development. This was both individual development as well as skills that I had learnt on the job and never been taught formally - finance, accounting, sales, marketing, strategy etc which I needed for my management role. Then finally, there was also the opportunity to travel and see the world after seven years of working.

RCA: What are the key benefits you have gained from the MBA and from living in the UK?

CI:  At the time I was coming to the UK, I didn't plan to work. I just wanted to study for a year and go back to Nigeria and probably back to InterSwitch. Initially, I applied to American Express for an internship and I was offered an internship in one department or a full-time job in my current department. I went through both interview processes and decided to take the full-time job. They got me a work permit and also a sign-on bonus which would enable me pay off my MBA loan quicker.

All the objectives for coming to the UK for an MBA were achieved. In addition, I don't think I would have gotten the offer if I didn't have an MBA in the UK, so that was a plus.

RCA: What was the most challenging aspect of your entry into the Odgers competition?

CI:  The Odgers prize is not really a competition. Ian Odgers (the founder and chairman of Odgers, Ray & Berndtson) is an alumnus of Cranfield. The company is a selection and executive recruitment company. The Odgers prize is given annually to the MBA student that show the most potential to succeed in business and management.

The process is as follows: all the MBA students are required to vote for one person (excluding themselves) in the class that should be given the prize. The five MBA students with the highest votes are then interviewed by a panel comprising of Ian Odgers, representatives of the management of Odgers Ray & Berndtson, the MBA director, the Head of the Cranfield School of Management and one or two MBA faculty. Then one student is selected based on the interviews.

I guess it depends on the number of initial votes you get from the class of 113 people. I guess this would depend on the leadership qualities, charisma and leadership exhibited within your various teams and in the MBA class in general. I also actually think it was the students that were perceived to be the most intelligent in the class that were voted for...but sincerely I believe it was just God that gave me the opportunity to be there.

RCA: Any advice for aspiring professionals out there?

CI: I’m not sure if I am competent enough to give general advice to aspiring professionals since I am one of them. But I believe that, with God's guidance and the right balance of hard work and timing (being at the right place at the right time), you can achieve anything..."only the person that is prepared, can seize opportunities when they present themselves."