8/10/2019 AMBAssador You Are Really Spoiling Us

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HE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAYOCTOBER 2013

Stephen Hoare finds out about the peoplechampioning the best of the MBA philosophy

Ambassador,

youre reallyspoiling us

When it comes tobuilding a brand,Hemant Chandran,an MBA alumnifrom Strathclyde

Business School, is an ideal rolemodel. Chandran organised andhosted two webinars on innovation

and project quality while studyingfor his full-time MBA last year, in-viting Strathclyde academics to ad-dress a worldwide audience online.He also contributes to a blog aboutcampus life used by the businessschool and he fields email inquiriesfrom prospective students.

Chandran, a real-estate valuationconsultant for Deloitte in India,is one of the most recent global am-bassadors for the Associationof MBAs (AMBA). He is one of a30-strong cohort of business stu-dents and alumni chosen bybusiness schools to represent theinternational accreditation body.Appointed for a three-year term,ambassadors are drawn from 23business schools in 12 countriesand across four continents. Travel

and accommodation costs are metby their business school, whileAMBA pays their conferencefees.

An ambassador champions theglobal MBA alumni network andsupports the engagement and par-ticipation of fellow MBA students.Being an ambassador carries withit the opportunity to networkaround the world, while sponsor-ing business schools gain a raisedinternational and media profile.

Having alumni and students pre-senting at international conferenceshelps spread knowledge and ideas.AMBA uses its young ambassadorsto promote its brand and businessschool network in expanding over-seas markets, such as Croatia whereMBA student Marko Kukic, from

Contrugli Business School, hasbeen advising prospective studentson accredited-MBA benefits.

The idea of creating a networkof brand ambassadors is a triedand tested formula, according toAndrew Main-Wilson, chief execu-tive of AMBA, who joined from theInstitute of Directors (IoD). Main-Wilson says: We did it at the IoDwith the Young Directors Forum,which we set up seven years ago.It was all about inspiring otheryoung entrepreneurs and start-upsto join us. Progressive membershiporganisations set up these net-works as a way of promoting thebest of the brand, and the best ofwhat the brand stands for. Main-Wilson sums up the brand astomorrows global business lead-ers, plus todays global thoughtleaders.

A lot of thought goes into theprocess of recruiting a global AMBAambassador. An essay and intervieware designed to select the candidatewith the best communication skillsand the commitment, energy andconviction to champion their cause.Choosing the right individual

makes all the difference. They mustnot only be a good role model, butalso have the time to make the com-mitment, says Main-Wilson.

He points to the work of Ha Nguy-en, who did an MBA at the Universityof Southampton Business School.Since then he has organised a hugeevent for 200 people promoting theMBA to potential students from hishome country, Vietnam.

Each February, AMBA ambassa-dors attend its global leadershipconference, which is taking placeat Audencia business schoolin Nantes next year. This year sannual conference at Cape Townwas one of the best experiences ofmy MBA. University of Stellen-bosch hosted us and I made a lot ofnew contacts, not just other ambas-

sadors, but entrepreneurs fromUganda and Sudan who have foughtagainst the tide, and I also met lead-ers from the US space programme,Nasa, says Chandran.

But there is another importantfocal point to the AMBA ambassa-dors role, the annual GlobalChallenge, a competition designedto promote thought leadership. Thisyears challenge was around socialbusiness and ambassadors weretasked with interviewing entrepre-neurs involved in setting upnon-governmental organisations(NGOs) and discovering what madetheir work sustainable.

This years winners were BrigitteRoediger from University of Stel-lenbosch Business School andDavina McCormick, an MBA stu-

dent from Queensland Universityof Technology Business School.They will be invited to present theirresearch and findings, with Roedi-ger attending the United NationsPRME Summit in Slovenia on the25 September, and McCormickbeing present at the Grameen Crea-tive Lab and Yunis Centres GlobalSocial Business Summit in Malay-sia on 6 November.

Roediger, brand manager forSpier Wine Farm in South Africa,found and interviewed Mignon Har-die, Stellenbosch alumni andfounder of Fundza, an NGO aimedat encouraging literacy.

Every teenager has a mobilephone and can download storiesvia an online platform where youngpeople can swap stories and leavecomments. Its what South Africaneeds, explains Roediger.

Global winner: Brigitte

Roediger (near right) from

University of Stellenbosch

School with Mignon Hardie

(centre)

MBA FOCUS|13

She interviewed Hardie at her pub-lishing company, Cover to CoverBooks, and quickly realised howmuch she was investing in a socialcause. The first thing that struck mewas her dedication, the way she wasgoing to stick with this idea throughthick and thin. I started crying at how

someone could do so much goodwith an MBA, says Roediger.With a background in financial

services, Davina McCormick joined

electricity distributor Energexwhere she is responsible for cus-tomer and stakeholder engagement.A global AMBA ambassador sinceFebruary 2013, McCormick basedher challenge on fellow alumnusPaul Quilliams mission to establisha childrens hospice for Queensland.

The nearest available hospice is a12-hour drive away, so there is clear-ly a gap in provision. Quilliam hasapproached the problem with a very

commercial mindset, finding corpo-rate sponsors who could help himraise the money, says McCormick.

Main-Wilson plans to extend theglobal AMBA ambassador networkand says an announcement will bemade after the board meets to for-malise its business plan early next

year. Clearly, the ambassadors willhelp realise the accreditation bodysambition to create a network thatwill reshape the world of business.

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