Students of the Full-Time MBA 19 and 20 cohorts of Lagos Business School (LBS) interacted with esteemed companies at the 19th annual MBA Career Fair, which held virtually on Thursday, 18 November.
Themed ‘Reinvention for a Post-Pandemic Future’, the Career Fair provided a recruitment/interaction platform for the MBA students and top companies across industries.
LBS’ dean, Professor Chris Ogbechie, opened the event by welcoming participants to the LBS MBA Virtual Career Fair. “The annual Career Fair is a recruitment event that has grown in scope and relevance year after year” stated the dean, “It continues to facilitate interactions between companies and the students who have been nurtured over the years”.
Professor Ogbechie also reiterated the School’s commitment to developing responsible leaders who were well equipped to solve business problems.
Dr Henrietta Onwuegbuzie, the director of MBA programmes, expressed her appreciation to all the recruiters who had partnered with LBS over the years. She also welcomed new recruiters who collaborated with the School for the first time.
Mr Jordi Borrut, the managing director of HEINEKEN South Africa, was the keynote speaker at the event. He addressed the theme using his previous organisation, Nigerian Breweries, as a case study. Mr Borrut encouraged business managers to embrace competition because it would bring out the best in them and their organisations. “Competitions make you better”, he affirmed, “The more they come, the better because they give room for creativity”.
Mr Borrut emphasised three key learning points from his experience:
- Ask for help when you’re facing challenges
- Set simple, clear directions and communicate repeatedly
- Know that great challenges are opportunities to improve
He ended his keynote with the wise words: “You are who you are. Bring yourself to work”.
At the Career Fair, the final-year MBA students presented their industry reports to the recruiters after thorough research and preparations. The session was moderated by Chinwe Ajene-Sagna, the managing partner of Catalyst Realty Solutions, and analysed by Chinenye Agwu, the global senior business development manager of Flutterwave.
The industry reports focussed on five key areas: an overview of the global economy, and analyses of the oil and gas industry, the ICT industry, the FMCG industry, and the banking industry.
The 29 companies that participated in the Career Fair included AFEX, Amazon Energy, AOS Orwell, Axxela Group, BASF, BusinessDay, Dow, FBN Holdings, Flutterwave, FoodCo Nigeria Limited, Godrej, IHS Towers, Interswitch, Lafarge, the International Finance Corporation, Mandilas, McKinsey & Company, MTN, Nigerian Bottling Company, Nigerian Breweries Plc, OVH Energy, PwC, Regency Overseas Company Ltd, RxAll, Sahara Group, Saro Africa, Signal Alliance, Viathan Engineering Limited, and Zedcrest Group.
Interactions between the students and recruiters took place on the Highered virtual booth platforms.
The LBS Career Fair is organised by the Lagos Business School MBA Careers and Placement Office.
