Heropreneurs Award winners share the transformative benefits of their MBA

In 2025, Warwick Business School are teaming up with military charity Heropreneurs once again to offer transformative scholarships to the military community to study one of our prestigious MBA programmes. Below, previous winners of the Heropreneurs Awards discuss their experience of applying and the incredible benefits that our various MBA programmes have provided them. Applications for 2025 are now open - find out more about the Awards and how to apply.

Luke Parker - Executive MBA and Heropreneurs Award Winner 2022

I had reached a pivotal point in my military career and made the difficult decision to leap into a new role. At the time, I believed that what would hold me back was a lack of ‘business experience’ and that an Executive MBA would make me a more rounded candidate for the roles I was targeting in technology.

Applying for Heropreneurs

I was drawn to WBS because of the school’s rankings and alumni. Additionally, the British Army has a great relationship with WBS. I couldn’t self-fund and had begun exploring some of the many scholarships offered. Serendipitously, a friend and previous Heropreneurs WBS Award winner shared a LinkedIn post about the amazing scholarship opportunities WBS was offering in collaboration with Heropreneurs - including the 100% scholarship award. The application process consisted of a few mini-essays, an interview, and finally, a Dragon's Den-style pitch at The Shard in London. The WBS team were extremely supportive during every step of the application.

My MBA Experience

I recently completed the Entrepreneurial Finance module delivered in San Francisco USA. As part of the module you visit both UC Berkeley and Stanford Campuses as well as a host of Venture Capitalists. I was also able to take some of my WBS classmates to the San Francisco Google offices. The international modules WBS offers as part of its curriculum are second to none and introduce you to the wider international business school network.

Now that I have completed most of my MBA modules, I have been able to shape my electives to customise more closely what I want from my MBA to match my future. This is opening new opportunities and developing my skills for my recent career pivot.

There has not been a module yet that I have not taken value from, which is a testament to the programming and faculty. However, a significant amount of the value comes from outside of the material the professors deliver. A huge amount of value comes from the experience, stories, and lessons shared by the MBA attendees. Within my cohort there are nine countries represented and most industries - I enjoy using the networking and break times to discuss each others’ experience and learn how different industries and cultures approach business issues.

What are you hoping to achieve in the next two years, and beyond?

The knowledge and experience I have gained from the MBA is being recognised within my role at Google; it is allowing me to add value to Delivery and Operations, Marketing, Sales, and Management teams. My goal in the next two years is to make measurable progress towards a Director role and drive the growth of the EMEA Google Veterans Network.

Additionally, the Executive MBA has introduced me to several networks and individuals with a mutual passion for supporting technology start-ups. The skills I have developed around finance and entrepreneurialism have given me a great foundation to begin my journey as an Angel Investor focussing on Defence and technology. I recently Co-Founded an Defence Angel investing community called Ante-Bellum Angels growing the membership to 25  and have begun supporting UK Defence and Security startups - within the next 2 years I am confident we will achieve our first successful exit.

Advice for prospective Heropreneurs applicants

This will be one of the most significant investments in your personal development. As service personnel or veterans, you may feel like you do not have the requisite business experience to undertake an MBA; but you couldn’t be more wrong. The knowledge, skills, and experience developed during a military career complement the industry experience of your cohort, and they will welcome your hard-won insights.
 

Katie Muldoon - Global Online MBA (London) and Heropreneurs Award Winner 2022

Towards the end of 2021, I took the leap from a corporate job and started my own company. I wanted to combine my military experience, corporate management consulting, and my in-depth psychology studies to offer a new kind of leadership coaching for leaders corporate management consulting, and my psychoanalytic studies to offer a new kind of leadership approach for leaders. 

Using my military networks

Although I had left the military in 2014, I naturally reached for my military networks to explore what support was available. I sensed that the camaraderie and spirit I remember from my ten years in the RAF would be built-in to these networks and knew I would need it on this journey.

Discovering Heropreneurs and making my application

I discovered Heropreneurs whilst I was working with a mentor, and realised that this initiative offered scholarships at Warwick Business School (WBS). I couldn’t believe the match in values to my own business aspirations and the School’s Change Makers, who are driven by Curiosity, Openness, Restlessness and Excellence. 

The whole application process was a real moment of reflection for me, helping me refine my business proposition and cement my motivation for applying. I didn’t have all the answers for my business yet, which is exactly why I was applying for a scholarship. 

How the Global Online MBA helped me find my niche

After having received the scholarship, I’ve now completed all the modules of the Global Online MBA and am now writing a dissertation exploring the impact of technology on our metacognition and what this means for developing leaders strategic thinking abilities and handling of complexity. The insights from the lessons, working in technology ecosystems and own my psychanalytic practice, have allowed me to synthesise all avenues of my working world.

I cannot recommend applying for the Heropreneurs Awards enough - the process of learning and collaborating, exchanging ideas with my new network and increased knowledge is helping to build my business every day.
 

Henry Middleton - Accelerator MBA and Heropreneurs Award Winner 2023

I joined the British Army in 2009. After an intensive year of leadership training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, I commissioned into the Royal Artillery where I managed to squeeze in a couple of operational tours, training overseas, and some excellent lessons in applied leadership through trial and error!

I left the Army in 2016 to work for a social enterprise who implement international development projects in the Global South and am now the Chief Operations Officer there supporting project teams to deliver some amazing, impactful projects in places like Yemen, Haiti and Lebanon.

My motivations for pursuing the Accelerator MBA

I wanted to purse an MBA because I was noticing gaps in my knowledge as I was becoming exposed to having to make more commercial, strategic business decisions.  I was also developing a growing interest in how private sector investment can have positive social and environmental impact and wanted to explore that more.

I’d been considering various MBAs for a few years and had never quite taken the plunge due to various work and personal commitments, and the small matter of a global pandemic, which I felt would limit the opportunity to grow my network. When I read about the Heropreneurs WBS scholarship in 2023 and looked at the programmes available at WBS, I decided to go for it and I’m really glad I did.

After I found out that I’d been accepted by WBS they suggested that I take a look at the Accelerator MBA, which blends the flexibility of the top ranked Global Online MBA with the in person Executive MBA in a roughly 20:80 split. This format is perfect for me and blends the best of both worlds and fits around my work life, which often involves travel.

My experience on the Accelerator MBA programme

Everyone at WBS have been brilliant, enthusiastic and helpful from the get-go and they really foster an amazing culture that is both motivating and nurturing. The course material itself is really interesting and I found myself immersed in the topic for the first assessment and finding that I was immediately able to apply my new knowledge into my professional life.

My cohort are brilliant. Everyone comes from such different backgrounds and bring rich experiences from their own careers. Everyone is hugely motivated with a number of our cohort travelling to London from around the word for the face-to-face sessions and getting online late in the night for their time zones. Everyone is so committed, and you can see why WBS MBA graduates are Change Makers.

I’m conscious that the MBA will fly by very quickly and so I want to be quite strategic in how I use it to achieve my goals. For me this means, making some tough choices about which modules I want to take as electives as they all sound so interesting. I also want to engage with the WBS CareersPlus team and the Executive Coaching that is available to make sure I maximise the opportunity, whilst at WBS.