In October 2020, one month after submitting his dissertation, Full-time MBA alum Colin Tebbett, found himself in Rwanda with the opportunity to test out his plan in the real world.

What did you do before embarking on your MBA?

My career started at 18 working at a family company. From there I worked in media shooting a film across India, in Egypt for my own renewables company followed by private equity and finance in real estate, and a couple of years in Germany for a media tech start-up.

What prompted you to study an MBA?

Mainly my wife! She encouraged me to look into an MBA and the idea took hold. Following a lot of research the WBS MBA looked a great programme to round out my rather varied practical experience, provide academic backing and opportunity for introspection after 17 working years, and to expand my network.

How have the CareersPlus team supported you?

I had great interactions with the CareersPlus team throughout the year. Perhaps the best support came through events and meetups that the team hosted in Warwick and London. The academic modules throughout the MBA were interesting, but I find engagement with industry practitioners most revealing. I’m still in contact with many of the interesting people we met, and found the open and honest conversations from people in banking, tech, aerospace, and more very helpful and inspiring.

Post MBA, have you realised your career aspirations?

OX hosted my MBA project and dissertation, where I created a framework for placing innovative products of social enterprise into emerging markets. We were fortunate enough to raise money in September 2020 – the same month I submitted my dissertation. One month later, I found myself in Rwanda, with the amazing opportunity to test out my plan in the real world! Within five months, we had employees, a pilot up and running, and a scalable plan for rolling out electric trucks for PAYGO mobility in rural communities.

What plans do you have for the future?

Learnings from OX’s pilot show pronounced demand for affordable, sustainable transport, and the opportunity is there to rollout more pilots and trucks across East Africa and further afield.

Wherever I end up, I plan to use my experience in start-ups, finance, and business development together with lessons from my MBA and Entrepreneurship Specialism. I hope that together they form a strong base from which to take projects forward and grow companies.