QS Community Scholarship Winner: Omonefe Etomi

We are happy to announce that Omonefe Etomi is one of this year’s recipients of the QS Community Scholarship. The QS Community Scholarship is awarded to five MBA applicants who demonstrate exceptional levels of socially responsible leadership and an ability to motivate others. The scholarship is worth US$2,000.

Omonefe will be undertaking her MBA at HEC Paris. She chose HEC as in her future career she wants to work across Africa, particularly West Africa, so learning French and about the French culture is of great importance to her. She’s also looking forward to the opportunity to participate in one of their exchange programs.

Prior to her decision to do an MBA, Omonefe studied accounting and finance, worked in finance at Deutsche Bank London and undertook an ACA (Chartered Accounting Qualification).

She moved to her native Nigeria in 2016 to take part in National Service, and when she was there, worked in a small consulting firm. This inspired her to change her career path into the consulting industry. After completing her MBA, Omonefe hopes to “use strategy consulting as a means of building up SMEs in Africa with a focus on social impact”

She notes the impact the QS MBA Tour had on her decision to take the next step in her career:

“Once I knew for certain I wanted to change careers, I went to the QS MBA Tour and I knew an MBA was just what I needed- a perfect way to change careers but not necessarily start from the bottom again.”

Omonefe is a QS events veteran, having attended three MBA fairs in London and Lagos. She says the fairs “completely exceeded my expectations”, noting the benefits of the talks from schools and alumni and the opportunities for one-on-one sessions with business school deans. She enthuses: “Everything was so insightful and so well organized it blew me away! I left knowing for sure I wanted to do an MBA.”

She is looking forward to starting her MBA at HEC and hopes to gain a lot from her experience there. The diversity of the class and alumni network is a major factor for her, as it will give her the international exposure that she desires.

She says: “I recently met some of the alum and I’m excited for what the future holds; the knowledge - the curriculum genuinely excites me, and I almost wish the program was longer, so I could study more electives! I’m also excited about the opportunity to learn a new language and just have a bit of fun being a student again.”

Along with the QS Community Scholarship, Omonefe was also awarded a merit-based scholarship from HEC. She notes that the scholarship application process ended up feeling just like another school application process, which she was used to, saying that: “While I had to ensure I got my achievements across clearly, I didn’t feel like it necessarily added an extra layer of stress, which I’m grateful for.”

She states that being awarded a QS Community Scholarship “makes a huge difference to my funding, because – following the economic crisis in Nigeria – the value of my savings dropped, so I’m grateful to have a bit of the financial pressure taken off.”

Advice for other applicants

“Just go for it. When I was applying for this, I was hoping I would get it, but I didn’t think I would. Luckily this didn’t discourage me because I thought to myself ‘what do I have to lose by applying?’. Honestly, sometimes you just need to believe in yourself and show people what you have achieved. I’m glad it worked out for me and I’m sure it’ll work out for many others.”

Omonefe also shares her advice for applicants attending one of QS’s MBA events:

“My advice to future attendees is, while it’s great to have a plan and be focused, it’s worth being open minded as well. I went in only wanting to look at schools in North America, the US to be specific, but here I am off to a school in France and I have no regrets.”