Skollar 2007/08
Mike Quinn came to Oxford after completing an MSc in Development Management at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Prior to that, he spent 16 months in southern Zambia implementing an agricultural commercialization project for CARE International and Engineers without Borders Canada, and ten months in Ghana assisting a small NGO to implement an agro-processing enterprise development programme in villages lacking electricity.
Mike chose to do an MBA to develop his business acumen and so maximise the social impact of his work. He selected the Saïd Business School because of the reputation of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship. Highlights of his year included travelling to Paris for the European MBA Olympics and hearing Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Paul Farmer and others speak at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. "Student life at Oxford is unique," he says. "I had a glass of champagne with the President of Ghana my first month and sat across from Roger Bannister at a formal dinner in my college in the springtime!"
Mike has moved to Lusaka, Zambia to launch a venture called African Enterprise Partners, which aims to facilitate social investment into Africa. “Africa is full of social enterprises but investors struggle to find the good ones,” he says. “By identifying and matching socially-motivated investors with high-impact investment opportunities in Africa, coupled with intensive field-based investment support, we will play a valuable role in this space.” His first contract is to build the investment pipeline for the Grassroots Business Fund in Zambia and Malawi.
He singles out two experiences at Oxford that helped him to "raise his game". The first was the entrepreneurship project carried out in Hilary Term, which gave him the opportunity to work with classmates to develop a business plan for a new investment fund in Africa. "Being based in Oxford with London just an hour away, we were able to interview some of the world's leading thinkers and practitioners in this space. The concept behind African Enterprise Partners was largely born from this experience," he says.
The second was the Strategic Consulting Project carried out in summer 2008. Mike joined three other Oxford MBAs in The Gambia for one month to conduct a full strategic audit of a social enterprise called Gambia is Good, which markets horticulture products from smallholder farmers to the tourist industry. "We were able to assess the entire business and then bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to facilitate a shared vision, goals, and strategic focus. It was a tremendous learning experience and I gained many insights that will directly benefit me when building African Enterprise Partners," Mike says.