I have built a career tackling what I believe to be humanity’s most pressing challenge: climate change. Along the way, I’ve learned lessons which have shaped my worldview: while working at an environmental advocacy nonprofit in China, I found top-down policy could enable great planning, which in turn created walkable and livable cities. In Myanmar, I was enlivened by how people adapted and built resilience against climate disasters. Most recently, back home in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve learned how decades of inequitable capital investments – particularly in mobility – can lead to inequitable outcomes, which can be solved with local and micro solutions.
Having built an international and cross-sector career, I knew I wanted to learn from a cohort of older, experienced, international, and industry-diverse colleagues. It was therefore easy to choose the Oxford MBA. It’s also been ingrained in me to think of business as fertile grounds for social impact. Säid’s social impact DNA felt like a perfect fit for a non-traditional MBA like myself. To solve the climate crisis, I need coursework in business fundamentals, a global network, and co-curriculars in the climate, consulting, and impact space. More importantly, climate solutions likely live in the public-private partnership (PPP) or cross-sector gaps, and I hope working with my cohort will test that hypothesis
Post-MBA, I hope to take my experiences to consult for governments and companies to reduce their scope one and two emissions. To get there, I plan to join climate-focused programs like the Climate Oxford Business Network (OBN), where I can engage classmates on the energy transition and encourage incorporating sustainability into every sector. I also plan to initiate reading groups and discussion groups where we can draw from our host of experiences to discuss both policy and business solutions. I also plan to consult for a climate startup as part of Creative Destruction Lab (CDL) to learn about cutting-edge solutions to fight the climate crisis. I am eager to contribute to an early-stage startup, engage with experts in the climate world, and offer my fundraising, research, and project management skills.
Already, the year has begun, and our time and capacities are getting stretched. From accounting (KPMG) and tech (Google) colleagues from Singapore and Silicon Valley to consulting (McKinsey) colleagues from Kenya and Australia to my public sector heroes from Peru, South Korea, and Canada, I’m already beginning to learn from my classmates. I can’t wait to see how my worldview expands by this time next year.
