As the AMBA & BGA Excellence Awards will soon be upon us, we’re profiling the MBA students and graduates who have made the shortlist of finalists. Today we speak to Shivani Ghai, who is a finalist in the category of MBA Student of the Year
Shivani Ghai holds a BSc in aerospace engineering from Texas A&M University and is pursuing my MBA at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business.
Formerly an Engineering Consultant in the Energy Sector, she is looking to impact the world sustainably, one emerging market at a time.
Having leveraged her people and project management skills to support international clients in three countries, she helped improve the safety and reliability of their facilities. I am now eager to combine these and other skills with her passion for social development to contribute towards the education and empowerment of disadvantaged youth and women.
She has lived and worked on four continents and values learning from diverse people and cultures. Her passions include travel, hiking, and working with others to identify innovative and sustainable solutions.
What qualities do you think defines the AMBA student of the year?
The AMBA student of the year must demonstrate a unique combination of skills which enable him/her to inspire a generation of professionals and students to pursue this life changing program. Of these skills, perhaps the most important is a keen interest and the ability to make a profound impact in any sphere.
Additionally, one must possess and leverage a world view driven by the importance of diversity and empowerment to make this impact. The other, often overlooked quality, given an MBA candidate’s perception as strong, ambitious and cutthroat, is servant leadership. Being in a position to complete one’s MBA is an immense privilege and gift that one must always aspire to give back, not just in a traditional sense, but also every day in one’s role as a leader.
Finally, in today’s context, agility and adaptability are key skills the AMBA student of year must have in his/her back pocket. Change is a constant in our world, and successful leaders must be able to evolve and respond to volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in order to make a true difference.
If you were to win this award, how would that make a difference to you?
In 2018, at the height of the US labour market expansion, I decided to give up my lucrative career to pursue a paradigm shift that I believed only an MBA could provide. I looked to the Graduate School of Business in South Africa where I believed a true difference could be made. While most believe that an MBA should be pursued to increase prospects, I believed that it could give me the tools to materialize the transformation I was seeking in the world. An MBA was not another paycheck bump but rather an opportunity to address social change, bridge inequalities and empower the next generation. Winning this award would be a validation of my choice and help bring about a shift from the traditional view of an MBA from ambition driven to purpose and meaning driven.
In the upcoming years I see myself carrying forward the torch for MBA students and inspire many more to pursue the same around the world. I am very fortunate to have such a diverse background which will help inspire young professionals and students from across not just South Africa, where I completed my MBA, but also the globe, of which I consider myself a citizen.
