Sylvia Darko
Full-time MBA, 2006
Country of origin: Ghana
Employer: Atlantis Radio
Lancaster MBA graduate Sylvia Darko was featured in The Independent - a national newspaper in the UK - on 19 April 2007. In The Independent profile, Sylvia talked to reporter James Morrison about why the Lancaster MBA was a life-changing experience for her.
For Sylvia Darko, senior executive with a popular commercial radio station in Ghana, taking a year out to study for her MBA at Lancaster University Management School was a passport to instant promotion and a huge leap in salary.
The 30-year-old had already climbed from sales to general manager at Accra-based Atlantis Radio in five years by juggling her day job with a BSc in administration. From this point there was only one way up - to company director - and she's in no doubt it was her MBA that made the final jump possible.
"I knew that to push ahead further on the corporate ladder, a BSc would not be enough," she says, recounting her decision to apply for an MBA on completing her undergraduate studies in 2002. "My earning potential post-MBA has definitely increased. Two years ago, as general manager, I was earning 70 per cent less that I earn today as a board member of Mascott Multi-Service Ltd (owner of Atlantis)."
Darko, who left Lancaster last year, was attracted to studying in Britain by the flexible teaching structures and international reputations of many UK schools.
"I chose the UK for a couple of reasons: first, rather than do a two-year programme, a number of UK schools were offering a one-year course," she says. "I needed a quick turnaround, so I would not be away from work for too long. Secondly, I wanted that external exposure and the opportunity to interact with colleagues other than Ghanaians to learn first-hand about their ways of doing things."
In choosing a specific school, Sylvia was guided, like most applicants, by the league tables - and, in particular, the Financial Times Top 100, which ranks Lancaster number one in the UK for value for money. But she was also lured by the "challenge" of Lancaster's tripartite application procedure, which involved her having to write three academic essays, and pass both the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) and a lengthy telephone interview.
The course was, she says, "a rollercoaster ride" - but one which thoroughly equipped her for the role of a modern-day business executive.
"Our various consultancy projects often posed big challenges to us," she says. "From all kinds of professional backgrounds, students on the programme were thrown into businesses - many of whose operations we had no prior knowledge of. All my working life has been in the media, but here was I consulting for a multi-million pound transport company or a multinational bank."
So what is the most important lesson from her MBA? "In a nutshell, I think I'm a better manager with the MBA; I'm achieving objectives and targets better; I have a better social life because I'm better organised and more analytical and critical in my thinking," she says. "At the same time, my colleagues say there are broader smiles on my face more often than before. Personally, I am happier."
