Winner of the Go Global MBA Scholarship 2023 by educations.com

Meet Esther Ajari, the winner of the 2023 Go Global MBA Scholarship!

Esther Ajari is the winner of the 2023 Go Global MBA Scholarship by educations.com. 

Esther has been awarded $7,000 towards her tuition for an MBA in Business, Economics, and Policy, and Multinational Management at the Wharton Business School in Pennsylvania.  

Esther is a medical doctor and founder of The TriHealthon, an NGO focused on improving the health and well-being of vulnerable women and children in Africa. Esther plans to use her MBA to work in multinational government organizations like the African Union and the United Nations. 

Esther’s Background

Esther was born and raised in a rural, indigenous community in Nigeria with few doctors and little access to medical services.  When she lost a childhood friend to cancer and realized that he would have had a better chance if he had had better access to healthcare and medical services, Esther was inspired to become a doctor.  

She also saw the need for female practitioners, because the women in her community were not always comfortable consulting with the available doctors, all of whom were men. When the government launched a teaching hospital in Esther’s community, Esther saw the opportunity to become a doctor who could serve and understand her community. She was accepted to medical school at the age of 15. Through her studies, Esther also learned the importance of healthcare administration in providing access and care.  

As a doctor and advocate, Esther gives vulnerable women and children access to healthcare, provides resources and training, and conducts research to end period poverty, teen pregnancy, and childhood malnutrition in Africa. Esther has been a Dalai Lama Fellow, an African Union Ambassador, and an international consultant to the Council of Europe. 

How Esther chose her country of study

Esther had planned to study Community Health at the National Autonomous University of Mexico as a global study winner with the Student Network Organization in 2020. Due to the global pandemic, the program was completed digitally, and the experience gave Esther a sense of the benefits of international study. When she decided to pursue an MBA, she knew it would be as an international student. Esther chose Wharton’s business program because the school boasts numerous electives and multidisciplinary majors that will allow Esther to shape her experience as an MBA student. She plans to double-major in business, economics, and policy, and multinational management. 

While completing her MBA, Esther will step back from the day-to-day opportunities of her NGO, TriHealthon. However, she looks forward to the opportunities Wharton, and Philadelphia, offer to continue working in philanthropy and advocacy. Wharton recently partnered with Resilience Education, an initiative that brings business education to incarcerated people and Esther hopes to participate in the program. Another program close to Esther’s heart is Rise on Boards (formerly Girls on Boards), which was started while she was the African Union’s Ambassadors for girls. Esther wants to use her connections in business school to find opportunities for young people to get similar experiences. 

How Esther plans to become a globally-minded leader

Through her work with The TriHealthon, Esther has realized that the best way to create large-scale societal change is to do, not ask. By earning an MBA from Wharton Business School in the United States, Esther hopes to gain the multidisciplinary knowledge needed to transition into a leadership role within multinational governments or organizations that facilitate change on an international scale.

You can watch Esther receive her award below.