GEMBA Archives - IESE Standout

Fernanda Lopes Larsen, planting seeds for a better world. Success Stories

IESE Standout — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 07:25:39 +0000

Fernanda Lopes Larsen (IESE Global Executive MBA 2023) is Executive Vice President Africa & Asia of Yara, whose mission is to feed the world and protect the planet. She received the WIN Inspiring Women Worldwide Award.

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When Fernanda Lopes Larsen moved to Norway in 2012, she wasn’t expecting to have that much trouble fitting in. After all, this was the fifth country for the Brazil-born civil engineering graduate, after studying in Austria and working in Germany and the United Kingdom. How hard could it be?

“It was the biggest culture shock of my life,” she says. She recalls feeling out of place, both professionally, in a traditional company with a corporate culture very different from the ones she had worked in before, and personally, as a self-described “loud, extroverted Brazilian woman.”

Even so, since landing a job at the Norwegian fertilizer company Yara, she has quickly moved up the ranks to become a member of the senior management team. She is now based in Singapore, as Yara’s Executive Vice President for the African, Asian and Oceanian markets.

“I credit the struggle and hardship of the early days with making me the leader I am today,” she says. It taught her to stick her neck out for causes she believes in. Today, as a diversity and inclusion campaigner, she is on the front line of conversations about sustainability and social equality.

Rethinking the system

“If I’m still at Yara, it’s because of its strong mission,” she says. “We’re here to feed the world and protect the planet.”

The company has a strong commitment to decarbonizing fertilizer production and supporting an agricultural transition to being carbon-neutral and nature positive. Fertilizers are essential if we are going to feed a growing global population, particularly under the added stress of climate change. But food production is a heavily polluting industry, responsible for an estimated quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

What does an agricultural transition look like? “It’s recognizing we have to find a new way to farm,” she says, explaining that Yara’s approach is built on three pillars.

First, as ammonia is the foundational ingredient of most fertilizers, it starts by producing ammonia in a cleaner way — decarbonizing its production by using renewables instead of natural gas. There’s also what’s called blue ammonia, which captures and stores the CO2 generated during ammonia production, making the process virtually carbon neutral.

Beyond cleaning up production, the other two pillars are embracing regenerative agriculture and promoting farmer prosperity. Regenerative agriculture involves practices that enable farmers to increase yield and nutrient efficiency, reduce water consumption, and protect the soil. Prosperity is also key, because making progress on emissions should not have to come at the expense of smallholder farmers, some of the poorest people in the world, and responsible for at least a third of the world’s food production. It also means addressing the 30% of food that goes to waste, often because of the difficulty in accessing marketplaces. “Improving systems that will help farmers access knowledge and offtake markets can help lift them out of poverty,” she says.

Lopes Larsen has seen the global conversation on sustainability evolve greatly over the years she has been with Yara. What’s the view from Asia, where a Green Deal akin to that of Europe is starting to be discussed. “It’s not a solid, unified voice yet,” she says. But those voices are growing louder, particularly at recent ASEAN summits.

Regarding Singapore, “I always say that many of the solutions to transition the food system to something more consistently sustainable may, ironically, come from a country that doesn’t grow much itself: currently 90% of its food is imported. But what Singapore does is invest massive amounts of money in science, technology, agritech and sustainable agriculture: the government has a strategy to produce 30% of its food by 2030.”

Although there’s still much work to be done, Lopes Larsen believes overhauling the food system and reducing its effects on the planet is possible — but it requires radical change. And advocating for change, on a personal as well as professional level, is something she feels passionate about.

Using her platform for good

Another area where she has been working for change is in diverse representation in management. Despite Brazil’s reputation as a racial democracy, she recalls being one of a small minority of Black students at her university. Moving to Europe raised her consciousness, and she began to develop the vocabulary to describe the systemic racism that she witnessed and experienced.

“Being a Black woman in the corporate world has really increased my awareness of these issues,” she says. “Because being Black is not something that I can (or want to) switch off in the morning when I go to work, in order to fit into the environments that I am part of. I want to bring my full self to work — and that includes my culture, my ancestry and my Brazilian upbringing.”

Her activism in this space was galvanized by the shocking death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer in the United States in 2020. “It’s a little embarrassing for me to admit that it took an American dying on camera, when Brazilian kids die in favelas every single day, but there was something about an innocent Black man killed for the entire world to see that was transformational for me.”

Together with a colleague, she went to her CEO to demand action on improving the corporate world for young Black leaders. “I thought I would get fired, but I figured, what is the point of being in a leadership position if I cannot use this platform?”

Instead, her CEO responded with his full support, and a program for Black leaders was established to help them navigate the corporate world better, something Lopes Larsen says she wishes she had had when she was starting out.

“I’m proud of how my company responded,” she says, “and I wish more people would speak up and use their platform. Ultimately, the goal is that we can all go to work being ourselves and have equal access to opportunities.”

Speaking up and moving the conversation forward is important, because so much still needs to be done. “Look at the composition of the boards of the world’s top companies,” she says, pointing to their general lack of diversity. “And so many companies are still not taking the climate emergency seriously.”

In this sense, she cites as inspiration two Brazilian compatriots, Luana Genot and Adriana Barbosa, “who through their relentless advocacy work have empowered and opened the doors of opportunities to countless Black Brazilians” in the corporate world. She met them at the Davos summit, which she attended for the second time in 2022.

“For those who think the World Economic Forum event is just an elite gathering, they couldn’t be more wrong. I’ve met fantastic CEOs, entrepreneurs, public officials and third sector leaders who are humble, purpose-driven and committed to resolving the most urgent issues we face as a planet today: food security and climate change. I’ve had the privilege to meet some of the most amazing minds, particularly women, who are at the forefront of the fight for racial equality, social justice and prosperity.” She also connected with African presidents, business leaders and entrepreneurs “who share a passion for Africa that is worth emulating. I have never felt so much pride in my African ancestry and so much sense of belonging.”

Lopes Larsen remains ever hopeful: “I think the corporate world is a major actor. We have the intellectual competence, and we employ a lot of people. So when the corporate world moves, other parts of the world will as well. Nothing will deter me from continuing to advocate with the tools I have at my disposal.”

And though she may never see the fruits of her labor in her or her daughter’s lifetime, she says, “Honestly, I don’t need the flowers, I just want to make sure I am helping to plant the seeds.”

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Carlos Archilla-Cady, reaching for the stars. Success stories

IESE Standout — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 10:11:06 +0000

Pediatric anesthesiologist, speaker and advocate for disability inclusion, based in Florida. A U.S. Navy veteran, he recently completed the Global Executive MBA at IESE. He collaborates with commercial space companies to test the effects of zero gravity on eye pressure in a person with glaucoma, and he is preparing for his first space flight in 2025.

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Reaching for the stars

In 2000, Dr. Carlos Archilla-Cady was driving home from work when he lost all vision – the world suddenly became a dense white fog before him. He managed to pull over, and in half an hour, his sight had cleared enough to continue home. Badly shaken, he went to an ophthalmologist. His eye pressures were found to be highly elevated, characteristic of glaucoma.

It was the beginning of many years of challenges, operations and even corneal transplants – but also the beginning of new adventures and (literally) new horizons that would soon be sending him into space.

A career backup plan

As a pediatric anesthesiologist at Nemours Children’s Health in Orlando, Florida, Archilla-Cady knew that any permanent vision impairment would have left him unable to work as a clinician. When glaucoma was formally diagnosed, “I realized how much I had to lose,” he recalls.

For the next 19 years, he was subject to a range of steadily more invasive procedures, from eyedrops several times a day, to operations to insert fluid-draining valves behind his eyelids, to eventually corneal transplants. These transplants were rejected by his body twice, but the third one, in 2019, has been successful so far.

Being a transplant recipient has made him a passionate advocate of organ, tissue and eye donation. “I am eternally grateful to the donors and their families,” he says, explaining that not only did they restore his sight, they gave him a new lease on life.

Throughout these ups and downs, Archilla-Cady realized he would need a career backup plan if he never fully recovered. As a healthcare leader, he believed in lifelong learning and had taken various courses at prestigious business schools. But now he felt he needed a formal degree, which led him to the Global Executive MBA at IESE, which he began in 2020.

“IESE was very accommodating of my disability the whole time, something that I needed most at the beginning of the program,” he says. “While I was applying, I mentioned that I would need certain accommodations, which they were happy to provide. By the time I actually started, I was on the road to recovery following my latest transplant.”

This episode of disability has sensitized him to the need for inclusion in all aspects of life and in the business world, and for Archilla-Cady, that mission has taken on epic proportions.

Redefining “the right stuff”

Usually, children dream of becoming astronauts. The reality is that professional astronauts are an elite club – part scientist, part Olympic athlete. The term “the right stuff” – referring to the mental and physical traits needed to succeed – was popularized by the book and movie of the same name, about the first human spaceflight program of the United States at the height of the Space Race. But what if what was considered “the right stuff” in the ’50s and ’60s was wrong today? Archilla-Cady reflected on this when thinking about the 1997 fire aboard the Mir space station. In that fire, the crew were slow to respond due to a power cut that left them in the dark. Might someone with a visual impairment have been able to react more quickly?

The astronaut dream suddenly took on new meaning. When Archilla-Cady read about a group of people living with disabilities who were invited on a zero-gravity flight, he felt uniquely positioned to add value.

Astronauts who spend significant time on the International Space Station often experience swelling of the optic nerve and have reduced vision when they return to Earth. As someone living with a complex eye disease, Archilla-Cady was concerned about the effects of microgravity on visual acuity. Data have been gathered from healthy volunteers, but Archilla-Cady felt data collected from people like him could provide richer insights into the effects of microgravity on the human eye, opening the potential for people like him to participate in space travel.

Archilla-Cady has already completed microgravity training with NASA and undergone a zero-gravity simulation flight, in which he made what are believed to be the first-in-history measurements of its effects on eye pressure in a person with active glaucoma.

“My pressures were normal before the flight,” he says. “However, my intraocular pressures increased 31% in both eyes within seconds of entering zero gravity and returned to normal within minutes of leaving zero gravity.”

Asked if subjecting his eyes to these extreme conditions worries him, Archilla-Cady responds that “there are always risks but my medical team believes these are minimal. After eight minutes in zero gravity, my pressures normalized, with no lasting effects.”

With space travel getting to be less and less of a dream and more of a reality for non-career astronauts, Archilla-Cady plans to be blasting off in 2025, pleased to represent in space the kind of inclusion that he also works hard to achieve on Earth. Adamant that space exploration needs to democratize access, he is cheered that a community of businesses and individuals are working to make inclusion in space travel possible. He believes the experiences of people living with disabilities can help experts come up with innovative solutions to include them in future space exploration programs. Those who go into outer space frequently report how it gives them an entirely new perspective on Earth, leading them to appreciate the planet and value human connectedness even more – something that resonates with Archilla-Cady’s own life-changing journey.

Disability as an asset

Ever since that fateful drive home, Archilla-Cady has had to work creatively to deal with his fluctuating vision and the various interventions to improve it. The experience underscored for him both the importance of disability inclusion and the special skill set that having a disability often fosters.

Specifically, living with a disability requires resilience, grit, determination, empathy and flexibility – all desirable traits in employees and leaders more generally. Archilla-Cady, for example, has pursued education, returned to work during the pandemic when his medical skills were in high demand, and begun his training for space. Thriving with a disability demands constant innovation to function in a world that isn’t adapted to it.

“I think the skills that come from living with a disability can be helpful to business,” he says. “We’re used to having to navigate difficult terrain in one way or another. We can respond quickly and creatively if things go wrong.”

“Disability doesn’t mean inability; it means that capabilities are exercised differently. It’s also worth considering that a billion people around the world live with some type of disability – which likely includes many of your customers who would like businesses to move from ‘accessibility’ to full access in the disability economy.”

As with other forms of diversity, disability inclusion inside the company can foster greater connection with a diverse society on the outside. He insists that including people with disabilities in business adds value, and that people with disabilities and limitations should be redefined as assets for any organization. “They really do have ‘the right stuff.’ And their skill set, when applied to business, can be truly transformational.”

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Eghosa Oriaikhi Mabhena, CEO of Puma Energy Africa, believes in taking chances. Success stories

IESE Standout — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 13:15:37 +0000

Born in Nigeria and educated in London, Eghosa Oriaikhi Mabhena now oversees Puma Energy’s operations in 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. “Take a chance, I dare you,” she says.

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Born in Nigeria and educated in London, Eghosa Oriaikhi Mabhena has worked internationally for two decades, first for Schlumberger and then for Baker Hughes. Now with Puma Energy based in Johannesburg with responsibility for 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, she says: “My goal was always to acquire enough experience to come back and make a difference in Africa – to be close to the end customer, the people we are impacting and the communities we are energizing.”

Oriaikhi Mabhena (Global Executive MBA ’13) understands that sustainability is not just about creating business models that respect the environment, but also about creating a working environment that attracts and retains diverse talent who are resilient and representative of the population at large.

Here, she discusses the challenges of managing in post-COVID times and of being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated field, as well as what it means to be an ethical leader today.

Between COVID-19 and climate change, now must be a tough time to work for a petroleum company…

We believe that a downstream company like ours, close to the end user, can play a significant role in the energy transition. In fact, throughout my career, I have always gravitated toward that part of the business that is closest to the end consumer, especially in emerging markets. This puts us in a better position to address issues such as energy poverty – getting access to the very end of the supply chain. That’s our role, and it’s one we’re very proud to take.

I think there’s a misconception that to be ethical in business, you can only work for an NGO. Not so. In any industry, you can still be a values-based leader that the world can trust. The onus is on each of us, whether at work or in our personal lives, to be clear where we stand and then to live by those values – to be the change we want to see in the world. We might also have to create the conditions, if they don’t currently exist, for those values to thrive. And that’s what I’m trying to do in the energy industry.

What are some of the things you’re doing to make the energy transition?

We’re aiming to drive environmental, social and governance (ESG) commitments and deliver on U.N. Sustainable Development Goals by: developing energy infrastructure; providing sustainable, green energy; and transforming under-energized communities with reliable, cost-effective sources of power. So, we’re using best-in-class technology to improve energy access and reliability compared to traditional grids, and using more renewable resources, like solar or wind. We have the level of access to communities and the level of investment necessary to make these changes, such as electric chargers for electric vehicles. I see our role as very exciting.

In addition to changing the business model, you’re trying to make the industry more female-friendly. How?

In some fields, there can be an attitude of, “We’re used to how it is. We don’t know if something else will work.” That’s why we need to see more women succeeding in these fields, to show it can be done, because in careers where you do see other women, you think, “Well, if she can do it, then I can, too.” That’s how the human mind works. So, we need more women achieving higher positions in order to inspire others. Representation matters.

The oil and gas industry has been changing over the past 10 years. Companies have come to appreciate that diversity in thought and expression and in leadership style is valuable. For example, men and women might react to a certain result differently, and while it used to be that the female style was regarded as a weakness, now people see they are both equally passionate, just that they express it differently, and both reactions are beneficial. Just getting to that point has taken time.

I’m also focused on getting more women into CSTEM (Coding, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) degrees. When I did my mechanical engineering degree at University College London, I was one of very few women. But just as challenging as getting more women into technical degrees is getting them to stay in technical fields throughout their careers. They may take a career break for family reasons, or think it’s not possible to have a family and a career in this industry. We have to keep challenging the status quo, to show the industry – and women – that they can actually do both.

“More so than any other time, we’re seeing this concept of humane leadership.”

Eghosa Oriaikhi Mabhena (Global Executive MBA ’13).

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What obstacles have you faced in this regard, and how did you overcome them?

I’ve experienced the gender pay gap, finding out that I was earning significantly less than my male counterparts for the same role. That was discouraging. Finding mentors and coaches can also be challenging. It’s hard to reach senior levels, especially in this industry, without mentors helping you out and developing you to be successful. Yet, because of harassment concerns, men can be hesitant about mentoring women. Fortunately, that’s changing, and there are safeguards being formed around male mentors supporting female talent.

You need someone to take a chance on female talent – not to tick some diversity box but because the employee has genuinely earned the right to be in that role. So, as women, we need to be competitive and at the top of our game. But then we may have to pound on the door and say, “Hey, take a chance on me.” What I’m doing through AWEinEnergy, an organization focused on getting more women to CEO and C-Suite positions, and formerly through The Boardroom Africa, which is about promoting more female talent onto boards across the continent, is this: teaching women to say, “Here is who I am, here is what I have to offer, and I dare you to take a chance on me.”

Ultimately, you have to take a chance on yourself. You have to understand what your value is, what you have to offer, what your strengths are, and from that point, you have to be daring, because the journey isn’t easy. And for those of us who stayed the course, we need to mentor other women, sharing the lessons we’ve learned to get to where we are.

How has COVID-19 helped or hindered progress?

As a woman and a mother, I’ve seen how the experience of COVID-19 has challenged working families, with parents having to work and homeschool their children for months on end. While some companies have adapted so that women would not have to leave the workforce, we know that, in many cases, women have exited the workforce to take care of children. As business leaders, we spent years trying to get more women into senior leadership positions, and now the pandemic has challenged that balance.

There is also the growing problem of educational poverty. We have an entire generation that may potentially be impacted by delayed education. Where there has been a lack of internet access or sustainable power or iPads, children have fallen behind, and this educational gap will become more apparent over time.

Then you have vaccine poverty. Look at the rate at which different countries are vaccinating against COVID-19. We know that, depending on the adoption of health passports, travel may become selective. For those countries that cannot afford rapid progress on vaccination programs, the pandemic has exacerbated economic divides.

What role can business play in the post-pandemic recovery?

More so than any other time, we’re seeing this concept of humane leadership. Companies have had to address the mental health of their workforce. The role of government vis-à-vis society has changed rapidly. We’ve seen a shift in emphasis: Tech had become the be-all and end-all to the point that we had forgotten those who were fundamental to our societies; now doctors, nurses, teachers, even people who were making deliveries and people who supported the ecosystem for the home to keep functioning, have become extremely important.

As leaders, our role is to make our businesses attractive places to develop and retain talent, based on new value propositions. In looking to join a company, people are going to be basing their decisions on what we have done throughout the pandemic and what we will do to support people and society. At the end of the day, leaders need to be people who drive the agenda of human welfare and human equity forward, with creativity and innovation, so that it becomes the norm for everyone, rather than the divides that we see today.

“Leaders need to be people who drive the agenda of human welfare and human equity forward.”

Eghosa Oriaikhi Mabhena (Global Executive MBA ’13).

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Eghosa Oriaikhi Mabhena spoke on “Leadership for Sustainability” as part of the annual Doing Good Doing Well conference, which was held in March 2021 on the theme of “Rethinking Business in a Post-Pandemic World.” She also spoke at the annual Symposium of the IESE Executive Coaching Unit. She is an alumna of IESE’s Global Executive MBA.

IESE has developed a wide range of courses and activities through the Women Win platform to support women like Eghosa in their personal and professional development and aspirations to lead.

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Differences between EMBA and GEMBA

IESE Standout — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 15:59:08 +0000

Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA programs share much in common: both are designed for forward-thinking professionals and deliver a rigorous MBA curriculum to help you to excel in complex environments. So how are they different and which better adapts to your needs? The following three questions will shed some light

Executive MBA or Global EMBA? 3 questions to consider

1. What is your career profile?

At a business school such as IESE, all MBA programs help students hone their business acumen and gain a holistic vision of general management. But cohorts differ in substantial ways, including average age, years of experience and international reach. Since peer-to-peer exchange and building your network are key to the learning experience, it’s important to make sure your profile meshes with that of your classmates – although diversity of backgrounds also enriches the experience.

In the case of the Executive MBA at IESE, most students have between 5 and 10 years of experience and hold junior to middle-management roles. Typically ranging in age from 29 to 37, they aspire to expand their business and management knowledge, as well as their team leadership abilities.

For its part, Global Executive MBA cohorts represent over 30 nationalities and reflect more senior profiles, with an average age of 39, around 15 years of work experience and a distinctly international orientation. In fact, the program requires students to have lived or worked in at least two countries and/or have significant cross-border responsibilities. In addition to sharpening their business and management acumen, they also aim to bolster their leadership and stakeholder management skills and expand their skillset to thrive in multicultural and global settings.

MBA cohorts differ in substantial ways, including average age, years of experience and international reach.

2. Which program structure better adapts to your life right now?

Everyone juggles a unique set of personal and professional commitments so the program structure is obviously key. That means issues such as where classes are held, what the time commitment is, whether parts are offered online and when in-person presence is required.

IESE’s EMBA, for instance, is offered on four campuses – Barcelona, Madrid, Munich and Sao Paulo – over a 19-month span. Program sessions generally convene on Fridays and Saturdays (every week or every two or three weeks, depending on the venue), in addition to four intensive international weeks. This program structure influences the cohort’s geographic make-up, with most EMBA participants living or working in the same city or region, and in turn impacts the network you will build.

The IESE GEMBA, on the other hand, features a blended structure, combining remote learning and 15 weeks of on-campus immersive learning over a 18-month period. On-campus learning takes place in 6-8 cities (depending on which electives you choose) across four continents. Students hail from all corners of the globe: half of the class is usually based in Europe, a quarter in the Americas and the remainder in countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

3. What are your end goals?

People pursue an MBA degree for a number of reasons: some seek to accelerate their personal and professional growth, others enroll to explore new professional paths, and some as a gateway to senior-level positions in their current organizations. And in other cases, the motivation is more intrinsic: a drive to explore uncharted territory or embark on a journey to see where it will take you. You would do well to ask yourself these questions when deciding on an MBA to ensure it supports your end objectives.

Although the Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA programs share a substantial overlap of academic content, they contrast significantly in terms of their higher-level learning objectives and cohort aspirations. To determine which program best adapts to your needs and goals, we recommend scheduling a meeting with an admissions mentor, who will be more than happy to provide insight on your best path forward.

Everyone juggles a unique set of personal and professional commitments so the program structure is obviously key.

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