Reaping benefits from MBA

By Harold Ayodo

Not many married people sacrifice their full-time jobs to pursue postgraduate studies. Even fewer leave a mark.

But Manasseh Miruka defied the odds and not only graduated, but also won the Daystar University Vice Chancellor’s Award last month.

He was among the best students who acquired a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree in Strategic Management.

"I was humbled when the administration informed me that I had won the Vice Chancellor’s Award this year," he says.

The award is a trophy given to a student who is a role model and leader.

Miruka was the chairman of the Electoral Commission of Daystar University Students Association (Dusa) for two successive years, overseeing two elections.

"I was also the chairman of the Dusa Constitutional Review Committee before I graduated," Miruka says.

He says overseeing the election of student leaders in a university is not easy and campaigns are reminiscent of general elections.

"I had to ensure that the polls were democratic and both the winners and losers accepted the outcome with dignity," he says.

Miruka says balancing academic and co-curricular activities was not easy.

"I was first a postgraduate student but being the chairman of the elections body meant a lot to the institution," he says.

For Miruka, time management, sacrifice and discipline ensured that he passed his examinations and elections went smoothly.

Miruka quit a full-time job and became a freelance research analyst to finance his dream of achieving an MBA degree as well as cater for his family.

"It was a difficult time as my wife also enrolled at university as an undergraduate. We had to manage our time to ensure we did not become absentee parents. We kept tabs on what our children did at school during the day and made sure they completed assignments before retiring to bed," he says.

As his classes were in the evening, he could dedicate the day to freelance work and study.

"I worked for several organisations in senior management capacities before I stopped in 2003 for further studies."

Easy adjustment

He says he desired to upgrade his Bachelor of Arts in Government from the University of Nairobi.

Adjusting at Daystar was not difficult as Miruka had not been out of class for long.

He tackled a Diploma in Project Management at the Kenya Institute of Management between 2005 and 2006 and joined Daystar the following year.

Miruka has already started reaping benefits from the MBA.

He is the country director of Euromonitor International but says he is not yet done with his pursuit for higher education.

His Masters thesis was on how businesses could still earn dividends using philanthropy as an investment.