76 — Ahead of the Curve
Interconnections — 77
around the five main regions of Africa thanks to
two grants he received from the European Foun-
dation for Management Development (EFMD)
and Graduate Management Admission Council
(GMAC), to study management education partic-
ularly on the African continent.
His various trips also allowed him to learn
about financial inclusion as it played out in
Africa. “I saw many things that were really
interesting, like very modern business schools
sitting very close to urban slums. This makes no
obvious sense but it is a fact of life in Africa.”
Professor Thomas’ work in management
education and in financial inclusion is under-
pinned by a desire to help people in less
developed countries to make progress. This
passion comes from Professor Thomas’ own
background and history.
“Why do I feel passionate about it? I came
from a Welsh mining valley. My father was a
coal miner; he left school at 13. My mother left
school early too. They both got mature state
scholarships in Britain. My father was a miner,
then a colliery electrician; he went to night
school, he got a mature state scholarship and
graduated from Cardiff University as an Electri-
cal Engineer in his mid-20s. My mother did the
same thing in the education field.”
With their respective scholarships, his
parents were eventually able to enter the pro-
fessions, but their experience left Professor
Thomas with a deep sympathy for people held
back by poverty and lack of opportunity.
There are no easy solutions in developing
economies, as he knows well. “The question
of access, affordability, opportunity, equality;
you’re not going to solve that in half a gener-
ation,” he notes. But that is not going to stop
him from trying.
annual forum, seminar series, funding towards
student projects, as well as the establishment
of the Mastercard Professorship of Social Entre-
preneurship and Financial Inclusion.
In addition, Mastercard’s Asia Pacific Com-
munications team mentors communications
students each semester. Students will also
find Mastercard executives Tobias Puehse,
Vice President, Digital Payments & Labs, and
Georgette Tan, Senior Vice President, Com-
munications, from Mastercard Asia Pacific,
conducting guest lecture classes at SMU.
Finally, the Mastercard Graduate Develop-
ment Programme is a two-year programme that
provides comprehensive learning and develop-
ment and opportunities to develop core leadership
skills and accelerate professional growth. Since
2014, Mastercard has hired 15 SMU students
for the programme and three SMU MBA students
for the MBA Management Associate programme.
Mastercard hopes to continue and further
its collaboration with SMU, focusing on areas
of mutual interest such as entrepreneurship,
financial technology and innovation.
MASTERCARD
PROVIDES MBA
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR
WOMEN
Mastercard has been working with the Lee Kong
Chian School of Business (LKCSB) to provide
scholarships to full-time female candidates
doing their Master of Business Administration
at the Singapore Management University.
The Mastercard MBA Scholarships for
Women aims to empower, support and develop
awardees into academically outstanding,
business savvy and socially responsible women.
Recipients also intern with Mastercard, where
they learn more about the company’s business
and operations. Since 2011, a total of 17 women
have benefitted from the programme.
To catalyse important research on social
entrepreneurship, innovation and financial
inclusion, Mastercard and SMU have also
partnered on a multi-faceted two-year Social
and Financial Inclusion Program. It includes an
INTERCONNECTIONS/ INDUSTRY
PROFESSOR ARNOUD DE MEYER, SMU
PRESIDENT AND ARI SARKER, CO-PRESIDENT,
ASIA PACIFIC, MASTERCARD
FEMALE RECIPIENTS OF
THE MASTERCARD MBA
SCHOLARSHIP FOR 2016
FEMALE RECIPIENTS OF
THE MASTERCARD MBA
SCHOLARSHIP FOR 2013
FEMALE RECIPIENTS OF
THE MASTERCARD MBA
SCHOLARSHIP FOR 2014
