In the second of a three-part series, we take the time to chat with students from our Hong Kong campus who have exhibited an exemplary level of “fit” and have been awarded merit scholarships.
- Byline
- October 24, 2018
- Executive MBA - Scholarships
Chicago Booth is pleased to partner with The Hong Kong Jockey Club in supporting business education for leaders of local NGOs and charities. Through its Charities Trust, the HKJC started offering scholarships at Chicago Booth in order to build the capacity of Hong Kong’s social service sector to respond to increasingly complex social problems in the twenty-first century.
This year, three deserving students were awarded the Hong Kong Jockey Club Scholarship. In this post, we’ll introduce you to the three scholarship recipients to find out why they decided to pursue an MBA and how the scholarship will impact their work in the social services.
Matthew Gow
Matthew Gow is Director of Strategy and Chief Technology Officer with Crossroads Foundation, an NGO focusing on humanitarian aid in Hong Kong and over 90 countries. Matthew has devoted most of his career to the social sector, having worked with Crossroads for 18 years. He is particularly interested in social innovation and using technology to increase Crossroads’ reach. Matthew is pursuing an MBA degree to gain the broad set of managerial skills needed to run a non-profit. Also, the degree will offer him the opportunity to access the latest thinking across a range of management topics. He found that Booth was the right fit for him because of the international nature of the program, the world-class faculty, and the quality and diversity of his classmates. Matthew believes that the HKJC scholarship will allow him to better serve the Hong Kong social services community. He commented, “I’m looking forward to working smarter and seeing greater impact for Hong Kong as I bring what I learn into my programs.”
Billie Lau
Billie Law is Service Director for the Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service – Hong Kong (“ELCSS-HK”). The ELCSS-HK is one of the largest NGOs in Hong Kong and serves over 2 million people per year from Hong Kong’s underprivileged community. Billie started his career as a social worker and has been working in the social services for over 20 years. During the first weeks of class, he recalled being inspired by “the prestigious professors, passionate teaching assistants, and elite classmates from all around the world.” He believes that an MBA and the HKJC scholarship will provide a “toolbox” to become a better leader in overcoming the many challenges faced by local charities. “I see the significance of data-driven or evidenced-based practice, the need of better leadership and network, and the importance of up-to-date knowledge and skills in all functions of an NGO,” he noted.
Bowie Lam
Bowie Lam is Founder and Executive Director of Teen’s Key – Young Women Development Network Limited. Bowie founded the organization shortly after graduating from university. Teen’s Key aims to help girls and young women who are trapped in the sex trade, and more broadly promote gender equality in Hong Kong. As a young social entrepreneur, she is looking to grow her organization and believes that her studies through the HKJC scholarship will offer her the knowledge, support, and network needed to achieve Teen’s Key’s goals. As Bowie’s studies focused on the social sciences, she was initially unsure if Chicago Booth would be the right fit for her. However, she has been impressed with the diversity of her classmates’ backgrounds and how the Chicago Approach tackles problems from a range of disciplines. She remarked that, “This opened my eyes to the learning culture of Chicago Booth and how the school will provide me with the best resources to fill in my knowledge gap.”
To learn more about scholarship opportunities in the Executive MBA Program, please visit our website.