Two Cambridge MBA students in Poets & Quants’ Best and Brightest list

Two Cambridge MBA students at Cambridge Judge Business School, Hugo Mkhize and Juliet Powell (both Cambridge MBA 2023), were named among the 2024 Best and Brightest MBAs by business education publication Poets & Quants.

The list of 100 MBA students, now in its 10th year, honours top graduate business students at elite MBA programmes worldwide, the publication said. “At an uncertain time in the world, these remarkable young people would give even a cynic hope for the future. For other aspiring applicants, this group provides a close look at the exceptional qualities of future classmates.”

Those honoured as Best and Brightest MBAs were chosen from 226 nominations from 74 business schools based on their academic prowess, extracurricular achievements, innate intangibles and potential, or unusual personal stories.

Hugo Mkhize is transitioning from finance to clean tech

Hugo, a native of Johannesburg, South Africa, was an investment banker for Morgan Stanley before beginning his Cambridge MBA. He was recently selected as one of 12 MBAs in the US and Europe as ClimateCAP Fellows, and will focus over 12 months on a climate action plan to help emerging economies reduce dependence on coal for energy.

“Cambridge Judge Business School was the only MBA programme where I applied,” Hugo says in the Poets & Quants article. “I knew that embedding myself in an atmosphere of innovation and knowledge sharing for a year would be the ideal place to facilitate my career transition. I am currently in the second year of a 2-year journey of transitioning from my previous role advising Europe’s leading utilities and power companies to a career in climatetech. This will allow me to play a more direct role in catalysing earlier-stage innovation in order to avert the worst effects of the climate crisis.”

Juliet Powell cites the diverse nature of Cambridge MBA students

Juliet, who was born and raised in Cambridge, worked for communications and strategy consultancy Hudson Sandler in London before beginning her Cambridge MBA. She is a co-founder of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Special Interest Group at Cambridge Judge and is a mentor at the group Cambridge University Women in Business Society.

“Looking at the Cambridge MBA specifically, I was really drawn to the collaborative and practical nature of the course, especially the many consulting projects,” Juliet says in the article. “The diversity of the cohort was also a huge draw – it’s been such a joy to learn from people who have a completely different background to my own. I also wanted to get exposure to the Silicon Fen tech ecosystem and the entrepreneurial hub that is thriving in Cambridge.”