Growing up in Kinshasa, Kenny-Emmanuel Otshudi saw first-hand how difficult his father found it to secure financing for his telecommunications services company.
Commercial banks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo typically lend money on only a short-term basis and there is no stock market. “It’s really hard for businesses to raise money. They need financial support to be able to grow,” Otshudi says.
Now 26, Otshudi is an investment analyst at XSML Capital, a private equity fund manager with offices in five countries across Africa. His company recently provided funds to redevelop a mid-range hotel in Kinshasa. “We provided financing and technical assistance, and worked together to implement the right strategy to help to transform the company into a four-star business hotel,” says Otshudi, who joined the firm in January 2023 after graduating the previous year with an MSc in banking and international finance from Bayes Business School in central London.
“I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of how global finance works in a strong economy like the UK so I could leverage that knowledge to address the unique challenges faced by the sector in Africa,” he says, explaining his decision to enrol at Bayes after gaining a first-class degree in business and management from Brunel University, in west London.
“All the skills that I am applying right now, I learned from my MSc. As well as theoretical knowledge, Bayes based most of our coursework and homework on real-life scenarios,” he says – citing one case study that tasked students with analysing why a supermarket chain was struggling.
Angela Gallo, senior lecturer in finance at Bayes, heads the MSc banking and international finance programme, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary. “At Bayes, we train banking professionals for the fast-evolving financial landscape, where expertise in credit, payments, and lending is essential not only for careers in banks but also across a broad range of sectors – including asset management, payment providers and fintech.”
While the fundamentals of banking are unchanged, many new types of institutions have moved into the credit lending sphere, says Gallo. “That’s why our curriculum now also includes, for instance, digital finance, alternative assets, and financial crime alongside foundational banking topics – always with an international perspective,” she adds. “Today’s banking professionals require a much broader range of expertise than in the past.”
Otshudi’s current role typifies the varied career paths that greet Bayes’s graduates. “Where I work, we represent an alternative to commercial banking by helping entrepreneurs who may not be 100% bankable,” says Otshudi, whose career choice was inspired by his grandfather, who worked at the Central Bank of Congo for 30 years.
“Maybe they don’t have the collateral and guarantees needed to be able to raise money with commercial banks. We come up with different solutions and a different approach to be able to serve these underserved segments of people.”
Bayes has adapted its course to reflect the turbulence and innovation that have marked the past 25 years in banking. This has ranged from the emergence of fintech companies disrupting traditional banking services to the growth of mobile banking.
Take digital finance, which is part of the course in the second term. Although Gallo says that Bayes’s students tend to be familiar with the latest innovations – they are more likely to have made their first investment in crypto rather than in a stock, for example – they need to be able to evaluate what is truly innovative.
“Not all innovation drives growth – some innovations can also create fragility,” she says. “While enthusiasm for innovation is important, it’s crucial to acknowledge both its opportunities and risks. For instance, scams can undermine trust in financial systems. So we need to present both sides.”
The course seeks to anticipate the coming transformations in banking, from automated advisers to cross-border payments. “It’s unclear whether banks will emerge as winners or losers in these shifts,” says Gallo. “We aim to guide students toward innovations shaping the future of financial services.”
She wants students to be able to envisage what their career might look like in five or 10 years. “That’s why teaching in a forward-looking way is important,” she adds. The school puts a big emphasis on potential career trajectories. “I tell my students they get two degrees: an academic degree and a crash course in how to prepare for the jobs market.”
One big advantage of studying at Bayes, which offers more than 30 master’s courses, is its location in the heart of London. “While much of today’s world operates virtually, nothing is more effective for advancing your career than meeting someone in person, like at our networking events. The smoothest transition from a master’s course to industry usually happens with someone you’ve met at an event.”
People are increasingly applying to join the master’s after working for a year or two. “If they feel they don’t have the right expertise, they come and join us. It makes for a more interesting classroom, which benefits those who come in straight from being undergraduates,” says Gallo.
For Otshudi, studying at Bayes transformed his understanding of his home country. “I was always comparing the industry in the UK with how it is back home. The MSc allowed me to see the gaps in my country and helped me better understand what I wanted to do and the impact I wanted to make.”
