Haas Voices: Ife Ojo, MBA 27, on leading through complexity across global systems

Haas Voices is an ongoing series that highlights the experiences of members of the Berkeley Haas community

As a child growing up in Nigeria, Ifeoluwa “Ife” Ojo, MBA 27, witnessed how fragmented systems can delay healthcare and compound loss. That early experience shaped how she thinks about access, execution, and accountability, themes that have carried through her career across healthcare, consulting, and multinational organizations.

Now an MBA student at UC Berkeley Haas, Ojo brings over a decade of experience designing people and benefits systems across Africa. She is focused on building scalable solutions at the intersection of strategy, technology, and human capital, and will be heading to Amazon Web Services this spring for her internship. At Haas, she also serves as VP of Careers for the MBA Association and is an active member of the Africa Business Club.

Haas News recently spoke with Ojo about her journey, her approach to leadership, and how she’s thinking about scale and impact.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your career before Haas.

I studied psychology because I’ve always been curious about how people behave within systems; organizations, markets, and teams. My career has followed that curiosity.

I joined Jumia when it was still a young company, helping build internal processes during a period of rapid growth. From there, I joined AXA when they were entering Nigeria to launch a health insurance business from the ground up designing products, building provider networks, and thinking deeply about access.

I later spent time in asset management before joining Willis Towers Watson, where I spent five years advising multinational clients on benefits and workforce strategy across Africa. I was promoted to associate director and led work that required balancing global standards with local regulatory realities. What became clear to me there is that benefits, culture, and people strategy are not soft levers; they are core to execution and long-term performance.

What were you seeking when you applied to MBA programs?

I knew I wanted a program that felt personal and intentional, where learning would happen not just in lectures, but through people. I applied to about four smaller programs with a good reputation. During my application process, a friend who graduated from Wharton introduced me to an alum from Berkeley Haas, who was so passionate about ensuring that I got every part of the application process right. The support I got wasn’t generic. This was someone who didn’t know me from anywhere, and he was concerned about my growth and what I wanted to do next. I think that’s what sold Berkeley Haas to me.

That sense of stewardship, combined with Haas’ emphasis on leading through ambiguity and questioning the status quo, made it clear this was the right environment for me.

Can you tell us about your career plans once you finish your program?

Short term, I want to learn how large organizations execute and how strategy is implemented across geographies and teams. That’s what drew me to AWS; I’ll be working in their people organization, which operates at a scale I haven’t experienced before.

Over time, I’m interested in applying that operating discipline more broadly, including in emerging markets whether through corporate leadership, building, or investing. The goal is consistent: take what I learn operating at scale and apply it where that capability is scarce.

Why is funding healthcare startups and improving the healthcare system so important to you?

Healthcare matters deeply to me, but what ultimately drives me is how systems either enable or block human potential. My mother’s experience with systemic lupus made me acutely aware of what happens when diagnosis, infrastructure, and incentives don’t align.

I’ve come to see healthcare as one of the clearest lenses through which to understand this tension between access and scale, impact and sustainability. I’m interested in solutions that work at a population level, whether they sit inside corporations, public systems, or entrepreneurial ventures.

You landed your MBA internship last October, pretty quickly. What was your interview process, and what will you recommend to peers about what you’ve learned as VP of Careers?

I’m a first-mover by nature. If something can happen today, I don’t wait. So when I saw the AWS role, I applied that same day. Did my assessments quickly, got the phone interview, and immediately reached out to CMG basically said, “I need help preparing, who’s available?” Ended up working with four different coaches across the process. Wrote out all my stories, ran through them repeatedly, and landed the offer.

That’s the mindset I try to share with students now: the resources here are genuinely good, but you have to go get them.

Do you have a favorite course so far at Haas?

I really enjoyed Accounting with Professor Omri Even-Tov. I was surprised by how practical and engaging it was not just learning the mechanics, but understanding how financial information drives decisions.

I also loved Healthcare in the 21st Century with Distinguished Teaching Fellow Kim MacPherson. The exposure to different parts of the U.S. healthcare ecosystem from providers to technologists to investors really broadened my perspective.

Can you talk a bit about what’s on the agenda for the 10th annual African Business Club conference Feb. 6?

This year’s conference focuses on how policy, innovation, and infrastructure can work together to shape a sustainable future for African entrepreneurship. With the youngest population in the world, Africa’s growth story will be defined by whether we can translate talent and ambition into durable economic systems.

One challenge we’re interrogating is continuity. Many businesses on the continent struggle to scale beyond a few generations. We’re asking what it takes to build institutions, not just companies that can outlast founders, adapt across decades, and create long-term value.

We’re also looking at talent and capital flows. African talent contributes meaningfully to organizations around the world, but too often that value is created elsewhere. The question is how we design ecosystems that encourage reinvestment creating jobs locally, attracting long-term capital, and reducing dependency by building competitive, self-sustaining enterprises.

What kind of support have you found from the Nigerian community on campus

Our West African community is small but incredibly close-knit. We support each other, but we’re also deeply integrated into the broader class.

I genuinely enjoy people, listening to how they think, how they approach problems, how their experiences shape their decisions. That curiosity is probably the most consistent thread in everything I do.