2020 End of Year News
Dear Scholars, Alumni, Supporters and Friends of WHT,
It is hard to look back at the smiling faces of our first group photos at the beginning of the academic year last September and wonder how we were in such a cocoon that we could not have imagined that the world could be turned upside down so swiftly, and so comprehensively. Many of this year’s cohort have said that they hope to be the one and only group to have to go through half a year in lockdown and online. I can say that our 2020 cohort have shown great resilience in what have been exceptionally difficult circumstances. Although no one would wish it on them, I think they have found their own ways of coping and it has been impressive to watch. Read the full Introduction to the Annual Report Here
Scholars at the University Parks
Twenty-one of our scholars found themselves still in Oxford at the time of lockdown. Those who had managed to get home continued to join in for online working and our zoom events as best they could. They have captured their varied experiences in a series of blogs.
Key Conversations on Inequality, Sustainability, Accountability and Anger
We hoped that perhaps we would all get together for the Leadership Forum at the end of June - but it was not to be so we resorted to zoom sessions stretched over two days and a brief get together over strawberries and prosecco in the Oxford Parks -it did mean our scholars were able to meet André Hoffmann over a Q&A session and also hear from the BBC’s North America Editor, Jon Sopel who gave candid and often amusing insights from his vantage point in Washington DC.
“It’s not good enough to say ‘We do no harm’; we need to repair, we need to be active, we need to be positive contributors because the status quo needs to change. We will not have sustainable businesses if we do not reduce inequalities”
“There is a rising wave of populism that worries me; giving people information they can trust is essential and more important now than ever. There is a tendency to retreat into echo chambers that reinforce our beliefs. Our job is the same as it has always been: to speak truth to power and to hold people to account”
The Leadership Forum included a Moral Philosophy session, conducted by the WHT academic advisor Nik Kirby. The question, ‘What to do with anger', sparked a very lively debate.
“The last Moral Philosophy session of the year was one of the most compelling discussions we have had throughout the Programme. We were made to reflect on the role of anger in politics, especially insightful in the context of the Black Lives Matter and the Rhodes Must Fall protests."
— Kavya Chowdhry
A Growing Network of Alumni
The online forum also meant that alums from across the world joined this year’s cohort to give them tips and insight into the world as it feels after or rather coming down, to use the proper Oxford term. And we are excited to have Nadja join us as the first alum on the advisory board, to bring an ever closer relationship between what are now well over 200 alums from 74 Countries.
The Lockdown Leadership Forum provided an opportunity for our globally dispersed alumni to share key challenges in their sectors and tips for making the transition from Oxford.
“Becoming active in the WHT Alumni Network will be a way to give back to WHT and Oxford University and to reconnect with fellow alumni. Engaging will be easy and will provide ample opportunities to network over shared work and community interests. We want to amplify our values and leadership by working even closer together.“
— Nadja Skaljic, WHT Advisory Board (Alumni Representative)
These were the global panels we assembled for the leadership forum - we are very grateful to them for giving up their time.
Creating Impact Through Enterprises
The Leadership Programme has evolved in response to the scholars’ needs. For the past three years the Enterprise Challenge has provided extra tools and knowledge to empower each cohort to think outside their academic disciplines. The teams presented eight initiatives that spanned continents, blending different sectors, demographics and business models. They had all benefited from support and training from WHT as well as crucial mentorship from business leaders.
We would like to thank this year’s mentors: Andrew Nott, Atherton Mutombwera, Eileen Modral, Greg FitzGerald, Irina Fedorenko, Justin Gayner, Matthew De La Hey, Rosie O’Malley, and Stephanie Gnissios. We are also grateful to Andrew Nott (IAPS), Amanda Feldman (Bethnal Green Ventures) Ben Barnett (TFG Brands London), Eileen Modral (OION), Jordan Schlipf (Rainmaking Venture Studio), Lauren Fletcher (Beta Earth), Nadja Skaljic (IP Group), and Precious Lunga (Baobab Circle), for spending what turned out to be a very hot afternoon hearing about the projects.
“The knowledge and skills learned during the Challenge could help us make a real impact in the world by putting our ideas to practice. I feel more confident about starting my own initiatives in the future”
— Vignesh Cannanure
Scholars’ Reactions
Over the course of the Forum, many scholars shared their appreciation for the opportunity to study at Oxford, the Leadership Programme, and above all, the time spent together and the ways they were able to inspire each other.
Alumni Updates
Many alums could not join the Leadership forum but have sent updates of their lives and careers. We have selected two of many to include here. More will be included in the annual report.
Wildlife Conservation in Namibia
“Since graduating from Oxford I have had lots of exciting opportunities and events. Firstly, I returned to Colombia for a brief but productive time working with the implementation of partnership between an ecotourism company and conservation NGOs, afterwards I moved to Namibia in May 2018 to start working for the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) as an ecologist and conservation scientist.
I learned a lot during my first few months there; I worked with wildlife surveys as well as mitigation methods for human-wildlife conflict with communities. After six months I was promoted to be the Ecology coordinator. This entails curating all of the data, managing our interns and volunteers, coordinating all the ecological monitoring throughout CCF's property. Personally I recently got engaged with Eli Walker, who also studied the same MSc at Oxford. We are very excited about our next stage in life!”
Putting Vietnamese Coffee on the Map
“I am working with my friend, hoping to set up a coffee farm in central Vietnam, focusing on proper, standardised coffee variety selection, cultivation, and processing. Vietnam is the second biggest coffee exporter in the world - and yet the quality remains subpar. Every year farmers sell their farms, they get into an endless cycle of debt with growing fertiliser cost and lowering price. If you ask any scholar from East Africa, they should know that Kenyan or Ethiopian coffee are always the most sought after. In Central America, Brazil, Colombia, and even Peru, there is a proper grading system and these countries produce coffee that could be graded as 'Specialty' (instead of 'Commodity' coffee). Thailand, Indonesia, even Laos and Myanmar - being new to the coffee game - have produced very high quality coffee.
And yet my country remains a blackhole on the specialty coffee map. We want to change that. We have just opened a cafe’ in Ho Chi Minh City. I am monitoring my staff and working from afar, but so far everything has been going fairly well.”
New College Partnerships
We have made important strides forward in ways that we hope will not only benefit our scholars but also the University and knit the two to create an ever-closer partnership. Our next cohort will be in one of seven colleges and each of these has contributed towards our Leadership programme. Thanks to Helen Mountfield, seven students will be at Mansfield and these will be named after the distinguished former Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan. St Edmunds Hall will be taking five students thanks to the Julius Baer Foundation, Keble and Lincoln are also partnering thanks to the Sloane Robinson Foundation. The other colleges joining in this partnership are Trinity, Hertford and Worcester and we are extremely grateful to everyone involved in making this happen. One additional benefit at this time is that the students will have ready formed small groups on which we can base elements of our Leadership programme while maintaining the social distancing measures that will be in place during the next academic year.
With Gratitude to Our Partners and Donors
“This program has truly changed my life. I have been a leader before, but I could not see it. People from the WHT community have helped me believe in what I could become and start to develop my plans on how to get there.”
— Aileen Brown Cuevas