Meet Abisoye

Tell us a bit about yourself – what's your background?

I have spent over seven years working across e-commerce, technology distribution, and SaaS in Nigeria and internationally.

I began my career at TradeDepot, one of Africa's leading B2B e-commerce platforms, where I managed client relationships and sales operations in the FMCG space.

I then moved to TD Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa's largest technology distributor, where I managed B2B sales operations and coordinated across logistics and partner teams.

Since August 2022, I have been working as Growth and Support Manager at Rayda, a global device lifecycle management platform, where I manage enterprise accounts across over 170 countries.

Alongside my professional career, I hold a BSc Ed in Economics Education from Osun State University.

What does your most recent role entail?

As Growth and Support Manager at Rayda, I manage the full end-to-end sale lifecycle for high-value international enterprise accounts.

I supervise a cross-functional team of three professionals, coordinate between our global clients and internal product, engineering, and operations teams, and ensure our SaaS solutions are adapted to meet country-specific regulatory requirements.

I also helped redesign our technical onboarding framework, reducing support ticket latency by 30% and increasing customer satisfaction by 45%.

I also led the introduction of a device recycling programme that encourages clients to redeploy functional equipment rather than purchasing new devices, supported by a depreciation and end-of-life tracker I helped develop.

Why did you choose to study an MBA?

I have reached a point in my career where practical experience alone is no longer enough. Through my work at Rayda, I have seen that sustainability and commercial success can reinforce each other, but I have been making those decisions on instinct rather than with formal strategic frameworks.

At the same time, running the Simbi Foundation, a community redistribution initiative I founded in Lagos, taught me that good intentions without good systems can create new problems. I want the MBA to give me the academic depth and strategic tools to do this work properly, whether in a corporate setting or through my own social enterprise.

What attracted you to the MBA programme at Newcastle University Business School?

Three things drew me to Newcastle.

First, the integration of social responsibility into the core business curriculum, especially the Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethical Business module, which aligns directly with the work I have been doing both professionally and through my foundation.

Second, the opportunity to learn from Professor Noemi Sinkovics, whose research on balancing social, environmental, and economic value in business resonates deeply with my experience.

Third, the collaborative, simulation-based learning environment where I can work alongside peers from different industries and backgrounds to solve real business problems. I learn best by doing, and this programme is built around that approach.

What does it mean to you to receive an MBA scholarship? What impact will it have?

This scholarship changes everything for me. As someone who was orphaned at the age of nine, funding a full-time MBA abroad would have posed a significant financial challenge.

I had the ambition and the experience, but not the financial means. This award removes that barrier entirely and allows me to focus completely on my studies and on making the most of every opportunity the programme offers.

The impact will go well beyond my own career. I am currently building Goodloop, a digital platform that extends the work of my foundation by connecting people with surplus items to those who need them within the same community.

The strategic management, impact measurement, and leadership frameworks I gain from the MBA will directly shape how I professionalise and scale Goodloop into a self-sustaining social enterprise. This scholarship is not just investing in my education, it is investing in the communities I will serve for years to come.