With thanks to all who have invested in INSEAD for the next generation

Tamara Cook
MBA ’07D, recipient
of the MBA ’86D
scholarship for students
with a background
in not-for-profit
organisations
17
“I’ve spent my entire professional life in
microfinance, which is basically financial
services for poor people. One of the reasons
I came here was to improve my management
skills, which I believe are greatly needed in the
field of international development. Money must
be effectively managed in order to do the good
that it’s intended for. But I also have something
to offer INSEAD: in class and group discussions,
I’m able to offer a different perspective
because of my atypical background.
On a personal note, as a wife and mother of
two kids, the cost for me and my family to take
a year off and come to INSEAD was much
higher than for many of my classmates. Thanks
to the scholarship I’ll graduate without any
debts. That means I’ll be able to choose a job
that fulfils my personal mission to help poor
people in practical ways rather than seeking
a higher salary to support my family and a loan
repayment. Such opportunities may not pay as
much as some of the exciting career paths that
my fellow classmates will choose, but they will
turn the vision behind the scholarship that you
have established into a reality. So, as they say
in Kenya, where I worked, ‘Asante Sana’ or
‘Thank you very much’ to the class of ’86D!”