Sample MBA Recommendation Letter (Version 1)
April 28, 2009 | 1 Comment
” I believe that all men, black and brown and white, are brothers, varying in time and opportunity, in form, gift and feature, but differing in no essential particular, and alike in soul & the possibilities of infinite development” - W.E.B Dubois.
I have known Joseph de Plumber (Joe) since April 1960, when I was the Chief Executive Officer of Black Herald International Bank (BHIB) Washington, DC, when he was assigned by the consulting firm of Blackinsey & Company to help with our pre-merger monitoring program. During his four months assignment to BHIB, Joe directly reported to me on a daily basis. He was responsible for monitoring the controls surrounding our wire transfer transactions, deposit operations and physical and system access prior to our merger with XYZ bank. He also helped us in preparing reports which were presented to our Audit Committee.
I have a bachelor’s degree from the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and obtained my MBA degree from Oxford University. I am a Certified Public Accountant, Professional Risk Manager and a Chartered Financial Analyst and have worked in the banking industry for 25 years, including a leadership role with a another global bank. In my experience, Joe is clearly one of the most talented consultants that I have ever known.
Joe is a highly competent and goal-oriented person, so I can describe him only in complementary terms. Joe has talked about the Pegasus MBA as his program of choice since I first met him. He is very knowledgeable about the school, curriculum and leadership opportunities, and sees himself as a part of the community. It gives me great pleasure to write this recommendation in support of Joe’s candidacy.
2. What do you consider the applicant’s most outstanding talents or characteristics?
Joe is one of the best consultants I met since we have been working with Blackinsey & Company and stands out in my mind as a dedicated and talented young man. His performance overall and in each individual performance factor (teamwork, timeliness of deliverables, taking ownership of work and client relationship management) is excellent. This assessment is based on Joe’s ability to provide a high quality work product, work independently and in a team, and complete all his projects in a timely manner. His prior experience as bank auditor in Congo Democratique enabled him to quickly become acquainted to our business processes and operations. He was able to earn the respect of the individuals he was consulting for despite being new to this assignment and facing a work environment that was challenging, because most of BHIB’s staff were being laid off as a result of the merger.
He developed and implemented the audit programs used to test the controls surrounding our business processes and documented his work in a clear and concise manner. As control weaknesses were detected in the systems, Joe, unlike others, communicated his findings and gave recommendations on the best way to resolve the problems. I enjoyed working with him and appreciated the fact that he was very willing to assist with work beyond his original assignments. His contributions to the success of our pre-merger monitoring were immense, have had a lasting impact on the business operations and were highly appreciated throughout the organization.
3. What are the applicant’s chief liabilities or weaknesses?
Joe has a great understanding of the different accounting areas of business. He needs to understand the different areas of finance necessary to fulfill his short and long term ambition in investment valuation and management. I have no doubt he will pick up these skills at a top B-School such as the Pegasus MBA program.
4. You may also include any additional comments you may wish to?
Joe has an amiable personality and carries himself with dignity. From my experience with him, I believe he is focused, enthusiastic, highly respective of his co-workers both his superiors and subordinates alike and very sensitive to other people’s beliefs and culture. He takes full accountability for his work, takes a pride in a job well done and has great managerial and leadership abilities. Joe acts with utmost integrity and honesty in the execution of his projects and constantly exhibits the courage to make hard decisions and stand by them. Because of his attitude to work, I would gladly hire Joe to work for me after his graduation if he so desires, but also believe that he will excel wherever he goes to after his graduation. Joe genuinely cares about his team members and constantly makes sure that the team members are doing well. He inspires trust and confidence in others and constantly strives to make changes both at work and in the community.
I am aware of his membership in professional bodies such as the Institute of Management Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of Professional Risk Managers where he participates in various community and charitable events in the DC Metro for the organization.
I am convinced that Joe will be a successful and enthusiastic student and eventually a great ambassador of the MBA program. I highly recommend him for further studies at your university and I am confident that both his instructors and fellow students will benefit significantly from his input. Please contact me at 777.888.9999 or ceo@BHIBglobal.com if you have further questions about his candidacy or this recommendation letter.
NOTA BENE: This is a draft and designed to help you with your MBA applications. Created under the Creative Commons rule and it is copyleft. Use as a guide for your essays. I plan to collate and refine the essays I have posted on Black Herald and publish a book of MBA essays in the future.
Nigeria Entertainment Awards 2009
April 20, 2009 | 1 Comment
NEW YORK, NY– (April 6, 2009) – The Producers of the NEA Awards are pleased to announce the beginning of voting for the 2009 NEA Awards scheduled for Washington DC on Saturday, June 6th, 2009 at 6:00pm at the Howard University Cramton Auditorium. General public can cast their vote on the NEA website at www.nigeriaentawards.com/#awp::nominees/ and voting will continue for seven weeks and will end on May 25th. Votes will be tallied up by the marketing firm of Afribranding LLC and winners will not be revealed until announced at the Award ceremony on June 6th.
For Sponsorship, Advertising, Press inquiries and any other inquiries please contact us (856) 776-8254 in the US and 234 706 110 7554 in Nigeria or info@nigeriaentaward.com or visit us online at www.nigeriaentawards.com.
About NEA
The Nigeria Entertainment Award is an annual event focused on recognizing the many contributions of Nigerian Artists to the entertainment industry across the globe. The producers of this year’s Award Show are dedicated to promoting the image and rich culture of Nigeria. This dedication has increased the awareness of this new edgy style of African Entertainment and has helped promote Nigerian acts to mainstream America.
About Howard University’s Cramton Auditorium
Cramton Auditorium opened its doors on January 8, 1961. The 1,508 seat auditorium, named for former Congressman Louis C. Cramton of Michigan is located at the corner of Sixth and Fairmont Streets, Northwest in Washington, D.C. on Howard University’s main campus. Hilyard Robinson, architect, designed and oversaw the construction of this theatre. The first guest performance held at Cramton Auditorium featured the National Symphony Orchestra in concert with the Male Glee Clubs of Howard and Georgetown Universities. Since then, Cramton Auditorium has provided the Institution and the community with the means to enrich the lives of both students and visitors academically, culturally, and socially. World leaders, key political figures and entertainers have been guests at this renowned theatre.
Oxford-Style Debate: Regulation Vs Deregulation
April 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries” –Winston Churchill.
WASHINGTON DC - MARCH 31, 2009 : The current financial crisis has led to many public outcries for regulation of the financial services sector. As a contribution to the discourse, Black Herald commissioned a distinguished panel to argue for or against regulation in an Oxford-Style debate. Here are their responses:
SAINT JAMES
Money is the root of all evil – The Holy Bible
The lack of money is the root of all evil – George Bernard Shaw
It is easy to see why we need more regulation – tons and piles and bales of them in fact. Who in their right minds would not want Bernie Madoff to have been more tightly regulated? Which right thinking American would not rush to slap down more regulations on those crooks on Wall Street, who were selling silly stuff they didn’t have, and buying equally silly stuff with money that wasn’t there? Or how many Irishmen would not swear on their bottle of Guinness that a little more regulation might have saved them from the current wretchedness? Actually, one Irishman who moved back home in the midst of the boom rued it all: “I left a godly land of broke but merry alcoholics and came back to a place where people who used to dig potatoes were buying luxury apartments sight unseen and driving Porsches.”
And yet. And yet. As appealing as these sentiments are, lets pause for a moment. It is no accident that America has produced the most innovative, most dynamic and most flexible political economy ever: that is largely because America also has the least regulated economy in the world. The Chinese didn’t really shake off centuries of appalling economic underperformance until they embraced market forces under Deng after Mao passed. Russia, despite a tumultuous transition and the rule of the oligarchs, is clearly better off with market rules than it ever was under Bolshevism. As for Africa, it was said of Julius Nyerere’s socialistic regulations in Tanzania that the only thing that was equitably redistributed was poverty.
Of course, the revered Nyerere meant well for Tanzanians.
But that is the heart of the problem: all those who argue for tougher regulations mean well. The problem is that no law makers or collection of bureaucrats, no matter how well meaning and smart, can aggregate the atomistic decision making points of millions of households that can produce an optimal outcome. These are broad strokes, and I am sure that anyone can find examples from recent history to support a counter argument: the Asian financial meltdown, Nigeria’s disastrous SAP policies, and now the global financial meltdown. When you have center right French president threatening to walk out on the G-20 meeting if tougher regulation of hedge funds, rating agencies and tax havens are not on the table, then something is wrong.
But when you think about it, what is really wrong is to think that we can dig ourselves out of this mess by killing innovation in the name of more regulations. What is really wrong is the emerging global mind set that putting American bankers in chains would make us whole again. That’s just damn right pig-headed.
President Obama has rightly said that he would not govern out of anger. Let us hope that he would not succumb to the rumblings from the extreme left flank of his party and put on a more interventionist hat. In the end, you can ask yourself: as the Irish debacle shows, is it better to have been hobbled by many regulations and remain on the potato farms or to open up with less regulation and, at least live on O’Mansions and ride Porsches for a while? The choice is clear for me: some of the houses may now be empty, but at least they are better than dreary potato farms.
JAMES is a management consultant specializing in IT Audit & Risk Management. He has consulted for multinational companies in Europe, America and Africa. He holds a Masters Degree in Economics and he is Black Herald’s Chief Correspondent for International Politics.
MR SHAMAR THOMPSON
Stiffer penalties for failure to comply with existing rules are probably more efficient than creating new set of redundant regulatory bodies and rules.
Seriously - More regulation ? Why not enforce existing rules - after all, the crisis is rooted in non-compliance with existing underwriting rules. Sub-prime mortgage brokers were unconcerned about the quality of their loans, sub-prime borrowers intentionally misstated their incomes and took loans they knew they could not repay, and poor underwriting by lenders, combined, are the direct causes of the sub-prime crisis that evolved into a credit crisis and a recession. Stiffer penalties for failure to comply with existing rules are probably more efficient than creating new set of redundant regulatory bodies and rules. Why not start by reviewing loan document of borrowers who took out mortgages that required substantially higher income than they earned but fraudulently stated in the underwriting packages? The surge of mortgages with fraudulent underwriting created the obscene home valuation that inevitably crashed as scam mortgages went bad.
Politically motivated support for additional oversight of hedge fund activities, over-the counter Credit Default Swaps market, or leverage positions of market participants in Wall Street, albeit commendable in certain instances, misses the crucial task of correctly diagnosing and fixing the cause of the crisis. The risk of default by sub-prime borrowers remains unchanged even if Banks could only leverage zero to one - banks would have suffered losses enough to destroy capital. A sixty to one leverage (e.g. Barclay etc) would have accelerated the destruction in equity and would be the source of systemic risk due to counterparty credit exposure as is the case with the current crisis.
Few oppose the orderliness, transparency and stability that effective regulation brings to the market. But regulations are as effective to the extent of enforcement. That more regulation is solution to what is clearly a collapse of the enforcement machinery of the regulatory institutions is not only a myth, it is worrisome.
THOMPSON is a Certified Public Accountant and posseses specialized accounting knowledge especially on FAS 133, FAS 91, FIN 46, FAS 157, FAS 115 and currently works in the Energy Derivatives Market. He holds a Masters Degree in Accounting.
OLALEKAN OLOYEDE
The default nature of man is evil.
With effective regulation, the world would be spared of many of the economic crises we face today. A review of the economic health of Canadian banks, U.S electric transmission & distribution companies, and the Nigerian capital market may be very helpful. While the eventual rupture of the over-blown real estate market from Boston to San Diego shook many U.S. banks to their foundations, Canadian banks stood firm and healthy. Not that Canada is immune to the real estate crisis (Toronto’s bubble busted too!) but the Canadian regulators refused local banks attempts to lever-up their balance sheets with mortgage-backed securities while the Goldman Sachs of America could not have enough of these troubled assets on their portfolios. The cost to the public? Canadian government did not spend a penny in bank bailout while Goldman quickly closed out its credit default swap positions with AIG as soon as the stupid lawmakers approved the rescue plan.
The U.S. electric delivery market is heavily regulated even at a cost to the taxpayers. That cost however is outweighed by the benefits of sound and healthy utilities in the market. Transmission and distribution companies must go through stringent rate cases before they are allowed to commit capital to investment projects. Even when capital outlays are approved, these companies can only make reasonable return on investments consistent with market realities. These regulations, I would argue, have encouraged utilities to act “appropriately”. While auto companies and banks were crying for help, utilities did not layoff a single worker even in the face of unbelievable spike in fuel cost.
In a bid to create larger-than-life balance sheets, Nigerian banks loaned customers and investors who in turn purchased equities in the same banks. Stockbrokers illegally promoted equities without fundamentals and the head of the stock exchange gave testimonies in church for what the Lord has done. The devastating result of the unavoidable bust led many to conclude never to invest in Nigeria. The sovereign rating of the country was recently downgraded and we can argue that the collapse of the capital market is partly responsible. The default nature of man is evil. Without a big brother watching, I doubt anybody will even stop at the stop sign.
OLOYEDE is a Certified Public Accountant & received his MBA degree from an Ivy League College. He currently works in the Private Equity/Corporate Business Development sector. Prior to Business School, he worked for Accenture, Deloitte and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He also holds a Masters degree in Accounting.
LALA LALLYNTON
Adam Smith used the ‘invisible hand’ to argue that while a man tries to deploy his talents to maximize revenue for himself, he maximizes the total revenue for the society as a whole.
Deregulation and free market capitalism has built more wealth and created far more economic progress than otherwise. It is the system that has over time proven to create lasting individual and national wealth. It is only when we allow greed and excessiveness to pervade the system that we have cracks. Deregulation unfairly takes the blame. History remains the best index for making a fair argument. We must not ignore the importance of various other factors that affect the economy of the day; most importantly politics and circumstances like war.
The present global recession has once again focused on the possibility of trying out regulation. I strongly disagree. While the current situation is easily ascribed to bad mortgages, hyper-inflated housing prices and atrocious financial dealings; history has shown us that the global economic story is a cyclical one. From the crash of 1929, the recession in the mid to late 1970’s, the decline in the 1980’s - all these historic events were brought about by overstretching the system. Regulation would not eradicate this. What most countries need to do is improve the effectiveness of their existing economic watchdogs such as S.E.C in the US. Looking back in time, all the above outlined recessions were followed by years of immense economic progress.
While it is not possible to affirm that free market is without frailties, regulation cannot be the alternative and does not offer the way forward. Most European economies are regulated and they’ve had their fair share of the economic downturn. Having lived and worked in the UK, I see that welfare states with up to 45% income tax are fast losing their abilities to compete in the global economy. And government having a major share in the capital market has not spared the UK from experiencing recession. The U.S.S.R comes to mind. Communism isn’t exactly like socialism in its model, but the workings are almost if not exactly the same. While the U.S.S.R failed for a number of reasons, the biggest culprit was the lack of innovation and ability to compete.
Adam Smith used the ‘invisible hand’ to argue that while a man tries to deploy his talents to maximize revenue for himself, he maximizes the total revenue of the society as a whole. That is, if everyone is allowed to fully express his capabilities; unhindered, he is able to compete, resulting in higher cumulative national wealth - which is the sum total of individual revenues. Countries like Singapore, India, and Brazil are fast becoming great economic achievement not because of increased government regulation but because they are deploying the ‘invisible hand’. Even China is becoming less regulated and as a result growing in leaps and bounds economically. In conclusion, deregulation is not evil. Rather, it is the machinations of people that lead to economic cataclysm.
LALLYNTON is a pharmacist and has worked in the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria, United Kingdom and the United States. He enjoys literature, history and the study of international political economy.
RIBO WARI
In the case of Madoff, how can someone hide $50 billion fictitious securities from an auditor?
Not again!. Another scandal, another disaster and another new regulation. When will the cycle end? Don’t we already have enough laws? Why must all the new regulations be reactive? We keep going round in cycles. It is very simple. The people that run the finance industry are very smart people. THEY WILL ALWAYS FIND A WAY TO BEND THE LAW WITHOUT BREAKING THE LAW. So what do the lawmakers do? Well, they keep on adding new regulations when adding new regulation is not the solution to the problem. Yes, politically it makes the politicians look good by giving the perception that they are taking action. But practically, it makes no sense because nobody knows where the next Maddof or next crisis will come from. Hence any new regulation will address the past and not the future.
Anyone remember Sarbanes Oxley (SOX)? This in my opinion, was one of the most counterproductive regulations - as a former auditor, I can tell you from experience that the only good SOX did was to make more money audit firms and create jobs for accountants. The SOX regulations was set up due to the public outcry for action and what we got was a hastily created law that succeeded in only adding more administrative cost to public companies and discouraging private companies from going public. Why do we continue to add new regulations that will only act as a band-aid? Don’t we already have laws that say auditors should verify financial statements? In the case of Madoff, how can someone hide $50 billion fictitious securities from an auditor? In the case of the sub- prime crises, were there no laws that stipulate that income should be verified before loans are granted? What happened to these laws /regulations when the banks were giving loans to anyone with a pulse?
Some might ask, so what is the solution? I think the solution is to set up a very influential commission or agency that will be responsible for reviewing, monitoring and updating ALREADY EXISTING LAWS. The group will be very proactive and will include thought leaders from the finance industry that know what is going on.
Notice I said influential. The commission has to be influential to be able to enforce the laws when they notice any breaches or loop holes. Also, the commission has to have very smart people who are able to anticipate and respond to potential breaches or crisis by constantly reviewing and monitoring the changes in the industry. It is definitely a fact that before the current sub-prime crisis, there are people out there complaining about the way mortgages were being approved. However, there was nobody out there to address the issues noted. America chose to use the proactive approach to address and stop the terrorists and also in its Tax Laws. It is time it uses that approach in confronting greed in the financial industry.
If we are to believe that “The default nature of man is evil” as noted by Olalekan , then people will always look for ways to beat already existing laws and the only way to stop them is to anticipate the potential loop holes and put in place laws to cover them as the economy and market changes.
WARI is an entrepreneur and owns a transportation management & logistics company in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to venturing out into private business he was a consultant and worked for Deloitte & Coca Cola. Wari holds a Masters Degree and he is also a Certified Information Systems Auditor.
MR. S PANKO
It is therefore a paradox that the greatest virtues of capitalism are also its greatest undoing.
One of the core principles of capitalism is wealth maximization and to achieve this objective capitalism encourages greed, entrepreneurship, conceit and risk taking, sometimes to the detriment of the society at large. It is therefore a paradox that the greatest virtues of capitalism are also its greatest undoing. Just like the police is required to check public excesses and the military required to protect the sovereignty of a state from belligerent forces, so is an effective regulatory infrastructure required to check “laissez-faire” and protect the common good of the people.
Though you may say that we have enough regulations already, but there we part company. The current regulations as is, are vague, subject to interpretations and are easily exploited and manipulated by market participants to suit their own whims & caprices. Consequently, one of the solutions to averting similar financial crisis in the future is the development of regulatory frameworks that are clear, precise and accessible to the public so that the risk attitudes of companies can measured using the same yardsticks and benchmarks. Institutions violating regulations and taking too much risk can therefore be readily identified and “penalized” accordingly.
The job however cannot be left solely to the government, hence companies themselves must self-regulate and develop capabilities to question the risk-return dynamics of their own business decisions on a real-time basis using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Organizations that take risk management with levity may soon find themselves extinct; please ask the Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Countrywides of this world!!!.
PANKO is the CEO & Managing Partner of Blackinsey & Company - A top tier strategy & management consulting company based in Washington DC
