SBS Blog > The MBA, EEC, and life at Strathclyde by Shubham Agarwal

The MBA, EEC, and life at Strathclyde

By Shubham Agarwal - Posted on 31 July 2025

MBA student Shubham Agarwal took part in the Exploring Entrepreneurship Challenge 2025 which saw his team win overall. Here, he takes us on a journey through his MBA experience and his ethos of making the most of everything you do.

I served with the Navy for more than a decade wherein I was posted onboard warships followed by selection into aviation where I served as a helicopter crew. After hanging up my boots, I got into making sustainable communities, an idea that I had nurtured from quite some time, as I firmly believed that there are better ways of existing than to be in the confines of concrete soulless walls. After launching one start up business, which didn’t do as I expected, I quickly moved on to another one, this time with more of an idea of how to propel it forward and this time, more equipped with learnings from the previous experience. However, Covid struck and hospitality took a hit. I needed to get a job.

I started learning coding, got certified in ethical hacking, got a Project Management professional certification and started applying for jobs. I was upskilling myself relentlessly. I worked as a Senior Project manager with Refinitiv and London Stock Exchange Group for more than two years and was fortunate to spearhead multiple global projects ranging from technology to raising new international teams. It was an instrumental step into understanding of how global businesses operated at scale.

Outside of my professional life, I chose to actively shape a personal identity rooted in sustainability and hands-on learning. I immersed myself in eco-construction, an area that really excited me in terms of the carbon footprint we generate and how to use earth elements for structurally robust yet sustainable builds with temperature regulation. Along the way, I trained in permaculture, gaining design frameworks that are surprisingly transferable to systems thinking in business. I networked with like-minded individuals, eventually acquiring a small farm where I began cultivating a small fruit forest, an experiment in practicing zero budget natural farming and syntropic agroforestry. I call it “EarthKissed”. These experiences didn’t just shape who I am outside work, they inform how I embrace the values I believe in and how I truly believe in the work I deliver.

Now professionally I would say I was doing okay, but deep down I felt I needed a deeper understanding of end-to-end business processes. The rapidly changing technological landscape required an overarching learning of the corporate world. Even for my entrepreneurial journey, I was keen to learn how I could have done better and this was the point I felt I was ready to get into upskilling mode again and hence, an MBA.

I knew Strathclyde thanks to my manager at LSEG who had an MBA from Strathclyde and I thought of him as a pretty amazing leader. I also wanted a one-year course, in person, a university with triple crown accreditation and the Strathclyde course content seemed exciting.

The Strathclyde MBA

And what an experience! Itʼs been phenomenal. Moving to a new country was an experience in itself. I learned so much from the group tasks about interpersonal dynamics. I made some amazing friends and met some very inspiring leaders.

The guest talks were enjoyable. Industry leaders sharing authentic experiences and the feeling of general advocacy towards sustainability. The site visit to New Lanark was particularly moving for me as a community founder and I loved the philosophy of Robert Owen.

Something I also specifically recall was the Insights Discovery workshop. A big shout out to Graham Cook from The Colour Works for his amazing work - I learned a great deal about presentation skills and further polished my skills of working with people globally.

As for the curriculum, itʼs suitably designed and I loved the balancing out that is required between sprints of putting in work and windows for a breather. Excellent job, whoever designed the class curriculum schedule. The subjects themselves were pretty immersive and though I have been asking some really difficult questions, all the instructors have been thoroughly patient and professional in their responses and the level of in-depth co-exploration has been very instrumental in not imposing a theoretical lens to justify but even allowed the scope to challenge it.

Exploring Entrepreneurship Challenge

The entrepreneurial hub of the university - called Strathclyde Inspire - holds an annual challenge for pitching an idea. I was keen to undergo the process and it helped me in practicing interpersonal skills as well as pitching and presentation improvements.

The entire experience of the Exploring Entrepreneurship Challenge was phenomenal. Initially, we gathered in a big hall where we were allocated random teams. We sat down together to discuss potential plans. Having made some intentional communities in the past, something that always attracted me was the possibility of people choosing ethical options once they knew about it. But the challenge always cropped up as to how should one be aware of whatʼs sustainable or ethical.

Our team spoke about having a certification agency for SMEs and a resource hub for such collaborators. I felt the seed was planted and then the team came into action. We did a threadbare analysis of what could be done and were still flying with a lot of ideas as we settled down to what became Ecofy.

Great teams work on a common mission to improve the outcome and not necessarily towards claiming the ownership of results. This was something which really helped us exchange honest conversations, acknowledging the work in hand, still believing and ready to put in the work required to deliver. Gabriel Szeiler and I were delighted when we found out we’d won the Challenge with Ecofy - a mark that builds a sustainable domestic supply chain and is easily recognisable for its sustainable and ethical manufacturing. This really was a fantastic opportunity, and I’d encourage anyone to take part. Who knows…the idea you have been working on might spin out from Inspire and, rest assured, they have an immense pool of resources, networks and subject matter expertise to help bring your idea to success. So if you ‘ve been waiting to take the long shot, this may be another reason to join.

Careers support

In general, the staff here is super amicable and ready to help. We have our regular one to one with Jane Hammond, who is an immensely experienced MBA Careers and Employability Consultant and a very supportive mentor truly helping you navigate your professional student journey including general reflections or coaching sessions to bring out the best in you.

Wrapping up

If you’re contemplating whether to choose Strathclyde as your choice of university for pursuing education, my take is: it’s totally worth it! Whichever department you are aiming to study in, feel free to reach out the current students and you’ll discover how everybody has got great things to talk about the course, the quality of instructors, infrastructure and the facilities (not to forget Strath Sports which I personally relished). As the saying goes, “People Make Glasgow” and the most amazing ones are associated with Strathclyde. The location, the campus, the inclusivity and the flair for sustainability worked for me and I am sure anyone would love to be a part of this experience. I would highly recommend to anyone considering Strathclyde to reach out to any student from the department you intend to join and I am sure they would be more than willing to share their own personal journey. If there’s something I can help you with, feel free to reach out to me.

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog as much as I enjoyed penning it down and I wish you the very best for your ongoing or coming tenure.

Shubham is a Stephen Young Global Leader Scholar for 2024-25 - further information on the Stephen Young Global Leaders’ Scholarship Programme is available here