ACE holder made a life-changing decision during his Executive Education experience | MIT Sloan Executive Education


About four years ago, Kayode Odeleye had an epiphany. The Nigeria native had spent his entire career in the banking industry, working mainly for Britain-based Standard Chartered Bank in both London and the United Arab Emirates. He spent 13 years in various positions, from Strategy and Business Intelligence Manager to Director in the Leveraged Finance Africa division. However, something didn’t feel right anymore. 

“I realized that I wasn’t learning as much on the job in banking. It still paid well, but I wasn’t learning or growing. And that’s key for me,” Odeleye reveals. “Money is good, but it doesn’t get you everywhere.” Additionally, he found himself in a work environment that was becoming increasingly toxic and demoralizing. So he decided to begin looking not only for another job, but also for a learning opportunity that would give him a true sense of fulfillment while also taking him in a new direction. Although the ideal job eluded him, he found the perfect educational opportunity with MIT Sloan Executive Education. 

An Open-Ended Option 

Odeleye considered pursuing an MBA, but he did not want to be locked into one program with a fixed set of courses for years on end. MIT Sloan, however, offered an unprecedented level of flexibility. “When I came across Executive Education, I realized that I could choose what I wanted to learn,” he says. “I had a spreadsheet that looked at a number of school options and what they offered. MIT was the obvious choice.” And upon studying the comprehensive list of course offerings, he immediately decided to go all in on securing his Advanced Certificate for Executives in Management, Innovation, and Technology (ACE).  

"That’s the power of the MIT Sloan journey. It gives you so much knowledge and confidence. That’s what I got out of the experience."

Kayode Odeleye ACE holder and entrepreneur
Photo of Kayode Odeleye

Of course, Odeleye first wanted to make sure that MIT Sloan was the right fit for him. Fortunately, he knew that he could take one course at a time and change his mind along the way. He started with Mastering Design Thinking, a self-paced six-week online course. “It blew my mind completely. There was a huge amount of learning, the faculty was excellent,” he notes. In fact, he found the experience to be so impressive that he quickly signed up for his next course, Digital Business Strategy: Harnessing Our Digital Future. “Every single class offered the same excellent learning,” he continues. “As a banker with a background in mechanical engineering, these were topics outside of my comfort zone. These were things I knew nothing about. But in six weeks, I knew so much more about them. It was amazing. From then on, it was just about finding the time and the money to get me to the very end.” 

A Pivotal Decision 

In October of 2019, Odeleye set aside two weeks to travel to the Cambridge campus for three back-to-back in-person courses: Communication and Persuasion in the Digital AgeImplementing Enterprise-Wide Transformation, and Innovator’s DNA: Mastering Five Skills for Innovative Disruption. And he continued on to finish a total of 11 courses over three years to secure his ACE, including the popular Machine Learning in Business and live online classes like Marketing Innovation and Disciplined Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Approach for Building Innovative Products and Ventures. “Every single one of those 11 courses left me with something that I now use every day in my working life,” he says. “And taking these courses made me realize that I could not stay in my job. There was a whole world out there for me to explore. The MIT Sloan journey changed the course of my life.” 

In fact, just as he completed the ACE program, Odeleye resigned from his investment banking job in October 2020 and founded a startup: Caena. Caena is a fintech company that uses algorithms and emerging technologies, such as machine learning and natural language processing, to help streamline and automate the fundraising process for startups so they can access capital quickly and easily; the company’s goal is to use technology to disrupt some of the more traditional and outdated approaches in finance and investment banking. According to Odeleye, he uses his Executive Education knowledge each day to help drive his companies forward and expand their horizons.  

“That’s the power of the MIT Sloan journey,” Odeleye says. “It gives you so much knowledge and confidence. That’s what I got out of the experience.” 

Today, Odeleye remains in touch with a number of his fellow students and faculty members through LinkedIn and WhatsApp and knows that they will provide support as he delves deeper into his new role as a thriving entrepreneur. And thanks to that career pivot, which he sees as a direct result of his Executive Education experience, he also now considers himself to be a proud ambassador of MIT Sloan. “I really feel like part of the family,” he concludes. And he looks forward to sharing all of his future successes with the instructors and students who inspired him to take the leap into a new business world.    


Learn more about MIT Sloan Executive Certificates.