It was during a personal development review in 2024 that Matthew Goddard first began considering the potential of an MBA. Matt’s boss, CEO and founder of Trinnovo Group, Ashley Lawrence, had completed his own MBA with Bayes in 2018, and could see how Matt would benefit.

“Ashley asked me where I saw my career going. I told him I wanted to be able to branch out and move my career in all sorts of different directions. He thought an MBA would be a good option to broaden my skill set and my horizons. He felt there might be something in the MBA which sparked my interests and to see it as an opportunity to explore some more aspects of business.”

Ashley offered to sponsor Matt’s Executive MBA at Bayes.

“I could see that he was invested in me as a person, and he could see that I was in it for the long haul with Trinnovo, and that I care deeply about its success.

It felt like we were embarking on my MBA journey together – in the long-term it will help my career, but in the short to medium term, it will definitely have an immediate impact in supporting Trinnovo’s growth.

Bayes Executive MBA student Matthew Goddard (left) with his manager Ashley Lawrence, a Bayes MBA alumnus.

“I felt I had pigeonholed myself”

Today Matt is Head of Legal and Compliance at Trinnovo, a global multi-brand staffing business focused on technology, AI and regulatory staffing.

“My role is primarily about business protection – protecting the business, our people, clients and contractor workforce. I’ve worked in the recruitment industry for ten years, starting as a sales consultant. That background means I see myself through a slightly different lens than the typical legal and compliance professional. I’m probably more commercially minded and pragmatic, and I assess risk slightly differently.”

“Early on in my career I had been working as a recruitment consultant, but I fell out of love with the sales side of it, and I was a little bit lost. I’d then fallen into more project management roles with a focus on contract reviews and legal compliance, learning from legally trained colleagues. This played well to my strengths, but after a while I felt I had pigeonholed myself – pursuing a career purely in legal wasn’t where I saw myself wanting to go.”

Two flexible MBA formats

As a result of that conversation with Ashley, and with Trinnovo’s support, Matt started his MBA in 2025. Bayes’ Executive MBA Programmes are offered in two part-time formats and are designed to fit around busy careers and personal lives. Executives choose between the twice-weekly evening or the monthly long-weekend format, allowing them to study flexibly while working. Matt felt the monthly format was best for him and his family.

“I had some self-doubt before I started the MBA, asking myself questions of whether it was the right time – I have two young children who were then under three. I was having my interview with the course director, and I was open with him about whether the timing was right. The product of that conversation was ‘when is a good time?’. My children will get older and the demands will be different. I won’t be picking them up from nursery, but I’ll be taking them to sports practice, or to music lessons. The demands of children won’t change until they find some independence once they turn 18, and the whole purpose of the MBA is for me to develop and advance my career to get them better opportunities too – I can’t wait until they are 18 for me to make that decision. I have to invest that time now.”

For me, the flexibility of the weekend format was critical. Lots of business schools offer an evening format, but that wouldn’t have worked for me.

"I live in Berkshire, not London, so doing an evening MBA would mean I wouldn’t get home until about 11pm, two nights a week – I wouldn’t have seen my children.”

“When I realised the weekend MBA format was an option, it was a no-brainer. Yes, I don’t see the children on that one weekend but that is a monthly sacrifice we can manage. It’s far easier for me and my partner to plan ahead for those weekends, rather than it being something to juggle every single week.”

“The weekends are intense – we start on a Friday morning and run through to Sunday evening and cover two modules each weekend. You have to arrive at class focused and ready to absorb as much as possible. You need to sleep well and eat well so you are really present in the room. All the lectures are recorded, and the learning material is on the online platform, meaning you can watch these back and refresh your memory on anything you might have missed in class.”

The flexibility of the weekend format also attracts students from further afield.

“It’s a very international cohort – we have people coming from the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Dubai and Japan among other places.”

Wide-ranging insight on many business functions

The Executive MBA curriculum combines key areas of finance, leadership, strategy, operations, marketing and innovation.

“It really does spark your curiosity for areas outside of your immediate remit. Prior to the MBA, my approach was to focus on the responsibilities in my job description. That was my mandate – I knew what I was looking after and I did a good job of it. Now, with my curiosity ignited, I am stepping into new areas, asking questions of people I would never have asked before because I didn’t have the interest or understanding.”

The MBA gives you confidence because you've got the background knowledge to ask questions and seek answers and learn about the business holistically.

"My colleagues can see I am interested in their areas, and that makes for better collaboration. You get better trust with the people you work with, because you are showing an interest in their job – it’s not just a transactional relationship anymore. You are learning from them and you’re trying to provide your perspective. I’ve now got a much closer relationship with our Group Finance Director, because I can sit in a room with him and use the same language – the conversation flows much more easily, and I think we find better solutions because I can understand it from his perspective.”

Matthew Goddard (second right) at Microsoft with his Executive MBA classmates for the London Symposium elective

A supportive employer and their return on investment

As well as sponsoring Matt’s MBA fees, Trinnovo let him use study days, rather than annual leave, for his monthly Friday sessions.

I feel very fortunate for that. I very much appreciate that my company is sponsoring me and sees the value in me doing this alongside my full-time job and understands what I can bring back to the business.

“My Business Integration Project will be about developing a new business unit within Trinnovo, which looks at how we can be a disruptor in the market and do innovative things as a staffing business which will give us a competitive advantage. It allows me to combine my decade of experience within the recruitment industry with my learnings from the MBA. It’s exciting and I like that it’s a tangible outcome – I’m not creating a business plan that is purely theoretical. I know that it will be moving forward and bringing value to the business which has supported me.”

“The more I absorb from the MBA, the better the business plan will be, and the better the business launch could be. It is a great opportunity and a perfect example of where you can really bring the MBA to life, put it into practice, and apply it in your day-to-day job.”

“Gaining my MBA will be a great achievement”

“I am the only one in my cohort who doesn’t have a degree. I finished school, went to college to study plumbing and then started working in retail. I’ve had a really strange career path. During the first weekend when everyone was introducing themselves, I felt it was important for me to mention my background, as a little bit of imposter syndrome was beginning to set in. I wanted to be open with my classmates and let them know that academia isn’t my area, and everything was new to me.

I think there’s a preconception that if you are doing an MBA, you must already have a university degree.

“I did feel a little out of my depth when I started, but I told myself just to go for it and jump in at the deep end. My cohort has been incredibly supportive – I think they appreciated my honesty about my background. They have helped me navigate some of the academic norms, like Harvard Referencing – I had no idea what that is. I think that openness has helped me build stronger relationships – I know I have lifelong friends from my cohort, and we trust and value each other’s opinions and advice.”

“Bayes has given me this opportunity, and it’s helped me to feel more validated. It will be a great life achievement for me, to say that I have my MBA degree. “

Professional skills development at the heart of the curriculum

“The Achieving Your Potential weekend has been a highlight of my MBA so far. The concept and format of it is very different to what you’d expect in a business degree. You are in a room full of people where Chatham House rules apply, and everyone is opening up about the challenges they are facing. Most are business challenges; some are more personal. It’s a difficult thing to do, and emotional at times, but everyone was open, honest and brave. It was an incredibly constructive experience, both on a personal and professional level.”

“The main sentiment from that weekend is the more you open up to people, the greater the likelihood you will have a connection with someone facing the same challenge. They can provide interesting and insightful advice and coaching to help you overcome that challenge.”

“That weekend was unexpected as part of the degree, but definitely one of the best things Bayes could have put on.”

Matthew Goddard with his Executive MBA classmates at the Achieving Your Potential programme dinner

Advice for prospective students

“My advice would be to just go for it. I didn’t have a degree, hadn’t been to university and was juggling a lot in my personal and professional life. Somebody in a similar situation might think of all the hurdles as to why they can’t do it, but just get stuck in. Once you get the ball rolling, it’s not as hard as you feared and everything is manageable. You get so much support from the academics and staff at the School, and from your classmates. It’s a professional but relaxed and friendly environment, where people share experiences and have genuine conversations.”

“Go along to a taster day and see for yourself. You’ll experience that environment, meet the academics and fellow prospective students. It gives you a feel for Bayes and what it offers.”

“I feel doing the MBA has given me an additional boost of motivation. I want to do well in my career because I have a young family and I want to give them the best opportunities possible. It’s given me the drive and motivation to show up every day, work hard and get my MBA.”

Doing the MBA is a great experience, and you will not regret doing it.

"Even on those Sunday nights where I’m tired from studying, I haven’t seen my kids in three days and I’m getting the train home after class. I sit there and think it’s absolutely worth it. I’m putting the graft in now and I know it will pay dividends later down the line.”

Interested in a part-time MBA? Explore the Bayes Executive MBA programme.