Engineering Trio Awarded MBA Scholarships

Three UK engineers have each secured a £50,000 scholarship as part of a long-running initiative to strengthen the UK economy by placing engineers at the heart of business leadership.

The Sainsbury Engineering Management Fellows scholarship enables talented engineers to pursue MBAs at elite business schools, equipping them with the tools to lead, innovate, and generate impact on a national and global scale.

Established in 1987 by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the scholarship aims to increase the number of engineers in senior executive roles at the heart of UK companies. It supports individuals who combine strong technical backgrounds with outstanding business acumen, helping to drive innovation, competitiveness, and economic growth.

The trio will join an esteemed network of more than 400 Sainsbury Management Fellows who have benefited from this transformative opportunity. Collectively, SMFs have founded more than 300 businesses, generated over £4.8 billion in economic value, and created more than 20,000 jobs.

The latest recipients are:

• Ed Gerrard, BEng Hons, MSc – studying at Harvard Business School
• Krsna Mohnani, BSc Hons, MBBS – studying at Stanford Graduate School of Business
• Hriday Sattineni, MEng Hons – studying at Harvard Business School

Commenting on his award, Ed said:

“What’s so impressive about the Sainsbury Management Fellowship is how many of the previous awardees are now in entrepreneurship. Being part of a network of engineers with business experience who have then gone on to found their own companies is tremendously exciting.”

Krsna already has set her sights on the skills she needs to pick up on at business school. She said: “I’m conscious that financial acumen is my blind spot. I want to learn how to scale a venture if you have an idea, how to bring it to fruition through national deployment in the UK, how to allocate risk and how to allocate capital wisely.”

Hriday is very thankful for the faith shown in him by others and hopes to repay that faith when he returns to the UK. He said: “The scholarship came as a massive, massive shock. The money is not at all insignificant. It allows me to spend the time developing my ideas further but also allows me to not be forced to make choices for financial safety. And the SMF network will be fantastic for insights of those very experienced alumni who’ve been working with government and have been working with different sectors. Being part of all that is a great feeling.”

Upon completing their MBAs, the three scholars will join the wider SMF community, offering their insights and mentorship to the next generation of young engineers.

Each year, EIBF awards up to 16 Sainsbury Management Fellows scholarships to outstanding engineers and scientists. Applications for the next round of scholarships are now open.