Currently, we serve Nigerians in Nigeria struggling to pay for the cost of applying to graduate schools in North America. The award typically goes to recent college graduates.

We award GRE/GMAT/TOEFL/IELTS scholarships and cover up to four school application fees. This averages about $1,000 per student. Coming up with a thousand US dollars is a steep hill to climb for many students in a developing country.

We also mentor the scholarship recipients and guide them throughout the graduate school application process and beyond. We coach them on how to ace the requisite exams, help edit their application essays such as the Statement of Purpose and Personal History (or Diversity) Statement, guide their school selection process, prepare them for visa interviews, and on how to succeed in graduate school and beyond. Winners of the MT Scholarships get access to a network of world-class professionals that serve as both mentors and role models.

This is why the official name of the legal entity disbursing the MT Scholarships is The Dream Network because winning the MT Scholarships grants students with typically no connection the network needed to achieve their dreams.

The scholarship committee uses several factors in screening the initial application. The goal is to select a diverse, service-oriented group of so-called MT Scholars who have the best chance of thriving through the rigors of a graduate program. The process is not unlike what graduate school admissions committees use in selecting the composition of an incoming class.

We look for academically strong students who are financially incapable of covering the cost of graduate school applications. We also look for candidates who have shown initiative or drive that they can withstand the challenges of living abroad in a rigorous graduate curriculum. We strive for geographic and gender diversity: so females and those from underrepresented states are particularly encouraged to apply.

When I reflect on my entire US/Canada graduate school application process as a Nigerian living in Nigeria, the most difficult part by far was paying for the required standardized tests such as the GRE and the TOEFL, as well as the application fees to schools. Having a high GPA from college, crafting persuasive application letters, and securing credible references (all part of the application requirements for applying to graduate schools) was difficult, but was nothing compared to living in a third world country and trying to pay online for services based in North America.

The reasons for this difficulty are many, but two stand out: trust and lack. Take trust. Many merchants, including test makers and universities, are loath to accept a credit card payment from Nigeria. Nigerian scams and the legend of the “Nigerian Prince” are infamous on the internet, even though the reality is that less than one-tenth of one percent of Nigerians engage in these dubious schemes. The more than 99.9% of Nigerians thus face a deficit of trust when dealing online with those outside of the country. For this reason, even those who have money are not able to spend it to move their lives forward.

Then, there is the issue of lack. More than half of the population of Nigeria lives in extreme poverty, defined as those living on less than $1.90 a day. It was just yesterday, or so it seems, that I was part of this statistic. And the overwhelming majority that are not technically in extreme poverty are barely scraping by. For many, the cost to apply to North American graduate schools would be the biggest single expense of their lives so far. When I did the math, I calculated that, from kindergarten all the way to finishing college, I spent less than $1,000 total on tuition and fees; whereas, the cost of my tests and application fees alone for graduate school were more than $1,000. In other words, I paid more in months during the application process than in over 16 years of education.

I had to rely on a friend of a friend, who also used a friend of a friend, to pay for my tests and application fees. Without this assistance, I wouldn’t have achieved my dream of a North American graduate education – the envy of the world. I am now on a mission to help many navigate these treacherous waters. You can call it paying it forward. This is first reason I started the MT Scholarships.

But there is a second, deeper reason at work that has to do with eradicating poverty. Remittances – funds transferred by immigrants to their home country – is a big source of income to the impoverished, propping up the local economies of developing nations. Without this steady injection of funds to the economy, tensions are more likely to flare, leading to more chaos in societies that are already teetering on the edge. Immigrants with advanced degrees end up with well-paying jobs, and the money they send home helps push back the dark clouds of poverty, one money transfer at a time. What’s more, immigrants that go back to their home countries after a graduate education are in a prime position to lead the academia, industry, and government of the countries they come from, helping to shape the policies that will help kill poverty. I am thus very motivated to facilitate the access of these future leaders to the best educational system in the world.

We started in 2019 by just paying for the GRE exams because we believe the GRE is a key factor in securing fully funded graduate admissions. In 2020, we expanded the prize to cover not only the GRE but also the TOEFL or IELTS and school application fees.

Going forward, we plan to expand the prize even further to cover some hidden fees of applying to graduate school such as the cost of obtaining and certifying applicants’ transcripts which an increasing number of schools are started to require. From the feedback we have received so far, this cost of obtaining and verifying one’s transcripts can be as high as $500. This way, we can completely help the helpless.

Mentoring is an equally – some say even more – important part of the scholarship package. In 2019, the mentoring program was geared more towards ensuring the winners ace their exams. In 2020, the mentoring program has expanded to include a more holistic approach of assisting MT Scholars over many years covering the time period of their application to graduate schools to thriving in graduate schools to landing that first job after bagging their advanced degrees.

In the future, we will formalize the mentoring program with a view to decouple it from the award. The reason is because there are bright, motivated students with a means to pay for their graduate application package who nonetheless require the type of top-notch mentoring that only MT Scholars currently enjoy. This category of students will not normally qualify for the MT Scholarship because we factor in “indigency” in our selection decision. More to come on this. If you have any questions, please contact us.

In 2019, we awarded seven scholarships. In 2020, even with the expanded prize package, we awarded 22. In absolute US Dollar terms, this translates to 10 times increase year-on-year. We hope to keep sustainably growing the scholarship.

Geographically, we hope to broaden the scholarships to other countries in sub-Saharan Africa and eventually to all developing countries. Designs for this are already underway.

Editor’s Note: This answer was from when we were starting out in October 2019. We have decided to leave as-is to compare where we are to what we set out to accomplish.

Impact will be measured on three time horizons: short term, medium term, and longer term.

Short term (1 – 2 years i.e. now – October 2021): Success is creating the infrastructure needed for a lasting organization. This means formally establishing the nonprofit, building a dynamic website that is full of helpful information, automating the application process and formalizing the process of selecting the winners. We will form strategic partnerships with exam bodies, universities, nonprofits, corporate sponsors, etc., to help further our goals.

Medium term (3 – 5 years i.e. October 2021 – October 2024): Success is year-on-year increase in the number of GRE and GMAT scholarships awarded. Success is including TOEFL and school application fees as part of the scholarship package.

Longer term (5+ years, post October 2024): Success is when the beneficiaries of these scholarship complete their studies and start effecting positive change in their societies.

We believe that investment in people yield the best profit. There are already enough discouraging forces – both from without and within – that individuals face; and we want to counter those negative voices that make people achieve less than they are capable of. There’s nothing more beautiful than a fully alive human; we like to see people live fully.