Stories
Stories
Preparing Global Leaders
Kim Wahl (MBA 1987)
Kim Wahl (MBA 1987) credits the case method with providing training that has
helped him address difficult and unexpected business challenges. “The
two years that I spent at HBS shaped me intellectually and provided me
with important tools—including confidence—to handle complex and
diverse business issues,” he says.
Wahl, an investor based in Oslo, Norway, was cofounder and partner
of the private equity firm IK Investment Partners Ltd. from 1989 to 2009.
Presently he runs Stromstangen AS, a privately owned investment firm
focusing on asset management with emphasis on active and long-term
value creation. In addition to this, he is cofounder and chairman of Voxtra,
a social impact investment firm that focuses on improving the livelihoods
of those in the agriculture sector in East Africa.
He and his wife, Cecilie, created a fund this year to support HBS’s
global activities. They hope to enable more business leaders to benefit
from the School’s global research and leadership as well as to help others
from around the world build skills through the case method, just as he did.
“We want HBS to continue to develop as a leader in business education
on a global scale, second to none,” he says. “We support the School’s
continued efforts to work closely with companies, universities, and
governments worldwide as well as its programs that train international
executives and academics in teaching the use of the case method.”
Wahl has been a member of HBS’s European Advisory Board since April
2017, a post that has helped him understand the needs of the School
more fully and also inspired this recent gift.
“We admire the values that the institution represents and strongly
believe that the School’s work will have a positive impact on society,”
he says. “We both feel compelled to give back to society, and this is a
meaningful way of doing that.”