Lemuel Mandara Mbaga

21 years old, attending the London School of Economics, UK. Lemuel was awarded a Beacon Scholarship for University in May 2023, and a Beacon Scholarship for Schools in 2011.

Lemuel is studying towards a BSc in Economic History.  Lemuel maintains exceptionally good results in coursework and modules; he puts this success down to observing a tightly controlled daily schedule of ‘office hours’. He enjoys competitions linked to his degree, and this year entered the Economic History Investment Competition, coming 4th out of about 20 teams.

Lemuel enjoys a range of pursuits in his free time.  He commits to regular gym attendance, setting himself training and lifting goals. He regularly plays his saxophone, learning major, minor and pentatonic scales and creating a melody cover he plans to record. He has attended several DJ and producing workshops.

Lemuel has built an impressive profile for himself in his time at LSE. He is President of the Advancing Black Careers society, and as such led a team, empowering them to organise successful networking events and insight days with guest speakers. He features in the top 100 Most Important People of African Descent in the UK’s ‘Leader and Pioneer’ category.

Lemuel continues to volunteer for Debate Mate and is now Senior Mentor, working with Year 6 school students, building their confidence and communication skills to such a degree that two of his teams finished with podium positions in a debate cup competition. He also now trains other LSE students to be mentors. Aware of the importance of financial know-how for communities to prosper, Lemuel has been compiling a curriculum for financial literacy, which he will share this summer for his Citizenship Project in Tanzania.  

Beacon Workshop Participation

In Beacon Workshops, Lem demonstrates capable leadership, bringing energy and meaningful discussion to team tasks.

Beacon Summer Citizenship Project

Lem’s Summer Citizenship Project was called ‘Financial Futures 2.0’ and focussed on empowering the youth community through Financial Literacy from ages 16 to 25.