Developing leaders for UK industry

EIBF empowers engineers and scientists to become leaders in UK industry, helps them achieve their full potential and achieve their career goals.

It does this by annually awarding Sainsbury Management Fellows Scholarships to talented engineers and scientists to enable them to study for an MBA at top international business schools. 

More than 400 Sainsbury Management Fellows (SMFs) have benefitted from this world-class business education since 1987, while also forming an unparalleled network of likeminded leaders, executives and entrepreneurs.

Over 40% of SMFs currently hold executive board roles, while 35% have a non-executive position.

SMFs have raised more than £2bn in venture capital or debt investments.

More than half have influenced public life and more than 45% have influenced education.

SMFs have created more than 21,000 jobs

Vibrant Business Network

As well as providing a platform to progress their careers, the scholarship and network also provides SMFs with further opportunities to promote the values of combining business and technology. This includes invaluable mentoring to young engineers and scientists. 

University Business Competitions

EIBF partners with 50 UK universities to sponsor enterprise competitions which give engineering and science students an early insight into the world of entrepreneurship and a chance to win prize money. 

Our History

1987

The Sainsbury Management Fellows MBA scholarship programme was founded in 1987 by Lord Sainsbury of Turville, who hoped that learning business skills would help engineers to set up their own high-tech businesses or to get to the top of large UK companies. 

2011

In 2011 The Sainsbury Management Fellowship was encouraged by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation to take steps to becoming self-funding. It became a company limited by guarantee and acquired a new legal name, Engineers in Business Fellowship (EIBF).  

2012

Following on in 2012, EIBF became a registered charity, within which the Sainsbury Management Fellowship was retained as a ‘trading name’.

2014

In 2014, EIBF sponsored a competition to challenge engineering students at Nottingham University Business School to create a novel product concept that meets a need in society and demonstrates the use of engineering skills in the creative process. This was called the Engineers in Business Competition and today EIBF sponsors business competitions at 50 universities in the UK. With the growth of Engineers in Business Competitions, this activity has become an important activity of EIBF.

2018

Building on the success of the EIBF university competitions, the Champions of Champions Competition was launched in 2018. This is a two-day event to celebrate the top entries from these university competitions, giving young people a national platform to pitch their ideas and innovations while picking up invaluable mentorship from Sainsbury Management Fellows.

2025

In a bid to further aid the economic prosperity of the UK and to help build on its leading reputation in scientific research, the Sainsbury MBA scholarship programme will be expanded to scientists in 2025. The new programme is called the Sainsbury Science Management Fellows Programme.

Find out more about the work of EIBF.

Scholarships University Competitions