After years in strategy consulting, Mirnesa Ibisevic made a bold leap into the non-profit sector last year via the fellowship at The School for Moral Ambition. Seven months on, she looks back on the transition and the role the fellowship played in helping her find her feet.
When I told people I was leaving Simon-Kucher [a growth-focused strategy consultancy] to work for an environmental NGO, the reactions were predictable – “That’s a bold move”, “Won’t it be dull?”, “What about the hours?”, “Won’t you miss the high pace of consulting?” and “Is it a temporary move?”
I’d be lying if I said those questions hadn’t crossed my own mind. The narrative around strategy consulting is powerful: challenging work, steep learning curve, selective entry, financial security, all wrapped into one career path. I’d bought into it. And for a while, it delivered. Let me take the most common ones in turn.
But after a few months at Fern, an NGO working on forests, land rights and sustainable food systems in Europe, I’ve come to realise that most of the reasons consultants give for staying in consulting don’t hold up under scrutiny. They’re not wrong, they’re just not exclusive.
“I want to work on diverse projects”
The most common answer I heard from candidates and the one I gave myself. But in my current role I’m simultaneously organising stakeholder events, writing policy positions, building coalitions, and navigating the European Commission. The food transition alone spans dietary shifts, agricultural policy, novel proteins, and trade law. It’s a far more dynamic space than most consultants imagine.
“I want to be surrounded by ambitious people”
True for consulting, genuinely true. But somewhere along the way, ambition at a consultancy quietly became synonymous with hours billed. The ambition I see at Fern is different: people who are determined to transform a broken system, with no guarantee of success and no external benchmark telling them they’re winning. If ambition means a strong drive to achieve something that matters, I’m not sure I’ve ever worked with more ambitious people.
“I want to work directly with senior stakeholders”
In consulting, this promise eventually delivers, but not in your first few years. As a junior, you’re mostly doing analysis while senior colleagues manage the client relationship. What I didn’t expect is that at an NGO working on EU policy, direct access to Members of Parliament, commissioners and senior institutional stakeholders is simply how the work gets done, from day one. The setting is different. The access is real, and it’s immediate.
“I want to be challenged”
This one stuck with me longest. Consulting is genuinely hard, and I was putting in long hours delivering high-quality work. But I started asking: for whom? The challenge began to feel personal rather than purposeful. What I love about working in the food transition is that the work is the challenge, fighting an entrenched system, with no blueprint and no guarantee.
Making a difference
I’m not arguing that everyone should leave consulting. Some people are better suited to corporate environments, and that’s a good thing. But there are talented people in strategy roles who genuinely want to make a difference and never look beyond their industry – not because they don’t care, but because they don’t realise the opportunities exist.
I made the leap through The School for Moral Ambition’s fellowship program, which places mid-career professionals at organisations tackling urgent global problems. I participated in the Food Transition fellowship, with a particular emphasis on protein diversification. During the program, I received training from leading experts in alternative proteins, systems thinking, animal welfare and EU policy landscape and public affairs.