Our mission 3

Overview 4
Highlights 5
Leadership 6

Our clients 7
Projects 8
Relationships 10
Testimonials 11

Our community 12
Recruitment 13
Consultants 16
Alumni 17

2
We want to create extraordinary value for our clients and our consultants
Our Projects
Founded in 2012, OSG is the premier
student-run consultancy at the University of
Oxford. We serve clients around the world,
including governments, Fortune 500 firms,
NGOs, and venture-backed start-ups.
We work not only with for-profit firms but
also social enterprises and other non-profit
organisations. This has been immensely
beneficial in developing the skills and the
character of our consultants, and in
strengthening our mission to create
extraordinary value for clients and society.
Our People
We are individuals who share a common
goal of making a difference. Recruitment is
highly selective and OSG consultants go on
to success at firms including McKinsey, Bain,
Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.
We are proud of the internal development
we provide to our consultants. We provide
in-house training to our consultants as well
as bringing in external consultants for
exclusive training sessions. For us,
consulting is the business of value creation
4
and we take our work very seriously.
We attracted an increasingly diverse applicant cohort while setting a
record for completed projects in response to higher client demand

Clients Recruitment Consultants

2018-19 2019-20 2018-19 2019-20 2018-19 2019-20

27 32 76% 80% 33% 43%

Applicants studying non-Business, Finance Percentage of Project Leaders who identify
Total number of projects
and Related degrees as female & non-binary

4 9 17% 20% 43% 40%

Percentage of consultants who identify as
Number of Europe-based clients (ex. UK) Offer rate
female & non-binary

0 6 102 118 16% 24%

Percentage of consultants enrolled in a
Number of Oxford-based projects Total number of offers
STEM degree

5
We recruit the best and brightest in Oxford to solve challenging business
problems. Read more in the Leadership Message below.
The Oxford Strategy Group has had a truly impressive year
in 2019-2020. We have persisted in our mission to create
extraordinary value for both our clients and our consultants,
while effectively responding to the ongoing Covid-19
pandemic.
Indeed, OSG successfully weathered the initial stages of the
pandemic in Trinity Term 2020 as the University of Oxford
transitioned to a virtual teaching term, thus necessitating
student societies to adapt their operations on short notice.
We successfully digitised our recruitment process and our
General Meetings, while introducing new online panels in
order to connect our consultants with mentors from
established consulting firms such as Oliver Wyman and
Kearney. At the same time, we continued to grow our
project count while ensuring that our consultants received
as international an exposure as possible: out of our 32
projects for the year, 18 involved clients outside the UK, an
improvement over the 16 international projects completed
in the previous year.
We have also worked tirelessly in order to ensure that our
consultants are as prepared as possible for their consulting
engagements with our clients. This year has thus featured
the formalisation of an intra-project team feedback system,
standardised training for new consultants via a new
Knowledge Pack, greater transparency in our recruitment,
and the broadening of access to key business resources such
as CapitalIQ. The successful rollout of these initiatives
speaks volumes as to our intrinsic ability to continuously
innovate and improve OSG, resulting in highly motivated
and well-equipped consultants that have constantly
exceeded the expectations of our clients.
We could not have had as stellar of a year from 2019-2020
without the initiative and effort of our members, whose
unwavering commitment to OSG speaks volumes to our
ability to attract and retain the best and brightest in Oxford.
As we enter another academic year, we are confident that
OSG will maintain its stellar performance as the University’s
premier student-run consulting society.
HAERSH SAHITA
Managing Director, TT 2020
With deep thanks to
ANNIE TSENG & FRITZ BJÖRKLUND
Managing Directors, MT19 & HT20 6
Of the 32 projects we completed for our global client base, more than half
were with clients based outside the UK

Breakdown by region Summary of 2019-20

Americas United Kingdom Europe ex. UK We maintained a diverse client slate,

both in terms of region and industry, to
equip our consultants with exposure to
global best practices and a wide range of
3 opportunities.

14 9 We strengthened our long-term

relationships with trusted clients,
Africa Asia increasing the number of repeat clients
from 7 to 9 and introduced multi-term
contracts.

4 2
We continued to deliver positive social
impacts, partnering with NGOs and
charities across the globe as well as local
Oxford-based organisations.
We continue to have a solid number of blue-chip clients each term, while maintaining
We continue to have a solid number of blue chip clients each term while maintaining client diversity by
client diversity
securing by non-governmental
startups, and securing mid-market firms, start-ups, and non-governmental
organizations.
organisations

Breakdown by sector Breakdown by client type

9%
SME 11
6%
31% Blue Chip 5
NGO and Charity 5
16%
Seed Stage Start-up 5
Venture Capital 3
Incubator 3
19% 19%
Selected past clients, 2019-20
Technology
Consumer & Retail
Social Impact & Public Policy
Financial Services
Healthcare
Other
9
Our success depends on maintaining our long-standing relationships with clients across
the world, while ensuring we have a positive social impact
Past commitments
• Maintain strong diversity
Global client base • Continued existing client
relationships in the Americas
and Africa
• Build relationships with
trusted clients
Client relationships
• 3 repeat clients are blue chip
companies
• Partner with innovative
governments and NGOs
Social impact
• Build on our strong values
and ethical standards
Present opportunities Progress
2018-19 2019-20
• Expand our client base to
include more transnational
clients to further diversify 4 9
project scopes Clients based in Europe
(ex. UK)
• Offer follow-on projects, 2018-19 2019-20
providing ideas based on current
project findings
7 9
• Target multi-term contracts Number of repeat clients
• Maintain our strong ties with
2018-19 2019-20
NGO and government clients
• Target more Oxford-based 0 6
projects to give back to our local
Oxford-based projects
community
10
From large multinational firms to technology startups, our clients
appreciate the extraordinary value we deliver

“Speaking on behalf of everyone at Dangote - the quality of the work done and the dedication of the OSG team was
exemplary. We are confident the study will turn out to be an important first step for scaling private sector
investment in road infrastructure in Nigeria. Thanks again and we hope to continue the fruitful partnership between
Dangote and OSG.”
– Damola Omole | Head of Energy Strategy, Dangote Group

"Jonathan and his team have provided invaluable insights on a business growth strategy MOO is currently
exploring. We were really impressed with the rigorous and methodical way the team broke down and tackled the
problem. Their research and recommendations will definitely impact our 2025 strategy work."

– Marla Woodward | Senior Category Manager, MOO

“We are a deep tech A.I. group with 4 start-ups/SMEs in our portfolio, OSG catered to the strategic and business
needs of all of them, creating multiple times ROI on our involvement with OSG. Thanks to such a strong
performance, we have further chosen OSG as our preferred partner for a couple of upcoming projects we have in
the pipeline. I think us being a multiple repeated customer speaks volume of OSG and its people.”
– Dr. Peter Lewinski | Management Team, SMR-group B.V.
 We accepted our largest cohort this year for a record-setting number of
projects, while remaining selective in the application process

At a glance Offer comparison

574 2018-19 2019-20

Number of Consultant Applications
102 118
45%
Offers made
1
Retention Rate

Many OSG members view the society as a multiple-term 17% 20%

activity and rejoin OSG as Senior Consultants and Project
Leaders. Returning OSGers made up 45% of our cohort Offer rate
this year, highlighting our consultants’ commitment to and
continued interest in OSG.

All committee members stay for at least 2 terms; this

97% 99%
ensures continuity across the leadership team and ample
support for new Directors to improve our society’s Offer acceptance rate
high-level management.
1
Retention rate is calculated by taking the number of Project Leaders and Senior Consultants divided by the number of total Consultants, Senior Consultants and Project
Leaders
Our consultant pool remains diverse, in terms of subject and degree type

Breakdown by subject category Breakdown by degree type

We are attracting more top female and non-binary candidates; however,
work remains to be done to maintain a balanced consultant gender ratio

Consultant gender ratio Detailed applicant data Summary of 2019-20

Applicants by Gender We increased transparency in our
Female & NB Male
recruitment processes by creating
a dedicated FAQ page, organising
2-1 director calls with applicants,
208 and providing an increased variety
36% 46% 43% of testimonials and detailed
349
interview guide.

We provided more support for

Female & NB Male our current consultants through
an end-to-end overhaul of our
Success Rate by Gender knowledge and resource packs.

We strengthened our existing ties

64% 54% 57% to various Oxford organisations to
ensure our applicants come from a
22% 20% diversity of backgrounds, including
gender, education and age.

2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 Female & NB Male

Our consultants have found their OSG experience to be invaluable in their
personal and professional development

"[OSG] brings you real challenges faced by companies and puts you in the epicentre of ‘What’ and ‘How’.
Diversity of the team is another enabler to learn from others. The connectivity with consulting firms is a
great opportunity for you to have a professional feedback and connection.”

Ali is an EMBA candidate at Saïd Business School.

“OSG gave me an opportunity to gain real life consulting experience while meeting exceptionally bright
and talented people who became my friends. OSG is the best society that Oxford offers and I am happy I
discovered it in my first year.”

Klaudia is a third-year undergraduate student studying PPE at Christ Church College.

“OSG gave me hands-on experience with a real consulting project that helped me get excited about
consulting as a potential career. My team was incredibly receptive and collaborative, and dealing directly
with clients allowed me to see first-hand the impact I was creating.”

Sushrut is a first-year undergraduate student studying Jurisprudence at Magdalen College .

We place a focus on training and equipping our consultants with great skills
and opportunities to improve their learning and professionalism
Exclusive Workshops
MT 19
Newton partnered with us in Michaelmas Term, sending in
consultants to hold open discussions with teams about
problems within their projects at their halfway mark.
HT 20
BCG joined us in Hilary Term to help teach our consultants
about project structuring and gave directed, interactive
feedback seminar on teams’ issue trees followed by a Q&A.
TT 20
Kearney worked with us in Trinity Term to provide feedback
on teams’ final presentations, helping consultants build on
their personal skills and further improve client deliverables.
New Initiatives
Over the course of the year, 35 consultants returned in a
Senior Consultant capacity to enhance skill and
knowledge transfer throughout the society and
supporting Project Leaders with their experience.
Multiple alumni assisted as Project Mentors on some of
our Trinity projects to provide valuable feedback,
shaped by their personal professional experiences.
The introduction of Director Mentors, staffed on all our
projects, has increased the provision of support to
Project Leaders and feedback and advice to our teams.
We adopted an enhanced feedback system to increase
committee and consultant self-awareness. In Hilary
term, our end of term survey was made mandatory,
increasing the response rate by 25%. We also instituted
an internal feedback system to allow Project Leaders to
receive candid anonymous feedback from consultants.
Our former consultants continue to succeed in their careers and frequently
return to share their expertise with our current members

Selected alumni destinations, 2019-20 Tapping into the OSG network

This year, we have focused on strengthening the

ties between our active members and alumni
network. We hosted a Hilary term drinks
reception in London which was a great way for
current members to connect and reconnect with
past consultants.

In Trinity term, some of our alumni lent our

teams their expertise by returning as project
mentors, providing useful feedback and
direction to our teams.
We strive to make an impact within the Oxford community and beyond

Trinity Term During Covid-19: At a Glance

We successfully maintained operations through
13 Projects 222 Applications a virtual Trinity, with several of our projects
focused on aiding companies impacted by
An all-time record AA
Trinity
Trinityterm
Term record
record COVID-19 and the development of new
technologies for the pandemic era.
Oxford Links
We seek to grow our links to other Oxford societies and groups. This has involved aiding entrepreneurs at
the Oxford Foundry via our termly project work and partnering with the Oxford Alpha Fund to develop our
first student mentorship programme. Increased ties with other student societies will remain a significant
target for the upcoming year.
Charity
As a society that prizes diversity and inclusion in everything that we do, we
chose to donate £1500 to the Stephen Lawrence Trust to demonstrate our
support for the Black Lives Matter movement around the world. Racism has
no place in OSG, and we will persist in our efforts to ensure that OSG will
always be an inclusive and welcoming community.