Meet our alumni
Here's how the Glasgow MBA has helped progress careers of some of our alumni...
Diana Gallego Marín, Business Analyst for Essar Oil UK
What is your role now?
My current role is Business Analyst in the Sales and Marketing team for Essar Oil UK (EOK). I support the development of strategy for new market related sources of growth for EOUK, develop business cases and assess strategic projects of growing opportunities.
How has the Glasgow MBA helped with your career development?
The Glasgow MBA enhanced my business acumen and opened the door to new career opportunities. Before joining the MBA programme I had a background in Supply Chain and the MBA enabled me to switch careers.
What were your stand out moments from your time on the Glasgow MBA?
Listening to leaders such as Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, has been the most inspiring moment in my professional career. Having listened to his valuable speech about professional aspirations and business strategy, it made me even more aware of the importance to remain curious through finding new ways to widen the scope of knowledge - independent of your background or level of expertise. To me, this was a game changer, as I believe every professional should not only strive to become an expert in their field but also a comprehensive business leader able to evaluate and challenge businesses from different perspectives.
What you would say to someone who is considering studying the Glasgow MBA?
Making the decision to do an MBA is an investment for life because it opens the doors to new opportunities, and the experience itself enriches the born leader within you.
Studying overseas as an international student is challenging, but Glasgow is very welcoming. How we as students adapt to a new country plays an important role not only at an academic level but also at a personal and professional level. The Glasgow MBA provides you with an exceptional diverse environment and enables you to shape the programme by choosing from a range of electives to suit your personal academic and career ambitions.
What did you enjoy most about your time at Glasgow?
Glasgow is best known for the friendliness of its people and its liveliness. The atmosphere will always make you feel at home. The mix between the beautiful sceneries and range of cultural activities you get to experience as an MBA student enables you to take part in the amazing Scottish culture you will never want to leave behind.
Adisti Chandra, Management Consulting Lead at Empassion
What is your role now?
I’m a Management Consulting Lead at Empassion, a boutique consulting firm for social enterprises that provides management consultancy and financial advisory services. This includes helping social enterprises to fundraise and also advising those looking to invest in social enterprises. I give tailored support covering business process improvement, business model validation, financial modeling and capital fundraising.
I am also a core mentor at Instellar (Empassion's parent company) during the incubation and acceleration programmes for new social enterprises.
How has the Glasgow MBA helped with your career development?
Previously I worked in the advertising industry. On the MBA I gained so much knowledge. It helped me understand business holistically, look at problems from another point of view and form more strategic thinking. I began to realise I didn't want to spend my whole career working in advertising and wanted to move to management consulting.
My first job after the MBA was as a corporate strategic planner at a state-owned telecommunication company. I was there only for a few months before I was called by Deloitte asking me to join its Merger and Acquisition Advisory team. My interview skills had developed through the soft skills I learned during the MBA. In working as a Consultant, I needed to use analytical, research, writing, presentation and leadership skills – all of which I learned from the MBA.
After almost three years at Deloitte, I followed my passion in social enterprise and moved to Empassion.
What were your stand out moments from your time on the Glasgow MBA?
The presentations we had to do in front of our MBA class to defend our standpoint and views, and the interview techniques we learnt. In Indonesia, we are not used to speaking our mind in class to share our thoughts, so it was good learning to become confident in expressing my opinion. I think that changed me and helped me a lot during my career development.
What did you enjoy most about your time at Glasgow?
The weather - I love rain, the beautiful University of Glasgow campus and the people, because Glaswegians are friendly.
What you would say to someone who is considering studying the Glasgow MBA?
You should.
Camilo Gómez Pinto, Entrepreneur
What is your role now?
I’m the Founder and Director of Once Upon a Whisky, a whisky tour company based in Scotland, the entrepreneurial project I started after I finished the Glasgow MBA. My role embraces the areas an organisation needs to be successful in an always changing environment, from the strategy, mission and vision through to marketing, sales, operations and finance. I'm managing Once Upon a Whisky with an emphasis on digital marketing to promote tours, tell the brand’s story and reach customers in different countries. I'm also responsible for offline activities like developing strategic alliances with hotels, restaurants and whisky companies.
How has the Glasgow MBA helped your career development?
Before the MBA I was working in marketing in a multinational corporation, but never felt completely fulfilled working for someone else. The MBA helped me develop a strategic way of thinking, leadership and entrepreneurial skills. I saw the opportunity to start my own company thanks to the support of the University and David, the MBA Careers Manager.
If it were not for the MBA I probably wouldn't be telling this story. The MBA gave me managerial skills to develop a successful business. The programme can help people in different ways. It gives us the big picture of how businesses work and a spectrum of possibilities. It's up the students to find the right career path. I decided to be an entrepreneur and couldn’t be prouder of all I’ve achieved so far.
What were the stand out moments from your time on the Glasgow MBA?
The opportunity to focus on one area of marketing, finance or strategy. This was one of the reasons I chose to study at the Adam Smith Business School. And of course, the distillery field trip was inspiring!
What did you enjoy most about your time at the University of Glasgow?
Meeting people from different nationalities, backgrounds and cultures. Also the beauty of the University and its gardens highly contributed to a wonderful experience.
What you would say to someone who is considering studying for the Glasgow MBA?
It is a life changing experience. Gaining an MBA is definitely the right way to become a leader in the future, whether it’s through setting up your own business or progressing your career and achieving a good position in any company.
Stevie Mitchell, Site Integration Manager
What your role is now?
I am Site Integration Manager on a £330m Energy From Waste Plant.
How the MBA has helped with your career development?
Prior to starting the MBA in 2015 I had worked in the oil and gas industry as a project manager. After graduating, I had an immediate opportunity to work as an Operations Manager for a Glasgow based SME. I managed the day-to-day operations and developed the business from a consultancy perspective.
I then moved to Rolls Royce, I had never worked for a company the stature before and believe that attaining an MBA helped me gain this post. I was tasked with managing the design and construction of a new £60m production cell within the Glasgow facility. I had to manage multiple external stakeholders to drive the design and contract phase to completion – activities I felt I completed much better than I had pre-MBA.
My perspective has changed on what I can contribute to a business now. Prior to being an MBA graduate I would have been satisfied with any of these previous two roles, I now believe, with an MBA, I can and should be contributing more to a business and at a much higher level.
What were the stand out moments from your time on the Glasgow MBA?
Many aspects of the programme were challenging. I learned most from Decision Making Under Uncertainty. This was one of our first series of lectures and the ideas that were introduced throughout were new to me and were delivered in an entertaining and stimulating way. It gave me insight into people - the way they think and why they make decisions. This helps in so many ways, not just in business. I now think differently and question information and its sources much more than I did before.
The best aspect of the MBA is the relationships and friendships I made with my fellow students. Despite the diversity in the group, a close team develops with a strong and personal bond.
What would you say to someone who is considering studying for the Glasgow MBA?
If you are prepared to take on the most challenging year of your life, then you will undoubtedly gain so much more than an MBA. You will gain insight into all aspects of business, and yourself. The main thing that you will gain, and perhaps the most important, are the people who share this year with you. You gain friends for life.
Sharon Morrow, Entrepreneur
What is your role now?
Having recently sold the largest of my business’ (which I co-owned with my husband), I have continued to run my training company. I have also taken on a consultancy role with a large Scottish dental group which is rapidly expanding and acquiring, carrying out management consultancy in several areas of their business particularly in relation to quality improvement and learning and development.
Furthermore, as a volunteer, I have become heavily involved in a local community hub, from gaining the empty premises in June 2019 to preparing and being instrumental in ensuring the premises were compliant for opening. I am the volunteer coordinator and part of the management team of this volunteer run community hub. The hub, staffed by volunteers provides drop-in provision for people of all ages who are journeying with a range of issues which can adversely affect one’s mental health.
How has the Glasgow MBA helped with your career development?
The MBA allowed me to take time to reflect and decide what I wanted and didn’t want in my career and personal life. It allowed me the time to decide if I should sell our large business but furthermore gave me the confidence to do so. The MBA provided me with new knowledge, but it particularly gave me the confidence and assurance to know, that what I was doing in my business was right. The MBA provided me with new ideas, but ultimately the confidence to go take new opportunities.
What were your stand out moments from your time on the Glasgow MBA?
The people; from the academic staff, to the admin staff and the support staff but also my classmates; all these people provided knowledge and support to get through the course. Having such a range of international students - 17 different nationalities - in my class was invaluable. We learnt from each other, respected our differing cultural backgrounds, education and work backgrounds, to be able to get on extremely well together as a class and learn and develop. The friends i made will stay with me for a very long time.
Doing the consultancy project with DFID was a fabulous experience to learn with some of my colleagues in a completely new industry. It challenged my thinking and increased my knowledge in the area of international development. In particular being in the winning team was tremendous; I never expected that outcome but I was very proud of the huge efforts as a team that we had put into the project.
I was so grateful for the invitation to ESSAM. working with other MBA students from across the globe was humbling and being taught with a range of professors from across the globe provided yet more perspectives on the world of business and personal development.
What you would say to someone who is considering studying for the Glasgow MBA?
Don’t think about it; if you have the opportunity take it! You will not regret it. From the amazing, historical campus to the staff and the differing course units that you will do, you will gain a breadth of experience required to be a fully rounded MBA graduate. Above all, Glasgow is one of the most friendly and exciting cities in the world that welcomes everyone.
Nuno Da Costa Mousinho, Clinical Research Manager
What is your role now?
I’m currently employed as a Clinical Research Manager at a leading multi-national pharmaceutical company (Novo Nordisk), responsible for line management and development of a team of Clinical Research Associates.
How has the programme helped your career progression?
The MBA allowed me to take time off from the corporate world to invest in myself and in my personal development, and to challenge myself by stepping out of my comfort zone. The Glasgow MBA enhanced by business and strategic acumen, intercultural awareness, leadership skills and soft skills, and opened up doors to new opportunities. The MBA degree definitely gave me a competitive advantage in securing my current job
Why did you choose to study the Glasgow MBA?
I opted to study at the University of Glasgow as it is a top 100 university globally and because the Adam Smith Business School’s MBA program has a triple-accreditation placing it amongst a small percentage of business schools in the world that possess this highly prestigious accreditation.
What did you enjoy most about the programme?
I enjoyed being lectured by a diverse range of lecturers from different countries and with diverse backgrounds, who brought about their extensive industry experience and academic expertise. I was particularly inspired by Professor Denis Fischbacher-Smith from the United Kingdom and Dr Yee Kwan Tang from Hong Kong, who presented modules on Risk Management and International Business respectively, of an international calibre and with relevant and comprehensive theoretical content and practical insights. The Emergency Management Workshop the school presented in Münster, Germany, enabled us to get a theoretical and practical understanding relating to the complexity of managing unforeseen events such as natural disasters and how to respond rapidly and effectively to such events as global leaders. The diversity of the MBA cohort enriched my intercultural awareness which is imperative given the times we currently live in where leaders need to embrace diversity and work together to tackle global issues. I also enjoyed attending the various insightful talks by prominent industry leaders such as Anastasia Sideri (Communications Director, Central and Eastern Europe - The Coca Cola Company).
What would you say to someone considering applying for the Glasgow MBA?
If you desire to be a global leader, enjoy being challenged and placed outside of your comfort zone, and enjoy meeting and collaborating with people from diverse cultures, then pursuing the Glasgow MBA degree will be extremely beneficial to you. The Glasgow MBA will not only equip you with new knowledge and perspectives, but will also develop your skill set (leadership, communication, networking, resilience, intercultural awareness, etc.), ultimately making you a well-rounded leader. I encourage you to take ownership of your career and invest in yourself as it will be a life-changing experience you will never regret, that will surely open up the doors for exciting new opportunities in the future.
Describe the Glasgow MBA in 3 words
Life-changing, empowering and challenging