MBA Alumni Profile: Nick Mbuvi, IESE Business School

A deepening perspective

Nick Mbuvi headed for IESE’s GEMBA classroom when he reached a point in his career when he thought going back to school was necessary.

October 8th, 2009 was a momentous day in Nick Mbuvi’s personal and professional life. It was the day he graduated from IESE Business School with his Global Executive MBA degree. The Kenyan businessman says he had reached a point in his career where he wanted to broaden and deepen his own perspective as a leader, and believed attending business school would help him to reach that goal.

“I had grown from a career perspective, held several management and leadership roles in the organization and felt I needed to broaden and deepen my decision making skills – this made me decide to pursue an Executive MBA.”

However, it was a steep learning curve for Mbuvi. “I think I underestimated the size of the challenge: pursuing the EMBA, having a full-time job and creating time for the family is no mean task!”

Mbuvi is the Corporate Banking Director for Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Banking in East Africa - a position he was promoted to, two months after graduating. It’s a position he says he “absolutely would not have been given” had it not been for his business school education. “The EMBA has certainly given me a major boost in my career and put me in a position where I am very at ease with exploring new opportunities both within the company and outside.”

Looking back at his time in the classroom, Mbuvi says the best part of his EMBA experience was: “being alongside some of the best brains drawn from different nationalities and disciplines, sharing ideas in class and during group discussions. It was the most enriching experience I have been through to date.