Ali Mehdizada
Channel Performance Supervisor at Philip Performance Supervisor
Executive MBA (2020-22)

I am have been working in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry with Philip Morris International for the past two years. I have worked in the FMCG industry for over 10 years in various roles such as Field Sales, Commercial Sales, Insights, Intelligence and Strategic Planning.

My first attraction to Warwick Business School was the prestigious global ranking positions. When investing financially in my own future I need to know that my investment will be safe and nurtured over time to support my growth and development. It was hard to miss the fact that Warwick Business School is globally recognised as one of the elite business schools in the world. The Financial Times ranks the Distant Learning MBA as number 1, and the economist ranks WBS’s Executive MBA as number 1 in the UK. These rankings are generated by the high level of teaching power delivered by the professors and professors of practice as well as the individual success rate of candidates after they complete their MBA.

Having started my journey with Warwick during the pandemic, the online and distant learning capabilities were a highly considered factor during a time of uncertainty but my main attraction for the Warwick Executive MBA was the course location being the Shard in London. I was attracted to the option of studying face-to-face on the weekend, which involved attending lectures on a Friday and Saturday every fortnight. This format and location provided me with a perfect balance of immersion into the MBA but also gave me adequate breaks in between lecture weekends. This was an important factor to consider when balancing my work and family commitments.  

The MBA is a highly rewarding challenge however, studying for an MBA is not easy, but ultimately it fills me with a huge sense of pride. The effort and workload was daunting at first when balancing it with a full-time job and a young family. However, with a strong mind, realistic planning, and good time management in place I was able to balance the time and workload effectively. I take great satisfaction upon completion of each module and the hard work is worth the effort. I have learnt a lot and gained a lot of confidence from this course so far. I have just finished my first year and the time has genuinely flown by. It is often mentioned that the MBA helps creates new networking opportunities and this, in my opinion, is an understatement. As well as having access to new wider alumni networks you also create a close network of friends and colleagues who are sharing the same experiences as you. We all support each other along this journey. The cohort is carefully crafted together by the selection committee to ensure there is an element of diversity within the cohort. This brings a cross functional wealth of knowledge in one room and facilitates a rich conversation as well as a shared learning experience. In my cohort we have people from the Health, Defence, Consumer Goods, Banking and Engineering sectors to name but a few. We have a 50/50 balance of males and females from across the world and this alone makes you realise that being selected to join one of the cohorts is a real achievement on its own.

My advice for anyone thinking about doing the MBA is to firstly make sure you are motivated to take on the challenge and then secondly to find a course format that works with your own diary. Warwick is great for this as it has multiple formats to choose from.