Omar Abdul Aziz Bastaki
Nationality: Emirati
Programme: Executive MBA in Dubai, 2014
Position pre MBA: Advisory Group - Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s Investment Banking Group (IBG)
Post-MBA: Senior Manager - Agency Division, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s Investment Banking Group (IBG)
Current industry: Investment Banking
Transitions made: Function
While I was enrolled at Cass, I was part of the advisory team at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank’s Investment Banking Group (IBG). My area of focus within Investment Banking was to advise clients on debt capital market transactions and syndications after review of client business strategy and debt capacity. I worked alongside Senior Investment Banking team and advised clients on transactions within real estate, healthcare, education and the infrastructure sectors in the UAE.
Upon graduation from Cass, I was given the opportunity to manage and develop the Agency Division within IBG. I built an origination framework, advised senior management on setting the right policies internally and provided guidance on UAE’s procedures and laws with regard to ADCB acting as Onshore Security Agent, Account Bank and Escrow Agent.
Why did you decide to study an EMBA at Cass?
Education has been the key driver of my success during my 13 years in banking. I have taken on many dynamic roles within the organisation; from sales to distribution to product development and investment banking, I have exceeded expectations in achieving my objectives year on year. This shows my ability to continuously learn new skills and use them to accomplish the goals assigned to me. I firmly believed an Executive MBA would play a major role in my transition from middle management to a senior leadership role. It was my aspiration that in a few years of completing my EMBA, I would hope to become a market leader in leadership and business consulting, making full use of my extensive network. In March 2018 I finally setup my own consulting firm where we provide advisory services to businesses and private offices on borrowing debt, acquisitions and general business restructuring.
What was your study experience like?
During the EMBA program, I learned a lot about myself, my skills and my ability to work with people from completely different professional backgrounds. The group rotations and tight deadlines to submit team projects gave us all a good exposure to what diversity really is. All of us were forced out of our comfort zones. We managed to pull together and work through our differences keeping the one goal we all had in mind – successful completion of the programme. Today, years after graduating, I still reflect on the various lessons I gleaned during my Cass EMBA journey.
Working on my thesis was an awesome experience; it gave me the chance to work on a project that based on one of my deepest passions in life: sports and youth development in the UAE.
What advice would you give to students considering the Cass Executive MBA in Dubai programme?
The programme will give you a chance to work towards a defined goal in your life. Take advantage of defining what those goals are at the beginning of your programme and use your thesis as a stepping stone in paving the way for those goals.