After his EMBA, he launched his own 3D printing company. He’s just produced the first 3D-printed dental implants manufactured in the UAE.
“Studying in Dubai gives you access to a unique network of contacts which branches across the Middle East, into India, Pakistan, Asia, and emerging Africa,” he says. “Dubai is a hotbed of entrepreneurship. And the Cass Executive MBA gave me the knowledge and confidence to start my own company.”
Established in 2009, Cass Business School’s Dubai Center - located at the heart of the Dubai International Finance Center (DIFC) - offers Cass students new opportunities in a rich and burgeoning region.
Full-time Cass MBAs students have the option of a week-long international elective in the UAE, where they look at economic development and brand building in the MENA region, visit local companies, and network with senior execs. The Dubai-based Cass Executive MBA in the UAE is ranked among the top 40 best EMBA programs in the world by the Financial Times.
For Simon Kennedy, the EMBA was the turning point in his career. After graduating in 2012, he quit the corporate world and started his own real estate business. Simon used his EMBA final project to consider the feasibility of his business plan, before deciding to take the leap.
“I would highly recommend studying in Dubai if you are considering becoming an entrepreneur,” he says. “My new business outperformed even my upside forecasts. Since then, I have set up three more ventures with various business partners, and I now have multiple sources of income.
“The people you meet during the Executive MBA provide access to some highly influential people in the UAE,” he continues. “And, if you have the tools to run a business properly, you will be significantly ahead of the majority of business owners here.”
The UAE ranks in the top 20 of the global entrepreneurship index. A diverse and growing population, a network of startup accelerators and rich local investors, plus government initiatives to support new business, provide entrepreneurs with the perfect ecosystem in which to flourish.
But opportunities in Dubai are not confined to entrepreneurship. Simon saw many of his EMBA colleagues gain promotions or switch career track into finance, consulting, and of course, oil and gas. He’s since referred several new students to the Cass Executive MBA, including his brother and his best friend.
Jordanian Firas Al Atiyat became head of Fujitsu Middle East’s project management office during his EMBA. For Firas, studying at Cass is the perfect launch-pad for a career in the MENA region.
“The knowledge I gained from Cass in operation management, organizational theory, governance, and strategy, were all tools that helped me on this path,” he says. “The diversity of the workforce, and the cultural mix here, can be found only in very few locations globally,” he continues.
“As an emerging market economy with big promises of prosperity, the UAE targets highly qualified professionals from all around the world. MBAs from high-ranking business schools are naturally favored.”
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