Executive MBA alum Hannes Snyman reflects on the programme and explains how he was able to leverage his MBA to progress to a CFO role.

I am an experienced finance professional and was employed as the Group Corporate Finance Manager for Mpact Limited, a South African recycling and packaging company, when I started my Executive MBA journey in September 2022. I decided to pursue an Executive MBA at Warwick Business School (WBS) because I wanted to broaden my skill set from being mainly finance focused to becoming a stronger general manager.

Applying learnings to work

After starting the course, I was promoted to the Commercial Manager & Director of Mpact Recycling. This was a general management role which oversaw all administrative and commercial aspects of the business. During that time, I used the modules to perform deep dives into various parts of the business which I was managing. By way of example, when a division which falls within my domain required a strategic update, I was able to use the frameworks and learnings from the Strategic Advantage module to implement and drive a revised strategy.

Leveraging my MBA for career progression

I received my Executive MBA degree in December 2023 and in June 2024 I was promoted to Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Mpact Limited. Mpact is a public company and is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The role requires extensive stakeholder management, including dealing with shareholders, a board of directors, communities, employees, customers, suppliers and various industry bodies. Leadership is therefore a key competence which is required for this role. The Leadership module gave me the tools to manage this part of the role with confidence. The module specifically highlighted the paradoxical tensions which business leaders have to deal with and embrace working with, as well as critical topics such as decision-making and ethical leadership. Although the topic of leadership can be quite theoretical, there were lots of practical examples and case studies of how to connect the theory with what happens in the real world.

Why WBS?

I chose the WBS Executive MBA because I wanted to study at a world-renowned university which offers a solid core programme, as well as some flexibility around electives for exploring other subject matters of interest. The fact that we were able to also study electives at other international universities was an added bonus, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The other consideration for me was the pandemic and the impact it could have on my ability to attend modules in-person. Given that the WBS Global Online Learning MBA was rated first in the world at the time, it gave me the confidence that the school had the ability to cater for online students in case I was unable to travel from South Africa, which was actually the case for the first three modules.

Building a global network

My cohort consisted of interesting people from various industries and nationalities. This diversity provided a richness to the classroom discussions and group work exercises, as everyone had a unique perspective and a wealth of professional experience from their respective fields.

The Executive MBA covers all the core topics a business leader needs to understand and deal with on a daily basis. This is particularly useful for subject specialists looking to manage broader parts of an organisation. It does require some sacrifice, but the course is structured in such a way that you don’t feel overwhelmed. Also, WBS does offer flexibility if you have to attend to a family or work emergency. For me personally, it was a great experience and the benefits derived are well worth the time and effort.