2016 MBAs To Watch: Hassan El-Majidi, Georgia Tech (Scheller)

Hassan El-Majidi

Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

Age: 31

Hometown: Atlanta, GA (originally from Marrakech, Morocco)

Education: Mohamed V University, ENSIAS School of Engineering: Engineering degree in Computer Science/Masters degree in Computer Science

Where did you work before enrolling in business school?

• Maltem Consulting/Paris: IT Consultant (May 2011-August 2014)
• Maroc Telecom/Morocco: Project Manager (February 2008, April 2011)
• SQLI Group/Morocco: Software developer (June 2007, January 2008)

Where did you intern during the summer of 2015? Client executive at IBM Corporation, NYC

Where will you be working after graduation? Start my own company in Morocco. I am working on a digital marketing start-up idea. We are developing a product to allow retailers to give real-time promotions to selected customers. (This is still in the ideation phase.)

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School

• President of the Technology Management Club
• First-place award in the VentureLab start-up competition. This competition is open to Georgia Tech students and alumni. Our product was a medical device that regulates and monitors blood glucose for people with diabetes. It’s a solution based on electrical stimulation and it bypasses insulin. (Yogi Patel, the PhD member on our team, holds a provisional patent.) I participated in this competition with my TI:GER team. The TI:GER (The Technological Innovation: Generating Economic Results) program at the Scheller College of Business prepares students for the challenges of commercializing new technologies and delivering innovative products to the marketplace. TI:GER teams include two GT MBA students and two Emory law students who focus on the commercialization of a GT PhD student’s research.
• First-place award in the AlixPartners PhD2Consulting case competition (description below).
• Third-place award in the ACC Start-up Madness. This competition is open to all ACC schools. We won third place with the same team for the same start-up project we presented in the VentureLab startup competition.

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? Winning the PhD2Consulting case competition. I led a team of three MBAs and one PhD student to develop a set of strategic recommendations for the Atlanta Food Bank Community. Not only did we win the first-place award, but the client was so interested in our work that they hired us as pro bono consultants. The competition focused on increasing the capacity of food pickup and delivery, and providing a framework in order to evaluate different investment alternatives.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career?

• Achieved a 100% projects-on-time with Maltem consulting for three successive years.
• Awarded Fulbright Scholarship, a very selective scholarship granted by the U.S. State Department to foreign and American students in order to enhance cultural and educational exchange between the U.S. and other countries. My goal is to learn business and entrepreneurship skills in the U.S. so I can participate in developing the start-up environment in Morocco.

Who is your favorite professor? Frank Rothaermel

Favorite MBA Courses? Corporate Finance, Technology Commercialization, Managerial Economics, and Strategic Management

Why did you choose this business school? Scheller College of Business provides a unique curriculum at the intersection of business and technology. I am very interested in entrepreneurship. The TI:GER program, which is a hands-on technology commercialization and entrepreneurship program, was a key element in choosing Georgia Tech.

What did you enjoy most about business school? My experience in the TI:GER program, working with scientists, lawyers, and business leaders to take a medical product from the lab to the market. Our TI:GER team worked on the commercialization process for a medical device that regulates and monitors blood glucose for people with diabetes. It’s a solution based on electrical stimulation and bypasses insulin.

What is the biggest lesson you gained from business school? There are no right or wrong leadership styles. A true business leader is the one who can adapt to new situations and new environments.

What was the most surprising thing about business school? A lot of learning, but also a lot of fun. At Scheller we have on average of one social event every week.

What was the hardest part of business school? Learning to handle many projects and to work with many cross-functional teams at the same time.

What’s your best advice to an applicant to your school? Be prepared to challenge yourself. A MBA requires you to be the best version of yourself.

“I knew I wanted to go to business school when… I tried to start a new business with some friends. We had a good product but we lacked the business acumen to sell it.”

“If I hadn’t gone to business school… I would be working on some personal ideas. My long-term goal was always to be an entrepreneur.”

Which executive or entrepreneur do you most admire? Elon Musk. He has bold ideas and he is trying to change the world.

What are your long-term professional goals? Start my own business.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? My parents for their support and encouragement.

Fun fact about yourself: I practiced beekeeping for some time.

Favorite book: State of Africa

Favorite movie: The Social Network

Favorite musical performer: George Wassouf

Favorite television show: “Game of Thrones”

Favorite vacation spot: Miami

Hobbies? Soccer, hiking, traveling

What made Hassan such an invaluable addition to the class of 2016?

“I am pleased to recommend Hassan El Majidi for the 2016 Poets&Quants Top 100 MBAs. It has been my pleasure to be Hassan El-Majidi’s career adviser since he entered the program in 2014. Hassan joined the program as a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship. Prior to joining the Scheller College of Business, he had a successful career in North Africa and Europe. He progressed through his career from software developer to project manager to IT consultant. Hassan has received a fellowship to the TI:GER program, a technology commercialization program teaming PhD students and MBA students from Georgia with law students from Emory. Hassan is working with his team on finding a leapfrog treatment for diabetes. His TI:GER team won first place in GT’s Startup Competition, which required work above and beyond his required assignments. Of particular note with Hassan is how quickly he integrated into a challenging interdisciplinary team composed of MBA and law students, and a PhD candidate. This was particularly noteworthy as Hassan had never even visited the U.S. prior to coming to the Scheller College of Business.

“Hassan successfully led the Technology Management Club at Scheller, bringing technology companies to the campus to connect with Scheller MBA students. This has had a positive impact, particularly with our international MBA students who are pursuing technology careers in the U.S. He also won the AlixPartners PhD-to-consulting case competition. Hassan’s willingness to get involved in the Scheller MBA program and become a leader has provided a wonderful example, particularly for our international students, of someone who has not only embraced change but taken it to the next level of commitment.”

Barbara Lindquist

Corporate Relations Manager

Jones MBA Career Center

Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

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