Meet IE’s MBA Class of 2017

Victor Muo

IE Business School 

Describe yourself in 15 words or less: My goal is to provide easy access to funds for African businesses through financial technology.

Hometown: Lagos, Nigeria

Fun Fact about Yourself: I enjoy writing stories. Since I was young, I have written a number of interesting plays and movie scripts, ranging from traditional African dramas to thrillers with tragic Tarantino-type endings. I remember when I was in boarding school, I used to draw a weekly comic about a superhero called Superfly. Superfly was the bomb. The storyline was so captivating that my fellow boarders used to pay me to keep drawing the comic.

Undergraduate School and Major: Liverpool John Moores University UK, Accounting and Finance

Employers and Job Titles since Graduation:

Associate, KPMG

Senior Associate, KPMG

Manager, KPMG

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In Nigeria where the average age of a manager is 35 years, becoming a manager at 29 years is the biggest accomplishment in my career so far. The exposure I got as a KPMG Manager was fantastic – from advising the Boards of leading multinational companies to attending networking events and hobnobbing with some influential personalities. I remain grateful to KPMG for the opportunity to grow my career at a fast pace.

Looking back on your experience, what advice would you give to future business school applicants? The first thing you need to do is decide whether you want to go to business school or not. Getting into b-school requires a lot of time and effort and it is easy to fall off the bandwagon especially when you have a job that is highly demanding.

Now if you decide that going to b-school is the right career move for you, then you need to do your research and consultations on various topics such as – 1) Choosing your school; 2) Taking the GMAT; and  3) Writing essays; and 4) Preparing for interview

Your choice of school should be driven by what it is you want to achieve at the end of b-school. You need to understand what each school is offering and see how that ties to your goals. You should also pay attention to key metrics about the school such as total number of applicants, acceptance rate, percentage of faculty with a PhD, employment rate within 3 months of graduation, and percentage increase in salary.

A good start to studying for the GMAT is to know the average and range of GMAT scores for the school(s) you have shortlisted. You also need to develop a study plan and decide which study method suits you best (e.g. textbooks, private tutor, online resources, study group, GMAT classes, etc.). Most importantly, you need to practice a lot of timed mock questions that simulate the actual GMAT test.

Applying to b-school will take you back to the good old days of writing essays. I wrote four essays during my application to IE Business School – three for admission and one for scholarship. The assessors read thousands of essays so you need to be direct and impactful in your writing and include as much research as possible. You should also share your essays with people close to you for them to critique your writing.

Finally, at the interview, just be confident and be yourself. You should prepare a list of potential questions and do a mock interview with someone. However, don’t be surprised if the actual interview turns out to be more of a discussion than your regular interview format. If the interview is via Skype, remember to reserve a quiet space for the session as it may hold during working hours.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? My passion for entrepreneurship and innovation inspired me to choose the MBA program at IE Business School given the School’s reputation in both areas. I was really impressed by the School’s focus on entrepreneurship especially the start-up incubator and venture lab which should provide a safe learning environment to implement my business ideas and test my entrepreneurial skills.

With more than 15% of IE Business School students starting their own companies and the school’s recent ranking as the No.1 MBA in Europe for Entrepreneurship, I am confident that I made the right decision in choosing this program.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? My dream job at this point in my life would be to work in one of the top financial services institutions in the world to build my knowledge and skills in finance. This will put me on track to accomplishing my long term goal of becoming an entrepreneur in the financial technology sector.

 What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? Victor is going to make a positive impact in Africa because he truly cares about empowering people.