Munirah Zulkifli

Rice University, Jesse H Jones Graduate School of Business

“Positive go-getter. Loves good books, good food and good conversations. Not invincible, but rather resilient.”

Hometown: West Haven, Connecticut

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have never lived in Texas before now. When I moved to Houston two weeks before Hurricane Harvey, I ended up buying myself a large blue, double-cab pick-up truck to weather the floods and Houston’s mega highways. Hands down, my truck is one of my favorite purchases I have ever made, ever. A few months later, I fell in love with a gun-dog named Darcy and recently, I found that I am quite the trap and skeet shooting enthusiast. I live in my cowboy boots and love nights out two-stepping. I drink Texan Kool-Aid and absolutely love it. Who knew?

Undergraduate School and Major: University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) – BSc Geology

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Shell Malaysia Ltd, Myanmar Exploration Geoscientist

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: In 2010, most of Shell Malaysia’s exploration acreage had been relinquished and only one active exploration block covering less than 5000 km² remained. Twenty-one wells had been drilled since 2005, yet only two commercial discoveries had been made. State-owned Petronas viewed Shell Malaysia as a conservative, slow and expensive operator. Shell Malaysia was undergoing a re-organization and the future looked bleak.

However, by 2014 19 exploration wells had been drilled out of which 11 discoveries were made. Four of those discoveries are currently being planned for development and six more are undergoing feasibility studies. Today, Shell is a partner of choice in Malaysia and Shell Malaysia has earned the right to grow.

In June 2015 I flew to Shell Headquarters in The Netherlands to share this story and my experience working for Shell Malaysia during this period (2010-2014). My presentation was called “Shell Malaysia – A Success in Heartland Rejuvenation” and I discussed how Shell Malaysia turned its fate around. Being chosen to represent Shell Malaysia to tell this story was such a big honor in itself that when I was awarded best presentation and best speaker by the panel I was just overwhelmed with pride at how far the Exploration Malaysia team had come and how lucky I was to be a part of that amazing team in my first four years with Shell. What’s more, Shell’s VP Exploration at the time, Ceri Powell, presented me the award. Since I really looked up to her, I was considerably star-struck.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Eclectic and driven. Everyone seems to be from everywhere — different places, backgrounds, industries — but they all have one commonality:  they are driven to become improved versions of themselves. It’s so energizing, and I am so looking forward to learning from all of them throughout this course.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? It was important for me to choose a graduate school with a good reputation and a small student population. I know myself in that I would have a better learning experience in smaller classes where I was making meaningful connections with my classmates and professors. There is no denying that having an entire careers office and administration dedicated to support less than 130 students in a given batch is highly advantageous.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I’m looking forward to joining the Rice Business Women’s Organization, Energy Club, and/or Strategy Club. However, I am not closed off to joining other clubs like the Consulting Club or the Finance Club to broaden my knowledge-base and awareness in those fields. I also look forward to attending the talks and events hosted by Rice’s acclaimed think tank, The Baker Institute, and maybe taking some electives there on Energy Policy and Energy Geopolitics, for example. Other than that, I have taken the initiative to start a new club at Rice with a few of my classmates. The club will be called the Rice Durian Club and will aim to connect all who love or are curious to learn about this superficially disagreeable but ‘lovely-on-the-inside’ king of fruits.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? At the point in my career where I was applying for graduate school, I had eight years of experience as an Exploration Geologist working for Shell in various locations worldwide including Norway, Malaysia, Philippines and most recently Myanmar. I had become known in my company for conducting balanced, technically sound assessments. Under leaders who trusted and empowered me, I became quite good at managing stakeholders and providing them with high quality evaluations of the technical and commercial viability of Shell’s oil and gas prospects. I felt like I had enough exposure in seeing how the upstream energy business works from the shop-floor, and I now wanted to address problems endemic to big organizations across this industry and maybe even beyond. I had always been interested in developing my skills in growth strategy, business performance, and addressing process-related issues. I think that in order to have a competitive and enduring career in the energy industry, I need to have an encompassing familiarity with the entire energy mix. Thus the idea came about to pursue an MBA jointly with a Master of Science in Subsurface Geoscience at Rice University so that I could be amidst active and relevant research in a global industry hub. I believe that obtaining an MBA will further develop my commercial mindset, broaden and sharpen my way of thinking, and prepare me to better navigate the ever evolving landscape that is the current energy industry.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? With eight years’ of working experience under my belt, I felt that if I had waited any later to go back to graduate school it would have eroded the value of the investment.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? None. I wanted very specifically to do the dual MBA-Master of Science degree at Rice University in Houston, Texas. If I had not been accepted at Rice, I would not have asked for a career break from Shell and would have eventually asked Shell to place me in a broadening role for a few years to give me experience in the purely financial and commercial aspects of the upstream energy business.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I did not apply to other schools, but I knew that Rice was going to be a good fit for me as I was sure I wanted to pursue the dual-degree option that was unique to Rice University.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? When I was 14, my parents relocated the family from the U.S. to Malaysia and I was not very happy about it initially. I made this quite apparent in my journal writing. A few months after arriving in Malaysia, I gained experiences and insights that caused a change of heart. I began to love Malaysia, with fervor, and I started embracing everything it had to offer me, including an international writing competition which called for a “Portrait of a Young Malaysian.” I submitted my semi-fictional essay called “The Silken Dress” along with 500 other young Malaysians aged 14 to 17 years old. I emerged as one of six merit award winners. I was ecstatic and it remains as one of the most gratifying moments of my life. I am proud of this award not only because I made the national newspapers – or had won RM1000 (which was big money when you’re 14 years old!) – but because I feel that it was a recognition that, despite my different background growing up abroad, I had enough of a Malaysian spirit in me, enough of a Malaysian heart, to be accepted as a Malaysian by fellow Malaysians. This moment was instrumental in shaping the deep sense of identity that I have as a Malaysian today.

What do you plan to do after you graduate? After I graduate, I see myself as a senior technical professional in a multi-national energy company who has broadened into a New Ventures or New Business Development role, doing the ground work that determines which new ventures add value to the business. I would have an increasing scope of work dedicated to coaching of staff. Since I would have recently acquired my combined MSc and MBA from Rice, I would be applying my improved technical skills and new commercial skillset to help influence my leaders on strategy and portfolio planning. I would be vying for a subsequent role in full-time portfolio analysis.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Five to ten years from now, I would hope to have had enough experience in portfolio management to be able to broaden into a leadership position in the upstream line of business. This will be a check point where I will probably consider joining a small to mid-sized company, or a new operating unit of a multi-national company. I want to be somewhere where I can challenge myself, stripping down elaborate, big-company processes which I would be privy to by now, and applying them in a fit-for-purpose manner to up-and-coming or even struggling businesses. I want to be in a decision-making role by now, directly influencing strategies for forward plans. I see myself leading a team of capable technical professionals where I can indulge in the nurturing side of me and develop others along their intended career paths.