Rami Karaki

University of Oxford, Saïd Business School

“I have an appeal to global happenings, mainly in finance & politics. Also a professional pianist.”

Hometown: Beirut, Lebanon

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’m a great mixologist!

Undergraduate School and Major: American University of Beirut, Bachelor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Advention Business Partners | Senior Consultant – Private Equity and Principal Investors

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Oxford Saïd’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? The Oxford MBA offers a general business education, but also the option of specializing and gaining strong and deep knowledge in a specific field. In my case, for example, I wanted to focus on finance and the private equity space. I am able to choose from a large list of finance-focused courses, ranging from financial markets to private equity or venture capital. In addition to these more technical courses, the business school has several co-curricular programmes such as the Oxford Finance Lab. The lab is a highly competitive programme of valuation and modelling taught through case studies of real transactions and is practitioner-led.

What is the most “Oxford” thing you have done so far as a full-time MBA student? The University of Oxford follows a collegiate system and I was lucky enough to get admitted to New College, which was founded in 1379 and has very rich heritage (It’s also one of the Colleges where scenes of Harry Potter were filmed!). The most “Oxford” thing I have done would be attending the formal dinners in the halls and the service at the New College Chapel.

Oxford is known as a place where world collides, be it in the classroom or the dining hall. What has been the most interesting interaction you’ve had so far as an Oxford MBA student? The Oxford MBA is really diverse, and many of the interactions I’ve had in the classroom were very engaging.

The most interesting part is the different angles each person brings to a particular problem. When discussing an economic or a policy topic, a person with a social work background would bring in a contribution totally different than someone coming from investment management. My fellow classmates have backgrounds ranging from diplomacy to investment banking and social impact to professional sports.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I’ve had the chance to work on really interesting engagements, for both the public and private sectors, across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. I worked on projects in different 7 countries. Working in different markets and geographies taught me to be adaptable and expanded my horizons.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far? It was winning the Morgan Stanley Investment Banking Challenge.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I also applied to the HEC MBA programme which is also a great programme, and got accepted. However I felt that in my case, Oxford would offer a more diverse experience, as the school is closely embedded in the university and is not a stand-alone busines school. The heritage behind the University of Oxford was also a big draw.

What has been the biggest epiphany you’ve gained about yourself or the world since you started your MBA program? The world is vast, and one should keep an open mind. There are several avenues to reach your goal, and one should be a good swimmer as the currents change and might not always be in your favour.

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