Hassan Malik

“My recent European road trip consisted of go karting in Monaco, eating pizza next to the tower of Pisa and hang gliding off mountains in Switzerland.”

Hometown: London, United Kingdom

Undergraduate School and Major: Sustainable Automotive Engineering

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Ricardo Strategic Consulting, Senior Business Analyst

What makes London such a great place to earn an MBA degree?

I was born and raised in London. It has a real edge with its unmatched diversity and access to globally renowned companies which makes it one of the best cities in the world to do an MBA. This also makes it a great place to build a strong network irrespective of your target industry. The perks of London reach far beyond the global perspective it provides in an educational context. As a foodie, one of my favourite parts of London is being able to share meals from the home countries of all my MBA peers. I’m always amazed by the hidden gems to uncover.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Imperial Business School’s MBA curriculum and programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you?

The Imperial Full-Time MBA doesn’t just push you to develop technical business skills, it integrates leadership skills through the LEADS (Leadership, Ethics, Awareness, Diversity, Society) module and helps develop a career strategy through the Personal Leadership Journey. The approach taken to develop self-aware business professionals who are resilient and empathetic humans was both surprising and refreshing.

There’s also a wide range of opportunities to apply learnings in the classroom to real business environments on a global scale, including through experiences like the Global Experience Week – to learn about how businesses tackle challenges intheir country’s business environment – and Glocal Electives – an intensive study abroad programme that teaches us how to explore contemporary business problems through a local perspective.

During the second term of my MBA, I’ll be travelling to two completely new continents to work on real life consulting projects, including a project tackling complex issues facing society (called “wicked problems”) and another project on decarbonising urban cities. The imperial MBA does a lot more than teach business theory.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Imperial Business School?

It’s got to be the Turner MIINT, which is an international impact investing competition hosted by The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Imperial facilitated participation from the MBA cohort, giving students the chance to compete against 35+ top business schools, so the stakes are high. The project work itself consists of a two-stage process, where teams from each school perform due diligence on early-stage companies to identify the ones which are most impactful and then pitch for 50 thousand dollars of funding for the business of their choice.

It’s a competition involving real people, real money and real impact. Throughout the competition, our team leveraged the Imperial network of business founders as part of our company sourcing strategy. This not only helped us gain momentum in the project but also broadened our network with the wider Imperial community.

The Imperial MBA is known to strike a balance between core business knowledge and skills that emphasize vision, judgment, and innovation. What area do you hope to strengthen during your year of business school and why?

Coming from an engineering background, I wanted to gain new competencies in accounting and finance to ultimately become a more rounded decision-maker.

I’ve learned to appreciate the choices and judgements in subjects like accounting, which I previously considered to have more “hard and fast” rules. The Financial and Management Accounting module provided me with an intuitive understanding of how to analyse financial statements, and I’m excited to put my new toolkit to work when I head back into the consulting industry.

What is your unique quality that will enable you to make a big contribution to the Class of 2026?

Serving others is a trait which is at the core of my responsibilities as the Academic Lead for the Full-Time MBA. As part of my responsibilities, I bridge communications between students and senior faculty members for a more enriching MBA experience. It’s particularly empowering to also be in a position where I can directly help improve aspects of the programme for future students and have a more lasting impact.

The Imperial MBA is also known for its strong emphasis on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Why does the program’s focus on technological insights and mindful leadership appeal to you? How have been able to leverage this approach in your career so far?

The pace of innovation in disruptive technologies such as AI make mindful leadership more important than ever before. It’s not enough to just keep up to date with new technological developments but we should also understand the implications of new technologies at a societal level.

The Imperial MBA integrates AI and digital strategy with courses and experiences that emphasise ethical decision-making, emotional intelligence and long-term thinking.

When you think of Imperial, what is the first word that comes to mind?

Entrepreneurship. I still remember meeting some of my classmates during the Admit Weekend prior to starting the programme. I was struck by how passionate my peers were when talking about their startup ideas and I found the same energy to be present all over campus.

Imperial students have a collective itch to build something meaningful, and its frankly quite contagious. Coming from an engineering background, I came to Imperial to figure out how best to uncover my entrepreneurial spirit, and my peers help with doing just that without them realising.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far:
My biggest accomplishment so far has been achieving three promotions in a 14-month window and pivoting into the consulting sector to support global transport and infrastructure projects. During my four-year career, I was able to more than double my salary and gain new client-facing skills that I truly felt proud of and continue to build upon today.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Imperial Business School’s MBA program?

If you’re considering the Imperial MBA, you probably have a lot of questions that you won’t find answers to online. I can’t stress enough how helpful it is to reach out to members of the Imperial community. The Recruitment & Admissions team, students and alumni helped me decide to pursue my MBA at Imperial and provided valuable tips for my application.

In my case, many virtual Q&A sessions turned into in-person discussions over coffee about life at Imperial and all that I had to look forward to. Everyone I interacted with was generous with their time, and the process of building relationships began before I even got my acceptance letter. It’s the enthusiasm of the Imperial community towards seeing the success of current and prospective students which never ceases to amaze me.

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