Mahmoud Ezz

Mahmoud Ezz, is an AIB alumnus from Egypt and currently is the Control & Reporting Senior Manager for PepsiCo Egypt BU.

Starting his career back in 2004 in assurance services with EY and PwC as a Senior Associate, Mahmoud decided to move to the operation side of finance and made the move to IBM as an FP&A Manager.

Two years later, he received the opportunity to travel across Africa as the Internal Controls Manager for North Africa. After two more fruitful years, Mahmoud moved into a new role with IBM as a Global Process Service Manager for one of the major finance and accounting key accounts with PepsiCo (Egypt, Saudi & Jordan). After 3 years, Mahmoud joined PepsiCo as an Analysis Manager for the snack business in Egypt.

In 2016 Mahmoud joined GBM in Oman as a Financial Controller it was during this time, he would be finishing up his MBA in Finance with AIB. Then, in 2019 Mahmoud accepted a role with Abbott as a Financial Controller for Egypt, Saudi & Gulf to set up the first ever captive shared service centre across the globe. And finally, this year, Mahmoud delightedly re-joined the team at PepsiCo.

After completing his MBA in Finance in 2017, Mahmoud has achieved an exceptional amount. We thought it would be great to catch up 5 years post completing his MBA to reflect on his journey:

“It was a big milestone not only in my career but in my whole life, very thankful for my wife & family for supporting me during the journey.”

We asked him a few questions about his MBA experience at AIB.

What was your motivation to start an MBA?

Back in 2013, as IBM GBS manager, I was a people manager for 49 FTE as well as managing a very demanding and challenging customer (PepsiCo), at the time I felt the need to widen my knowledge about all business aspects not only accounting & finance, but I was also looking for HR, Marketing, Operations etc

Why did you choose AIB?

Based on my character and experience, I am more into practical education rather than just academics, AIB gives this educational experience where you are really applying what you learn on case studies and projects which helped me a lot to apply in real-life work.

What were your apprehensions before studying and what would you say to others feeling the same?

I am very bad at memorizing data and lack time due to workloads well as family commitments.

Challenge yourself, enough worrying and take the first step, start, and push your limits and most importantly choose your study program wisely that fits you.

Do you attribute any successes directly to accomplishing your MBA? Either during your studies, or since you finished?

I see things from a different perspective, and I have learned to think differently which led to a promotion, a pay rise and then moving to a bigger role and challenges.

Did you feel supported at AIB?

Big time from all the academic team as well as the support admin team.

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