AB InBev, the best company to join after an MBA

After graduating from my MBA at IESE Business School and starting my career at AB InBev, a part of me was terrified by the idea of losing the amazing environment I have been living in for the past two years. For the duration of the MBA I lived surrounded by incredible individuals from all around the world. I was rediscovering myself on a daily basis and getting involved in many high impact activities.

Little did I know that AB InBev was going to be the perfect extension of the MBA program providing me a similar multi-cultural environment to my Business School as well as the same room for growth and learning, while having the big advantage of receiving a salary.

I joined an MBA program seeking to become more open minded and learn further on world cultures. Right now I work in a team with individuals from around the globe. My line manager is Russian, my colleagues are Belgian, Indian, Spanish, Dutch, Brazilian and Ukrainian to state just a few. On a daily basis I interact with people from over 10 countries and this requires me to be a good networker, to not be afraid to speak up, to adapt instantaneously to the situation I am in and to extract value from AB InBev’s cultural melting pot. 

On top of that, being in the GMBA class of 2019, I am part of an international group of 30 people. The program gives us the incredible opportunity to grow as leaders and to have deep dives in different markets. In July we met in New York, in November we will have the privilege of meeting in Mexico and I am excited to find out soon what the destination of April will be. 

The best way to develop people is to constantly get them out of their comfort zone - Carlos Brito

I joined the MBA looking to develop an ownership and entrepreneurial mindset and IESE gave me exactly what I was looking for. I got the chance to take on projects, organize massive events, improve how things where working, and I enjoyed every moment of it. I was glad to discover that AB InBev functioned in a same way. If I have an idea I can develop it, if the idea is good, I can scale it across the company. If I want to do more and get involved in more projects I just have to ask. To sum it up, AB InBev gives me the space to decide by myself how much time I want to invest into building and growing my career. Efforts are reworded, good results are recognized and fanatic owners are given opportunities to rise in the company.

I joined the MBA in the hope of changing the sector I was in and get the chance to work in different functions. IESE allowed me to get in the consumer goods sector, but AB InBev opened me the door to all functions and very few companies give such a flexibility to their employees. I started my AB InBev journey in a commercial roles analyzing the opportunities in the Middle East and developing the route to market strategies to grow in the area. Six month later I find myself in a finance and strategy role as a Business Cycle Manager for Northern Europe. From one day to another I moved from collaborating with our local partners to optimize our on trade strategy to analyzing Financial results and leading budgeting exercises. If I was able to take on so much in such a short period I am eager to find out what kind of surprised next year will be bringing on!

To all MBA candidates, if you are seeking challenges, if you are ambitious, if want to be in close contact with people better than yourselves and with strong leaders to learn from them and keep growing and If you are ready to put in the hard work and take ownership in tough situations, then I invite to join the AB InBev GMBA Program. In my opinion AB InBev is the best company to join after an MBA.

And in case you are still not convinced, remember that as part of the perks of the job you will get to have some the best beers in the world!! #Stella Artois #Corona #Budweiser #Leffe #Hoegaarden