Summer in Dubai 2019
Before MBA, I was in the banking industry for more than five years. I wanted to explore other career options and live in new cities throughout my MBA journey. Fortunately, the past summer at Delta Partners helped me achieve both, and it was definitely one of the highlights in my MBA life.

Work at Delta Partners
I joined Delta Partners as a consultant intern in the Dubai office. After the initial two weeks of familiarizing myself in the Dubai headquarters, I was soon staffed to a project in Saudi, which was definitely an unforgettable adventure.

I was fortunate to join a new work stream of a large project for the public sector, had the chance to participate end-to-end: from kicking off the work stream to producing the final outputs. The topic is on an emerging technology governance, a fancy word that I always saw on the news but now I got an opportunity to learn deeply and work on it.

The learning curve was steep at the beginning: it meant a new field to explore, new tools to master, and new working environment that I had to quickly adapt. From the first week, I was assigned a mentor who made time to meet with me on a weekly basis no matter how busy his schedule was. I also worked very closely with my immediate team for my work stream. They were so nice and patient to help me learn and grow, and I always said that I couldn’t have asked more than what I have got. Because of the support that I received, overcoming these initial challenges didn’t take me too long although there was always room for further improvement. This reflected the greatest asset of Delta Partners – the people. It sounds a bit cliché but the people around me did make a big difference during my internship.

There were a few times that I had team dinner in Riyadh. I later found out that it was not common for women to eat out in public restaurants a few years ago. I want to quote from my friend who worked there for a longer time: “You definitely see the country has changed and become more open, that makes me feel that all my work is meaningful.” As consultants, we often say that we want to make an impact through our work, and now I finally understand how that has become true.

Life in Middle East
Before coming to Dubai, I had many guesses about how the city really looks like. It’s a city built on the desert, a city with the tallest building in the world, a city full of expats. Everything you heard is probably true but Dubai offers more than that.

Dubai is just like any other big cities in the world with better hospitality. Maybe it’s not a city for walking especially in the summer, but there are many indoor activities that you can do.

At Delta Partners, your colleagues are also your friends, people hang out outside work. You are always welcome to join a famous Dubai brunch during weekends or a drink after work on Thursdays.

Dubai is also a hub for flight connection. During my summer internship, I got to visit nearby cities in UAE as well as Turkey and Georgia.

As life goes on, I came back to school, to an environment that I’m more familiar with. The past summer was like a dream coming true on many aspects from both professional and personal perspective. I’m still chatting with the friends that I made at Delta Partners, and I am grateful that the relationship goes beyond work.

 

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Kathy Ai
Consultant Intern
Kathy is currently pursuing her MBA at London Business School. She did her MBA consulting internship with Delta Partners’ Dubai office during the past summer.