USB’s MBA has equipped me with a powerful toolbox – Alumnus Dr Muhammed Khan

If you asked me what I wanted to do when I was a child, the answer would have varied between a doctor, a lawyer, a banker or a businessperson. I have always had this sort of longstanding internal battle between wanting to either help humanity practically or develop a large business. My desire to help humanity lead me to become a medical doctor who primarily serves the public sector.

After working as a doctor for many years, I still attain a great feeling of joy from solving a stranger’s complex problem. However, a few years ago, I started yearning for more complicated daily tasks and the opportunity to learn again. Therefore, I started exploring other industries. I co-founded a digital recruitment agency, I started to trade on the JSE, and I joined a medical union.

“USB’s MBA appealed to me as they seemed to focus more on leadership and personal transformation, rather than just making money.”

My exposure to these different industries taught me that I had attained good technical skills for healthcare, but that I lacked certain managerial and fundamental business knowledge. I started attending short courses and lectures at various business schools. The more I learnt, the more I realised I never knew. I then considered applying for an MBA and started looking for the best offering.

Potentially pursuing an unconventional medical career path was scary. I never knew where it would take me and I constantly wondered if it would be worthwhile in the end. I also pondered whether completing an MBA would cause me to digress from helping others, and become financially focussed. USB’s MBA appealed to me as they seemed to focus more on leadership and personal transformation, rather than just making money.

“Completing this MBA has equipped me with a powerful toolbox.”

My personal mastery journey has taught me how to better understand myself, and why I may feel or react in certain ways. I have since realised that my younger-self espoused to be a certain type of a professional as I deeply valued certain characteristics which they represented. Whatever I do, it needs to help humanity (doctor), I expect myself and others to conduct their affairs in a just manner (lawyer), I enjoy interpreting and manipulating numerical data (banker), and I love building organisations (businessman).

This deeper self-understanding has allowed me amalgamate my passions and develop a path where I could satisfy multiple of my younger self’s espoused values. I realised that exploring the corporate health environment could grant me this opportunity. Therefore, I selected a health-costing utilisation study as my thesis. This study combines outcomes-based healthcare and corporate finance principles to construct comparative utilisation scores. These comparative utilisations scores, simplify health funding decisions.

Completing this MBA has equipped me with a powerful toolbox. It has taught me how to identify, understand, and then manipulate situations to help me attain my goals. I have since consulted for a health management company, and been shortlisted as a trustee of a prominent board. However, my learning has not yet finished, I still have to master my toolbox, and gain much-valued experience.