Platform for success – Ong Toon Wei

Platform for success
by Ong Toon Wei

I am glad I did this qualification because I got the promotion 2 years back with a good increment in salary. If I could go back in time, I would have taken more interesting elective subjects offered in the course for personal improvement.

Before this, as a degree holder in Chemical Engineering, I found that I was lacking of the knowledge in managing business. That was the main reason why I pursued this course. I reckoned that it was important to choose a good and renowned MBA university which provided high standard education. I choose University of Strathclyde mainly because of its triple accreditation that ensures quality of education.

I started my MBA in 2012 after working for more than 15 years with my engineering background. I think that was a right timing for me because I knew what exactly I needed to learn at the current stage. This MBA is never an easy process especially one has to sacrifice his working, leisure and family time.

In these 2 years part time MBA, the most interesting topic to me was strategic management. Strategic management offers a great study of exploring a business opportunity and its feasibility which is very relevant to my daily job. Besides, I particularly like this MBA program because I have got opportunity to mix around with the multidisciplinary course mates of mine. We share skills, experience, knowledge and value. More importantly, I have gained some lifelong friends who will probably be potentially invaluable contacts for me down the line.

Being a division manager in a multinational company, my job is to manage business operations to achieve the company goals. In daily operation, I need to resolve business issues and ensure that all escalated issues are solved. Besides, it is also my role to develop the new business area to generate sustainable revenue to the company. Subject like Exploring International Business Environment (EIBE) is great to allow me to analyse the business environment using a systematic methodology. Managing people at work is one of my key challenges. Recruitment, performance evaluation promotion and retention are also the key areas that learned from the subject of Managing People in Organizations (MPIO).

Learning is a continuous process in life. After my MBA, it is clearly only the beginning of my lifelong learning journey. Now is the time when I can prove and apply all knowledge acquired throughout the course into the real life business. I started to do thing differently now.

In this changing world, those who survive are the ones who align themselves with new directions and new opportunities. It is therefore important to build your own personal brand to achieve ongoing success. MBA will be your best platform to learn and create your personal brand.

Written by:
Name: Ong Toon Wei
Age: 41 years old
Programme: Master in Administration (MBA) in University of Strathclyde (2014)
Company: Alfa Laval Malaysia
Position: Business Division Manager for about 7 years.