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By City Press Office , Published

When a mutual friend introduced Chadi Dargham and Hanine Lteif in 2012, little did they know that as well as introducing them to the person who they would marry, the same friend would inspire them both to study for an EMBA at Bayes Business School in Dubai.

Chadi Dargham (EMBA, 2020) is the Global Service Director for Erba Mannheim, a multinational medical equipment manufacturer.  His wife, Hanine Lteif, (EMBA, 2022) is a Senior Project Manager at Stryber, a German corporate venture builder.  Chadi and Hanine both recently graduated from Bayes in City, University of London’s 11th graduation ceremony at its Dubai campus - the first since the pandemic.

Hanine Lteif and Chadi Dargham

After hearing positive stories from their friend, who had studied for a full-time MBA at Bayes in London, Chadi enrolled on the Dubai Executive MBA programme in 2018.

Inspired by Chadi’s experience, Hanine followed the next year.

“I saw first-hand through Chadi the high level of education that Bayes was delivering in Dubai. It felt like a second home to us,” Hanine said. “I also saw the amazing network of professionals he met and incredible learning he was achieving in the first year of the programme.”

The couple, who are from Lebanon but live and work in Dubai, supported each other throughout their time at Bayes, taking it in turns to do the housework if the other was studying, helping each other revise and discussing lecture notes and elective recommendations.

“We supported each other a lot,” said Chadi. “I graduated with distinction, but Hanine graduated as a top performer with a certificate of outstanding achievement – our joint journey has been fruitful for both of us.”

"With patience and persistence, anything is possible"

However, returning to study at the same time as working was not always plain sailing.

“After ten years away from books and lecture rooms, the biggest challenge for me was to get back to studying,” said Chadi.  “I struggled the most during exams to balance between work and studying but I learned that, with patience and persistence, anything is possible.  By the end of the programme, I was already able to see the benefits I gained from putting myself back into ‘learning mode’”.

For Hanine, challenges occurred when the pandemic hit, and her cohort got to grips with online learning.

“Despite the disappointment of missing on the face-to-face learning experience, we learned to stay connected, interact, and coordinate together to deliver the best results in group assignments and during online lectures. Today, our cohort is a cohesive one, and we gather on regular basis and support each other in career development.”

Applying EMBA learnings on the job

The couple said they gained much from their time at Bayes.

Hanine said her studies helped her learn about new topics like ‘business model innovation’ and technology enablement which, in turn, allowed her to move into the field of venture building.

“I became a huge advocate of data analytics and machine learning, and this has completely changed the way I look at businesses and business models, amidst market competition. I am now applying these learnings in my current job on daily basis,” she said.

“I made long-lasting friendships at Bayes,” said Chadi. “I still see my EMBA friends regularly – we are like family.”

Postgraduate degrees bring benefits

Their postgraduate degrees have already brought benefits for Chadi and Hanine, with both taking up new jobs after finishing their courses.

“We are both excited about this new chapter post-EMBA and we believe that we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without a high-calibre EMBA from a top-rated school like Bayes,” Hanine said.

“Chadi was fortunate enough to achieve a huge career leap, one that wasn’t possible without his EMBA. I was able to completely switch industries and move to a dynamic environment full of innovation, where entrepreneurship is practiced as a full-time job. The EMBA has broadened our knowledge and taught us a lot, and we couldn’t have imagined at the beginning of this journey, that we will end up where we are today! We are both very proud of where we are and feel grateful to everyone who contributed to our success.”

Find out more

Find out more about the Dubai EMBA here.