Hi Craig! You graduated from the master’s degree programme in Finance in 2022. Can you tell us a bit more about what you have been up to since your graduation?
Since graduating in 2022, I have found myself in a few different places. Immediately after graduation I moved back to Cape Town, South Africa and spent some time back home with friends and family (and the dogs of course). Eventually I received my Swedish Work Permit and moved back to Lund (briefly) before moving up to Stockholm! In Stockholm I found a few friends, even South African friends during the Rugby World Cup.
Homesickness however hit me quite hard and 10,000 km from home became a distance a bit too far from mom’s cooking.
I joined KPMG’s Transaction Services team – this was super fun to experience working with LUSEM alumni and even classmates, I even attended the 100 year celebration of KPMG in Sweden. Homesickness however hit me quite hard and 10,000 km from home became a distance a bit too far from mom’s cooking.
In February 2024 I moved back to South Africa, this time to Johannesburg where I joined global Management and Strategy Consulting firm, Oliver Wyman. This latest chapter has been nothing short of spectacular, filled with travels to destinations like Jordan, Qatar, and Mauritius. I am excited for what’s to come!
What motivated you to pursue a master’s degree in finance at LUSEM?
In 2020/2021 I was working as an investment banking analyst but contracted COVID-19. The whole ordeal made me extremely sick and made me reconsider my life for a bit. I ended up wanting to live and study abroad, but I wanted a unique experience – something I hadn’t seen many other South Africans doing.
I was also funded by an entrepreneurial scholarship/fellowship for my university studies in South Africa. I wanted to combine this passion for entrepreneurship with a unique experience. I settled on moving to a country famous for sustainability, entrepreneurship, and it just so happened to be very different to my home country.
I ended up wanting to live and study abroad, but I wanted a unique experience – something I hadn’t seen many other South Africans doing.
Today you work as a consultant at international management consulting firm Oliver Wyman in Johannesburg, South Africa, what does your everyday routine look like? What is your favourite part of the job?
Consultants always like to tell people that no two days are the same but if I go against an entire industry and tell you the secret to my typical day, promise you won’t tell...
I usually wake up around 7am and get ready to hit the gym. By 7.20am I am in the gym warming up and doing my first activity, by 8.20am I typically hit the sauna for 10min then take a quick shower. By 8.55am I go upstairs to my office (the gym is in the same building). I grab some yogurt and a snack bar and start by checking any emails from the night before, bantering a bit, reading Financial Times (a habit I developed with my LUSEM subscription) and then getting to work by 9.30am.
I love being given a blank Excel workbook and being told to go forth to solve a client’s big questions like modelling customer revenue spending by product category over time, or determining the market size for a hotel chain in Sweden.
The next couple of hours involve various meetings with managers, partners, and clients to ensure we are all aligned and on track to deliver the highest quality analysis at the end of the project. Around 11am some of go for a quick coffee break at the coffee shop downstairs and then by 1pm we’ll normally have lunch together at the office. The next few hours typically involve a big push to deliver on the agreed upon deliverables from the earlier meetings. At 6pm we have a team check-out where we say what we’ve accomplished and intend to accomplish for the remainder of the day. IF the project is really relaxed, this means packing up and going home to cook, swim at the gym, attend quiz nights with friends or similar. If however the project is “lit” (as the kids say) then that means working through the night to ensure that by 9/9.30am all the agreed work from yesterday is fully completed to a sufficiently high level.
The absolute best part of the job for me is digging into some quantitative analysis. I love being given a blank Excel workbook and being told to go forth to solve a client’s big questions like modelling customer revenue spending by product category over time, or determining the market size for a hotel chain in Sweden. All very interesting stuff that requires logic, tenacity, and thorough research to reach a conclusion based in fact but created by me.
What skills and knowledge from your time in the Finance programme and at LUSEM have been most valuable in your career after graduation?
Since graduating I have had two jobs, one a bit more quantitative and finance-related during my time at KPMG and another less quantitative but highly strategic and rigorous at Oliver Wyman. I was very fortunate to be able to use my knowledge of corporate finance, accounting, economics and other similarly related courses directly in my day-to-day job since graduating. I don’t think its as common that what you study immediately becomes your reality.
Problem solving has been the greatest tool in my jobs and I can confidently say that the way I learnt to solve my work during my Masters has helped my infinitely to be the management consultant I am today.
Most recently, my time as Project Leader of the Master’s Committee and time as class representative have come in handy as they have taught me how to manage my time and life very effectively whilst communicating to my team. Problem solving has been the greatest tool in my jobs and I can confidently say that the way I learnt to solve my work during my Masters has helped my infinitely to be the management consultant I am today.
What advice would you give to current finance students who aspire to work in consulting? Are there any specific skills or experiences they should focus on?
Practice, practice, practice! Get some friends and just work through case studies together. Quiz each other like you’re in an interview. There are so many resources online and in print for you to learn to be a better consultant (in theory). The thing that made me better was however sitting down and actually doing cases with my friends on Saturdays and after class. Try to figure out how much revenue Lundafalafel makes in a year and compare your answers.
Practice, practice, practice! Get some friends and just work through case studies together.
I would say the skills that should really be a focus are thinking like a consultant – think big picture but understand that the small details affect that big picture and those details are usually what your client can change! Be enthusiastic, interviewers can tell the difference between someone wanting to join for 2 years to exit to something else vs someone genuinely passionate about solving the world’s biggest problems. That will be you, if you don’t want to solve these problems it will show.
What do you miss most from Lund student life?
I was so lucky to attend LUSEM during a Lundakarnevalen year and it was AMAZING but nothing beats a sittning with LundaEkonomerna. I was a project manager and the bonds and connections I made with my peers during these dinners are some of the best memories I have. One of my first Sittnings was a Melodifestivalen theme and watching Loreen’s Euphoria performed with baking flour was just special. There is obviously no better way to finish off a night than to get some Max or Kebab after that sittning – I loved my time at LUSEM and the student life is something I will hold near and dear to my heart forever.
