As a small girl, saving coins in a little box and spending the money on noble deeds that brought smiles on faces that hardly smiled inspired me to appreciate the substantial change money is capable of doing in an economy. It was the beginning of my long-cherished dream. I want to study Business management with specialization in finance since Financial Management entails numerous employment opportunities as economies continue to expand unendingly across the globe. Across the world, the Financial Services and Banking field grows rapidly with myriad opportunities for young aspiring professionals, particularly women. Banking field also provides a great deal of job satisfaction for the employees since it serves customers with various financial needs to plan business, education, healthcare and a variety of personal needs. An enriching career in banking includes many money management and banking services like investing saving and retirement plans for customers. Banking also provides employees with a lot of careers ranging from financial analysts and advisors to sales and customer service officers. Also bankers are of great demand in mortgage companies, commercial banks, loan and saving establishments, credit unions and microfinance institutions. Government agencies too require the services of banking professionals for managing their statements and portfolios apart from auditing and regulating various institutions under them. This dream industry with diverse growth opportunities demands a Bachelors degree in Business Management and Finance for many responsible positions. What interests me most about banking and finance profession is that I would be exposed to research on various financial services, plan investments and manage resources for organizations which would promise me greater rewards and self confidence. Having secured a Bachelors degree in Business Management and Finance from the prestigious De Montfort University, my passion to work with numbers, coupled with my powerful analytical, logical and communication skills would take ma a long way to work with customers of different backgrounds and stakeholders with diverse interests in future.
A proactive and dynamic young girl from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with a Secondary School Graduation Certificate, I am confident of making it to the banking and finance field on completing my Bachelors degree from De Montfort University. My skills in arithmetic have been proven as affirmed by the high grades I secured at my school. Interestingly, as a child, I had a passion for collecting coins that was initially motivated by my parents. Even before I learned how to count, my father used to give me coins regularly which I dutifully saved in a beautiful wooden box. This later on induced me to collect coins from various countries around the world, and I still maintain some rare coins belonging to various parts of the world in a few albums. My parents ingrained in my young mind the need for saving money for future use. Whenever I opened my collection box, I would feel exuberant as though I earned the money. I usually spent the money I saved on charity works promoted by our school, mainly to help the poor children. As a little one, many times I have wondered if I could do anything to wipe away poverty from the face of the earth. Later, I realized that financial institutions too can play a role in eradicating poverty after reading an inspirational book titled ‘Banker to the poor.’ Nobel laureate and professor in economics, Dr. Muhammad Yunus, has proved that the poor and downtrodden across the world too are credit worthy. The story of professor Yunus opened my eyes and changed my entire view about banking industry. Contrary to my earlier view that banks are only pro-rich, as I grew up I realized that banks also help the poor to bring out their entrepreneurial skills and break the chain of poverty.
An avid reader from my childhood days, I read with keen interest books on economics and financial matters. I believe that continuous exposure to knowledge and new skills alone would help one grow in his or her career path. Toward improving and updating my knowledge in the field of finance and banking I read a lot of books and follow with keen interest debates on money matters on TV and radio. Robert T. Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad is one of my all time favorite books. His concepts of financial freedom and cash flow quadrants are quite interesting. Kiyosaki inculcates in me an idea that a passionate dream to achieve and proper management of finance would wipe away poverty from this world. As a future banker after completing my Bachelors degree in Business Management and Finance, I would initiate programs to impart financial literacy to customers, particularly the poor and marginalized. Fluency in Arabic and English would help me gather knowledge on finance and development from across the world and channelize the same to the growth and development of my countrymen.
My home country Saudi Arabia provides vast opportunities for women in various fields in the private and public sector. Banking industry in Saudi Arabia is booming with more and more women employed in key positions even though a bank job to a woman was considered untraditional till a few years ago. Special women bank branches in the country also require graduated and highly motivated women professionals. In fact, bank customers, whether men or women are mainly concerned about the quality of service and not about the gender of the employees serving them. Women have proven in Saudi Arabia that they could effectively handle challenging customer situations through adopting less aggressive strategies than men in similar situations as recommended by a lot of customers supporting this view. Leading banks like the Saudi British Bank have many extremely talented and promising young women university graduates in their payrolls and still many more are waiting to join the bank. Banks like the Saudi British Bank are also planning to open new positions in future to accommodate women talents by creating new positions and departments. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is also encouraging young Saudi nationals, particularly women to know the world and prove themselves in turn to the world by acquiring higher education abroad. Hence, I feel it is my moral responsibility to explore the world to gain more knowledge and practical wisdom to uphold the tradition of giving better service to the customers as a woman banking professional with a higher qualification.
Bachelors’ degree in Business Management and Finance offered by De Montfort University, one of the top rated Universities in the United Kingdom, is also unique with a high orientation toward practical wisdom that enhances the self-confidence of the students and helps them face the job related challenges with ease. Bankers like HSBC also regularly hire graduates from De Montfort University. I also decided to pursue my higher education from De Montfort University after a thorough search about its reputation from friends, well-wishers and a variety of other sources including the internet and the media.
As a young woman with a clear life vision and aspiration to empower myself with a higher education to make my dream come true, I believe a degree in Business Management and Finance from De Montfort would act as a foundation to my future career. On the whole, my perseverance and motivation to continuously learn and grow would benefit me immensely through exposing me to new knowledge and experience through this degree program.
