Mozambique-based Amado Mabasso took the CBS Blue MBA – despite the distance – to get more involved in the shipping and logistics industry and specify his knowledge.
“Latterly, my working life has centred around shipping and logistics and as Chairman and partner at I2A, we are undergoing an immense project to set up a huge dry port in the centre of Mozambique that will connect two railways and two ports. It’s located about 900km from Port of Nacala and 600km from Port of Beira.
“I realised that I needed a better grasp of knowledge specific to maritime and logistics, and so I decided to take the Blue MBA programme at Copenhagen Business School.”
From Mozambique to Copenhagen
“To settle on CBS, I looked at several schools and sought advice from various people I knew and respected, and when I saw the brochure I decided it was the course for me. It suited me particularly in terms of the timings and the structure; I wasn’t able to do a full-time MBA, so the opportunity to study part-time was perfect. But ultimately, the main reason I chose CBS was because of the quality of the programme.
“While Copenhagen is a long way from Mozambique, the air connections weren’t too bad, and it was a pleasure to meet people on the programme from all over the world. The networking opportunities are excellent and I’m still in touch with many people from the Blue MBA which is absolutely invaluable to me as we now do business together and share our experiences.”
Blue MBA
“Of course, there were some aspects raised in the programme that I was already aware of, but it was very helpful to delve deeper and find out what is new in those areas. Ours is an industry that is evolving, and it has been good to get to grips with the extent of the changes and how they will influence the future.
“Irene [Rosberg] as programme director was excellent and I found the interaction with companies in Denmark, the UK and Germany to be an especially valuable experience.”
“The Blue MBA has been instrumental to my work especially in terms of planning. I wrote my thesis on the dry port that we are outlining now and many of the issues of shipping design and organisation itself were easily resolved once I implemented what I had learnt during the Blue MBA – mostly in terms of negotiation. There was also the outstanding planning sequence for shipping and logistics that was set out in the programme as I still follow these steps in my business today.”
Industry changes
“Nowadays it’s not easy to predict the future. When we started planning the dry port implementation here there were several projects along the corridor that had to stop because of Covid. But now we are getting back on track. As expected, we are still noticing a few things being done differently, but I’m confident that things will slowly return to the way they were before.
“Also, I expect that wider changes to the industry such as digitalisation and sustainability will have a delayed effect for us here in Mozambique. At the moment these things don’t have much of an influence on my work because we have been working very much on the ground, in the thick of it. But now that I am travelling around the world again, I can see the positive influence of these things, and I’m sure it won’t be too long until that impact starts to be felt here also!”
Spreading awareness
“I’m a great distance from Denmark but it is incredibly important for people to realise that the Blue MBA is accessible for people in my region. The people I work with every day have such exceptional knowledge, awareness and experience in shipping and logistics, and I know that they would excel if they took the Blue MBA. It’s part of the reason why I became a Blue MBA ambassador – I’m passionate about getting more people involved.
“So whenever there is a networking opportunity or I’m in a position where I can talk about shipping and logistics, I always emphasise that my location or situation didn’t hinder me at all when studying at CBS. In fact, it has had such a positive influence on where I am today and where I want to be tomorrow.
“I sincerely hope that soon we have some more people from Mozambique studying at CBS and I’ll help in any way I can to make it happen. That’s what being an ambassador is all about; spreading awareness, opening doors and emphasising the accessibility of the programme.
“My peers and the people that I deal with every day have got so much to offer. I am sure that they would thrive at CBS – and I know that they would bring back fresh ideas, added drive and a forward-looking mindset.”
