I Used My EMBA To Advance My Global Career At Visa And Transition To Sustainability

Having built up a successful program and project management career, Tribeni Chougule decided it was time to upskill and pivot to a social and green sustainability position. 

Throughout her six years at Visa pre-EMBA, Tribeni transitioned through a number of roles. She started in Visa as a Technical Project Manager and then moved to deliver multiple technical as well as cross-functional projects and programs, before moving to Head of the Innovation Center Technology Team and then Head of Change Management in Finance.

While in her role as Head of Innovation Center, Tribeni made the decision to pivot and decided an MBA would be the best way to focus her ambitions.

This led her to Warwick Business School's Executive MBA, which opened up a career path in sustainability at Visa. 

Harnessing an EMBA to pivot career focus

Tribeni worked at Visa for several years before her EMBA. 

She first worked in project management before becoming involved in cross-functional business program management, and then working in multiple integration projects, mergers and acquisitions when Visa Inc acquired Visa Europe. 

Tribeni headed up the innovation center based out of London, helping to establish a target operating model and set up the post-integration team. This was when she decided to pivot career paths, and that an EMBA would be the best way. 

"As I was doing my role in the innovation center from the transformation point of view, I had reached a point in my career where I felt that the point of career pivot was coming on,” Tribeni explains. “I wasn't sure what I wanted to do next.”

Tribeni believed an EMBA would elevate her business knowledge while helping her realize her career ambitions.

"I felt that the MBA could be a good way for me to understand the overall business administration, but also help me determine what could be next," she says. 

Tribeni chose Warwick Business School’s London-based Executive MBA because of the cohort's diversity, the cost of the course, and flexibility, which allowed her to continue her job at Visa: "Warwick ticked all those boxes for me."

Elevating her strategy skills to transform her career

Warwick's daytime format EMBA is based in the iconic Shard building on Fridays and Saturdays. With 43 nationalities in the cohort, it was ranked fourth in the UK by the Financial Times 2022 Executive MBA ranking. 

Throughout her time at Warwick Business School, Tribeni developed an understanding of business and says it was personally “transformational”. 

There were also great professional benefits such as improving Tribeni’s knowledge of general business administration, and it also “helped with a holistic view of all different business components", she says. 

Throughout the EMBA, Tribeni found the strategy classes the most beneficial for developing specific industry skills that have aided her in the new role. 

As part of the program, she took the required Strategic Advantage module, as well as the Strategic Leadership Development and Strategy and Practice electives. 

"All of those have been super helpful because since being in this role, I have launched new strategy programs, which, in my pre-MBA day, I would have been quite jittery about because I didn't have strategic experience," Tribeni says. "The MBA gave me a lot of scope and expertise and understanding."

Elevating her career prospects at Visa through the EMBA 

Tribeni wanted to pursue a career in Sustainability, leveraging her transferable skills from her past experience and the newly acquired knowledge from the EMBA.

Along with the courses that elevated her skillset, Tribeni used Warwick's career development team to ensure her success in her new role as Europe's Inclusive Impact and Sustainability Director. 

Warwick gives its students unlimited access to the careers, leadership and development department; there are also optional workshops, including Negotiation Skills and Courageous Conversations in the Boardroom. 

It also offers access to external executive coaches, who Tribeni still keeps in contact with.  

Tribeni found the career development resources personalized, focusing on her strengths and weaknesses, to support her professional development. Tribeni worked on building confidence in her new role, demonstrating her transferable skills, and having conviction in her outlook. 

"I utilize my coach to discuss the nuances of presenting my best self forward. I have been doing a new role, where I have needed more support to reduce my learning curve, and my coach has been a huge help." 

In this latest role at Visa, Tribeni's remit falls into three pillars. 

The first is overseeing employee giving and volunteering participation and the strategy around it. Second is a role to support the financial empowerment of displaced people or refugees. Her third pillar of responsibility is managing and leading the green team for the European region, which investigates the different goals and targets contributing towards Visa's Net Zero strategy. 

Tribeni says she is now in the domain she loves, which aligns with her purpose. She wants to continue her ambitions for inclusivity, drive positive impact, and continue her passion for learning that Warwick reignited. 

"The MBA really helped me rediscover my love of learning. It wasn't easy. But was extremely valuable, and it has reignited my learning desire so much that I've been on courses already and learning on an ongoing basis."