From farm manager to financial analyst

Dennis Mutiso Muli was looking for a master’s degree in finance and found it in Gothenburg. At the moment, however, he is in New Jersey, USA, for a few months. Since graduating in 2023, he has been part of the Volvo Cars Graduate Programme, a two-year programme aimed at developing future leaders within the company.

"I get to go to different departments within the company and learn about them. This is my fifth placement and I am working with learning and development for retailers in the US," he says.

Previous placements have included working with Volvo's leasing service, Care by Volvo, where he analysed the impact of interest rates on the business.

"I look at how we can produce better and see myself primarily as a data analyst. My background as an engineer has been very helpful because finance involves a lot of maths. Maths is my comfort zone and what I like most about my job."

Entrepreneurship in Kenya

Dennis studied for a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in Nairobi. After graduating, he started a horticultural farm, which he ran for 1.5 years. It had greenhouses and used hydroponic systems to grow vegetables.

"When you start something new, you have to ask yourself a lot of questions: How do you know you're on the right track in the long term? How do you communicate value? How do you attract investors?"

Entrepreneurship sparked his interest in finance, which deepened when he joined a start-up book publisher. Both the farm and the publisher were looking to expand, and he wanted to understand how to create value in a business.

Entire education in English

It had been five years since Dennis had completed his bachelor's degree, but he still hadn't worked as an engineer. It felt like a good time to change career direction. He started looking for a master's degree in finance that didn't require a bachelor's degree in commerce and found the School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg.

"I looked at the international rankings and saw that it was a good school. I also received a scholarship from the Adlerbertska Foundation, which covered tuition fees and insurance. It is an advantage to be able to study a whole programme in English in Sweden, even though it is not an English-speaking country," he says.

He mentions that many universities require the English language tests IELTS or TOEFL in order to apply for a graduate programme.

"Some countries required IELTS. The School of Business, Economics and Law accepted my high school diploma as proof, so the TOEFL I had done was an added bonus."

Dennis wanted to bring his family with him, and Sweden's affordable cost of living and family benefits were another important factor in his decision to move to Gothenburg.

Discovered programming language

During his studies, he learnt to use the Python programming language, which had a significant impact on his career. He used it to research his master’s thesis, for which he was awarded the Richard C. Malmsten Prize for Best Thesis, and thanks to it he was recruited as one of 50 participants in the Volvo Cars Graduate Programme.

During his time at the School of Business, Economics and Law, the Advanced Portfolio Management and Derivatives and APM courses were particularly beneficial for Dennis.

"Both courses provide a mathematical way of understanding assets and have changed the way I think about finance," he says.

Flat organisations

Now he is looking forward to working at Volvo Cars for a while and has started learning Swedish. In June, he will decide in which of the five departments he visited he will continue to work.

"In Sweden there are very flat organisations, unlike in Kenya. I get to meet high-level people that I would never have met in a company in Kenya. The lack of hierarchy is a big advantage for me," he says.

Any advice for international students at the School of Business, Economics and Law?

"I used the school's Career Service a lot. They were great! My CV was originally five pages long and they helped me with how to better communicate my knowledge and skills. Every international student should use their services. They gave me information on how to prepare for interviews and what it is like to work in Sweden. I found out about the Volvo Cars Graduate Programme through Linkedin and a graduate career portal recommended by Career Service.”