Ali's Story
Ali joined Rothschild & Co's Global Advisory business in Manchester as an Analyst over eight years ago. He is now a Director in our Global Advisory business in Riyadh, growing the firm's presence in the Middle East.
"I joined the firm when I was 20 in our Manchester office, in Global Advisory as a sector agnostic investment banker. My focus was really advising on private equity transactions.
Three years ago, I moved to the Middle East to help grow our business there and help set up our Saudi team. Now I'm based in Riyadh.
Having had the opportunity to work in London, Manchester, Dubai and now Riyadh, you get to pick up the best practices. That's what we do as a firm. We raise the standards globally and then adapt that locally, because sometimes what may work in London may not work in New York, Paris, Dubai or Riyadh."
When I was presented with this opportunity to grow our presence in the Middle East, I took it. It's about having that open mindset."
"You are working with industry leading figures and you have to learn quickly and you have to adapt. You're working on industry defining transactions, and that's what's really attractive about this career for me. You get to see the real world impact on the deals that we do.
The firm promotes talent. I hadn't even been to university, but that doesn't matter. It's about the skillset and the vision.
The advice I'd give someone coming into the industry is really around work ethic. There's no replacement for hard work.
And most importantly is resilience because there are certain things that are outside of your control. But the things that you can control, if you do that to the best of your ability, you will succeed."
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