Career Profiles – Benjamin Adams

Career Field Prior to HBS:
Private Equity

Why did you choose an internship with Mubadala?
I was fascinated by Mubadala’s goal to “facilitate the economic diversification of Abu Dhabi while also providing strong investment returns.”ÿHaving previously worked in the private equity industry, I was eager to see how the government plans to strategically invest many hundreds of billions of dollars in order to diversify away the economy’s dependence on oil (all while making a decent return). ÿ

What made you decide on interning in the UAE?
It’s frankly a part of the world that I knew little about. So from a personal standpoint, it was great to explore and learn about the United Arab Emirates. On a professional level, sovereign wealth funds (Mubadala technically isn’t a sovereign wealth fund, but it’s pretty close.) will likely play an important role in the financial world for many years to come so I figured it was a great way to learn about the business and also make a number of lasting connections. ÿ

Summarize your summer internship experience – the good, the bad and the overall.
It was great. Overall, I am very happy with the experience. I learned a lot and got to work on a number of exciting projects. In particular, I worked on a project to analyze Mubadala’s multi-billion dollar investment and strategic alliance with General Electric. My only complaint is the weather – it was literally over 100 degrees every day.ÿÿ

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