Engineering Reliability Manager for Lion, The Pride Brewery
With 18 years of FMCG experience in the brewing industry, Michael Oosthuizen was looking to diversify into general management. Completing an MBA gave him the confidence to take on more challenging roles within his organisation.
Key facts
Career: Engineering Reliability Manager for Lion at The Pride Brewery
Programme: MBA
"In the MBA programme, you constantly learn how to deal with change and new concepts."
"I have spent the earlier part of my career building technical knowledge. Over the last five years I have made a conscious effort to diversify into general management roles.
"I was looking for a qualification that was different from any of my previous technical qualifications and thought that an MBA would give me insight into other aspects of an organisation that I am less familiar with. From all the universities I looked at, I was most impressed with the University of Auckland.
"During my MBA study, I enjoyed making lifelong friends with like-minded people and being challenged to go outside of my comfort zone. It was never about scoring good grades and always about gaining comprehension so that I can apply my new learnings at work, which made we work hard to ensure I understand the new concepts.
"I have held a variety of roles ranging from project manager to deployment leader for an ERP system to my current role as Engineering Reliability Manager. My current responsibilities involve reliability of the production plant, statutory compliance, machine safety, utilities, controls and automation, building maintenance and environmental sustainability improvements.
"Having done the MBA has given me the confidence to ask for new opportunities I have little understanding about because in the programme, you constantly learn how to deal with change and new concepts."