Background
Shabnam Azimova is a first year MBA student at the Wisconsin School of Business, specializing in Corporate Finance and Investment Banking. Shabnam grew up in Azerbaijan and completed her economics undergraduate degree at Middle East Technical University (METU) which is located in Ankara, Turkey. She spent four years in Turkey studying and traveling and graduated in the top 10% of her class. Upon returning to Azerbaijan following graduation, she was thrilled to receive two job offers from both KPMG and Deloitte.
Shabnam ultimately chose to start her career in audit at KPMG where she worked on different projects in non-life, and life insurance, general banking, oil and gas, telecommunication, utility, and power and technology industries. Three years into her tenure at KPMG, she was promoted to audit supervisor and led audit engagements with teams of 3-5 people by walking through in-scope business processes, identifying control-related risk areas/deficiencies and preparing process flowcharts. She was client facing in many capacities and gained in-depth experience performing audit procedures on complex areas of audit, such as fraud risk, accruals, provisions, impairment, and insurance reserves.
MBA Program Experience
Shabnam’s first semester was quite busy as she was adapting to a new country, university, people/friends, and coursework while simultaneously exploring internship opportunities and networking with alumni. Before starting her MBA, she engaged with current MBA students, particularly in the Nicholas Center, to gain insights into class structures and started refining her resume. She has been grateful for the education she had received during her undergraduate studies, as it allowed her to build upon her foundational knowledge and excel in the MBA coursework. She felt that both her professors and core MBA team have been instrumental in helping support her throughout her first year. She describes how working with the MBA core team in team projects across three of their classes was a particularly rewarding experience that highlighted the importance of effective teamwork and communication skills in an MBA setting.
Shabnam is currently a Treasurer for both GWIB (Graduate Business in Women) and AZSA (Azerbaijan Student Association). In these organizations, her activity not only relates to treasury (account management, getting grants for events, managing expenses), but also involves organizing events, giving ideas, helping other team members. Shabnam’s experience with these two organizations have allowed her to make great connections with other students and staff and has given her a sense of community and accomplishment while giving back. Shabnam continues to be inspired by GWIB’s commitment to empowering women in the MBA program and promoting gender equity in the business world. She is a Forté Foundation Fellow and has felt privileged to learn from their network of talented women leaders.
Shabnam shared that her favorite class during her first year was Business Valuation, in part due to her finance background. She shared how much she enjoyed working in forecasting, determining the value of a company, building valuation models and learning valuation methods. She specifically enjoyed working on a team where they worked on case assignments during the semester which really helped her practice these technical concepts. She was excited to learn that her Business Valuation instructor (Ilhan Demiralp) was also an alumnus of METU, her undergrad university!
This summer, Shabnam will be working as a finance intern at Ametek where her main responsibility will be to engage with business partners to build end-to-end process documentation, identify & highlight gaps or improvement opportunities, and engage in financial reporting processes. Upon graduation, Shabnam’s career goal is to work on an FP&A team in a technology manufacturing company to gain exposure to financial modeling processes, budgeting and financial forecasting, and strategy development in order to impact a company’s financial performance.
Advice for Incoming Students
Shabnam shared the following advice for incoming students:
“Take advantage of opportunities like networking events, extracurricular activities, or exploring the campus and surrounding area. Manage your time effectively by setting realistic goals and prioritizing tasks. Connect with peers, professors, and alumni to enhance your academic experience. Remember to build a balance between academic pursuits, social activities, and personal time. While it’s important to dedicate yourself to your studies and career goals, don’t forget to take breaks, maintain hobbies, and prioritize self-care. And always take initiative!”
Hobbies
When not taking classes, Shabnam has a variety of hobbies. She takes pilates/yoga classes as a recreational activity and has started to learn tennis with plans to enroll in a class at the university. Shabnam is also an artist by nature, as she loves drawing mandalas, engaging in embroidery, painting with acrylics, and creating pottery – She uses the wheelhouse studios at Memorial Union in her free time. She also really enjoys cooking, baking, and trying new recipes. Traveling is also one of her favorite pastimes as she feels it creates the best memories. She has traveled throughout Europe to France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Austria. Since moving to the US, she has traveled to Minneapolis, Chicago, Seattle, New York, and Boston.
We encourage you to connect with Shabnam on LinkedIn to follow her career journey! Feel free to also visit the Nicholas Center blog to read about other activities, student spotlights, and events within our MBA Corporate Finance and Investment Banking specialization!
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