I grew up in Japan and graduated from Keio University with a bachelor’s degree in Business and Commerce. Prior to joining the MBA programme, I worked as a Manager at KPMG FAS Co., Ltd., aspiring to accelerate M&A transactions to foster innovation in Asian society.

The biggest accomplishment in my career to date was spearheading a financial due diligence service for a large-cap private equity fund’s acquisition of a Japanese major home improvement retailer. It was a relatively large deal, grossing $1.67 billion in sales, and was made challenging by the client’s extremely demanding expectations regarding the delivery quality.

I was responsible for orchestrating and ensuring the progress and quality of these projects, arranging and leading management interviews with the target companies and compiling the deliverables of other professional advisors in KPMG: the Tax and IT teams. At the same time, I was responsible for analysing areas directly related to the valuation of the deal due to the lack of human resource, such as inventory analysis of $370 million and net debt analysis of $540 million. While educating the less experienced team members on the direction and goals of the analysis, I also respected their autonomy and motivated them to learn by not giving them unilateral instructions. In addition, I reviewed the team members’ deliverables every workday and gave constructive, teaching-learning feedback. This built trust between us and contributed greatly to my team’s high morale.

In order to achieve my long-term career goal, there are two reasons I need an MBA. Firstly, I want to learn the foundations of comprehensive business, such as strategy, marketing, and technology. As I hold specialisation experiences in accounting and finance, I have no suitable knowledge of other business functions. Secondly, I would like to gain leadership experience through negotiating in a global environment, utilising my English language skills. I want to accelerate cross-border M&A not only domestically in Japan, but also globally. For these objectives, studying for a global MBA is the best choice.

Upon completion of the HKU MBA Programme, I plan to continue my career as an accounting and financial professional and broaden my responsibility across international fields, especially in the Asia-Pacific market.