Assyl Ikhsan

What is a fun fact or something unexpected about you? 

I became a big fan of Harry Potter at the age of 37 thanks to my daughter’s interest in the books and movies. 

Tell us about yourself, and how you go to where you are today both on a professional and personal level? 

Born and raised in Kazakhstan, I had a few character and life defining moments as a kid - I was born and spent most of my childhood in Western Kazakhstan, lived in the US (Boston) for one year with my family when I was 9-10 years old as my dad was doing his executive studies. 

Shortly after coming back to Kazakhstan we moved to Southeast Kazakhstan where I went to and graduated from high school. I then moved to Oxford to do my IB and undergraduate degree. In my penultimate year at uni, I completed a summer internship at JPMorgan London and ended up going there full-time after graduating.

My first job was as an investment banking analyst in London at JPMorgan. I moved with them to Singapore and then moved to buy-side (Temasek) while I was in Singapore. I also briefly went back to Kazakhstan (for three years 2014-2017) for personal reasons and worked for an oil and gas services company. I came back to Singapore in 2017 to work for BHP focusing on energy markets analysis. In July 2022 I moved back to the finance industry as a transition finance specialist. 

It has been a very fulfilling journey so far, starting in finance, moving to industry and coming back to finance. 

What led you to decide to pursue an EMBA, and why did you choose INSEAD in particular? 

I have always wanted to get my post-graduate degree. 

I have thought about it at least a dozen of times in the past 10 years but always talked myself out of it or the timing was off. A full-time MBA wouldn't have fit me for a number of reasons, but most importantly my rational mind couldn't justify not working. 

Having said that, the desire to pursue post-graduate education never diminished over the years despite all the rational debates in my head. My previous manager encouraged me to apply as this could be an investment into my future. I also thought that I could be a role model for my young daughter to pursue her goals in the future (in the same way my dad did when I was nine years old). 

Why INSEAD? I hope I can learn from and connect with wider INSEAD community. INSEAD is known for diversity and I'm hoping that's what I can contribute to and also benefit from at both professional and personal levels. 

Could you describe your experience so far? The classes, the curriculum, your fellow participants, the professors? 

So far, it has been refreshing and exciting. 

The cohort in Asia is very diverse, in every sense: gender, ethnicity, nationality, professional backgrounds, personalities, skills etc. 

The six professors we've had so far were from Russia, Israel, China, Sweden, Germany, France - again, just to re-emphasise the diversity angle! The challenge I have is that there is just not enough time to do everything I want to do. I sometimes wish there were three of me so I could be everywhere - home and family, work, INSEAD.

What advice would you give to someone who might be interested in pursuing an INSEAD programme? 

If you've thought of doing it at least once or twice and your rational mind hasn't been able to persuade you not to pursue it, then do it. 

Obviously, curriculum and network is there but what I've been so far enthused the most by are inspirational stories of my peers - I cherish these connections and I will carry some of these impressions for a very long time after graduating.