“It is encouraging for me how the business school exerts a lot of efforts on helping women achieve their full potential in the male-dominated financial services industry through their Women in Finance events.”
Meet Hoda…
Hoda was born and raised in Gaza. Under the toll of the blockade, Hoda witnessed the increasing de-development of Gaza, the despair of its people, and lack of job opportunities, particularly for women in economy and politics.
It was under these circumstances that she was inspired to pursue an interest in business, gender equality, and development from an early age.
Hoda left Gaza to pursue postgraduate and professional studies in Accounting and is now majoring in finance at Imperial College London. In 2015, before leaving Gaza, Hoda secured a Summer internship at the Finance Department of the United Nations Agency in Gaza. After that, she was hired by The Small Enterprise Center and worked on OXFAM GB’s project. She has also written an article for The Guardian, providing insight on post-war difficulties for women.
Hoda is currently studying MSc Finance and Accounting. Originally, she wanted to study Finance but the universities in Gaza didn't have the programme, so she opted to study Accounting at the Islamic University of Gaza. Hoda’s experience in Gaza involved creating financial models for food processing and dairy sectors to pitch to private equity investors for Danish Government economic recovery projects. The serious lack of data resources needed to apply capital budgeting techniques and experts in investment made her persist in seeking world-class education outside Gaza where there are more opportunities to develop related technical and analytical skills. Hoda then left Gaza to do MSc Accounting at Durham University and a global professional qualification in accounting as steppingstones to get into Imperial's Finance Masters. Majoring in finance is not only exciting but Hoda hopes that it will also put her in good stead for her future career.
Hoda decided to study at Imperial College London because it is a world top 10 university where programmes are career-focused especially at the business school. This will help her land a career amid strong competition in financial services.
In Hoda’s free time, she likes reading, cooking, hiking and outdoor activities. Recently, she joined the sailing society at Imperial. As for future, in the short-term, Hoda would like to gain international experience in investment. In the long-run, she would like to advise on investments in the Middle East, mainly underprivileged areas.
“In the Middle-East, there could be investment opportunities beyond the traditional emerging markets most financial services practitioners target. There are conflict-torn and less privileged locations where investments can be life-changing rather than wealth maximising.”