Aziz Morsly’s journey mixes investment banking, entrepreneurship, technology, success, failure, travel and music. “It’s like I had multiple work lives in one”, he says. The Lisbon MBA was the opportunity to upgrade his career and have a new place to call home. “Since I left, I really understand the ‘saudade’ feeling that probably Portuguese emigrants felt, and I always try to keep the door open to one day live again in Lisbon”.

The Magazine-Review interviews Aziz Morsly, alumnus of The Lisbon MBA International Full Time (2014) and Head of Sales and Partnerships at Acorn

 Travel has always been part of Aziz Morsly’s life. In his youth, he lived in Algeria, Guinee-Conakry, France as well as Australia for a university exchange program.

Specialised in Econometrics and Finance, Aziz Morsly started to work in investment banking in institutions such as AXA, HSBC or Dresdner Kleinwort, where he shared his time between Paris and London.

“When I left investment banking in 2010, my idea was to find places where I could work on new business projects for a certain period. I did so in Wellington, New Zealand, Barcelona, Spain, and Montreal, Canada. This international experience helped me better understand how to add flexibility to my workflow as well as how to interact with people with different cultural and work backgrounds”, he shares.

Those years were “a sort of healing and exploratory journey”. Aziz Morsly pushed himself outside his comfort zone and saw opportunities when he jumped into the entrepreneur life. Between 2010 and 2014, he co-founded or founded two startups: Clinicoo and Nibduck.

“Whatever people think, entrepreneur is a tough life. You are facing all the decisions by yourself, you have your savings invested in your company, turnover in your team, bills to pay, etc. I started to grow the idea that I needed a more robust framework to face this challenge. I explored different options, and the MBA seemed to be the best one for me knowing that I could commit for one year of study and that I could handle classwork”.

The Lisbon MBA appeared to Aziz Morsly as the “right balance”. Why? “A new and beautiful city, a connection with MIT – another travel! – and a focus on self-development through the Friday Forum Series”.

“I was not disappointed with what the MBA offered: international class and great friends, very demanding curriculum, personal challenges and many more. This is a great life experience from where I withdraw skills, ideas or just memories that help me in my everyday life. Lisbon is also an unforgettable city that gives itself in a very poetic way”, he says.

At the Portuguese capital, Aziz Morsly started to collaborate with Tradiio, a music app that works as an artist accelerator, putting users in charge of launching new artists’ careers. After he finished the MBA, he moved to London but stayed working in the same company.

Ups and downs

From investment banking to an entrepreneur experience and startups consultancy, Aziz Morsly has an extensive resume. Now focused on helping new companies to grow their business, he assures it is a “very rewarding” work. “When you are talking to one or two founders, their vision and personality are the key factors for the success of their company. It is essential to incorporate this in the thought process necessary to planning and execution”.

Aziz Morsly is based in London, working at Acorn, an app which helps parents find and book the best activities for their kids. “We built a marketplace that is now available across all the US with tens of thousands of activities. I oversee how we find, onboard and nurture our business partners who sell their activities on our platform. With marketplaces, the main struggle is always how to find enough supply to satisfy your users on the other side. This is what I do for our parents leveraging my sales team, technology and bespoke processes”.

He sees himself launching a new company in the future, but, for now, he’s totally committed to Acorn and still wants to face similar challenges. “I’m not a big believer in linear careers. I admire the people who can work in a company for 10 or 15 years, but it’s not for me. Except if it’s mine, of course. I pioneered a very flexible work life, and I don’t regret any minute of it. I’ll probably keep doing just that while adding some new streams to spice it up”, he states.

 

Music: Radiohead

Book: The Hard Thing about Hard Things (Ben Horowitz), Open (Andre Agassi) and Identity (Francis Fukuyama)

Movie: Barefoot in the Park (Gene Saks)

Motto: “Build your own life, don’t let others do it for you”