Francois de Flamingh’s Journey from Engineering to an MBA

When Francois went looking for an MBA, the requirements were clear: flexible, part-time, and distance-based. He was working full-time and travelling regularly.

A strong referral from a colleague pointed him in the right direction, but it was Milpark's AMBA accreditation that clinched it. As one of only a handful of South African business schools to hold this prestigious international accreditation, the credential carried weight, and Francois knew it.

Ask Francois what a typical day looked like during the final stretch of his MBA, and he does not sugarcoat it. "Up at 4:30. Study from 5 to 7. Work day, 8 to 5. Then study again from 5:30 to 9, every evening. Non-negotiable. Then shower, sleep, and back up at 4:30." He pauses. "I just decided: the world can explode. I will succeed this degree."

The schedule was relentless, so he built in one rule that kept him sane: weekends were his.

"My deal with myself was that every day was going to be mayhem. But Saturday and Sunday were for me — no work, no study. Run, go to the ocean, do the things I care about. Most of the time, I managed it. That was my saving grace."

Francois is quick to acknowledge that his journey was not a straight line. Early on, he did not have the dedication the programme demanded and eventually, the evidence caught up with him.

He was advised to move from the MBA to a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management. He resisted for about a year. Then he made peace with it.

"It felt like such failure. Making that decision to drop down was, hands down, the hardest moment of the whole journey — harder than any assignment or exam. It felt like letting myself down. It was really deep."

But he went in with a plan: graduate with the diploma, regroup, and come back. That is exactly what he did. When he returned for the MBA, he returned as a different person — with the discipline, the schedule, and the resolve that had been missing the first time around.

If dropping down was his lowest point, the Leadership and Change Management module — taught by Dr. Mary Anne — was undeniably his highest. Dr. Mary Anne's emphasis on self-leadership, the foundation of leading others, struck something deep. It is still the basis of how Francois approaches leadership today.

"The course illuminated something I knew I was missing in engineering: the art of working with people. I don't use that word lightly. It's ambiguous, it's nuanced, it resists clean answers — and it is such a beautiful counterbalance to the precision of technical work. It doesn't feel like I added business to engineering. It feels like two halves of a whole."

For someone who played guitar in a band, sketches in charcoal, and only 'happened to study engineering', this made sense in a way that went beyond the professional. "There was a part of me I felt I was neglecting for a very long time. The MBA gave that part of me a professional home."

Read More: How an MBA from Milpark transformed Moses' Career

Francois had not attended his ChemEng Master's graduation. He skipped his Postgraduate Diploma ceremony. He had every intention of skipping this one too. Then his younger sister stepped in.

"She said, 'Please — let us go. You must go.' And I am so grateful to her."

Walking into that ceremony, he wore the gown, embraced it, and when he walked across that stage, he let himself feel the full weight of what he had built. What caught him off guard was how personal it felt.

"I really want to compliment Milpark on that. It didn't feel formal or staunch. Somehow, it felt real. I can't quite put my finger on it but it felt personal. I succeeded in the dark and the cold, when there was nobody there, and yet walking across that stage in the light was indeed culminative — tying everything together."

He describes the graduation — and the interviews that followed — as a kind of debrief. A chance to make sense of the journey, to understand where he had come from and what it all added up to.

Francois operates at the intersection of chemical engineering, process design, and project management — across pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and synthetic manufacturing. He is currently leading a major project with a client in Lagos, Nigeria, reporting directly to the Africa group CTO, Lagos CTO, and Lagos senior technical leadership, while managing a multidisciplinary team that includes electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, mechanical engineers and fire safety specialists.

The MBA has not just added letters after his name. It has changed how he thinks, how he communicates, and how he leads.

"Integrated Business Strategy, for example, gave me a real understanding of how every department is pulling towards the same goal — but are to some degree pulling in completely different directions. For example, production wants to automate. Finance is pushing back on the cost. Before the MBA, I would have just thought: finance is being difficult. Now I understand where they're coming from — and more importantly, I have the language to bridge the gap."

"I can go to finance and say: here is what this level of automation does for your margins in Q3, Q4, and into 2027. That's what they understand. And then we can actually build something together."

On the people side, the shift has been equally significant. Managing a cross-cultural, multidisciplinary team — each with their own motivations, learning styles, and competing project commitments — is not something any engineering programme prepares you for.

"My success now depends on insights, communication, and creating alignment across worlds that are typically very different. I am the linchpin that holds my project together — not in any grandiose sense, but because that is literally the job. If I'm not integrating all of it, I'm not doing my job. This MBA has equipped me with the tools to master this integration"

Francois graduated in March 2026. The phone started ringing almost immediately — operations management roles, exactly the trajectory he had been building towards.

"Operations Manager, Senior Operations Manager, Chief Operations Officer, that is where I'm going. But with flexibility built in. If in a few years I feel like moving into pharma, I want to be free to do that. I don't want to be locked in." He has been encouraged to pursue a DBA. He has declined. Firmly.

"I could care less about the title. It's about what a qualification allows me to do." He is, by any measure, exactly where he set out to be: operating across the full breadth of engineering and business, with the tools, the language, and the credentials to go wherever he chooses next.

Francois does not do reassuring platitudes. When he speaks to those who are mid-programme — exhausted, doubting, wondering if they will make it — he speaks plainly, and from experience.

"You've gotten this far. That means you already have what it takes. You've made a significant investment in yourself— time, money, trust. Others have made significant investment in you: your employer, your family, your friends. Don't let them down. And even more consequentially, don't let yourself down."

"There will be dark, lonely, long hours to grind through. But if you persevere, there will be a dawn. You will have more dark lonely long hours in your life, triumphing over these MBA hours, will fortify you, this will be a proof of your resilience in the face of adversity — it will always remain something to look back on in the hard moments ahead and know: I made it through before. I can do it again."

"So, lock in right now. Tighten up. Bite down on your mouthpiece and swing hard. You will always look back on this with severe pride."

He would know. He took the long road, stepped back when he had to, came back when he could, and crossed the finish line on his own terms. The MBA is done. The journey is just beginning. Francois de Flamingh graduated with his MBA (NQF 9) from Milpark Business School in March 2026. If you feel inspired by his story, then take the chance and apply today.