Tina Belthur

The Manchester MBA experience: learning from the ‘cohort-effect’ and cultivating a lifelong, diverse ‘personal board of directors’

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Tina Belthur is an experienced business leader with progressive management experience developed over a 20+ year career. RTS Investments Group LLC comprises a diverse portfolio of companies operating in Hospitality, Food and Beverage, Trading, Construction, Mining and Real Estate. Tina directs HR and Administrative operations for 2,500 employees across multiple offices, factories and project locations in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. She reports directly to the Chairman and Owner and is responsible for setting out the strategic implementation of the HR and Administration principles and guidelines for the diverse companies to align with the Group’s strategic priorities. She manages multiple reporting lines and group functions, as well as overseeing large strategic projects.

Her distinctive approach envisions and operates HR and Administration as a ‘business within a business’ that delivers concrete ROI across the organisation. Her experience spans diverse industries, optimising facility operations, managing multi-million-dollar budgets, and leading cross-functional teams.

From executive search to recruitment and HR leadership roles, Tina has built a formidable career in her chosen domain and extended her influence to include a broader executive leadership role as a member of the company’s senior management team (along with the Chairman and CFO), building specialist expertise on the foundations of her engineering degree and adding professional accreditations along the way. The Manchester MBA was the opportunity to explore some of the academic foundations underpinning her career experience and, just as importantly, to learn from and apply the benefits of the ‘cohort effect’ – the shared learning and collaboration experience.

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With your distinctive combination of senior roles and a lot of industry experience, why did you choose the Manchester MBA?

Having progressed into roles demanding high-level executive responsibilities and enterprise-wide management, I had reached a point where purposefully I wanted to purposefully augment my foundational skills. My goal was to complement my practical experience against contemporary academic knowledge, learning alongside accomplished professors and a diverse peer group. Following a thorough evaluation of leading institutions available to me, I selected the Manchester MBA as best suited for my next career phase.

Uniquely, the programme met my core requirements of a pragmatic course design led by expert instructors that blended individual academic rigour with collaborative, international group workshops, delivered by a globally recognised institution with a rich history and uncompromising accreditation standards, as well as a solid footprint within the UAE market, perfectly balancing a global presence and outlook.

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Does leadership development have a particular resonance for you, given your career experience and focus?

I believe that leadership development is critically important to both individual and organisational success. From an organisational or enterprise perspective, Strong leaders are the bridge between long-term strategy and short-term execution. No organisation can sustain growth without a reliable talent pipeline. This is particularly important due to the nature of constant complex changes and global headwinds that we all operate within.

From an executive perspective, structuring one’s own executive growth requires a deliberate shift from managing daily operations to anticipating enterprise-wide challenges and shaping organisational strategy. It’s about positioning oneself as a leader who can drive scale and systemic efficiency. MBA perspective was to actively blend the academic frameworks we learnt with the daily reality of the working executive. The key was to leverage the knowledge gained and the access to perspectives from faculty and cohort members to cultivate a ‘board level’ or ‘senior leader’ mindset.

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What did you have to put in, to get the most from your MBA experience?

It’s all about attitude and behaviours; it’s essential to bring with you an openness to diverse, unique and differing perspectives, and apply areal-world arena style mentality to academic learning.  I wanted to focus very specifically on my knowledge and experience blind spots.

It’s important to understand that networking and trading expertise with my cohort and faculty was a core aspect of the curriculum. Of course, there is also extreme prioritisation of time and energy- in my case, this included balancing being a new mother, with a full-time job and pursuing an MBA.

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Who or what made the deepest impact on you?

My MBA cohort. One of the most meaningful aspects of the programme was the calibre of the cohort—a highly diverse group of seasoned executives. Engaging with this group across academic, collaborative, and informal settings yielded invaluable cross-industry insights. Beyond mutual support, this environment allowed me to cultivate a lifelong 'personal board of directors’ — a trusted, global sounding board that I will continually draw upon as I navigate both professional as well as personal challenges.

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Has the experience changed the way you recruit, lead and develop people?

As an experienced HR executive, while I had some of these concepts in mind and in practice, the MBA enhanced the way I recruit, lead and develop people in several ways.

Firstly, learning from the benefits of the ‘cohort-effect’ and hiring employees factoring-in those diverse views, experiences and technical expertise that challenge existing practices would lead to better organisational outcomes.

Rather than sending employees to standard learning and development (L&D) sessions, I push to use real-time operational bottlenecks or challenges as developmental laboratories. Similar to what we were assigned in our group projects.

I also encourage direct reports to cultivate their own cross-functional networks and always seek to connect them with mentors outside of their immediate department.

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What did you learn from the MBA that you continue to use daily?

This experience fundamentally reinforced my commitment to lifelong executive development not just for myself but as ‘culture’ to be applied across the organisation. I also learnt to constantly look for evidence-based research to navigate operational challenges and drive decision-making. So, it enhanced my ability to lead with informed, evidence-based confidence.

Was it significant for you to study with a cohort including strong female senior executive representation?

It was extremely important to me not only from a cohort angle but also from an instructor angle.

The value of an MBA network is defined by the diversity of its perspectives, and the presence of female leaders provided me with critical insights that couldn’t be learned from pure academic coursework.

Female executives who have reached senior leadership roles have often had to navigate highly complex organisational structures, break through systemic barriers, and hone stakeholder management. Engaging with them in case studies and group work provided me with first-hand exposure to varied negotiation tactics, conflict resolution strategies, and methods for building consensus in environments that are complex and challenging.

Homogenous groups tend to approach risk, innovation, and problem-solving from the same angle, creating dangerous blind spots. Female senior leader soften contribute different perspectives for assessing risk, managing teams, and generating sustainable growth. I wanted to be able to stress-test my own assumptions, ensuring that my decisions are well-rounded and fortified against blind spots.

A truly effective ‘personal board of directors’ must represent the modern corporate and social landscape. By building deep professional ties with female peers who wield significant corporate influence, you gain access to a broader, more dynamic network.

The global business landscape—particularly in rapidly evolving regions like the UAE, where female leadership is increasingly championed across sectors, demands inclusive leadership. Learning from and collaborating with female executives helped prepare me to build, mentor, and lead highly diverse, high-performing teams in any organisation that I work in.

What was the greatest challenge to overcome in completing the programme so successfully?

Success (earning an MBA with Distinction) required uncompromising time management and the ability to ruthlessly prioritise my energy. What I struggled with most, however, was approaching every single module with the same level of interest and intensity. I had to discipline myself to extract maximum value even from the coursework outside my natural areas of interest, treating every subject as a critical learning opportunity and necessary value-add to my knowledge. While I might not always have been able to meet my daily MBA coursework commitments, I did ensure that over the course of a week I met the necessary goals.

Do you also recruit MBAs or offer opportunities to staff?

Yes, we do recruit MBAs and I have previously sought the support of The University of Manchester - Dubai career guidance team and will continue to do so. At this stage we have not yet rolled out support for staff and employees with MBA or executive education opportunities.

Are you an active member of the alumni community?

With my cohort I manage to stay connected. However, I would like to be a more active connected alumna and definitely see value-add both to myself and to the rest of the alumni in more active participation.

You’re highly endorsed on LinkedIn for team and performance management – why do you think so?

Early in my leadership journey, I realised that high-performing teams are not merely operational assets; they are the bedrock of sustainable enterprise success. Throughout my career, I have intentionally championed both team and personal development initiatives to optimise output. More importantly, I believe that leadership is a multiplier. In the broader ecosystem of an organisation, actively supporting and elevating others is the most direct catalyst for collective achievement. When we drive the success of our people, we build a culture of excellence that inevitably drives company growth while validating our own success as leaders.

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