Malek Debbas

I’m a 2026 graduate of Harvard Business School, where I arrived by a path most admissions guides would tell you not to take. Before HBS, I spent four years at Yassir, a super-app startup operating across African and MENA markets, in strategy and product roles as the company grew from a $200M to a $1.5B valuation. No banking, no consulting, no MBB stamp. What got me in was a clear story about who I am, why my unconventional background mattered, and where I was going, and that is exactly what I help applicants build. Admissions is fundamentally a positioning exercise. Your GMAT and GPA get you into the pile; your narrative gets you out of it. I work with applicants on finding the through-line in their career, writing essays that sound like a person rather than a template, and presenting an authentic version of themselves that a committee remembers. I’m especially useful for candidates with nontraditional, international, or entrepreneurial backgrounds who worry their profile doesn’t fit the mold. Mine didn’t either.