Prime Group CEO Mary Jane Alvero Al Mahdi’s account of her long journey to success
DUBAI: Mary Jane Alvero Al Mahdi was born to a privileged family. She grew up quite comfortably, being daughter of a successful businessman.
She and her four siblings had a happy childhood. However, her life of affluence was unfortunately cut off when her dad became ill and eventually passed away. His death did not just bring sorrow to Mary Jane’s family. It also brought devastation to their livelihood. Her mother’s side of the family helped her and her siblings finish their schooling, albeit with much sacrifices and struggles.
Soon after, young Mary Jane, having gifted with intelligence, finally graduated in college with a diploma in chemical engineering. Motivated by the desire to financially support her mother, and siblings, she decided to work abroad. She arrived in Dubai in 1992, and landed a job as quality assurance officer at a textile company in Jebel Ali After eight months, she resigned from her job.
She then worked for a well-known laboratory. Her hard work in the company paid off and she became chief chemist; she stayed till her sixth year when she was forced to resign, driven away by corporate politics. Luckily for her, a start-up company named Geoscience Testing Laboratory got wind of her expertise and hired her.
Geoscience Testing Laboratory, is now a leading independent, testing laboratory in the Middle East, which conducts tests on construction materials and micro biological tests on food, water and air. “That is where my career took off. I started with Geoscience in 1997 and I am still with the company.
I am now the group CEO as it became the Prime UAE Group of Companies,” said Mary Jane. Mary Jane Alvero Al Mahdi is now one of the most highly acclaimed Filipino women not only in the UAE, but across the globe. She has received countless recognitions and awards from governments and international organizations.
One of the biggest awards she received was being among the 100 Most Influential Filipinas in the World Award, given by USA-based Filipina Women’s Network (FWN), a non-profit professional association for women of Philippine ancestry, in 2013.
And just as she is a successful career woman, Mary Jane is also a very loving wife to husband Mohammed and a doting mother to her two children – Humaid and Noor. “I went from riches to rags, and then back to riches,” Mary Jane says about her life story. For those who are aspiring to make it big in their careers, Mary Jane encourages them to pursue hard and invest more on education. “If a person is (highly) educated, the more he or she will be productive.
One’s deciding power will be stronger and becomes more rational. One will have a more holistic thinking. Remember success has no limits,” said the mother-of-two.
