Double Fiesta—Twins from Bayes who attended the summer graduation ceremonies

Youssef and Ibrahim Bin Mahfooz, 22, graduated on the same day from Bayes Business School (City St George’s, University of London) with a BSc in Finance after attending classes together for three years.

“Since day one of school, we’ve been studying together. I'm not very good at doing it alone, but I can't study with friends either,” said Youssef.

Ibrahim has a different reason for why he likes Youssef’s company: “When I explain stuff to Youssef, I get a better understanding of what I'm studying.”

Belonging to a family that runs a business in Saudi Arabia, they wanted gear up to take the reins one day. “I chose to study this course because I wanted to build a strong understanding of finance from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The course gave me a solid foundation in financial analysis, corporate finance, and investment principles, which I knew would be valuable for my long-term career and entrepreneurial ambitions,” said Youssef.

The twins complement each other perfectly; while Youssef is labelled the more ‘street smart’ of the two, Ibrahim knows he’s better with the books. Ibrahim joked:

If I were to live alone, I would probably forget the keys inside the house and leave.

The self-confessed street smarter, Youssef is an introvert and prefers being indoors. Ibrahim, on the other hand, loves going out and makes sure to take his brother along with him.

Although they are not identical, they appear strikingly similar. Had they been identical twins, Youssef would have taken advantage every chance he got. "If we looked the exact same, I would have made Ibrahim take my place in a test," he joked.

The theory of twin brains working in the same way proves to be true in their case. Even though they would write their assignments separately, they went toe-to-toe on grades.

Most of the time we get the exact same grades. If not, it would be off by two to three marks from each other. If there was a multiple-choice exam, we would most probably make the same mistakes!

Dr Malvina Marchese, Associate Professor in Data Science for Finance at Bayes said: "Both of them have very different approaches, Youssef was very analytical and Ibrahim very intuitive. They have always been very hard working, curious and highly engaging. A really good example of Bayes' students!"

After graduation, the twins plan on staying together. They have already started their own business based in Saudi Arabia and envisage working together for the foreseeable future.

Ibrahim said: “We run a business focused on autonomous solutions and robotics. This course has improved the way I evaluate investments, manage cash flow, understand financial risk, and assess growth opportunities.

The FinTech module has encouraged me to think more strategically about automation, digital systems, and how technology can improve operational efficiency and create long-term value. Overall, the course has given me the confidence to make better business decisions while combining financial knowledge with technological innovation.

"I think BSc Finance is best for someone who is interested in business, enjoys working with numbers and wants to understand how financial decisions are made. You don’t necessarily have to be amazing at maths. I think being curious and willing to understand the reasoning behind the numbers is more important. It’s also a good course if you’re not completely sure what area of business you want to go into because it gives you quite a lot of different career options.”

Find out more about BSc Finance here