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10 Feb 2021, 05:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: How the CJBS community helped me – Manideep Aluru |
 I stopped working in February 2020 to take a break and travel before starting the Cambridge MBA programme. And then we all know what happened! Over the Summer before the MBA year started, our amazing friends from the cohort planned a number of virtual activities, from weekly virtual networking and hangouts, to glimpses of Cambridge thanks to classmates Tripti Gawankar and Chaitanya Nallaparuju, to the Cambridge Judge Against Covid (CJAC) initiative with Hendrik Westerink and also consultancy projects at global giant ARM with Ruishi Shen. Time went by quickly with their help and the start of term was right around the corner. Before coming to the UK, I never really got a chance to travel outside India. I was increasingly becoming anxious about coming here alone, especially during a pandemic. Shortly after, I discovered that one of my future cohort, Chaitanya Nallaparuju, was going to be at the same Cambridge College – Sydney Sussex – so we planned our travel together. On arrival in Cambridge the mandatory quarantine period didn’t feel lonely because he was around and then another class mate, Ben Olsen, also joined us after a few days. We had a great time – cooking for each other, playing games in the College garden and not doing any of the recommended pre-readings! But among all this, I also had the biggest personal breakthrough of my life. As a closeted gay person in India, I lived most of my life trying to be as unnoticeable as possible and staying mostly in the background. I wanted to use my MBA year as a point in my life to start fresh. But it wasn’t easy. I pushed myself and responded to a message that Matthew Hou (Military Personnel Scholarship recipient) posted to the class looking for people to organise a diversity focused conference during the Michaelmas Term. As I spoke to the people driving that initiative – Matthew Hou, Claudia Chau, Nicole Advani and Rae Yung, I started to become more comfortable with my sexuality and everything that this entailed. This led to a conversation with my class mate, Chaitanya Nallaparuju, where I came out to him and then he slowly helped me tell my other friends and be more open about it. While I still feel scared and unsure about the journey, I am incredibly grateful to be at a place where almost every person has been so warm, supportive, and just amazing. I feel so safe and lucky to be somewhere where I can learn so much from everyone around me. Read more about diversity and inclusion across the Cambridge MBA year > |
15 Feb 2021, 02:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: Leading with Pride in 2021 |
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[b]‘Creating spaces where people can be un-apologetically themselves’,[/b] During [b]LGBT History Month[/b] in the UK we meet the three female leaders heading up Cambridge MBA’s Class of 2020 [b]Pride @ CJBS[/b] Special Interest Group this year. [url=https://i0.wp.com/www.cambridgembastories.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CHAU_Claudia-4-resized.jpg?ssl=1][img]https://i0.wp.com/www.cambridgembastories.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/CHAU_Claudia-4-resized.jpg?resize=610%2C406&ssl=1[/img][/url] [b]Claudia Chau[/b], Pride @ CJBS co-chair and Cambridge MBA Class of 2020/21 [b][url=https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/programmes/mba/fees-funding/scholarship-recipients/]LGBTQ+ ROMBA scholarship [/url][/b]recipient, ‘I am appreciative of the fact that CJBS is a firm believer in diversity and inclusion. I hope to continue the mission of Pride @ CJBS by creating a long-term plan and gathering those under-represented groups to support diversity and inclusion in every way. With the business school’s support, I find this an excellent and exciting opportunity to engage with corporations and partners, as we together promote the benefits of cultivating a diverse and inclusive work culture’. Former Senior Analyst at Air Canada, and first generation university-student, Claudia outlines her ambitions for the year ahead, ‘I look forward to developing my career and making an impact on society, improving our lives further with technological change. I am passionate about strategic planning and digital transformation. The relationship between the two is becoming more and more important for corporations, to seize future opportunities. I envision the Cambridge MBA connecting me with global innovators and helping me to foster ideas into new ventures’. [url=https://i2.wp.com/www.cambridgembastories.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/SIMPSON_Maggie-4-1-resized.jpg?ssl=1][img]https://i2.wp.com/www.cambridgembastories.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/SIMPSON_Maggie-4-1-resized.jpg?resize=610%2C406&ssl=1[/img][/url] [b]Maggie Simpson[/b], Sports Chair for the Cambridge Business School Club, as well as Entrepreneur SIG leader for the cohort. Maggie is also a rugby scholarship recipient from Cambridge University Sports Club (CUSC) . ‘CJBS offers a platform for creative collaboration with a global perspective. I have found it uplifting and exciting to engage with brilliant minds from a breadth of experiences, backgrounds, and personal journeys. As a woman who has only been out as bisexual relatively recently, I am grateful that Cambridge Judge offers a level of inclusion and support for LGBTQ+. As co-chair, I want to further this work by creating intentional spaces for those who may have felt left out from the broader business world’. On the power of authenticity at Cambridge Judge, Maggie explains, ‘What I am increasingly finding at Cambridge Judge is the power of authenticity. This is what CJBS teaches – how to leverage individuality as a springboard for crafting ones’ own career path. I have seen creativity and new ideas to be antithetical to bigotry. Cambridge offers the innovation and collaboration that has made me recognise that my individual truth can be an important part of my entrepreneurial style. I am looking forward to building a new venture with the skills and connections provided by the Cambridge MBA. I have been an entrepreneur for the past ten years – raising capital, bootstrapping operations, developing consultancies. The breadth of the education at CJBS provides a rigorous framework on which I will build my future endeavours’. [url=https://i1.wp.com/www.cambridgembastories.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Rachel-Yung-resized.png?ssl=1][img]https://i1.wp.com/www.cambridgembastories.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Rachel-Yung-resized.png?resize=610%2C318&ssl=1[/img][/url] [b]Rae Yung[/b], Pride @ CJBS co-chair, Student Diversity Coalition chair and [b][url=https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/programmes/mba/fees-funding/scholarship-recipients/]Culture, Arts and Media scholarship recipient[/url][/b]. ‘This year has been exceptionally difficult for the LGBTQ+ community. Numerous studies have shown that as a demographic, we are especially vulnerable to mental health issues, particularly with regards to isolation. Recently, I was reminded that we are about halfway through our MBA programme. Despite the last eleven months of time distorting and warping around us, what stands out to me amid all the uncertainty and stress is the sense of community here. We are living through a common trauma that will leave scars on every one of us, but what does give me hope in our resilience is the tremendous amount of effort I see being put into building community through Special Interest Groups (SIGs), virtual activities, and the dozens of group chats we’re all in. I’m especially proud of how everyone in our Pride @ CJBS family has supported each other both personally and professionally. We come from very diverse backgrounds in every possible way, and I am constantly amazed by the grace and encouragement we continue to give each other as we prepare to enact change in the world. ‘We are at an incredible global inflection point right now. Most of the companies recruiting from our cohort have already moved beyond the simple realisation that diversity helps the bottom line and have begun building consciously inclusive corporate cultures; many have LGBTQ+ initiatives and targeted recruitment programmes, as well as internal networks that Cambridge Judge students can leverage. The nuanced conversations we are having through Pride @ CJBS, are not just talking points we can discuss with recruiters, they are also insights and relationships we will be relying on in leadership positions for many years to come’. [b][url=https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/aboutus/opportunities/special-interest-groups-and-societies/]Cambridge MBA Special Interest Groups at CJBS>[/url][/b] [url=https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/insight/2021/diversity-inclusion-our-everyday-mba-experience/][b]Read more about diversity and inclusion across the Cambridge MBA year >[/b][/url] |
17 Feb 2021, 01:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: Christina Feng – leading the way for Chinese business 克里斯蒂娜·冯（冯钰婷）- 引领中国业务之路 |
 As we mark the Lunar New Year in China and celebrate 2021 as the year of the Metal Ox, we caught up with one Cambridge MBA student leading the way for Chinese business. Why did you choose Cambridge for your MBA? Cambridge is known for its entrepreneurial spirit and the close relationship with the Silicon Fen. I appreciate the energy, creativity, and commitment that it entails. Meanwhile, I’ve also heard that the Cambridge MBA cohort has a tighter relationship because of its relatively smaller size, and the Cambridge Judge students are very supportive of each other. These all made the Cambridge MBA a more attractive choice. What do you wish to achieve personally and professionally during your year here? Professionally, I expected to expand the scope of my knowledge in management to enable myself to take up roles with wider responsibilities, either senior executive or entrepreneur, by improving my knowledge in areas that I have had less exposure in, such as finance, governance, digital transformation, and so on. Personally, I hope to make more friends and contacts with my fellow MBA classmates, with the wider network of CJBS alumni, as well as business leaders that can be reached through the global CJBS network. The opportunity of living in UK and experiencing British culture first hand, is also a plus. The coronavirus has certainly undermined the experience somewhat, but I am hopeful that the situation will change in a few months in the UK and we will have a great time in the last term. How does your role as Cambridge China Business Society SIG leader sit within that? The CCBS SIG is a great platform to network with other business school Chinese student communities and business leaders in China. Most Chinese students plan to return to China after their MBA and we hope that the Cambridge China Business Society SIG can help them expand their network. How are you tailoring your MBA experience this year to support your career goals? I choose the MBA Electives that are closely linked to my career aspirations, participate in workshops and student initiatives, network with the peers and professionals in the Cambridge startup ecosystem, and actively seek career advice. What intentions do you have for your career moving forward after your MBA? I initially planned to return to international development which I always find interesting and rewarding. Now I am also open to the possibility of developing my own start up. I am still working on my business idea. This is one of the benefits of the Cambridge MBA, that it opens your eyes to different possibilities. The intellectual stimulation and innovative culture here can spark an idea and urge you to become an entrepreneur, even though you may not have planned to do so initially. I have heard that there are a few groups in our cohort currently working on start up ideas and I am very encouraged by that. What have been the most surprising parts of your MBA year so far? I thought that the business school community would be dominated by European and UK students, but in reality, it is far more international than that. In fact, European students account for only 10% and the cohort is truly diverse with a number of students coming from African countries, as well as Caribbean islands. What has the experience been like across the cohort for connecting and expanding your network (despite Covid restrictions!) ? At the moment, we rely on zoom and one on one meetings to network most of the time. Despite the Covid restrictions, most of us are still able to connect with others to varying levels. What have your MBA learnings been like and which aspects do you think you will take forward into your career the most? The MBA learnings so far have been very engaging and practical. For most of the things I have learnt, I can easily imagine using them in real life situations going forward. Tell us about your Global Consulting Project (GCP) and what you are looking forward to the most? I sourced an MBA Global Consulting Project that is supported by a USAID project and the government of Democratic Republic of Georgia, working as a team on a Fintech ecosystem research and advisory project. We will have the opportunity to talk to the policy makers and influence the national policy, to create an enabling environment and build Georgia’s competitiveness in the global Fintech landscape. And finally for those considering an MBA in the future There are many resources that Cambridge Judge offers to help students advance their career, make the best of them to achieve your goal. Network actively with peers from over the world – it is stimulating and makes your life more enjoyable.  |
22 Feb 2021, 01:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: Making the most of life as an MBA candidate |
Martti Palosuo is one of 11 students from MBA Class of 2020, that together form the MBA community at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. We caught up with him to find out more about his experience of Cambridge so far. Martti at matriculation, when he was formally admitted as a postgraduate member of St Catharine’s. Why did you choose to apply for an MBA at Cambridge? The Cambridge MBA is a great way to develop a deeper understanding of the world of business and find out about the career options available to you in the future. You don’t get many moments like this in your life to take stock of the opportunities available to you, so I am savouring every moment. The MBA programme also immerses you in the practical application of these principles and enables you to develop vital interpersonal and leadership skills – essentially completing the toolkit of talents that you will need to thrive in business. I was attracted to the programme offered at Cambridge Judge because I knew that I would be studying alongside other students from around the world, allowing me to meet new people with an international perspective on business. What’s more, I wanted to be able to tap into the wider network of businesses in the Cambridge area who are advancing the use of AI and technology across a range of sectors. What are your aspirations for the future? As an undergraduate, I studied Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the University of Edinburgh. Over the last 12 years, I worked in the financial sector and gained accreditation as a chartered financial analyst. My ambition is to combine my interests in AI and finance to start a new company of my own, or to join a company that is already a leader in this space. What have the highlights of your year at Cambridge been so far? I have really enjoyed meeting like-minded people and expanding my network. At a College level, this has largely involved connecting with other Catz (St Catharine’s) students on the MBA programme, as well as the wider postgraduate community through the array of activities organised by the MCR (Middle Common Room for postgraduate students). Another highlight would be building contacts with angel investors and other business leaders through MBA Impact Investing Network & Training (MIINT), an experiential lab that gives students a hands-on education in impact investing. I have also been actively involved with groups as Co-chair of the CJBS Fintech Special Interest Group (SIG) and, in particular, as Sponsorship Manager of the Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club (CUTEC). Why did you decide to join CUTEC? I spotted CUTEC last summer, when I was preparing to start the MBA programme and researching the different clubs and societies on offer in Cambridge. I signed up for the CUTEC e-newsletter right away because it would give me access to all these opportunities to support my studies and provide connections that would help me realise my ambition. The club’s mission is to enhance the entrepreneurial spirit among academics and students by facilitating interaction between industry experts and the University community, to provide exposure to the wider business and fundraising communities across Cambridge. Current activities are designed to encourage scientific entrepreneurial-ism among both undergraduates and postgraduates, including CUTalks (a series of fortnightly podcasts), interactive webinars with participants from around the world, and the Coffee Club, which introduces members to other relevant contacts in the network for short conversations over coffee (previously in person, now virtual). How did the role of CUTEC Sponsorship Manager arise and what does it involve? I was really impressed by my first experiences of CUTEC. The club is really well run by a committee who put a lot of thought and passion into its strategy, with a genuine interest in developing the club for the longer term. After signing up, there was a call for new committee members and I successfully applied to be one of the club’s two sponsorship managers. We need to secure sponsorship for CUTEC to cover the costs of our activities (such as editing and production for podcasts) and to invest in new ideas to develop international links and potential partnerships. Already, we have defined our sponsorship packages and created a slide deck to explain the value of these packages to new and existing sponsors. Very soon, we will begin reaching out to contacts locally and elsewhere to share these opportunities. How can the Catz community get involved? We have just refreshed the CUTEC website so Catz undergraduates and postgraduates who are interested in technology and enterprise should definitely visit. I’d recommend signing up as a member so you can receive fortnightly e-newsletters with upcoming events and opportunities, and also registering for the Coffee Club. Cambridge University alumni with expertise to share or wishing to partner with CUTEC are welcome to get in touch with me directly at prm50@jbs.cam.ac.uk. Have you got any advice for prospective MBA students? If you are on a one-year course like me, it can be helpful to do your research before you arrive in Cambridge. I’m glad I found out about the different groups and clubs at such an early stage because this helped me get involved with the local community from the very start so I could make the most of my time here. Thank you to St Catharine’s College where this article was first published. Visit their web pages here. |
25 Feb 2021, 11:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: Cambridge MBA coalition marks diversity in the workplace |
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The Cambridge MBA Class of 2020 formed the Student Diversity Coalition and welcomed [b]Randy Boissonnault[/b] as the keynote speaker at its first event – Leading Multidimensional Teams, held in November 2020. ‘Diversifying the Workplace’ – was a series of events bringing thought leaders at the forefront of diversity and inclusion, together with students who are traditionally under-represented in global MBA programmes, to discuss real-world initiatives and innovations at [b]Cambridge Judge[/b]. [b]Randy Boissonnault[/b], the Canadian Prime Minister’s first LGBTQ+ Special Advisor and former Member of Parliament, gave the Keynote speech at the first Student Diversity Coalition event. [b]Entrepreneur. Community Builder. NGO Founder. Ironman Triathlete. [/b] Former Member of Parliament. For over 15 years, [url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/randy-boissonnault-541079b4/][b]Randy Boissonnault[/b] [/url]has advised leaders of owner-managed companies and social profit organisations on matters of leadership, strategy and community development. He is a graduate of Campus Saint-Jean at the University of Alberta and holds an M.A. (Oxon) from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Randy served as Special Advisor to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on LGBTQ2 Issues. He is a tireless advocate of LGBTQ2 rights, inclusion in the workplace and supplier diversity. As Special Advisor, Randy lead the work of the LGBTQ2 Secretariat in the Privy Council Office, coordinating legislative, policy and program changes across government. He spearheaded the development of the 2019 Canada Fund, that will provide $30M over five years and $10M each year afterward, for Canadian LGBTQ2 civil-society organizations working to advance sexual orientation, gender expression, and identity rights in developing countries around the world. Thanks to his advocacy in office and through the 2019 campaign, Randy and his team secured $50M over 5 years for the Canadian LGBTQ2 organisations to conduct their work at the community level. |
05 Mar 2021, 02:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: Choose to challenge – MBA Wo+Men’s SIG leaders |
This International Women’s Day we meet the three leaders choosing to challenge as they head up the Wo+Men’s Special Interest Group for the MBA Class of 2020/21. Hanna Lil-Malone MBA Class of 2020 Hawi Abbajobir, Sarah Sketchley and Hanna Lil-Malone all bring something different to the table, as they stood up to lead and steer the Wo+Men’s SIG during their MBA year. Why did you feel an MBA was part of your career plan? Sarah: I have spent the last seven years working at marketing agencies in London, working closely with B2B tech clients to deliver brand solutions and creative campaigns. While I loved my job, I felt like I wanted to address business challenges on a larger scale, beyond marketing, which is why I chose to pursue an MBA. I felt that I’d really benefit from the broader perspective, and from working closely with students from diverse professional and personal backgrounds. Hanna: I worked in corporate communications, most recently in an agency in London. I had an amazing experience working across a broad range of industries from Big Pharma to Asset Management – but most of my work was in media relations and internal communications, and I wanted the opportunity to get exposure to a broader range of strategic issues facing firms. I did my undergraduate degree in History and Politics, so I felt like I could benefit from more core business knowledge to help to make that career switch happen. Hawi: I have gained really good operations experience at small Fintech startups, but my short term goal is to pivot into more product-focused roles in Big Tech and to become an entrepreneur in the long term. The Cambridge MBA allows me to build skills in specific areas like marketing and corporate strategy, it allows me to gain a more holistic perspective of the challenges and opportunities faced by global organisations, it equips me with the tools I will need to make good decisions as a manager. Why did you choose Cambridge for your MBA? Sarah: I didn’t want to take a two-year career break so I was only focused on one-year programmes. As soon as I visited Cambridge for the interview day, I was sold. It’s such a beautiful city, and the University is steeped in history. Walking around, I feel very lucky to be here! I also love the fact we get to combine learning with hands-on experience through the Cambridge Venture Project, the Global Consulting Project and summer internships. Hanna: I visited a friend who did the Cambridge MBA programme in 2019, and became convinced that it was the programme for me. It was close to London, so I could stay tapped into my network there, it also catered for a smaller cohort, and the emphasis on entrepreneurship was really interesting. The history of the University, and the opportunity to be part of a College was also really attractive. Hawi: Unlike most business schools, Cambridge Judge is embedded in the greater university through the college system, which allows students to take advantage of the breadth of knowledge across different disciplines. I also found it particularly appealing that CJBS offers a lot of support to aspiring entrepreneurs, and that it places great emphasis on Tech.  Hawi Abbajobir MBA Class of 2020 Why did you decide to lead the Wo+Men’s SIG as part of your MBA year? Sarah: I have been part of diversity initiatives at work and have always had an interest in how to drive change in the workplace. The Wo+Men’s SIG is one of the biggest groups in the cohort, which I think reflects the appetite for these kinds of discussions among this group of students. I wanted to get involved with this group to share ideas and experiences, and ultimately to come up with solutions that we can all bring back into our next jobs. We’re also collaborating with other Women in Business clubs at business schools around the world, including LBS, Said, INSEAD, Harvard and Wharton, which has been an amazing experience so far. Hanna: I came into the MBA Programme with some ideas about how I could use my experience in communications and event management to help support other women in our cohort. I care deeply about issues facing women in the workplace, and I wanted to find a way to help support other women, while also learning more about their experiences – so that I was better prepared to tackle diversity and inclusion problems when I moved back into the working world. Though this year has thrown up a number of challenges, it’s also lead to some really interesting opportunities – from the Women in Business club to the creation of a Student Diversity Coalition with other SIG affinity groups (Military, LGBTQ+) – we’ve come together in different ways to make sure that diversity and inclusion stays part of the conversation Hawi: I felt compelled to lead the Wo+Men’s SIG, because I care about diversity, equity and inclusion issues, and particularly the intersection between gender and race. As a woman of colour, I have personally experienced different types of biases, and I want to provide a safe space for other women to discuss these issues and help connect us to recruiters and CJBS alumni who are committed to equality. I also strongly believe that men have to be a part of the fight for equality, so one of my goals is to engage them more in the activities of the SIG, such as discussions and workshops around how male employees and managers can recognise their unconscious biases and take steps to support and promote female colleagues. Where do you wish to take your career forward ? Sarah: Ideally, I would like to be in big tech working in a strategy role; I have spent a lot of time at agencies of up to 200 employees so I’d like to see how I can apply my learnings to a much bigger organisation. In terms of location, I’m looking at Europe – London or Amsterdam. Hanna: I hope to move into a strategy role in a tech or fintech company in Dublin or London after the MBA short term, and longer term I hope to use some of the skills I learn on my Cambridge MBA to have an impact in an early stage start-up or become an entrepreneur. Hawi: My short term plan is to stay in Europe and gain experience building consumer products at a large tech company. Long term, I hope to take my skills and creativity to venture out on my own – I have a few different ideas I would like to explore further. What MBA learnings on leadership will you be taking into your future career? Sarah: One that has stuck in my head is the fact that there’s not one solution to any problem; there are multiple routes to solve a problem (I think our professor called this equifinality) so it’s important to step back and let the ideas flow at the beginning of a project . Hanna: We’ve learnt so much on leadership over the past six months that it’s difficult to pick just one lesson! One thing that comes to mind is something a Professor talked about yesterday – that people are socialised by the stories we tell and retell, because it subtly signals what gets rewarded and punished. It’s a simple lesson, but it reinforces the ideas that as a leader you need to be cognizant of how others are perceiving you and the impact this has on your organisation. Hawi: We’ve spent a lot of time evaluating different leadership styles, but what I found most insightful is the notion that there is no one perfect leadership style – instead, there is a time and place for each and the trick is having the ability to adapt quickly to different situations. The important lesson I have gleaned from being surrounded by so many great people, who each are leaders in their own space, is that leadership is not about me or what I do, but about enabling others to be and do their very best. What Wo+Men’s SIG plans have you got for the MBA year ahead? We held a really insightful fireside discussion last term on the under-representation of women in leadership roles due to unconscious bias. Recently, we held a women in entrepreneurship panel to discuss the challenges facing female founders, from both the founder and the investor perspective. We’re now working with the Cambridge Judge Wo+Men’s Leadership Centreto organise a Women’s Leadership Conference in the summer and planning some more fireside chats with female alumnae from different industries. And of course, we’re planning a few social events for our members as well, ranging from yoga sessions to poetry nights. Hear more about the community of women at Cambridge Judge > Cambridge MBA Special Interest Groups at CJBS> Both Sarah Sketchley and Hawi Abbajobir are MBA 2020 scholarship recipients > |
17 Mar 2021, 06:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: One year on – a Moroccan mishap |
 Covid-19 had very little impact on my life until fellow 2018 MBA Kris Padget and I went on, what was meant to be a short trip from London to Marrakech, last March 2020. Literally in the middle of the night, the Moroccan government suspended all incoming and outgoing international travel, resulting in us running a rather frantic command centre between our families in San Francisco and Edmonton, Canada: as we all Googled potential options to avoid being trapped in North Africa for three months or more. It quickly became clear that there was nothing available going to London, so we resigned ourselves to a circuitous journey back home involving a train or two. After watching tickets out of Marrakech getting snapped up on the internet before our eyes, Kris’s brother in law asked if we could get to Casablanca by early afternoon because he had found two tickets that would get us out of the country. Yes, obviously, we replied. Where were these tickets to? Well, Miami. The one in Florida. I was not aware that this particular direct flight existed, but there are enough people flying it, including the rapper Pitbull, who constantly references “Morocco to Miami” in his songs, that I guess it is commercially viable. And so we got the first train to Casablanca. Arriving at the airport was chaos, as there was a massive crowd of people without tickets who were being stopped from going in and inundating the airline desks by security guards – tensions were understandably running high. It was vaguely reminiscent of queuing for a helicopter atop the US embassy in Saigon circa 1975. Not being able to reach my father by phone back in Marrakech, I had emailed him saying that everyone was safe and all limbs were intact, but there was a slightly unusual situation and Kris and I were going to be in Miami in about 12 hours’ time, so it would be really helpful if we could use some of his loyalty points to arrange a hotel for us. He read this and called me just having returned from spin class (early days of the pandemic!) as we were wandering the Casablanca equivalent of WH Smith. Honestly, he took it in his stride. By the time we landed, I was assured, I would have a hotel confirmation in my inbox, “somewhere nice” on Miami Beach. “It should be fun,” my dad told me, and wished us a safe flight. About 28 hours after we first found out that the Moroccan borders were closing, we found ourselves in South Florida. We had avoided being trapped in North Africa for the foreseeable future, but we barely believed it ourselves. How were we even supposed to begin addressing the texts asking “How’s Marrakech”? It was easiest to post an Instagram story of us at sunrise on South Beach with the caption “SURPRISE MIAMI” and take it from there. You are never too far from the reach of the Cambridge MBA cohort, because I got a message from fellow classmate Nic Bryant, not long thereafter asking if that was a joke or if we were really in Miami, because he and his partner Laura and a couple of friends were driving up from the Florida Keys. As if this whole thing hadn’t been surreal enough already, mere hours later we were catching up over a pitcher of pina coladas next to the pool, which is probably the best outcome possible when you’ve been forced to flee a country in the middle of the night. Nic and Laura were also kind enough to bring a giant canister of sanitary wipes with them, which was so valuable at that point in the pandemic, that there was a veritable black market.  I did make it out of Florida and back to London, and by the time I got home to Islington I was so ecstatic that I could have kissed the (filthy) pavement. This little trip, which ended up taking me through seven airports on three continents over the course of 10,000 miles, really set the tone for the rest of 2020 – both in terms of expecting the unexpected, as well as frequent and often harrowing air travel at a time when everyone else was forced to stay home. Between being relocated to Berlin in Q4 and San Francisco in Q1 for work, I have had more pre-flight Covid tests shoved up my nose than I can count and enough of closed borders and flight cancellations to last a lifetime. That being said, I do want to go back to Morocco…just not at the beginning of a pandemic. CJBS alumna, Cecile Babcock is an Associate Director with Long Harbour, an established real estate and asset backed investment manager, headquartered in London. |
17 Mar 2021, 10:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: My MBA year – an Indonesian adventure |
 How have you been involved with the Indonesian community in Cambridge? I am fortunate to be elected the President of the Cambridge Indonesia Association for this academic year. Part of the responsibility is to oversee the welfare of the over 60 Cambridge-based Indonesian students, from A-Levels all the way to PhD, and to collaborate closely with the Indonesian Embassy in London, as well as Indonesia’s Ministry of Education. But what I find most fun about this role is to organise our many outreach programmes. From You Tube videos to webinars, our members work together to help more Indonesians obtain coveted positions not only in Cambridge, but in other top institutions globally. I personally can’t wait for the COVID restrictions to be loosened, as this means the Indonesians here can finally gather in a large group again. What inspired you to start doing an MBA and why in particular the Cambridge MBA? After working for almost six years in a private multinational company, I began to realise that there was a lot of best practices that can be applied to Indonesian state-owned enterprises that can help them grow rapidly. Given their role as a critical agent of spurring economic growth in the country, I wish to someday advance these Indonesian state-owned enterprises so that they can one day become truly world class. However, the “me” before the MBA did not have the capacity to make such complex changes. Though I was at the point of my career in which I was beginning to manage a team, I realise that there were a lot of gaps in my leadership and strategic thinking skills that I believe an MBA can help bridge. Yet, I did not want to lose the career momentum that I had attained by taking a protracted career break. That’s why the Cambridge MBA really attracted me. The practical consulting projects, such as the Cambridge Venture Project (CVP) and Global Consulting Project (GCP), would really help me sharpen my tactical thinking processes and enhance my capabilities to work in diverse work environments, and the Cambridge MBA, with its one-year programme, would enable me to accelerate my career traction without taking too much time out of the workforce. What learnings do you wish to take back to Indonesia or indeed elsewhere and into what sector? Although my MBA year is only halfway through, I have developed three main skills that, I believe, would otherwise take me many years in my career to attain; the ability to think structurally and strategically, viewing problems from a “helicopter view” to assess the various moving parts, the soft-skills required to collaborate with an extremely diverse and occasionally challenging team under unfamiliar circumstances, and finally, the ability to communicate convincingly and succinctly to achieve stakeholder buy-in. These skills have helped me to receive job offers from some of the best consulting companies in the world, even before the current Lent Term has ended. I am truly excited to join one of these firms once the MBA is completed, so that I can not only drive positive change to the clients I work with in Indonesia and beyond, but also to directly influence the advancement of my nation by collaborating with aforesaid state-owned enterprises and the government. What has the Cambridge experience been like especially during the pandemic? Michaelmas was a fantastic term! Despite all the COVID restrictions, the University, the Business School and my college (P.S. Selwyn College is the best college here) all worked together to create a student experience that provides a semblance of normalcy. Through such events as formal dinners, pumpkin carving activities, socially distanced mixers and treasure hunts, I always feel socially connected to my peers in the business school and beyond. Furthermore, while many universities went fully online in 2020, we were fortunate to have over 60% of our classes in person, allowing me to interact directly with my classmates and lecturers. All this was of course done safely through the new COVID restrictions in the business school and the magnanimous initiative conducted by the University in providing free COVID testing weekly. While Lent Term has been challenging with the UK Government’s announcement for a full lockdown earlier this year, it’s very comforting to see the new regulations that target in-person classes to return in Easter Term. With the UK vaccine deployment going smoothly and the declining number of COVID cases, I’m full of optimism from here on out!  Nathan Ramadhan – Impact in Emerging Markets scholarship recipient For more details about our MBA scholarship recipients for Class of 2020 visit our page here> |
18 Mar 2021, 04:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: From energy to tech – beyond MBA academics |
As we continue our series on the Special Interest Groups from MBA Class of 2020 we meet the Co-chairs of the Energy & Environment SIG and those from the Tech SIG, taking their sector passions and experience beyond the MBA classroom. Venkatesh Hemadribhotla, Co-chair, Energy & Environment (EE) SIG, The vision for the EE SIG this year is to create value not only to the SIG members but also to the broader MBA/MFin cohort through the sharing of industry experience. There are over 45 people interested this year in the SIG. I was amazed to see how quickly each member could identify themselves with the SIG values and how many members are ready to take up responsibility for engagement with the SIG. During our online sessions last term, we quickly realised that despite such a diverse background, a sense of unity is apparent while working towards defining a set of goals for the SIG. The main activities for SIG this year will be EE Talks from industry experts focusing in the areas of renewables, cleantech, sustainability and the circular economy. The SIG will also be working with Cambridge University Energy Network (CUEN) and supporting the flagship CUEN Energy conference during April/May. Last but not least, we will be working closely with the careers team and alumni for recruitment opportunities. Renewables are the future, and sustainability is one of the hot topics. We have conducted surveys among members and have already identified some experts in the field to organise industry talks. The leadership team is working towards establishing connections with external contacts such as companies in the renewables space and internal contacts such as SMEs from the previous alumni to address renewables, sustainability and the subsequent environment benefits. I understand SIG leadership is a responsibility which requires vision and strong business skills. Leading the Energy SIG is quite a challenging and interesting role for me. Everybody in the team is an expert in their respective domains and has their opinion and perspective. To align these points of view without leaving something out and to walk towards the common goals is exciting. Experience is a real asset in the energy industry, and I have had an opportunity to lead multi skilled teams in the sector. I hold 12+ years of experience in the industry with the responsibility of keeping people, environment, and assets safe for major national and International oil and gas companies. I have immense passion for this sector, and I would love to share my experience and contribute to the cohort whilst learning from their experience. As a leader of the Energy SIG, I thrive on giving back and helping members to develop knowledge and a deeper network in this fascinating and challenging industry.  Alessandra Kortenhorst is also Co-chair of the Energy & Environment SIG, a position that aligns well with her five years plus professional experience working across the sustainability space. Her aim is to use the position to help more of her peers explore opportunities for market-driven impact careers. Far from a niche topic, energy and environment are cross-cutting issues that companies are increasingly forced to grapple with, as the risks and consequences of climate change grow. Having spent the last several years of her career working in emissions abatement from oil and gas, Alessandra’s step into this leadership position is part of her longer term objective to encourage more gender diversity in an otherwise highly male-dominated industry. Post-graduation, Alessandra aims to apply her wide sustainability experience, in combination with the Cambridge MBA’s latest thinking in strategy and execution, to help a large company focus their business on a winning sustainability strategy.  Adhikar Babu, Co-chair, Technology SIG, Technology is no longer “just” an enabler. We can witness the current pandemic accelerating the digital adoption in multiple walks of life. I started my career as a TMT (tech, media and telecoms) analyst and moved further in the tech space, ultimately launching a SaaS (software as a service) for the automotive industry. I stood up for the Tech SIG leadership in order to meet like-minded peers and explore further career opportunities. At the Tech SIG, we want to focus on three core areas – Explore: Understand the various roles and opportunities in the Tech sector. Learn: Gain skills relevant to tech roles. Connect: Meet relevant people to discover career opportunities.  Mayanka Sheoran, Co-chair, Technology SIG, Tech is for everyone. Companies and industries are reinventing themselves and as future leaders and business owners, we all need to be equipped to move at the pace technology is evolving. Irrespective of our roles and industries, we all need to understand technology. One of my major goals for the Tech SIG this year is to create value for every member of the cohort. We are trying to leverage Cambridge’s tech eco-system as well as the tech communities at Oxford and LBS to create a wider network that everyone can benefit from.  And lastly we hear from Ezinne Onyeka, Co-chair, Technology SIG; I am an ex-Big 4 consultant with five years’ experience in strategy and financial consulting. Prior to the MBA, I advised international and domestic clients on operations and corporate risk strategy. Post-MBA, I intend to continue in Strategy consulting, providing value in functional areas like business development, product strategy and partnership developments. I decided on this leadership position in the Tech SIG because I wanted to support those in the cohort interested in tech to develop their own technical skills and find fulfilling roles post-MBA. Prior to the Cambridge MBA and over last summer, I had conversations with Cambridge Judge alumni currently working in non-tech roles in some of the biggest tech companies. These conversations, in-depth research and preparatory mock interviews provided valuable insight for the recruitment season. I am aware that a number of the Tech SIG members hope to continue their careers in non-tech roles, I therefore intend to use the insight obtained from these conversations as well as my in-depth research, to help prepare the Tech SIG for the ongoing recruitment cycle. View a full list of all the 22 different Special Interest Groups for Cambridge MBA Class of 2020/21. Our Cambridge MBA Careers pages can also be found here. |
22 Mar 2021, 10:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: Public Speaking and Government & Policy – a SIG focus |
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We continue our series meeting the Class of 2020 Special Interest Group leaders, as they develop their career interests in line with their MBA learning. Co-chair for Government and Policy SIG, Maqueo Xavier Gomez,  Our main plan is to find opportunities to help our members grow professionally in the public sector. These include identifying job opportunities, organising talks with leading figures, and collaborating with similarly minded organisations inside and outside the Cambridge community. I decided to join the Government & Policy SIG due to my interest in pursuing a socially impactful career that would make use of my MBA, as well as my economics skill set. After meeting with members, I was fascinated by their incredible leadership and professional experience and I knew I was in the right place. I took the leadership position due to my interest in seeing this SIG grow and develop. I decided to pursue an MBA for the same reason I joined the SIG: I wanted to maximize my social impact. While my background in Economics and Statistics provides me a depth of expertise in the analysis of economic policies and programmes, an MBA offers breadth through its complementary skill set. Beyond the necessity to be comfortable with balance sheets, strategic planning, and negotiations, implementing effective policies and programmes requires leading, managing, and working with experts from different fields. Given the powerful combination of both skill sets to address some of the world’s most pressing problems, the Government and Policy SIG was a natural fit for me. My career ambition is to work at the intersection of the public and private sectors, whether in international development institutions, management consulting, or public-private partnerships. Given that each sector has its weaknesses and advantages, I want to draw from their particular strengths to solve socially impactful problems. I am originally from Mexico City, an economist and an MBA candidate with 4+ years of experience in impactful quantitative analysis & research at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Stanford University. I am passionate about economic development, analytics, and strategy. I am actively seeking roles in management consulting, international development institutions, and corporate strategy. Rustom Vakharia, Co-chair, Government & Policy (GAP),  I would like to continue to plan events which give members of our cohort an understanding of the political and policy making landscape in other countries. For example in the run up to the start of our programme, I organised a marathon zoom call where students from Oxford and Cambridge spoke about the political situation in their respective countries. The call was kicked off by Dr. Shashi Tharoor who was Ex-Under Secretary General to the United Nations and is presently an MP in India. While another co-chair is working to help our cohort to interact with professionals from developmental finance organisations, I would like to try and give the cohort an insight to a policy maker’s perspective towards the very same developmental finance organisations. I would also like to share insights with members about the resources and opportunities Cambridge has to offer, to help them develop as future policy makers and leaders. For example, The Cambridge Majlis is an excellent avenue to practice public speaking skills. I stood up for this role because I believed that I could focus on the political niche within this SIG, which I thought complimented what the other GAP co-chairs have to offer. In the short-medium term I would like to go back to working in private equity or impact investing, where in my opinion an understanding of policy making, government and politics can help give you a competitive edge over peers. In the long term, once I have gained adequate experience as a professional, I aspire to indirectly or even directly participate in policy making in India and give back to my country. I am an investment professional, however pre-MBA, I changed jobs from private equity to work for a top Indian politician. I also held a national political role in the All India Professional Congress, which gives full time working professionals a voice in politics. The professionals congress meant a lot to me, as it gave people with full time jobs an opportunity to participate in India’s democracy, instead of restricting it to the traditional full time politician. Three world leaders who were professionals first are, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru (Lawyer), Mr. Rajiv Gandhi (Pilot) and Dr. Manmohan Singh (Economist), who all worked as professionals after graduating from Cambridge University, before they went on to become leaders in India. Other Cambridge alumni like Nobel Prize winning Dr. Amartya Sen, helped shape Indian policy in a more indirect manner. I believe that as a cohort we can all benefit from each others’ experiences and that the Government and Policy SIG activities, in some small way, can support our respective career paths. Public Speaking SIG Co-chair, Benjamin Olsen,  We are very excited to reignite the Public Speaking SIG this year and are eager to begin the host of activities we have planned across our three main areas of interest: Learning, Peer-to-Peer Practice and Debates & Competitions. I learned early on in my career that being comfortable speaking in front of an audience was crucial to advancing up the ladder in effectively any industry, hence I’ve tried to gain as much exposure as possible and have even enrolled in a few classes over the years – but I still have a way to go! The legendary investor Warren Buffett said it himself, that the single most important course he ever took part in was a public speaking course and I certainly don’t doubt his wisdom. View a full list of all the 22 different Special Interest Groups for Cambridge MBA Class of 2020/21. Our Cambridge MBA Careers pages can also be found here. |
19 Apr 2021, 07:00
| FROM Cambridge Admissions Blog: Serendipity or hacking your way around luck. |
 In mid April I had the opportunity, along with some of my MBA cohort, to speak with Cambridge Judge alumnus Hamza Mudassirabout his career path and views on his post MBA decisions. Encouraging us to trust in our capabilities and the attractiveness of Cambridge MBA graduates when it comes to finding a job, he mentioned a concept that I was not familiar with before the call. Hamza pointed out the Surface Area of Luck. If it’s also new to you, Shao Zhou does an excellent job at going over it on her Medium Story.To keep it simple, the Surface Area of Luck, attributed to entrepreneur Jason Roberts (2010), implies doing: “Something you’re passionate about combined with the total number of people to whom this is effectively communicated” — Jason Roberts Slowly becoming an expert on a passion topic and talking about it makes others want to reach out and want a piece of that value that you are creating. This concept quickly resonated with me and my recent first try with a crowdfunding campaign. Back in 2017, while studying at UCLA, I had to pitch a comic book story for one of my classes. I took the extra mile, wrote a few script pages for it, hired an artist over at Fiverr for some character concept art, and got my Story Treatment, Logline, and visuals ready. It was a good presentation, far from perfect, but received enough encouragement that curiosity kept me going. ‘What if I pursued this project a bit further?’ Fast forward to 2019, and issue #1 of Endless Moons is fully illustrated. After working on the script for a few months and hiring an artist to bring it to life I had it ready to show to the world, but where to begin? New IP, no fans or community around it, how could I possibly make it work from scratch. That’s where crowdfunding came in. Kickstarter’s comic book category is the second most successful one on the platform with a 61% success rate. But that wouldn’t be enough. New creators rely heavily on friends and family for their first campaign. And I wasn’t sure the numbers I had in Argentina could give me the boost I needed for a campaign to succeed. So I decided that I would wait another year before I launched the Kickstarter. I would keep on talking about this hobby of mine to anyone new I met and see where it would lead me. Parallel to this, I went through the MBA Application process and decided to pursue my degree at Cambridge. This was a great opportunity to further expand my network and try to get more people involved with the project ‘Endless Moons’ as followers. A cohort of 174 students was a fantastic gateway to share my passion and, combined with an always supportive group of people, the odds of having more Day 1 backers increased. Unconsciously, I was expanding my Luck Surface Area. I delayed the launch for over a year sure, but now I had access to almost 200 new peers and friends that would enthusiastically support my creative endeavour. Those are a lot of new eyeballs for a new project, plus having them kindly sharing it on socials further expanded Endless Moons reach. I also started to reach out to other creators for mutual shout outs and tried to get myself invited to different podcasts or streams about the indie comic book world. February 2021, and I had successfully funded Issue #1,becoming a #ProjectWeLove on Kickstarter because of its appeal and traction, which then enabled me to pre-fund part of Issue #2 with the funds raised. Sharing art and our own creations can be tricky. It’s personal and we could fear people not liking it, but for me constantly talking about my geeky interest is paying off. I’m far from a good writer, no doubt about it, in fact, Endless Moons is my first attempt at writing science fiction, but I do it because it’s fun. And I wish others can enjoy these stories as much as I enjoy creating them. If continuously sharing what I’m doing adds more serendipity to my creative projects then I’m embracing it. Special thanks to Hamza for bringing this cool concept to my attention! Issue #2 is coming out this summer, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it. For more details on the Cambridge MBA and entrepreneurship visit our community here> |
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