Interesting Intern

Guess what? After a 2-week holiday back in China during the 58th National Day with family & friends, I got the opportunity to do a pre-MBA intern with a retail bank in Mauritius, thanks to my future classmate Sonal's recommendation.

The Environment - Sunny & Shiny, Spoken French & Written English (here I experienced first time at meetings where all have to speak English because I am the only 1 present with basic French). Waterfront office, beachfront house with a 1-hour trip in between, luckily I don't drive.

The Team - a Uganda girl studied in Canada, a Zimbabwe guy worked in the MD's office, and our boss brought from India his 15 years experience heading the Products & Strategy (3 other trainess from Zim & Ghana who're at different projects). So bascially we've covered all the foreigners in the bank except South Africa.

Challenges / Opportunities - New field (exciting), Emerging market in a small island country (exclusive), Communication with different parties (explicit), Inniative to improve or innovate (edgy).

People / Projects - mostly are nice & warm Mauritians and I'm learning What to say after "Bonjour", diverse projects including incentive scheme, press conference, products launch, etc. - So far, So interesting!

Quick Updates

Haven't been able to update my blog due to 2 relocations, from Singapore to China and now in Mauritius. Before leaving my last job, I went for a short trip to Cambodia and I loved it, the history, the buildings, the food & the Khmer people:-) Didn't have time to jot down the trip journals and not even uploading all the photos as I was rushing back home for 2 best friends' wedding, and it's 2 in 1 'cause they married each other!

After a brief "Golden Week" (58th Birthday) of China with parents and friends, I got the exciting internship at Mauritius with Barclays, so here I'm now writing at Flic en Flac, a stone's throw away from Indian Ocean. More updates are coming soon!

BTW, the class of IMD 2008 MBA is almost complete and I will be flying to Switzerland with several others from Shanghai on 19 Dec...

The Home Song Stories & PPIN

The Home Song Stories, the autobiographical second feature by (Macau-born) writer-director Tony Ayres, is a story of a boy, Tom, his sister May and their mother, Rose, a Shanghainese singer who lands in suburban Melbourne in the 60s with little English and no money. Rose's only assets are her beauty, her cheongsams and an ability to seduce men. What unfolds is a tale of epic emotions. http://www.homesongstories.com

"Everything that happens in The Home Song Stories actually happened in real life," says Tony. "I had an extraordinary, wild traumatic childhood, largely due to the erratic behaviour of my charismatic but mentally unstable mother. My sister and I were buffeted by these events, but survived, mainly because of our love for each other. But also because, in spite of everything, we knew that our mother loved us. As a film maker, I knew that I was compelled to tell this story eventually." To me, there's a clear message conveyed - Things happened in our childhood have great impacts in our personalities & behaviors. If unfortunately, we were hurt or mistreated while innocent, somehow we need an approriate channel to release the pain. Probably throught counselling, recounting the stories, open up the scars, etc. The ultimate goal as the film director said is "to accept, to forgive & to love……"

It reminds me of the unique IMD pre-course assignment: Personal and Professional Identity Narrative

PURPOSE:
The purpose of the Personal and Professional Identity Narrative is to provide you with a “working document” that will help you to orient yourself as you make personal and professional decisions in the course of your life. If you take the process of reflecting on your life seriously that the PPIN provides, it can help you to better understand the key events of your life and their continued influence.

PROCEDURE:
We are asking you to complete a 10 to 15-page draft of your PPIN before arriving to the programme opening dinner. You will be given the opportunity to re-visit your PPIN during the year, and to modify the contents as you reflect on your learning from the programme. A relatively complete working document would be a narrative of between 15 and 20 pages.

DESCRIPTION:
The PPIN will be a narrative essay describing:
where you have come from, i.e., the central influences—people and events—in your life,
where you are now in the course of your life, and
the general direction in which you feel you are headed, i.e., your sense of a provisional life plan, however indistinct it might truly feel...

Early Birds - What 2 Expect?

As I'm counting down my last month before going back to China for a not too long break, provided the Swiss visa being issued soon after 8 weeks processing, more & more interactions with future clasmates thanks to the internet and stuffs like Skype, MSN, facebook, etc. Of course, the best is still face-to-face in a nice place for a meal & a drink. That's what i'm looking forward to - meeting up with John & Sanjay, plus our guest of honor, Glenn from the 2004 class tonight at an interesting Mexican restaurant.

Talking to Emeka this morning (very early in Nigeria:-), we've exchanged some thoughts about the career. It's now the recruiting season (2 weeks) for class 2007 in Lausanne and with a record year in 2006, we'd like to see what'll happen to the current class and of course, to us in 2008!

Record Year for IMD MBA Recruiting

When the MBA class of 2006 graduated on November 30, a record 91% had already received or signed a job offer. Many of them relied on the recruiting activities organized by the Career Services team. Some 60 companies came on campus and generated 60% of the 180 offers that have been received so far.

Everyone has changed at least one factor of their career: whether it be function, industry or geography, and over 30% have managed to change all three! With industry still typically offering the higher salaries, the year at IMD has changed the goals of many of our graduates, who found themselves accepting jobs in sometimes unexpected areas…

Tina Revsbech, Danish / Maxim Kuzyuk, Russian / Kim Nguyen, Swiss/Vietnamese, read their full stories here: http://www.imd.ch/news/Record-year-for-IMD-MBA-Recruiting.cfm

Advice to Future Participants:Tina, Maxim and Kim are unanimous: start the search early and do your research! So all early birds, there're something to expect:-)

The Notes of Bainies

Arriving at Flutes at the Fort 5 mins to 7:30 pm on Friday, we (3 IMD 2008 MBAs) were warmly greeted by a group of Bainies. The partner was quite impressed that we came as a group and sharp on time, asking whether this is a prerequisite to get into IMD. Most probably:-)

Though I didn't find the flutes there, it's a nice, unique place at the very heart of Singapore yet you find yourself surrounded by greenery, feeling a bit closer to the stars also because it's at the fort.
It's a celebration initiated by Bain South East Asia with its office located in Singapore for a group of 25 newly admitted MBAs. We were still surprised to see 15 Bainies out of the 80 staff of Bain SEA joining us. What a privilege! No flutes, no band of Bain, I did catch the sound full of resounding notes from them:

1！exclamation mark — every employee is energetic, passionately sharing about the strong company culture which is very unique among the top consulting firms.

2 = equation mark — each formula must lead to certain results and that's what Bain always strive to achieve for their clients, starting from day 1, to make companies more valuable by delivering targeted results. As their logo "True North" stands for a clear focus on client results.

3 ∞ positive infinity — by adopting a "generalist approach" for developing Associate Consultant, Consultant, Manager, Partner, you will not be constrained in one industry but have many opportunities to work on all sorts of projects, including Pro bono work, externship, etc.

4 * — though Bain is famous for its strong culture, each consultant has to carve out his/her own career path, under the guidance of mentors. So there's unity in culture but not uniformity in career development.

5 ∆ — a triangle is one of the most stable and balanced shapes which symbolizes Bain's promotion of work/life balance.

Above are just what I've taken away from a short night cocktail with Bain and hopefully it's not misinterpretation or misleading. Thanks to all Bainies & I've truly enjoyed the notes conveyed without flutes!

Financing an overseas MBA: Where, What & How?

An interesting artile on the financial aid, again from an American perspective but I think it's also helpful for other international students. Just to clarify one ISSUE about the tuition fee. It's mostly true with many other European schools that they're increasing the program fee substantially, e.g. INSEAD has just raised the fee from Euro 45,000 to 48,800 for Sep 2007 intake. Instituto de Empresa (Madrid) also increased almost 10% to Euro 45,000. But IMD has kept the MBA program fee at CHF 55,000 + 20,000 (2-week overseas discovery trip + 10-month daily 3-course lunch buffet, the quality of which i've detailed in another blog entry:-) for a few years. I didn't apply any U.S. school, so nothing to say about that which is also not relevant for this article because it's discussing US students going abroad. Enjoy reading:

Business Week - Financing an MBA Abroad: Where to Go, What to Know, and How to Borrow?

Higher tuition and living expenses can make pursuing an MBA abroad a financial nightmare. Here's how to obtain the funds so you can sleep easy

by Erica Pelzek, http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jul2007/bs2007076_525258.htm

"You've spent a few years in the domestic workforce, hip to the ever-globalizing economy, and now your culture-savvy professional interests (inclinations?) make the idea of pursuing an MBA abroad particularly enticing.

Well, start researching schools and try not to let high tuition prices and poor currency conversion rates give you pause. With a few calculations and hearty, equal doses of research and realism, you too can join the discerning 2% of U.S. MBA students pursuing their degrees internationally. Think of your financial aid hunt—and the ensuing computations—as a refresher course in decision science...

Furthermore, though the 152-student (90 MBA + 62 EMBA) International Institute for Management Development , or IMD, in Lausanne, Switzerland carried a price tag of $60,700 for the 2006 academic year and the majority (70%) of its students did not receive financial aid in 2006, the worldly school still provides unique financial aid opportunities. An affluent alumni board doles out scholarship and loan monies from a fund; the pool, backed and run entirely by IMD grads, dished out $900,000 for needy students in the 2006 academic year alone..."

Food 4 Thoughts, Music 4 Souls

Harry's @ Boat Quay again, but this time round as an insider of the circle, albeit a bit premature. Thanks to Aaron's effort, the 3 of us newly admits have also been invited for this monthly alumni gathering at the upstairs (shown in the right).

3 from class 2006, 3 different nationalities, 3 from class 2008, similar mix. That's just a glimpse of the composition of our future colleagues. It's like a gene in IMD, not only the diversity, but also the teamwork spirit, which have been passed on from one class to the next. As Aaron recalled, two years ago, K.K. & him were in the exactly same situation, listening to the sharing of alumni from class 2004, preparing for the year in Lausanne.

Well, being Asian or being human, we all like to talk about food. That actually could be a selling point of IMD, although people don't go there for food. The daily 3-course lunch buffet is said to be very effective in helping students put on weight, if we don't control our intake, especially on the highly-acclaimed desserts which are prepared by the best chef trained in the top culinary school in Lausanne. People just love it & seemingly it's not easy to be disciplined while gazing upon those sumptuous sweeties:-)

Another surprise will be the ice cream from Mövenpick provided throughout summer season, all these are included in our program fee which has not been increased for a few years! Of course, they also remember the 1 CHF breakfast croissant group delivered to the class every morning as well as the Monday pizza. Ok, so much about food and I am just comforted to know the school is really taking care of us as a whole person.

Recalled one of my favorite movies from Hong Kong director / comedian Stephen Chow, God of Cookery (1996). As a celebrity chef in the film, he told all the apprentices, "the most important thing in cooking is not what you're preparing, but whom you're preparing it for. If you are cooking it with love/passion, the diner will taste your love/passion in the dish...". In a real world where many people are only results-oriented, it's quite heartening to have someone teaching you from his/her own heart. I guess & hope that's partly how IMD prepares those delicious foods (both in class & in canteen) for our thoughts, from their hearts.

An alumnus from class 1999 joined later and he can still recall most of his classmates after so many years, not to mention those who're in Singapore. Interesting to know 10/80 are now in Singapore, a trend of the job market shifting towards Asia Pacific in recent years. According to Jacques, 1999 was & still is his best year in life because at the end of 1999, he got a degree and met his soul mate from the same class - unforgettable double-happiness 雙囍臨門!

One funny episode was when KK's colleagues from Shell - 2 INSEADers dropped by to say hello. The girl immediately found out, "hey, you guys have a problem with the female/male ratio, where have the flowers gone (the 2nd half added by me:-)?" We don't know, but we hope more ladies will join the class. But never mind, if half of the class are married or attached, then it's quite balanced.

As we called the night off and walked downstairs, the live band just started playing not long ago. The night is still young & the music is for the souls:

"There You'll Be" from Pearl Harbor

When I think back

On these times

And the dreams

We left behind

I'll be glad 'cause

I was blessed to get

To have you in my life

When I look back

On these days

I'll look and see your face

You were right there for me

……

Bon Weekend:-)

Beyond Borders - chat with Nnaemeka @ Port Harcourt

What are the things that are Beyond Borders? Music, Love, Gold, Doctor, Laughter, Bird-flu...

After an in-depth chat with my future classmate Nnaemeka in Port Harcourt, i can confidently add 2 more items on the list: MSN & IMD. It's magic that two people never knew each other before started chatting online because of IMD. We've surely covered more topics than the school. Cross Continents, Beyond Borders, there're things that we share & echo with each other: personal faith, family values, career goal, visa challenge, etc.

All can i say is, though we talked through MSN, I felt so real & connected to my brother in Nigeria. "Virtual World, Real Experience". I'm sure there'll be a lot more stimulating talks like this once we were in the "Real World, Real Learning" campus @ Lausanne next year. And I'm sure it will always be heartening & inspiring!

Let me end this post by inviting you to a series of http://www.ft.com/businesseducation/imd by Dr. Martha Maznevski, professor of organisational behaviour and international management at IMD. Lecture topics include how to identify the management challenges which accompany globalisation, how to manage across geographical distances and different cultural styles and how to develop and use business networks. Sit back & Enjoy listening!

Earshot...by 2 finance experts

4 weeks ago, the IMD interview team together with some alumni held a cocktail reception at http://www.harrys.com.sg/boatquay.htm on a Thursday night. About 16 interviewees were invited, some too nervous to turn up.

4 weeks later, 3 lucky survivors from Singapore met up at Earshot Cafe @ the Arts House (old Parliament House), still on Thursday night. Since I am less busier (Chinese / Singapore PR, marketing engineer for an European electronics company in Asia), it's natural for me to write a short diary for the first meeting of IMD 2008 MBA class in Singapore:-)

Sanjay (Indian / Singapore PR, finance controller of a listed agricultural company) arrived with a nice tie but he immediately untie it even before sitting down. John (regional treasury analyst for an inventive company) came shortly after in his jersey as if the soccer game just finished. Later he explained, that's the culture of the company. Wow! Flexible working hours, casual dress code, allowing working at home, are these rules more conducive for innovation?

Since both of them are in the finance role, our small round table talk soon turned into money talks. "So besides buying & selling currencies, what else do you do?", "Well, There are xx accountants report to me and I have to review their reports every quarter..." It's interesting for me as an outsider to hear how they communicate with each other. Doesn't seem too difficult, huh? I guess that's because both of them are really experienced and they know how to simplify their talks by avoiding too many jargon. The real challenge for us non-finance students will come when we start the basic accounting classes next year. That's why now one of the hot topics on the 2008 class website is about the "MBA Survival Kit". Good to start early & get ourselves prepared.

The night is still young but the night is also short. We all have to work on Friday though it's refreshing to discuss with perspective classmates about our future life in Lausanne. As John put it, to make our life next year easier, we have to work harder now until the day we say goodbye to colleagues.

P.S. Good news! Sanjay has also confirmed his place in the 2008 class & I will upload a photo taken during their discussion soon.

Inspired, Motivated, Devoted - IMD 2008!

Haven't updated the blog for a while and many things have happened in the past few weeks. An eventful interview at the Mandarin Oriental Singapore with a nice cocktail reception by some alumni, Janet & Lisa beforehand. Those in the same group would understand how happening it was during our day and it actually started even before we saw the interviewers:-P

Later, I met up with an entrepreneurship professor from Instituto de Empresa (Madrid, Spain). The school gave me a half-tuition fee scholarship. That meeting gave me some more thoughts on the MBA school decision. And hurray, I got the magic call from Lisa very soon due to this burning offer I shared the good news immediately with family & friends, it was a happy night! I immediately arranged the deposit payment, got in touch with other Asian interview survivors, and my boss left for Switzerland without me:-P Today (20 June), I got the confirmation from Corinne and logged on to the 2008 website. So exciting to see many "exotic" names which will be my colleagues soon next year. Look forward to seeing you in Lausanne!

P.S. though still a lot of things to prepare: housing, loan, visa, etc. I will put them aside for a while and have a good time with John, Sanjay for dinner on Thursday.

Bonne Nuit!

Shalom