Today is the MBA’s kick-off. The new participants will start their once in a life time journey with some activities to help them know each other, the alumni and the staff better, and to get into the hard-working and fun mode of MBA Solvay.
We can not disclose a lot about the programme, as it has some surprises for the participants. What we can advance is that the day will start wiht the welcome of Hugues Pirotte, director of MBA Solvay.
They will then have their first course with marketing professor Christian Bluemelhuber. This is a one day special course to get the brains rolling. The only thing we can advance is the title: Why Strategy?
If you do not know Christian Bluemelhuber, he holds the InBev-Baillet Latour Chair in Euromarketing at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. These videos will give you an idea of his style and what his courses are like. They were recorded during The Top Managers Event 2008, where Christian gave the presentation Successful leaders on Customer focused strategies in a worldwide economy.
After this course, the participants will be given a set of tasks to accomplish downtown, with a final debriefing and networking session in the center of Brussels well into the night.
Welcome to the MBA rush!
Trinh Dang is an exceptional woman, who has managed to combine an intensive MBA with giving birth to her first child in the first month at MBA Solvay. A thrilling and intensive experience she has really enjoyed, to the point of highly recommending taking the MBA Solvay challenge.
Of Vietnamese origin, Trinh completed her university studies in London before moving to Belgium, where she quickly learned French and Dutch, and started working for a wholesale distributor of specialty technology products.
When Trinh was considering to apply for an MBA she had some doubts about it bringing value to her. But then she spoke to a friend and alumnus who had really enjoyed the amazing learning experience of MBA Solvay. With this insight she took the decission to apply. Having 5 years of professional experience she considered it was time to stop for a year and learn new management skills, taking into consideration her long term goal of starting her own company.
What does she think of her MBA? Its been just amazing. During the 10 months of the full time program she has worked with people from around the world, who have very high intellectual skills and who are very down to earth at the same time. Another highlight for Trinh is the faculty: amazing professors from top schools around the world, most of whom are also active professionals with current experience in business.
The interview was recorded right before the end of her MBA, during our Alumni Day 2009. Trinh Dang has graduated with her class and celebrated the end of a great 2008-09 year.
If you want to speak to a former student of MBA Solvay, you can contact Chiara Battistelli, our Admissions manager.
Thanks to Sergio Barbarino, our Alumni Day 2009 was hosted by Procter & Gamble. He is a very committed alumnus and was very easily convinced to leave his testimonial about why he attended MBA Solvay.
Sergio came to Belgium in the midst of a difficult personal and professional moment. He was forced to move due to the closure of the company’s office in Italy where he used to work. He wanted a change and decided to apply to MBA Solvay. His new managers made a big effort to keep him in Procter & Gamble and with his MBA he has changed jobs into a more technical career. After the MBA program Sergio is working on innovative areas for his company such us the redesign of the supply chains and making small and flexible manufacturing processes for developing markets.
Today, sergio feels that he fits perfectly into the company, is proud of it and says that he owes that to MBA Solvay, because of all the experience and external freshnes that it brought to him.
JiaYi Hu Duprez is one of the first candidates that was admited to the Full Time program of MBA Solvay this year. She will be graduating in 2010 and, although her courses will not begin until the end of August, she has already started to network with the MBA Solvay community at our Alumni Day 2009.
JiaYi comes from China, where she did her international business studies. She has an international professional background, starting in a Canadian trading company, going through India and recently moving to Belgium. Doing an MBA is a lifelong dream for JiaYi, who already set her mind when she was an adolescent. She was looking for an MBA fully in English and decided to check out MBA Solvay. She came to one of the information sessions where the academic director Hugues Pirotte presented the program. The interaction with the director and the alumni, together with the reactivity of the admissions department helped her decide to apply to MBA Solvay and to start the admissions process.
Her expectations are set mainly in the experience sharing that comes with the MBA (with faculty, students and alumni) and on better defining her career goals.
PS: The Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management is also known under its former name Solvay Business School. The change of names was motivated by the merger of the Economics Department of the ULB and the Solvay Business School. The school is sometimes referred to using the acronym SBS-EM.
The new building is rising! You can really see how the work is advancing fast comparing to the last pictures posted. The walls are coming up and you can get a real feeling of progression.
The construction of the new Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management building, where all its programs will be hosted, is scheduled for September 2010. In a little more than a year we will be moving in the new premisses.
It was great to spend the morning with Chiara talking to possible...