Category Archives: Career

Career, Part Time MBA, Programme, The NANYANG MBA

Part-Time Vs. Full-time MBA – An insight into their Differences

Are you a graduate or a working professional looking to move ahead in your career? Some graduates prefer gaining work experience before opting for a post-graduation course, whereas others may decide to take up a master’s degree immediately after graduation. Most working professionals will eventually start thinking about a postgraduate degree, such as the MBA, especially if they are looking at progressing in their careers.

There are various modes of pursuing an MBA – full-time, part-time professional, distance or even executive. The dilemma, most often, is having to choose between a part-time MBA and a full-time MBA.

A part-time MBA is a course that allows its candidates the flexibility of working alongside studying. Participants can continue to draw a steady flow of income without taking a break. On the other hand, in a full-time programme, the opportunity cost is that participants will have to leave their jobs or take a sabbatical. The primary objective of both programmes is to help participants gain varied experiences such as interacting with a diverse peer group, and honing leadership and strategic thinking skills which would prepare them for senior management roles.

Before deciding which type of MBA is suitable, it is worth one’s time to understand and appreciate the differences between the part-time and full-time modes of study. We have outlined the key differences between a part-time MBA and a full-time MBA, highlighting the benefits of a part-time professional MBA:

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Profile of Participants

Full-time MBA programmes are predominantly taken up by the younger crowd, with less working experience. Participants are typically around 28 years of age with 6 years of work experience. The average participant of a part-time MBA, however, is 30 years old, with 8.5 years of work experience.

Minimal Downtime

Both part-time and full-time MBA programmes follow a similar curriculum. However, part-time courses offer more options, such as weekend classes, online classes and weekday classes. This makes it more schedule-friendly for working professionals.

The Nanyang Professional MBA (PMBA), for instance, is a part-time programme which incorporates a career-friendly 18-month timetable. It encompasses weekend modules, where classes are only held on two weekends per month. This eliminates the need for out-of-office days and leave, making it suitable for the demanding schedule of full-time working professionals. Term breaks also coincide with local school holidays. This is an added advantage if you are a parent – you can take vacations with your family without compromising your MBA journey!

Immediate Application of Concepts

Most part-time MBA participants are working professionals, and this allows them to apply classroom learning immediately in their jobs. The curriculum offered at Nanyang PMBA programme suits specific business contexts. With integrated learning and exploration as the key takeaways, the learning process in Nanyang Business School’s PMBA programme is categorised across three areas – Business Fundamentals, Strategic Insights and Experiential Learning.

These three key areas enable participants to understand businesses and their strategies, tackle and conquer complex issues and learn about business scenarios hands-on. Participants also get the opportunity to be coached and mentored by our faculty, which comprises leading C-level executives who bring their industry expertise into the learning curriculum.

Full-time MBA participants will have the opportunity to apply these concepts during simulations of corporate scenarios and upon returning to their careers post-MBA.

The minimal downtime and real-world applications of a part-time MBA programme makes it the ideal choice for a working professional. If you desire to strike a balance between family, career and a postgraduate degree, you can find out more about the benefits of our Nanyang PMBA programme here.

Career, Life at Nanyang, Networking, Programme, Student Leader

Analytics Workshop by E-Commerce Expert from Lazada

A NBS alumni working for Lazada, South-East Asia´s number one e-commerce player,  was invited to give a workshop on business analytics and advanced excel to the current batch of MBA students.

Sunny Jain (NBS MBA Class of 2013) has over 6 years of experience of working for technology companies as well as financial institutions. Over the last 2 years he has been working as a pricing manager with Lazada, who recently made it into news with regards to its acquisition by Alibaba.

Sunny provided thought-provoking insight into the ways of working of e-commerce firms, especially with regards to the key performance indicators and the challenges that various firms face to remain competitive. In the second half of the course, he offered an excel learning session wherein he gave sample case questions based on data populated in an  excel file.

The current MBA students who signed up for the workshop learnt to build pivot tables and simple statistical data models that allowed them to understand e-commerce dynamics and generated insights pertaining to an annual sales report of a hypothetical company. The speaker proved that Excel is indeed a powerful tool and stated that learning to build complex data models catering to various business challenges is indispensable to be well prepared for the corporate world.

The 3-hours sharing session was very insightful and after multiple “aha”-moments,  the participating students left the room with many valuable takeaways from the workshop.  Eventually, the lecturer closed the day with the recommendation to spend 5% of earnings every year to upgrade one´s skills – an interesting tip that the MBA students, who are to graduate soon, will certainly take to heart!

Career, The NANYANG MBA

A visit to the Bloomberg office

On Wednesday, 27 January 2016, the members of the Banking and Finance club of the MBA class of 2016 were warmly invited to the Bloomberg office in Singapore.

During the visit, seven students enrolled in the Nanyang MBA Banking and Finance track learnt how to use the Bloomberg terminal in their daily work and had a chance to visit the fantastic working environment of news bureau.

Bloomberg is one of the leaders in financial software, data and media in the world. As the finance classes in the second trimester gave an introduction to financial tools, students intensively used Bloomberg to obtain data and news and were interested in visiting the staff working in Bloomberg´s Singapore office to get a personal tour around the local offices of the world leading financial news agency.

The Banking and Finance club was fortunate to get an invitation for a one-hour training session in Bloomberg’s office, and learned how to use different functions to search for types of FXs, Equities and Commodities. Also, the trainer explained how to set their personal preferences to easily analyze different markets.

All participants felt that the office tour was very helpful and were happy to find out that the design of Bloomberg´s terminals is very user-friendly. It was an exciting experience to take a tour around the well-equiped facilities and allowed everyone to get a deeper understanding of the way of working at Bloomberg as well as to gain insights into the valuable services that Bloomberg provides for investors worldwide. Learning how to use the terminals efficiently will be of great help for the further coursed and will certainly be beneficial for all students who aim to work in the financial industry in the future.

bloomberg guys

Banking and Finance Club at the Bloomberg office, Singapore

Career, Clubs, Life After MBA, Networking

What it takes to be a good consultant

Many of MBA candidates aspire to become a management consultant via post-MBA career path. In lectures and workshops, professors share lots of consulting specific frameworks, tools and problem solving methodologies with carefully chosen business case study materials but Nanyang MBA students are always eager to go the extra mile.

In October 2015,  form consultant of Singapore Deloitte and member of the Nanyang MBA AY16 cohort, Kevin Sehoon Son, conducted a 2 hours sharing session to showcase a typical day of a consultant. All participants were extremely keen to learn from a real-life story of a former consultant and appreciated the chance to get a glimpse into the types of problems that consultants solve for business leaders, such as market entry strategy, turn-around strategy, post merger integration, business transformation and etc.

As the session was a success, Kevin´s mentor from Deloitte Singapore, Dr. Yong Chet, was invited  to address the cohort so that students get a feel for what it takes to be a good consultant from a senior executive level’s point of view.

On December 15, Dr. Yong conducted another 2 hours-long sharing session at the NBS Bistro. The speaker brought an inspiring carrer-changing story to the event: the senior executive once left his job as a surgeon to become a business consultant. He just recently rechieved his MBA title and with over 5 years of management consulting experience as a Director he was able to provide valuable insights into the management consulting industry.

Dr. Yong´s speech was highly relevant for all session attendants to prepare for a career in consulting. Besides offering tips how to fine-tune resume and coverletter for successful applications, the 3 most important take-aways from his speech are the following:

  1. Likeability: Consultants communicate with clients on a daily basis. Even if a candidate has fluent communication skills and brilliant problem solving skills, clients would not want to continue business a consultant who is not likeable and warm hearted. As we all are human beings, we are inevitably biased to prefer likeable people.
  2. Quick learning skills: Consultants are not genius in evey aspect of a problem as there must be more than zillion types of different problem scenarios in the worlds. There is no cookie-cutter solution to solve problem dynamics. Hence, consultant must be able to quickly acquire required knowledged. As Dr. Yong was a surgeon, he know that it is a difficult challenges to gain knowledge about unfamiliar industries when handling a diverse range of clients.
  3. Time management: Consutant are given flexibility in terms of work hours but there are heavy responsibilites to take care of to meet clients’ expectations. Time management is crucial and sometimes consultants need to make tbe commitment to wake up at 3 am to join conference calls from other continents. Thus, candidates must have the right mindset to best serve clients and become a competent consultant.

At the end of Dr Yong´s speech, students proactively approached the speaker and started outlining their career goals to seek advice over beer and soft drinks.

Looking back on a successful club event, the Consulting clubs would like to say thank you to the  graduate studies career development office for sponsoring the initaitve and promises that The Nanyang MBA will carry on the initiatives to invite industry experts to share knowledge and actively expand networks.

Consulting Two

 Rachel Ng Mui Cher from the Post-Graduate Office with Dr Yong from Deloitte

Career, Life at Nanyang, The NANYANG MBA, Useful Tools and Tips

Art of Negotiation

One of the vital skills that your MBA programme will teach you is the art of negotiation. Every conversation you’ll have in the business world involves negotiation to some degree. Being good at it requires discipline, strategic thinking and emotional intelligence. Every negotiation has its own context and will require something different from you.

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Here’s how you can approach the process.

  • Do Your Homework:

Research is important. Once you know whom you’ll be meeting, find out all you can about the people and situation that you’ll be discussing. How has the other party handled things in the past? What kind of work have they been doing and what do they like? Know all the possible issues that could come up before you head to the meeting. Have the offers and counter offers ready in your head too. Sometimes it helps to write it all out as a script. This way, you won’t fumble for words whatever happens.

  • Build Relationships:

You could have everything there in your hands in a spreadsheet or on the slides you’ll be presenting, but negotiations are about making deals with people. If you want to seal a deal, you need to earn the other party’s trust. In fact, research says that they’ll be more influenced by you if they like you. This means that you have to look at building a bond and not just the money you can gain. Let them know that you’ll be working with them as a team – not as isolated entities. Don’t expect to agree on everything but don’t work too hard to find common ground too since differences can result in more value creation as you trade them. Who knows? Maybe you can give them a lot more than you’d thought they’d needed.

  • Listen Well:

Negotiation is not a one-sided activity. You need to be able to hold a conversation where lots of information is exchanged. Find out about the other side’s needs. Ask open-ended questions so you get more information to work with when you are using your strategy. Connect what they say to you in the meeting with what you know about them. You should be able to understand their needs and preferences that way.

  • Focus on Timing:

Saying the right thing at the right time can get you your deal. Similarly, saying the wrong thing at the wrong time or any time at all can ruin things for you. So leave out some questions that aren’t really needed and don’t go overboard with the selling when you should stop. Claim your value early in the conversation so that they know what you can give them best. Never say yes too fast. And when things get heated, take a break.

  • Be Ethical:

Ethics is a major subject covered in top MBA programmes like the one at NBS. Being ethical is a must if you want to have a good reputation in the industry. Don’t go back on promises. Be fair and involve the right people from your office and know about the best practices in your field. Once you take a decision on your side, explain the reasons.

Coursework at your B-school will involve role-playing in cases that resemble ones that you will confront in the real world. That will enable you to try out your negotiation skills under the eyes of experts who can tell you where you’re going wrong. Lots of practice will show you the way to form relationships and bring success to your organisation. 

Blog, Career, Useful Tools and Tips

Tips for Crisis Management

Any emergency situation that affects employees, creates insecurity in an organisation and damages the public trust in an organisation is considered a crisis. Accidents, financial difficulties, misrepresentation and whistle blowing are common examples of situations that can lead to a crisis in an organisation. The management of an organisation requires specific communication skills that can help the organisation deal with worried stakeholders, customers, suppliers, investors, partners and employees.

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Unfortunately, there is no way to predict when a major disaster will hit you, but here’s how you can be prepared.

  • Delineate Roles:

Everyone in your company needs to know what their role is and what is expected from them. Once this is clear, you have the right logistical support in case problems arise. Even the person who answers phone calls should know what to say. Remember that when there is a crisis, everybody in the organisation will be approached for their inputs on it. Neighbours, media and social media – they’ll all want to know the details and people do not hesitate to add their own perceptions to it all, which can make things messier. When crisis hits, you’ll have to communicate with your stakeholders and other relevant people as soon as you get a hint of trouble. If outsiders like media persons reach them before you, you have not managed your crisis well.

  • Keep Resources Handy:

Company information is vital for key stakeholders, so you need to enable easy access to it and keep backups at a site that is not a part of your office. Say there’s a natural disaster or your premises are locked down for legal reasons, you cannot say information is unavailable. In fact, consider having a meeting place in a different location where you can use equipment you may need in the event of an emergency. For instance, a publication may have a place to print their paper when their office is out of bounds.

  • Hire a Specialist:

Many companies hire a crisis communications manager or consultant to take charge of things when they need to. This is a professional who knows how to stay calm and think strategically even when everybody else is having trouble coping. Help with media relations and external and internal communications material such as letters explaining the crisis and detailing what steps are being taken and how employees will be affected, is provided by him/her.

  • Learn Special Interview Skills:

As a manager, you’ll be facing the camera with the industry and country wanting to know what’s happening to your company. It’s easy to break down in public or get into an angry brawl with people who are rude and inquisitive, but you can’t afford to do that. Invest in training from a coach who can teach you about the correct body language and verbal communication skills that you’ll need in order to have an interview that doesn’t make things worse.

  • Conduct a Test:

Smart managers like to practice crisis management by organising regular crisis simulations to test and improve their plans. It also works as a way to keep staff alert because people rarely think that crisis will hit home. Let each individual know what could happen and give them the opportunity to give inputs on how they think they could help. Feedback contributes to better preparation for the future. Try out all possible conditions so that you have a solid plan at the end.

Crisis starts with shock and leads to confusion. Then it drives you towards an intense search for solutions. That’s normal behaviour. You can use your newly acquired B-school skills and exposure to keep your focus on how the public hears about the situation and of course, don’t leave anybody in the company in the dark. A good leader is a great communicator.

Career, Life After MBA, Networking

Overview of China Banking – the “Alumni Leaders Dialogue” series

December 4, 2015

Alumni Leaders Dialogue with Eric Lian, CEO of UOB (China) 

The Invitation to the 4th Alumni Leaders Dialogue with Mr Eric Lian, President and CEO of UOB China, was issued to all current graduate program participants of Nanyang Business School. All seats at the NTU campus venue were taken when Mr Lian spoke about the issues oft he banking business in China and the outlook for the fastest growing economy of the world. 

With more than 20 years of banking experience in business and risk management, Mr Eric Lian joined UOB in July 2013 and was appointed President and CEO of UOB (China) shortly thereafter. He is also member of the Bank’s Executive Committee.

During the December session of the Alumni Leaders Dialogue series, Mr Lian provided an operator´s view on the banking business in China and helped the present audience understand the status quo of the Chinese economy and outlined his view on the development plans of China´s government.

During his address, the veteran banker shared his expert opinion on the China Banking Landscape, sketched the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative and elaborated on Free Trade Zones within China.

After pointing out the three main aspects of China´s exceptional growth, he illustrated his personal conclusions on the future of China and derived implications for banks or corporations who wish to do business in China.

According to Mr LIan, the internationalization of the Renminbi as the 5th most traded currency worldwide, the tremendous wealth among the people in mainland China, and continuous liberalization of cross-border RMB flows, will be strong growth drivers for the future of China.

“We all know that China does not produce millionaires anymore. They produce billionaires”, said Eric Lian. After a long period of government subsidies over the past years, the country has come to be the world´s second largest and fastest growing economy in terms of GDP measures. Spending money in the desired growth sectors, supporting the development of core industry´s competences and intensively driving up demand, China as thee “factory of the world” has accumulated over-capacities, inefficient structures and unsustainable business practices. Now, a painful period of restructuring causes growth figures to slowdown and makes the world hold its breath. However, China government initiatives such as the “One Belt, One Road” policy, that aims to secure resources, develop the Chinese export markets, and prepares new growth paths to offset over-capacities, clearly signal that China still sets the course for growth.

Besides speaking of China Banking in the macroeconomic context, Mr Lian also gave an insightful introduction into Chinese business culture and frankly presented his view of Chinese investment management practices to the attending students. Other than European clients, Chinese middle class clients primarily focus on investing their savings in stocks but at the same time wish to offset the risk resulting from volatility in the stock market by investing in real estate as early as possible. “If you want to get married in China, you need to own a house”, he explained to the diverse group of international students. Thus, the challenges faced when dealing with clients in China are very different from the needs of clients in other parts of the world.

Responding to questions from his attentive audience, the speaker closed his talk by outlining his response to competition from online banks and e-commerce firms. The disruption caused by digital players forces traditional banks to rethink their strategy, adjust their way of working to the digital reality and restructure not only their product portfolio but also their interactions with customers around the world.

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MBA Student Michael Hold at the Q&A session

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Mr Lian addressing NBS graduate students

Career, Life After MBA, Useful Tools and Tips

5 Tips To Get You Geared Up For Your Sales Meeting

Meetings are a regular part of business. There are meetings with your team, meetings with your subordinates, meetings with your seniors, meetings with board members and so on. Another kind of meeting that requires different strategies and talent is the sales meeting. There is a special way to participate in business meetings with prospective clients and where you are trying to finalise a sale. So you could be a pro at meetings involving your own co-workers but not so confident at handling things outside.

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Here are 5 tips to get you ready for your next sales meeting:

  1. Gather background information: Whenever you make a sales call, it helps to know your prospect. Do your research with the help of the Internet, your network and anything else you can get your hands on. By the time you reach the meeting, you should be familiar with the person’s company and have an idea about his or her needs and wants so that you can address them. How can your product or service create a difference for the prospective client? Be prepared.
  2. Set a clear objective: When you walk into a sales meeting, you should ask yourself how your time spent there will increase your sales. To avoid frustration and a waste of time, have your detailed answer ready. The objective should be specific. For example, you could decide to use the meeting to teach sales representatives about Product X. And success could be attained if 90% of the representatives reach your target sales quota within the quarter. Your job is to let everybody at the meeting know exactly what the goal is. Awareness and understanding are important.
  3. Ask qualifying questions: There’s a difference between pitching to a prospect and holding a sales meeting with him. The meeting is supposed to be a conversation – so you shouldn’t be the only one talking. While you intelligently steer the discussion toward his/her organisation’s needs and possible solutions, you need to make sure that it brings results. Listen well and ask good questions. For instance, you should find out who will be making the final decision on the sale.
  4. Prepare high-quality material: The printed tools that you carry into your sales meeting should be of high quality. That means that the business cards, brochures, stationery and estimate sheets should all be immaculate. Check for writing quality. Is the grammar and spelling all fine? Do you see anything that could read better? Fix it. How about the colours, typeface and design? Pay attention to every detail because you do not want to lose out to fellow contenders because of unattractive, uninformative materials.
  5. Share case histories: Stories that demonstrate the ways that you and your team have successfully met client needs should be presented at the meeting. Whether you are employing the use of a long slide presentation or talking through most of it, keep more than two case histories at hand. Never directly criticise a competitor but tactfully point out how you can do things better in the case at hand. Tell the story with a focus on your company’s strengths and the benefits your clients enjoy.

Remember, the sales meeting is where you position yourself and your company in a field full of players. So let the conversation be your best.

Blog, Career, Useful Tools and Tips

10 Influencers To Follow During Your MBA Programme

As future business leaders, you are certainly keeping an eye out for motivation and examples that will drive you towards success. Thanks to the rise of social media, you can follow your role models on sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn and stay on top of things. Here are 10 influencers whom you should follow during your MBA programme and even when you are finished with your course.

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  1. Richard Branson: Branson is a well-known businessman and investor. Everybody knows him as the founder of Virgin Group, a powerhouse of hundreds of companies. His business acumen was evident from a young age when he started his first venture – a magazine called Student. He opened a chain of record stores and ended up launching the major record label Virgin Records with Nik Powell. From then on, there were a plethora of brands including Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Mobile. Reading Branson’s books is a great way to understand how he’s lead so many businesses and people without always following conventional norms like a stuck-in-a-cubicle environment.
  2. Mark Zuckerberg: Just around 30 years old, Zuckerberg is famous for bringing Facebook into our lives. He and his college roommates at Harvard University launched Facebook from their dorm rooms. At 23, he was declared a billionaire with the site’s success. And he isn’t sitting there complacently. Instead, he works on bringing constant innovation to his product like the popular Facebook ads programme. A 2010 movie called The Social Network even portrayed the rise of Facebook with an actor playing Zuckerberg.
  3. Evan Williams: Williams is an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur who has founded several Internet companies. One of his companies led to the introduction of Twitter, the free micro-blogging site. Its popularity resulted in a new company in itself and Williams was appointed CEO in 2008. Although he stepped down as CEO a few years later, Twitter user statistics soared and he decided to try his hand at publishing too. And Medium (medium.com) was born.
  4. Arianna Huffington: She is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post and was listed as the 52nd most powerful woman in the world by Forbes last year. She began her career path hosting TV shows and public radio programmes and proceeded to host a website called Ariannaonline.com before launching the Huffington Post. You can follow her on LinkedIn where she writes about success and shares professional insights.
  5. Guy Kawasaki: Kawasaki was one of the employees responsible for marketing the Macintosh in the 1980s. His time at Apple was followed by entrepreneurial ventures and lots of writing and speaking engagements. One of his software companies lead to the creation of the email product called Emailer and a list server product called LetterRip. He’s worked as a special advisor to the CEO of Motorola and has several books to his credit as well. His love for design is being enforced in his new role at Canva in Australia.
  6. Tony Fernandes: He is a Malaysian entrepreneur who gave his people their first budget airline, Air Asia. When Fernandes had stepped in, it was an ailing government-linked commercial airline. He also convinced the then-Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to introduce the idea of an open skies agreement with the neighbouring countries. So now Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia have granted landing rights to Air Asia and other budget carriers.
  7. Anand Mahindra: The chairman and MD of the Mahindra Group in India, Mahindra is in charge of an empire that enjoys market leadership in several business verticals including utility vehicles, finance and IT. He joined Mahindra Ugine Steel Company after acquiring an MBA from Harvard Business School and worked his way up from his initial position as executive assistant to the finance director. He’s typically featured in all lists of Asia’s most powerful business leaders.
  8. Oki Matsumoto: In 1999, when the online finance boom was in full swing in the United States, Matsumoto decided that Japan should be a part of it too. He left his investment-banking job at Goldman Sachs and launched Monex Group with help from Sony in the form of capital. It is now one of Japan’s leading financial services firms and Matsumoto has successfully built a global customer base that is growing every day.
  9. Hendy Setiono: Indonesian Hendy Setiono’s business idea came from holiday visits to his father in the Middle East. He realised that kebab shops were very popular and started his business empire with a single pushcart. The number of carts increased and Kebab Turki Baba Rafi began operations with the help of his wife and one employee. Today, they have expanded to other Asian countries and can say that they made kebabs popular in the region.
  10. William Bao Bean: William began his technology investment career two decades ago as a technology analyst in Taiwan. He joined SOS Ventures from SingTel Innov8 where he was managing director. A whiz at investments, he lead investments in major entities during his time there and was once a partner at Softbank China & India Holdings, an early stage venture capital firm as well. While at Softbank, he took care of major investments too. His tweets give you a look into life as a venture capitalist in China. He also gives the lowdown on innovation taking place in the region.

Part of being an MBA candidate involves knowing what is going on around the world and its industries. So be sure to follow!

Anyone you’d like to add to this list? Don’t forget to share the names in the comments below.

Career, Networking, Useful Tools and Tips

Do Entrepreneurs Need An MBA?

So you have some great ideas and are ready to start your own business venture. The idea of being your own boss sounds promising. The opportunity to let your ideas translate into profitable business is appealing. So in a stage where you are attempting to get cash together for your start-up, how would an MBA come into the picture? The answer: An MBA can help you acquire the skills that you need to supplement your ideas and passion.

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Here’s what you’ll get.

  • Good Deadline Habits

Crazy deadlines are in. If you thought that your undergraduate professors were being too demanding or unreasonable, welcome to the real world. An intensive MBA programme like the one at Nanyang Business School will keep you motivated to achieve targets one after the other. Because that’s how things work in the real world! Long hours and seemingly impossible time frames will be of no worry to you once you complete the programme.

  • Networking Skills

You can’t like everybody and everyone can’t like you. Still, people do business with those who they know and trust. An MBA will push you into regular interaction with business experts, alumni, classmates, locals and other people around. With time, you will pick up the ability to create lasting relationships with them. Building powerful networks lays the foundation to success as an entrepreneur. Who knows? Maybe you will find future investors for your start-up.

  • A Platform or a Test Bed

Launching your own business involves risk. A lot of money and time goes into beginning each venture and there’s no better place to test the waters than your B-school. MBA candidates get the advantage of having a trusted space to share their ideas without really starting anything officially. So entrepreneurs can gain from feedback. It will be good to know if your business idea is leaning toward failure and the reasons behind it – before spending a fortune on it.

  • Analytical Proficiency

Just because you have a decent idea does not mean that you know how things work behind the scenes of a start-up. Reading and understanding financial statements and being proficient with spreadsheets is a must for any entrepreneur. If you don’t know it and think that hiring somebody would be good enough, think again. You need to know what is happening in your business instead of hearing a short summary about the reports. Thankfully, MBA students spend lots of time analysing balance sheets, profit and lost statements, and cash flow statements when they work on case studies.

  • Teambuilding Drive

Most entrepreneurs are confident individuals who love building on their own ideas and seeing the results. Sometimes they forget that a team works together to get things together. When you choose to attend an MBA programme, you’ll find yourself collaborating with fellow candidates who you may not like to be friends with. In other words, you learn to work in groups consisting of all kinds of people. Everyone will have their own objectives and skills, and you will need to learn how to work with their ideas without losing sight of your own.

When entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs invest in an MBA degree, they are bound to learn in one or two years, what they would have learned on the job in five years or more. Of course it isn’t cheap, but it gives you the power to avoid mistakes that could end up costing you more.