Deciding upon when and why to pursue an MBA is a challenging task. You need all your research capabilities to work in tandem to avoid a concussion from overthinking.

The reason I decided to pursue my MBA with three years of work experience in Technology and Entrepreneurship is that I wanted to learn how the financial and strategic side of the business aligns with other departments, thereby turning a start-up into a unicorn and a unicorn into a full-fledged corporation.

My background

Being in love with numbers and programming, I decided to pursue my undergraduate studies in computer science. Yes, I was one of those people who used to write code for straight 48 hours with no sleep aided by a lot of Red Bull!

I have often participated in hackathons – marathon events with hundreds of programmers to work collaboratively on building new computer programming services and apps. These programming events and my passion for trekking and hiking led me and three of my friends to work on our business idea in the travel space.

Our business venture ‘Banjara Voyage’ not only helped us learn the business acumen needed to thrive in the travel industry but also helped us to go through our tuition fees. After completing my undergraduate, I got a Research and Development role in the High-Performance computing domain which was too hard to let go of. In 2017, I started working at Dell where I was working on Machine Learning, FinTech, Hyper-scale computing, and much more in a client-focused role.

Even during my MBA, I am associated with Hackathons but as a judge now and the work is comparatively easier.

My journey to Bayes Business School (formerly Cass)

A mix of high-end technology and entrepreneurship helped me build a strong understanding of how businesses work. I became interested in understanding how I could contribute to businesses by making technologically advanced solutions that are economically viable and can generate high financial returns.

Because of my start-up, I already knew I would pursue an MBA to enhance my financial and strategy consulting skills but was a bit unsure about the time. So, I took the GMAT in 2017 and kept my score out of the playing field until 2019. After trying my hands into core tech and then into FinTech, I realised that my strong quantitative and qualitative research skills paired with an MBA will help me successfully transition into a consulting role where I can better understand the business as a whole.

The Vodka-Redbull of MBAs

Ranked 2^nd in the world for corporate strategy and having a strong name in the financial world, there was no second-guessing my choice of Bayes Business School. My block 1 modules included Strategy and Organisations and Accounting and Financial Reporting, covering areas that I wanted to learn more about. These modules were top quality. I was impressed by the programme delivery that made the modules, as close to real-world experience as possible. Dr Paolo Aversa often calls the Full-time MBA programme “the Vodka Redbull of MBAs” and it truly lived up to that name from the very beginning.

The strategy consulting project

Moving ahead in my MBA, I learnt a lot about strategy & financial analysis through the strategy consulting project with Carabao Energy Drink. In this project, we worked in a group of six people from the cohort. The best part of working in a group is that you learn a lot more from your team than from any other resource. It was a four-month-long project where we were able to add value to the firm by providing them with strategic recommendations backed by a lot of data.

As mentioned in “The McKinsey Way” by Ethan M. Rasiel, your recommendations should be MECE i.e., Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive. At Bayes Business School, we are imbibed with the same method of thinking in all our recommendations throughout our MBA.

Business Mastery Project at HSBC

The long-formed alumni network at the business school provided me with an opportunity to work with one of the biggest financial services organisations. For my BMP, I worked with HSBC to help them enhance their cloud strategy to minimise their carbon footprint. The BMP has been another highlight of the MBA as it provides you with the opportunity to dive deep into your area of interest whilst providing you with the option to work with industry leaders.

These projects, paired with technical modules such as Corporate Finance, Operations, Corporate Strategy, Marketing, and CSR, will help you build and enhance your understanding of the core strengths of different businesses thereby helping yours or someone else’s business thrive. Some people learn more from a flat theoretical delivery, however, if you want to experience your MBA in a 3D world, I’d highly recommend an MBA at Bayes Business School as it provides you with the opportunity to work with real clients.

The strategy and financial consulting capabilities that I gained from the MBA, especially with the help of my cohort, is a learning of a lifetime that will remain unparalleled to any book available out there. Although the 12-month MBA programme asks for a lot of effort from your end, it returns more than what it takes.