Busy Last Months of the ESMT MBA Program

By QS Contributor Updated Jun 15, 2014

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Introduction
Business Plan
MBA Consulting project
Master’s thesis

Busy Last Months of the ESMT MBA Program main image

Business Plan

Our class was divided into teams of five to six people and each team had to initiate a business idea and develop a workable business plan. It was the first time I had to work on a real business plan.

First, we brainstormed different ideas in a team, and then challenged all those ideas to see which one was the most sustainable and realizable. Finally, we chose the business idea and started working on the plan.

It is so easy to get lost or forget to take into account an important detail when you have so many things to consider. It is so important to focus on each area of the business plan (e.g. marketing, product, financial plan etc.) without spending too much time on some parts and ignoring others.

In order to keep us focused, the program was designed in a way that almost every day we had to deliver a specific milestone. This was very helpful and at the end we already had done the analysis of all different parts of the business plan, so it did not take much time to put everything together.

The course ended with a business plan pitch presentation to the special jury consisting of ESMT faculty and an independent person from a venture capital world, and we also prepared an innovation fair where each team presented their business plan. This course was both interesting and challenging, and some of our teams even decided to execute their business plans after the MBA graduation.

MBA Consulting project

Different German and international companies submitted their consulting issues/projects to ESMT and each of us (MBA students) had a chance to choose the consulting project he/she would like to work on. Being interested in mergers and acquisitions I chose a consulting project where we needed to deal with a past joint venture problems of an international company.

The consulting project was very interesting and full of learning not only for the company but also for us. Our team was comprised of six MBA students coming from Germany, Belgium, Armenia, Russia, India and Ghana. Being a quite international group, we had very diverse views and perspectives on different issues. We had lots of constructive conflicts and discussions and learnt from each other. We were challenging and also encouraging each other with our comments during the teamwork. All of us were very motivated and were trying to go the extra mile to do a great job to satisfy both the customer and our intrinsic motivation of being the best.

At the end, we had a presentation for the customer’s high-level executive team and received very pleasing remarks of customer satisfaction. This was one of the best experiences for me throughout the whole MBA year.

Master’s thesis

The master’s thesis is an individual academic work which was also quite challenging given the time pressure and simultaneous work on the consulting project. It was quite fun to apply in practice many statistical methods learnt during the MBA program. After submitting the Master’s thesis all of us felt relieved and proud that we had our small contribution in the scientific knowledge development.

Our graduation was on December 14. For the first time we had to say “good bye” to each other instead of saying “see you soon”. But I am sure we will visit each other in the future years because we developed close friendships and discovered so many new cultures. Now looking back at the past year I feel this was one of the best years in my life. I received a valuable business education, experienced international team spirit, developed my skills and knowledge, and most importantly, became friends with many interesting people from all over the world. In the coming few days I will return to my country Armenia where I will begin my post-MBA life. I am thankful to ESMT and to all the people I met in Berlin for this wonderful MBA experience.

About Sona Rostomyan

Sona Rostomyan recently graduated from ESMT's MBA program and was nominated as one of the Kofi Annan Fellows in 2012. Prior to joining ESMT as an MBA student, she started her career at one of the most rapidly growing banks in Armenia (Ameriabank CJSC) working first in the customer service department and then in the back office. She has more than four of years experience in the banking industry (including customer transactions formalization, and account management). She enjoys solving mathematical puzzles, reading books and has a passion for photography.