From the Skolkovo Foundation to ESMT: Vera Kravchenko

While she feels that her considerable experience at the Skolkovo Foundation has given her a robust set of business skills, particularly in the areas of organization and information management, she wants to be able to offer more: “What these companies need from me is an ability to give them a professional overview of the prospects and possible outcomes of their decisions. As the manager in whom they have trust, I have to explain, motivate and identify some targets for them, and that requires constant professional development.”

She is hoping that her MBA experience will allow her to understand business not only from the ground and from a Russian perspective, but from above with an international eye. She once more dips into her repertoire of quotations to support this, “In this issue I share the opinion of the great Russian geographer Nikolay Baranskiy, who said: “The person who knows only one country, doesn’t know any country.’”

Of course, she will also be able to share her own business skills with her classmates, as well as the benefit of the unique perspective she has gained working for the Skolkovo Foundation: “I think that I can bring expertise in the area of startups. I know how a startup goes from idea to the market, what challenges they face and where opportunities may hide. Also I think that within the team I may act both from an SME or corporate standpoint and from an NGO or governmental, and that might help the development of the class.”

Unsurprisingly, Kravchenko has targeted a technologically inclined school in a city with a thriving tech startup scene. “I’ve chosen the European School of Management and Technology in Berlin, as this school specializes on technology management – exactly what I’m interested in. I trust that ESMT with its close cooperation with industries and practice of corporate mentorship will be able to provide me with an entirely new set of tools for business development.”

She met with the ESMT at a QS Connect 1-2-1 event in Moscow in March 2013, and speaks highly of her experience with the school’s – and other schools’ – admissions officers. “Representatives of the business schools tried to identify what I really needed and which of their programs would best meet my expectations. After this meeting I continued interaction with ESMT where I was recently accepted to the full-time MBA program-2014.”

So, all the pieces are in place for Kravchenko to gain the skills and experience she wants – so, finally, what are her plans for after she completes her program? “There are several potential ways I see my future panning out. But first of all I wanted to do an MBA for inspiration – I really hope that it will give me something to think about and to reshape my plans.”

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