Student Ambassador Eleni Evangelidou says the skills and knowledge she’s acquired from her MBA are helping her transform the family business she manages in her Greek homeland.
Running my family transport business back in Greece for the past 13 years has certainly provided me with countless valuable experiences. However, in the decade since the global financial crisis hit us, the entire scenery of not only the Greek market, but also the transportation industry overall, experienced a 360°transformation.
Reaching a point where I was feeling overwhelmed by the instability that prevailed in my country, and having always striven for evolution and self-development, I started doing my research on skills development programs that would attract my interest.
Taking the MBA path to personal growth
With a bachelor’s degree in Tourism Management and a master’s degree in Service Design already to my name, I decided to go for an MBA program in Global Hospitality Management. I knew this would also give me the opportunity to move abroad and further expand my horizons.
I came across several institutions through my research. However, after serious consideration I chose to apply for the MBA program at Les Roches in Switzerland. My decision was due in no small part to the significant contribution of the Dean of Graduate Studies, Dr. Dimitrios Diamantis.
[quote]Now in the second semester of my Les Roches MBA, I would consider the program to be ideal for both individuals with a relevant hospitality industry background as well as for ‘career-changers’.[/quote]
The latter grouping represents people like me, for whom entrepreneurship has always been flowing through their veins, and who’ve chosen to step out of their comfort zone and become part of a dynamic new world – in this case, hospitality.
Les Roches definitely gives its students the greatest boost in order to move up the professional ladder.
Transformative education for a global mindset
This is an MBA with a truly global outlook. Not just because we’ve been able to take part in field trips to the United States and China. It’s also the way the subjects themselves are delivered by exceptional teachers. This contributes to building a global mindset and provides us with the right knowledge foundations. By the time we graduate, Les Roches MBA students will have formed an overall idea of how to put the applied theory into practice.
Students are taught how to make strategic decisions and place them on the management table of an organization for discussion, in order to design the future. More specifically, among some very interesting subjects, such as Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Leadership, we are given the right tools to develop and enhance our self-employment skills.
My MBA program highlight
For me, personally, the elective course of Hospitality Business Transformation run by Mr. Paul Hodgson during the second semester of the program has been one of the most useful courses so far.
Mr. Hodgson has a very strong technology background and he is highly skilled in inspiring and motivating students. Thanks to him giving us the freedom to choose whether we would like to work either in groups or individually, I took the initiative to develop my business transformation idea on my own. This led to a sense of gaining back my power and feeling stronger and more independent, in terms of my own skills and competencies.
My idea has already started to become real and the transformation of my non-hospitality business is gradually taking place.
Eleni Evangelidou, MBA II Student Ambassador
Discover more from out Student Ambassadors:
- Raimondo Lanzieri: Becoming a certified sommelier
- Sarah Dils: Great things to do on the weekend
- Sesil Atan: Europe on your doorstep
