CEMS Club Budapest Journal / 2017 by Cems Club Budapest

C E M S

C l u b

B u d a p e s t

JOURNAL 2017

CAREER FORUM

INTERNSHIP ABROAD

CORPORATE PARTNERS

CEMS GRADUATION

MEMOIR OF THE MOST SIGNIGICANT EVENT OF THE YEAR PAGE #6

M S CL U M S CL U

APES

B B

MEET INVITECH SOLUTIONS, VODAFONE, DELOITTE, P&G, BCG, PWC & IFUA PAGE #18

EXPERIENCES OF OUR CLUB MEMBERS PAGE #12

AT CORVINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL PAGE #16

THE ALUMNI NETWORK PLANS FOR THE FUTURE WITH THE ALUMNI NETWORK PAGE #38

MEMORIES OF 2017

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CEMSATIONAL YEAR AT CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST PAGE #14

/ Malta /

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

EDITORIAL DEAR READER, It is with great honour that I took over the editing of this year’s Journal. I would like to take the opportunity and thank our Corporate Partners, Alumni and CEMS students who all contributed with close and careful cooperation to the latest issue of the CEMS Club Budapest Journal. As the PR & Communication Representative I have always believed that communication and transparency matters. As a consequence I have dedicated my efforts to share information to all members of our network. The Journal is a great tool for these aforementioned purposes and provides insights to some inspiring stories, experiences from our CEMSies and encouraging career opportunities at our Corporate Partners. I hope you will find some valuable information which might help you in your further career path. This year we had the opportunity to host one of the most important events, the CEMS Career Forum which was held in the heart of Budapest at Corvinus Business School. We welcomed over 1000 students, alumni and corporate partners from all over the world. Last but not least we had countless events throughout the year which made unforgettable memories. I would like to thank our Corporate Partners who made several events possible and also the incredible team of the CEMS Board 2017 where every member put their greatest effort to provide a unique and amazing experience to all CEMS students. Overall, now that such an exciting and busy semester is behind us, I am proud to let you take a look at our CEMSational year of 2017. I would like to wish you pleasant moments while reading this issue and all the best until the next Journal!

Published by CEMS Club Budapest Hungary Editor Gergely Zérczi Graphic Design Gergely Zérczi Special thanks to CEMS Board 2017 // Virág Barabás // Corporate Partners // CEMS Alumni // CEMS Office & Management

Email budapestcemsclub@gmail.com Facebook www.facebook.com/ CEMSClubBudapest Webpage www.cemsclubbudapest.com Photos Members of CEMS Club Budapest // Owned by Corporate Partners // CEMS Board 2017

The Editor, Gergely Zérczi Club Budapest © CEMS 2017 December

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

EDITORIAL

RETROSPECTIVE FROM THE PRESIDENT

6-7

CEMS GRADUATION 2017

8-9

BEST SNAPSHOTS FROM THE CEMS YEAR 2017

10-11

SEMESTER ABROAD

12-13

INTERNSHIP ABROAD

14-15

MEMORIES OF 2017 AT CEMS CLUB

16-17

CEMS CAREER FORUM IN BUDAPEST

18-19

INVITECH SOLUTIONS

20-21

VODAFONE

22-23

DELOITTE

24-25

PROCTER & GAMBLE

26-27

BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP

28-29

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS

IFUA HORVÁTH & PARTNERS

MEMORIES WITH CORPORATE PARTNERS

32-35

FACES BEHIND CEMS

36-37

CRACKING THE MYSTERY

THE ALUMNI NETWORK

AT UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY BUSINESS SCHOOL

MEMORIES FROM ONTARIO, SYDNEY, MILAN & BERGEN

EXPERIENCES AT VODAFONE IN LONDON AND P&G IN WARSAW

MEMOIR OF AN ORGANISER AND A PARTICIPANT

DOUBLING DOWN ON GROWTH

FROM CURIOSITY TO DISCOVER AT VODAFONE

MEET THE CEMS ALUMNI FROM DELOITTE ADVISORY

UNLIMITED CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AT P&G

CHOOSE BCG FOR YOUR CEMS INTERNSHIP

TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME AT PWC

BECOME A TOP CONSULTANT IN TERMS OF BOTH EXPERTISE AND PERSONALITY

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR ACTIVE COOPERATION

MEET THE CEMS OFFICE, THE MANAGEMENT & THE BOARD 2017

THE JOURNEY OF A STUDENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE WITH THE ALUMNI NETWORK

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

RETROSPECTIVE FROM THE PRESIDENT “Coming together is a beginning, staying together is progress, and working together is success.” (Henry Ford) KRISTÓF DÓCS, PRESIDENT OF CEMS BOARD 2017 As the president of CEMS Club Budapest, I am delighted to celebrate the end of an outstanding year of our Club. We successfully managed our traditional events, created new initiatives, further strengthened the relationship between students and alumni, now we only need to make sure that the journey goes on seamlessly with next year’s CEMS Club Board. Besides the traditional Rotation dinners with Corporate Partners, Alumni Mixer, Charity Run, Winter and Summer Camps that are all very well known, I am proud to say that we were able to strengthen last year’s innovations into traditions. The Pro-Bono consulting became so deeply embedded into the DNA of CEMS Budapest, that now even some of the business projects follow the concept, and our own project was able to attract two student teams to help social causes. The AlumNights were also started last year, with the aim of letting alumni share their industry experience with students. This year the concept was slightly modified, and it became a panel discussion on topics that attract not only students, but alumni as well. Having our amazingly active alumni network, we came up with the concept of the informal Alumni Semester Kick-off event, which became very popular occasion to meet old friends. Another successful innovation was the Corporate Drinks event, where we hosted Corporate Partners and students in an informal environment to let them openly discuss career opportunities. Last but not least I need to mention our greatest international event this year, the Career Forum that returned to Budapest. It hosted more than one thousand students from all over the CEMS Universe and dozens of corporate partners. Although the majority of the Forum was organized by the Head Office, CEMS Club Budapest greatly contributed to the sold-out Career Forum Gala, and laid down the foundations of some further collaborations.

On the behalf of the board of CEMS Club Budapest, I would like to thank our Corporate Partners, the CEMS office, the Alumni, the CEMSies and the exchange students for their enthusiasm and support that made this year CEMSational.

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

CEMS GRADUATION With the end of the year came one of the most anticipated gatherings of the CEMS calendar. After gaining valuable memories and engaging in professional development throughout the academic year, every CEMSie is looking forward to the moment they receive their coveted diploma. This year’s graduation ceremony took place in Sydney as part of the Annual Events, hosted by the University of Sydney Business School. Students from every corner of the globe gathered in this special location to vow by the values of CEMS and step into the next chapter of their international careers, celebrated by their friends and families. We would like to sincerely congratulate every graduating student, especially those representing Corvinus Business School.

ÁGNES NEMES

ANDRÁS WEIL

ANDREA VERMES

ANNA VARGA

BENCE HORVÁTH

BETTINA BALLA

BIANKA DÉCSEY

BOGLÁRKA EREDICS

CSABA BAKOS

CSILLA VIRÁG

DÁVID HORVÁTH

DÓRA DEZSÖ

EDIT WELSZ

EMESE HAMZA

ERIKA TÓTH

ESZTER MARTYIN

FANNI DUDÁS

FLÓRA BAGYINKA

FLÓRA CSELÉNYI

GERGELY HUSZÁR

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

SYDNEY 2017

JUDIT APÁTI

LÁSZLÓ RASKÓ

LAURA PAPP

LILLA SZÁSZ

MÁRK BÖRCSÖK

MÁRK PÁLFALVI

MÁTÉ PÁL

MILÁN BURKUS

NÁNDOR FLÓR

ORSOLYA FRICSKA

PÉTER STOLCZ

PÉTER NASZRAI

RENÁTA FEHÉR

RENÁTA RAJNA

SZABOLCS KEREKES

SZIDÓNIA ZENTAI

SZILVIA MOZSÁR

VIRÁG DEZSÖ

ZSÓFIA ZÁMBÓ CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

BEST SNAPSHOTS FROM

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

THE CEMS YEAR 2017

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

SEMESTER ABROAD ZOLTÁN ROZS

Ivey Business School (Ontario) Canada had its 150th anniversary this year and I had the chance to join the celebrations for an amazing semester from January. I have spent my exchange term at Ivey Business School, a toptier business school mostly famous for its case study approach. Canadians are as nice and open people as anyone would think. One interesting thing is that a lot of them are wearing a Canadian flag badge either on their jacket or bag not to get mistaken with Americans. They really don’t know anything about soccer, but they are really enthusiastic about hockey, which is played with a puck (and not a “flat ball”) – a word many incoming CEMSies had to learn during the first weeks. London, Ontario is located close to the southern border of Canada, close to Toronto. The huge campus of Western University on the bank of the River Thames and its ca. 30,000 students are defining the mood of the whole city. In London, I could try several typical Canadian activities like eating a poutine, watching a match of the local hockey team, the London Knights or ice skating. During my time at Ivey, I got to know to many local and incoming CEMSies, had the chance to travel both in Canada and in the USA. I worked on a business project in the traditional North-American steel industry which was a really challenging but also stimulating experience. Altogether I really enjoyed my time at Ivey and would do this semester again anytime. MÁTYÁS LEITNER

University of Sydney (Sydney) I was extremely curious what’s at the ‘end of the world’, where 6 out of the Earth’s 10 deadliest animals live and the habitants’ biggest concern is which beach to surf on in the afternoon. And ‘Straya didn’t let me down! I’ve been to spectacular places, rode some giant waves and found amazing friends to share these experiences with. Before coming to The Land Down Under, I heard about how chilled and relaxed the Aussies are, but their ‘take it easy, no worries, mate’ mentality was beyond my imagination. No one is rushing, I can’t think of any catastrophe or crisis that would rise their blood pressure just a tiny bit. Undoubtedly, the professional highlight of the semester was the Business Project where our team was assigned to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the Australian e-Commerce market and develop a strategy for Henkel’s Laundry and Home Care segment on ‘where to play’ and ‘how to win’ in an online environment. There were numerous ’wow’ moments that totally took my breath away. When you are rafting on a rapid river in the middle of a gorgeous rainforest, you see the head of a 6 meter long crocodile staring out of the water just a couple of steps away from you and a giant swell turns your boat upside down and you find yourself in the water, you really start valuing your life. The whole semester was an incredible journey that I can still hardly process.

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

ONTARIO, SYDNEY, MILAN & BERGEN KATINKA FÖLDI

Bocconi University (Milan) I had the chance to spend my CEMS exchange semester in the beautiful Milan in 2016. I chose the destination because I’m kind of in love with Italy. :) I’ve been studying Italian for years, I love Italian cuisine and I believe you could spend years travelling in the country constantly discovering something new and amazing. Since Bocconi is one of the highest ranked universities in Europe, my expectations were quite high. When it came to the courses, what I liked the most is the outstanding variety of guest lecturers. To give you a very simple example, in my Fashion & Luxury Management course we had the CEO of Hermes Italy or the former leader of Bvlgari but we also had the chance to visit the Gucci factory close to Florence. Of course, it’s a bit easier if you have a long list of worldwide famous designers in your country. :) Besides the academic experience, I was amazed by Italian people’s hospitality, their openness and the fact that I always had an amazing meal despite my 24 food allergies. :) Thankfully I could travel a lot, since location-wise Milan is just perfect. You have great connections to basically any other Italian region. And of course, the cheap plane tickets made it easy for my friends and family to visit me a couple of times. Overall, I really enjoyed these months, I learnt a lot and will remember it as a great period of my life despite some of the challenges I had to face. KLAUDIA SLYUCH

Norwegian School of Economics (Bergen) I am sure we all admire Snow Globes during our trips: a nice piece of the city we would love to remember combined with snowflakes. Bergen is just like that however it is raining almost every day. Besides the different weather conditions compared to Budapest’s climate, my semester was amazing. On my first day, I met Norunn (NHH incoming exchange Students Coordinator) and received a Norwegian hug as a nice welcome to NHH. With CEMS Club Bergen, we spent our first Friday night with a typical Norwegian dish: we made tacos together and met everyone from our cohort. This year NHH hosted the Nordic Forum with 100 participants mainly from other Nordic universities. During the 3 days we had a wonderful time especially during the Gala Dinner where we could enjoy the sunset over Bryggen while listening to a traditional Norwegian chorus. Due to the rainy weather, we appreciated the sunny days more than before therefore we often went hiking to one of the 7 mountains in Bergen. We closed our semester with an amazing trip to Stavanger and a hike to Preikestolen. When we reached the top, it was foggy and we did not see anything from the great view, but we were optimistic so we stayed a few more hours, had lunch and played Werewolf. When the fog disappeared and we could enjoy the gorgeous view. I am really grateful for this great semester I spent at NHH with these fantastic people, I will always keep these memories in a secure place, just like I would do the same with a Snow Globe. CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

INTERNSHIP ABROAD ALEXANDRA MÁRTON

Vodafone (London) After two amazing CEMS semesters, one in Copenhagen, the other in Budapest, there was only one criterion left: the internship. Luckily very soon I was offered to spend 3 months at Vodafone Group in London as Employer Brand and Social Media Intern. Having only a couple of weeks until the start of the programme, I quickly booked the apartment, the flight tickets, arranged all the documentation and it was already time to board the plane to Luton Airport. As a fan of social media, I incredibly enjoyed being an Employer Brand and Social Media Intern and I arrived just in the right time. The company was planning its rebranding campaign and I got heavily involved in the preparation. Hence besides the general employer branding tasks such as creating strategy for our social media channels and operating them on a daily basis, I also worked with a creative agency closely: selected the campaign participants from over 15 countries, coordinated their travels and assisted the filming and shooting days. No doubt, a dream came true for me, especially as I also participated in one of the scenes as an extra!

During these months I got to know amazing people from different cultures, interns, graduates and global directors equally, made some true friends and explored one of the most multicultural cities in the world. I even attended the Pride festival for the very first time with the Vodafone crew and it turned out to be a huge party in London! I finished my internship in the beginning of September but not my Vodafone career. Just 3 days later I joined the Hungarian Vodafone team in Budapest as a Discover Graduate and I’m excitedly looking forward to the future. All in all, I can’t be grateful enough for both the programme and the city whilst I’m wishing good luck for those still ahead of their internship.

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

LONDON AND WARSAW BERNADETT KONCZ

Procter & Gamble (Warsaw) When it came to the international internship requirement of the CEMS curriculum, it was very important to me to do the internship at an internationally well-recognized company, where I can imagine my future career. As a consequence I applied to Procter & Gamble for the Finance Summer Internship position. I went through the hiring process in the Budapest office, but because it was a CEMS requirement for me to do the internship abroad, I got an offer from the Warsaw office. My main tasks involved working on and finalizing the project in the area of marketing expenditure effectiveness assessment that has been divided into 3 parts: • ROI analysis on non-direct marketing expenditures • ROI analysis on trade marketing expenditures • Defining a framework for the on-going marketing ROI analysis with specific customized recommendations for each category Working on this project gave me the opportunity to get familiar with various business cases and marketing initiatives. On top, I was working directly with multiplies stakeholders (local or regional representatives from different departments: Finance, Marketing, Sales, and Market Research). I carried out the analysis of a complex business topic and concluded my project with an ROI Assessment Framework and a couple of initiative-specific recommendations. I really enjoyed working at P&G. It was a big challenge to lead and be fully responsible for my own project. I was surrounded by amazing people. I never felt alone, everybody was super helpful. Even if they had plenty of other more important things to do, they always allocated time for meetings with me. During my internship, I participated in both professional and social events in the company, for example the annual Central European F&A Off-site, where I had the opportunity to spend 3 days in Prague with other 100+ P&G Finance employees from all over the Central European region.

Overall, I can honestly say that I got much more from this internship than I expected. I managed to improve my analytical and problem-solving skills, and what is also very important I got to know amazing people. I have to say that it was not easy to succeed, but I did my best and my hard work paid off. I managed to deliver a very successful project and I can’t wait to continue my career at Procter & Gamble.

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

MEMORIES OF 2017 HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR CEMSATIONAL YEAR OF 2017

There is no year without Alumni Mixer where the current and alumni students had a unique opportunity to share their experiences and get to know each other better.

After kick-starting the semester with the RGL Seminar in Gödöllő, we introduced our exchange students to the mysteries of the Hungarian culture and language.

The parties at the legendary Winter Camp will always stay a nice memory for all of us.

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

In Summer Camp we chilled on the beach of Lake Balaton while competing in the games organised by our Corporate Partners.

AT CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST

During the fall semester a new concept was introduced for our AlumNight with the aim to generate round table discussions between the experienced alumni and the curious students in the topic of Startup & Entrepreneurship. This year had the opportunity to host the CEMS Career Forum in the heart of Budapest. Many of us had the chance to learn something new during the skill seminars, challenge ourselves at pre-scheduled interviews and get information about opportunities at our Corporate Partners.

In the seventh year in a row we organised our annual Charity Run with more than 100 participants to support InDaHouse Hungary Foundation.

Every CEMSational year starts with the Block Seminar at the beautiful city of Gödöllö! While getting familiar with the topic of Digital Transformation, CEMSies visited GE Power and GE Digital plants.

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

CEMS CAREER FORUM RECRUITMENT, KNOWLEDGESHARING AND NETWORKING, ALL IN ONE LOCATION: CEMS Career Forum Budapest, 2017 Career Forum experience as an organiser Being held in Vienna for the past few years, the bar was set high before the Career Forum’s return to Budapest this November. Regarded as one of the core global events of the year, it comes with a dual purpose. On one hand, it must serve as a platform for students and corporate partners to embrace the unique global community provided by the CEMS MIM program, and make lucrative new professional connections over these two days. On the other hand, it provides an opportunity for Budapest and Corvinus Business School to showcase its attractiveness as a destination for academic, as well as professional endeavors among other members of the academic network. The creation of this world-class event was a project that involved substantial efforts from both the local Organizing Team regarding the professional aspect, and the members of CEMS Club Budapest for handling the more informal parts of the agenda. With over 40 corporate partners and more than 1,000 students attending, it was crucial to ensure the delivery of value-added engagements to both parties. Students were surrounded by top class employers, who in turn could leverage this unique opportunity to secure some of the sharpest minds in the business as prospective candidates. Turning this into a reality required carefully planned logistics, crystal clear communication, and a precise event management framework.

After a busy two days filled with skill seminars, interviews, and networking events, we closed this year’s Career Forum with the CEMS Gala dubbed the Afterlife Party. It was the perfect occasion for everyone to let out some steam and enjoy the evening in a more informal setting at one of the city’s most prominent venues. The Charity Sale organized by CEMS Club Budapest during the day helped guests put on their best look for the evening, while contributing to the impact of the Amigos for Children Foundation in Hungary. Having received generally positive feedback from participants, we concluded the event as a success for all local parties involved. Despite the hard work, we felt honored to have been the focal point of the global community for these two days, and are more than looking forward to welcoming another round of guests at next year’s event in Budapest.

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

IN BUDAPEST, 2017 Career Forum experience as a participant After participating in last year’s Career Forum in Vienna, my expectations were even higher concerning this year’s event in Budapest. I consider myself lucky because I had a chance to participate in the full series of events that were organized during the intensive weekend. Offering knowledge-sharing opportunities both for CEMS students and corporate partners, the Career Forum is an exceptional occasion in terms of informal networking and social programs. On Friday I attended a Career Training Workshop, which was introduced this year. The workshop, organized by Case Solvers, was focusing on how to conquer consulting firms and how to ace case interviews. This was a very insightful experience into consulting interviews and I expect that this unique event would be a core module of the Career Forum in following years.

After the workshop I had a chance to participate in a skill seminar of Deloitte, held by the representatives of the Luxembourg and Swiss office, around the topic of Business Chemistry. The seminar was rather intense combining several forms of group tasks based on a previous personality test. I have learnt about how people behave in business environment, and how to approach different personality types, which was truly insightful. I was also selected to attend the Networking Dinner and Cocktails on Friday evening at the magnificent building of Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Not only the venue, the whole event was fascinating, enabling networking opportunity for a limited number of students with corporate partners.

On the next day I had three previously arranged interviews with corporate representatives, which put severe pressure on me, but at the end, turned out to be enjoyable and inspiring. Later, I took part in the Career Fair, gathering information about future internship and graduate opportunities from all over the world, while talking to corporate representatives. Closing this intense two days with a spectacular Gala enabled me to experience the CEMS spirit and I could finally relax a bit after the hard work. CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

INVITECH SOLUTIONS DOUBLING DOWN ON GROWTH

Invitech Solutions’ brand hit the Hungarian ICT market about a year and a half ago when the B2B business unit of the Hungary-based, private equityowned company group announced that they would run their business independently in the future. Ever since, the company keeps receiving acknowledgements from the market: after only about six months, it was recognized as the “Best ICT Company in Hungary”, and one of its key products, a cloud-based IT-security solution with Artificial Intelligence augmentation has recently earned a prestigious professional award and they recently finished the most modern datacentre in Hungary. Invitech Solutions serves over 6,000 clients with multitude of ICT solutions in telecommunications, IT and cloud-based services; and it is continuously expanding and developing. The firm is now switching to an even higher gear: aspiring to a leading position on the Hungarian ICT market. These ambitious plans are backed by serious internal developments, so people operations and talent recruitment play a business-critical role. We talked to Balázs and Dániel, two professionals who know CEMS and Corvinus well from the inside, and play an important role in making these plans happen.

Pitch-deck in the making

While Invitech Solutions leverages its strong owned and operated infrastructure, -for example a nationwide high-speed backbone network or a top tier data centerthey also include all the trendiest tech magic words in

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

their product portfolio. While the largest banks and energy providers are yet rather infrastructure and IT customers, Invitech Solutions is already focusing on the future, planning to serve connected industrial IoT devices, smart cities and 5G mobile networks among others. Balancing this is not an easy job, and one of the key roles is played by former CEMS Club President Balázs, who is responsible for the strategic plans and integrated go-to-market approach of the company. BALÁZS HORVÁTH, STRATEGY & MARKETING DIRECTOR Education: CEMS, IMP, DSG, MBA Year of Grad: 2007 Extracurr. activities: CC Pres., SBie Balázs spent 8 years at BCG, and now he wants to use his extensive regional and global telecom, media and technology experience on the corporate side. “I believe that my career can only be authentic if I can use the experience I gathered as a strategy consultant in endto-end implementation and organization development as well.” Balázs explained why he chose Invitech Solutions: “First, I wanted to work in tech, where we live in historic times. Technology showed ballistic development in the last 10 years: cloud infrastructure got 20x cheaper, internet connectivity 40x faster, computing 50x more powerful. They led to us where we are now, in the eye of the perfect storm: IoT, various forms of artificial intelligence, big data and their combinations will disrupt most traditional industries from banking over energy to FMCG. Second, Invitech Solutions, as a freshly established large firm offers an excellent opportunity for combining entrepreneurship with the customer reach and financing power of a large corporate. Finally, we are in charge: we don’t need to operate under parent company strings, but can keep the whole innovation under end-to-end control.”

INVITECH SOLUTIONS Balázs believes that these characteristics make the firm ideal for independent creative work. “Invitech Solutions has the stability of a large enterprise, thanks to its infrastructure which is comparable to its multinational competitors. Plus, because of its special position, it can respond to market demands more comparably to a start-up, and less as a large MNC. I could also say that this firm combines the market power of a national service provider and the agile operation of a start-up. This is why it offers great career opportunities both for fresh graduates and senior experts.” Now you might say talking about such lofty principles is one thing and realizing them in everyday life is another. Dani, an applied economics major who started out at a corporate finance advisory of a Big4 company about two and a half years ago and now works as a strategy analyst, and his job is the execution of the mentioned plans.

Annual company sport event award ceremony

Drone shot at „Invitel Olympics”

“Recently, I had to analyze the banking market in relation to a product development project. The results were presented to the CEO, and I was also invited to participate in this presentation.”, the young expert described the exciting challenges of his job. Being a huge fan of numbers and data, Dani recently made an analysis of the tasks he faces in his work.

DÁNIEL TÓSOKI, SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST Education: Applied Economics Year of Grad: 2016 Extracurr. activities: FAKT Chairman “In the first months, I already worked on strategizing and implementing projects in various stages, and I have been inspired by working with colleagues of diverse engineering and business backgrounds.”, the young economist summarized the merits of the company. As a member of the business development and internal consulting team, Dani considers one of the greatest benefits of the company that it allows them to get an overview of complex processes and also gives them the opportunity to implement development projects, like the planning of an urban IoT network project or modeling the market size and revenue streams of a virtual customer service platform.

“I was also surprised by the diverse professional work we do here. One week we analyze IoT use-cases, the next week we prepare a presentation for a leading regional energy provider, then we make a recommendation for the automation of marketing processes. The work of the team is full of challenges and requires a lot of creativity”, Dani confesses. Admittedly, by joining Invitech he not only found what he was looking for, but plans to expand his scope in the years to come. Invitech Solutions’ strategic and marketing directorate is looking for interns, graduates and seniors on rolling basis for the following teams: Business development & internal consulting

Marketing communication

Service and process management

Business Intelligence

For more information, please visit: https://www.invitech.hu/ or https://www.invitech.hu/iot

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

FROM CURIOSITY TO DISCOVER AT VODAFONE INTERVIEW WITH LILLA KOVÁCS, MEMBER OF VODAFONE HUNGARY’S FIRST DISCOVER PROGRAM Vodafone Hungary offers outstanding career opportunities for talented college/university students and fresh graduates starting from its Curiosity Internship Program through the two-year long, rotation-based fresh graduate Discover Program to the international Columbus Program. We interviewed Lilla, who completed both the Discover and the Columbus Programs and fully utilized the possibilities in them. Lilla, when did you start your career at Vodafone Hungary? I was hired for Vodafone’s Discover Program in 2010. I thought, this program could help me achieve my personal goals and aspirations as it offered a wide range of opportunities to get to know a multi-national company like Vodafone. I always wanted work in the field of marketing however my degree was in finance. Marketing related full-time jobs back then required deep marketing knowledge, so I did not have the chance to get hold on those positions, so the rotational program was a good way to drive my career. Did you have any extracurricular activities that helped you get into the Discover Program? I was a member of the EVK College for Advanced Studies, and I also worked during my studies. I was studying abroad once with Erasmus and once with the CEEPUS scholarship. These experiences, I think were the key to be able to adapt to the ever-changing work environment and to always be opened to new things.

How did your journey in the Discover Program look like? Just a fun fact: we were the very first batch of Vodafone Hungary’s Discover Program. I spent the first rotation in retail in the Aréna Pláza. It was a complete research for me to get to know our customers, their pain points, the feedbacks from the colleagues on the current propositions, what worked and what not and the front line motivation, which is the key in my current position to keep up our competitiveness. Then I worked on a project in Customer Care, dealing with the efficiency of our back office team, and in my last rotation I was supporting a new portfolio development project that launched the first data bundled proposition at Vodafone. Where did you end up after the Discover Program? I finished the Discover Program in the team of my last rotation, in postpaid segment marketing. At that time I worked on different campaigns, handset pricing and one of our key KPIs was to boost data tariff share. Later, due to a reorganization, I started working in the prepaid segment as a product development manager, responsible for P/L, product development, pricing and some go-to-market related projects. Then you applied for the Columbus Program, what raised your interest for this opportunity? I always wanted to work abroad and Vodafone is a well-known brand globally so I thought Columbus

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INTERVIEW WITH LILLA KOVÁCS program was the best opportunity for me. The 2-year long assignment led me to the UK so I had a chance to work in the home-country of Vodafone. Different attitudes and international environment were very appealing and in the same time difficult to handle but I do believe that these things help you widen your intellectual horizon. I was assigned to Newbury, UK as a Service Product Manager. My task was to develop and increase the quality of Vodafone’s value-added services to improve customer experience and our NPS. For example, when it came to handset repairs, we managed to replace the 3G devices with 4G devices for which I had to get and then manage a budget worth of GBP 300.000. Later I worked as an Enterprise Commercial Development Manager at Vodafone Group and my main responsibilities included 4G strategy execution in the AMAP countries and to pull together the vertical proposition strategies for the SOHO/SME segment and also to launch an Enterprise ARPA program for Europe. I had a chance to manage two Discover Graduates that time, which was again the very good experience from people management point of view. What position did you settle in when you got back to Hungary? I got back home in 2016 as a Senior Prepaid Proposition Manager. I knew well this field, since I worked there before and it was a good experience to lead the area. My main achievement was to launch the Tuti tariff

which affected the prepaid market quite extensively, consideration- and NPS-wise as well. Since July, 2017 I have been working as a Senior Fixed Segment Manager on several business development projects. I think, I got the opportunity from Vodafone to go through quite an interesting and eventful career path in the past 7 years and I am always looking forward to the upcoming challenges. Because, you know, the future is exciting. Do you have any advice for those who are planning to apply for the Discover Program? I think all the agile, open–minded, proactive people can try out themselves in the program. It is a great networking opportunity as well and you can truly get to know the company inside-out, but I would highlight one important thing: humbleness. Discover Program offers the opportunity to become a leader, but that does not come in a blink of an eye. You need to learn, look up to your leaders and be patient. It is only up to you whether you make the most out of it!

The selection process for next year’s Discover Program starts in December. You can apply for 4 different areas: Commercial, Finance, HR and Technology. Keep an eye on Vodafone’s Career Page on Facebook since the opening will be published there: www.facebook.com/VodafoneCareers

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DELOITTE ADVISORY

What impact will you make? deloitte.hu Deloitte is the brand under which tens of thousands of dedicated professionals in independent firms throughout the world collaborate to provide audit, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and related services to clients. The Deloitte Advisory department of the Hungarian office incorporates two main activities in specialized sub-departments: Management Consulting and Financial Advisory. Deloitte’s Financial Advisory business provides strategic solutions in five areas: Corporate Finance, Forensic, Merger & Acquisition (M&A) Transaction, Restructuring, and Valuation services, while the Management Consulting department provides with the world’s leading business and technology consultancy with Strategy & Operations, Human Capital or Technology practice. If you’re planning your future as a consultant and want to explore the wide range of learning possibilities Deloitte can offer, we are happy to announce the launch of the Deloitte Deep Dive Advisory Internship Program. We are waiting for you in min 30 hours/ week with ongoing master’s studies. What do we offer to our Interns? You will • be an equal part of the consultant team with real responsibilities from your very first day at work • have a deeper understanding of different departments’ work so you can decide about your specialization later

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• have the same learning opportunities as our consultants • have a mentor who will support and guide you throughout your internship and give advice regarding your university thesis • have a competitive intern salary and other benefits (fresh fruit and coffee every day, teambuilding and social events, etc.) After graduation, you can continue your career at Deloitte as a consultant. Moreover, as an employee, you may have the opportunity to accomplish your CEMS internship as well in one of Deloitte’s offices in Europe (London, Frankfurt, Milan etc.). INTERVIEW WITH CEMS ALUMNI AT DELOITTE SZILVIA DETKI-MOZSÁR, MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT CSABA BAKOS, FINANCIAL CONSULTANT ANNA KEMPF, SENIOR MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT MÁRTA KEMÉNY, FINANCIAL CONSULTANT Where did you meet the Deloitte Advisory first and what were the factors that motivated you to join the team? Szilvia: I got my first impression at the Discover Deloitte event, where during a delicious wine tasting held by partners, we had the opportunity to talk to colleagues from HR, Advisory, Audit about ongoing

INTERVIEW WITH CEMS ALUMNI projects, daily activities and work style at Deloitte. I was amazed by the enthusiasm and professional attitude of Deloitte colleagues. At the end of the event, an HR generalist suggested me to apply to Deloitte Advisory by completing the online test, and I immediately decided I would not miss this chance. Csaba: Before joining Deloitte, I did my CEMS Business Project with the company on a project to measure the digital maturity of Hungarian retail banks. We got to work with energetic and open-minded professionals of Deloitte and also learnt a lot about the everyday processes of a consultancy. Moreover, we mapped real life problems of banks such as the difficulties of integrating new digital solutions into legacy systems, and we tailored and prioritized digital solutions for some of the banks. CEMS business projects at Deloitte allow participants to experience the life of financial and management advisors. Cemsies need to be ready to perform in client situations, absorb new industry knowledge, prepare underlying analyses and come up with creative solutions to problems. What is your biggest achievement so far at Deloitte that you are most proud of?

from the CE region covering appr. 10 countries flew in, I am going to Warsaw for the next training! What is it that you like the most about your job at Deloitte? Anna: Making an impact that matters and maximizing my potential: solving real business problems while working closely with talented and clever colleagues, continuously acquiring new knowledge, being with friends during and after work. Márta: The diversity of our engagements – within a year, I have learnt about several industries, worked on transaction and valuation projects as well. Financial Advisory has separate teams covering M&A, TS and V&M, but we work as ‘Transactions One’, which means that as a junior I can work in all areas. And of course, my awesome colleagues! :) If you are looking for a fast paced, challenging opportunity to join one of the world’s leading professional services firms, send your CV to: cehujobs@deloittece.com

Anna: On the professional side, successfully coordinating a strategy development and action planning project for a specialized financial institute where we worked strongly together with both the Board and the operative leaders. On the personal side, acquiring true friends. Márta: I became a regional Tableau (Data visualisation software) instructor! I created a two-day long training program which has grown to a regional level. After two sessions in Budapest, where colleagues

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UNLIMITED CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AT P&G Which factors drive your decision when choosing a company to work for?

At P&G your strong desire to grow will be matched by an exciting career path. You will have a real impact on the business from the very first day. You can grow fast through continuous learning and hands-on experience, supported by inspiring leaders, empowered by a curriculum of best-in-class trainings and working in multi-functional teams. You will shape your career in your own unique way, gaining diverse business and personal experience through different assignments even in different locations. In order to get a wider insight, read about the experiences of CEMS Alumni at P&G. ÁDÁM BODOKI CE HOUSEHOLD CARE MARKET STRATEGY & PLANNING FINANCE GROUP MANAGER JOINED P&G IN 2009 WORKED IN GENEVA REGIONAL HQ, CSÖMÖR PLANT AND BUDAPEST LOCAL HQ ERIKA TÓTH MARKET STRATEGY & PLANNING FINANCE MANAGER IN HOME CARE JOINED P&G IN 2016 WORKED IN RIGA AND BUDAPEST LOCAL HQS

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Erika: I am looking for a challenging environment in which I can improve my skills and be exposed to new ideas. The unique P&G career path and the multinational workplace allow me to try myself in different areas such as in sales organization or in plant related activities and I can meet lots of inspiring people and stories. Also, it is important to me to feel that I share the same values with people I work with. Ádám: As we spend half of our life at the workplace, it is very critical how the atmosphere there is and who the people are we spend the time with, so for me PEOPLE working there are clearly number one factor. Obviously, you would like to do a job, that helps your development both professionally and personally and also that you enjoy day-by-day in a normal week.

Looking back to your P&G career so far, what is the TOP 3 reason you think your decision working for P&G was a good one? Erika: First of all, there are lots of organized trainings and workshops to improve the soft skills. I have already learnt a lot about negotiation, effective communication which I can practice on a daily basis. Also, there is Toastmasters in the Finance community so there are regular meetings and we can exercise public speaking in a safe environment and get constructive feedbacks. On the other hand, I am also happy that I can gain insight into every field although these are not always closely related to my everyday work. I like understanding the processes from the very beginning to the very end, from purchasing of supplies to consumer experience. For example, researchers from R&D have already spent hours to explain the technology behind the products and plant visits are regularly organized. Thirdly, I really enjoy the flexibility offered at P&G, both time-wise and location-wise. I could have a say in where and when to be allocated when I applied to the internship. From the experience of my colleagues, I also know that the working hours can be adjusted to personal needs that gives me the confidence that I will have the required flexibility when needed.

INTERVIEW WITH CEMS ALUMNI

Ádám: First of all, I have met lot of great people in the company and some of them are not only my colleagues, but my close friends today. I have developed a lot professionally, working with different functions (like marketing, sales, logistics, HR, etc.) as a Finance Manager in several locations (Regional HQ, Local Market HQ, Plant). Last but not least, I have also developed a lot personally, getting to know my boundaries better and learning a lot from my mentors.

What are the main similarities and differences between the two organizations (CEMS and P&G) which make you enjoy your job?

What is your goal that you would like to achieve with P&G? Erika: I would like to bring the best out of myself so I can help the others solve problems and improve themselves, too. Ádám: I would like to learn more and develop further both personally and professionally. P&G provides me the opportunity to improve both on the hard skills – by putting into different assignments and challenging roles – and the soft skills via providing opportunity to manage people and organizations that are the most exciting things to do and I enjoy them a lot.

Erika: P&G and CEMS are equally international, open and constructive communities. Both value and celebrate diversity, integration and equality. There are many CEMS Alumni members working at P&G so even people are overlapping. However, the ‘exchange semester’ probably lasts longer than in CEMS. Ádám: Both organizations are very diverse and multinational, people come from very different background and knowledge. We have many similarities in values and people are the first in both organizations. Networking is one of the most critical aspects of the CEMS program and same here in the company as with a good network everything is much easier and simpler to solve.

You have been working in different countries for P&G. What was the main learning point for you from this experience? Erika: Although the countries and nations differ, the values and the working style remain unchanged. Ádám: For me the key learning was that I had to make clear choices and differentiations as I had no chance to do everything – and it mainly came on the personal side. For example, I had to make a choice with whom I was going to meet when coming home from abroad and although I would have loved to meet all my friends it was clearly not possible. This was a big learning for me.

We are happy to be rewarded with Best of FMCG Employers Excellence Award 2017 Students’ Choice Powered by Trade Magazin and PwC

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CHOOSE BCG FOR

INTERVIEW WITH CEMS ALUMNI AT BCG GYURI LAKATOS, SENIOR ASSOCIATE

The steps you take in the beginning of your career are crucial in determining the direction where you will be going in the upcoming years. Therefore it is extremely important to find yourself a workplace where you feel like you belong and where you can fulfill your passion, and to make the most of your early years there. Rich Lesser, BCG’s CEO addressed these points in his interview with Poets & Quants in 2016. Rich’s thoughts inspired Gyuri Lakatos, CEMS Alumnus and Senior Associate in our Budapest office, and he reflected on them.

Rich Lesser started at BCG right after he graduated from Harvard Business School. As he recalls… “I was having interview after interview with a lot of the discussions centered around cases that the various recruiters were giving. What attracted me to BCG was the degree to which their cases were so substantive and sometimes counterintuitive on the nature of the problems and what the right or potential answers were for the clients. […] When I got the offer, I started visiting offices. It was totally a nonhierarchical environment —almost to the extreme. [...] That was totally my own style. Finally, I had an

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offer from BCG in New York. It was 13 people during my summer there. It was tiny. I liked the people and the environment and I was at a small-share player with a grand brand name and a huge market. What better opportunity could there be than that?” Gyuri: I knew from the end of my Bachelor’s studies that I wanted to start my career in consulting. There were three things that drew me to this path: First, the opportunity to try out multiple industries and topics in a real-life environment, and thus be able to make a more educated choice where to focus later on. Second, the opportunity to make a difference at a large scale, practically from day 1 – Not just being a piece of machinery, but actually solving the most challenging issues of senior clients. And third, the people I would have the opportunity to work with on a day-to-day basis. This dimension was also the main reason why I picked BCG among all the firms in the end. The atmosphere of the Budapest office was very similar to how Rich was describing New York in the eighties – The office looking and feeling very much like a startup with the people acting in a completely non-hierarchical way, engaging and challenging each other on a multitude of topics, and all this in the environment of a multinational brand.

The first year at the workplace could be critical. On the other hand, within BCG it gives a unique opportunity to make an impact and create value for clients and BCG as a whole. In Rich’s case… “In my first 18 months, I had three or four different settings where I was able to build a relationship with the person who was leading the effort in that particular part of the business. [...] I was there to really help them. I think this combination — trust plus relationships, good

YOUR CEMS INTERNSHIP skills, and the ability to really add value — meant that we were actually taking on hard issues, such as how to reset the cost structure of one business; how to re-shape the international strategy in the other parts of that business; and how to accelerate timeto-market on the product development side. ” Gyuri: My key learning from my first cases was how important it is to gain the trust and cooperation of the clients early on. Considering that the expectations for consulting assignments is more and more to deliver tangible and sustainable impact – and not only a slide deck – focusing on these two points should be even more crucial going forward. Nevertheless, this can be truly challenging for young consultants: as one tends to focus on the immediate, it is tough to keep in mind that a key component to gaining the Clients’ trust is to show on all levels, what is in it for them. Navigating the organizational complexity and conflicting interests has been the most challenging task, but also the most valuable learning so far.

Consulting is a unique industry, and it inspires people with different backgrounds and expectations. But how is it actually different from what people would originally expect? “I think we’ve gone through two evolutions that have really expanded the role that we do as a firm […] and what we expect our people to do. There are three things we now do. The first is to take the hardest and highest-stakes problems and help our clients in a very collaborative way get to the answer. The second is to actually be a partner with them on how to make the change happen and to be able to do that in ways that cut across functions, geographies, and business units. So to be able to take very hard change that requires both operational change skills and very human change skills around leadership, talent and culture, and really bring those together. The third, and the most recent part, is the expectation from clients that you’re not just going to make the change happen once. Now, you have to build the organizational capacity to deal with a rapidly changing world and be able to adapt and evolve. So it’s not just enough for a consultant to

come in and make the change happen with the client. Gyuri: For me, there are two areas where I had certain expectations, but reality surpassed them by far. Firstly, I can truly feel the evolution Rich was referring to, and I have to say, when I was joining I did not expect it to be happening to this extent – I was still assuming the work to be more focused on generating concepts and strategies, but the reality is much more focused towards “making it stick” through cooperation and effectively building capabilities with the Client. The second area was the extent of diversity. I was expecting to be working with people from different backgrounds and nationalities – something I also truly learned to value within CEMS – but I did not foresee how much clients really value the holistic way of thinking about certain problems that can be achieved through putting a team on the ground that is diverse regarding industrial and functional expertise as well as gender and nationality.

Still wondering where to do your mandatory international internship? Apply to BCG Visiting Associate position and start your internship when it is the most convenient for you. For more information, please reach out to us at BCGBUDRecruiting@bcg.com

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“THINK BIG, THINK COLOURFUL!” Meet the CEMS Alumni of PwC! Of course everybody knows PwC is a great supporter of the Hungarian CEMS community, but who stands behind all of this at the firm, as CEMS Alumni? We decided to let you get a sneak peak behind the scenes, and see who ended Meet the CEMS Alumni of PwC! up at this awesome company, where you can develop yourself every day Of course everybody knows PwC is a great the hungarian CEMS community, but who of thisCEMS at the ﬁrm, andsupporter get to ofwork with interesting people, juststands like behind duringall our studies! as CEMS Alumni? We decided to let you get a sneak peak behind the scenes, and see who ended up at this awesome company, where you can develop yourself every day and get to work with interesting people, just like during our CEMS studies! Bence Damjanovics

Bálint Végh

Antal Kerekes

Consultant, Management Consulting CEMS year: 2016 Exchange semester: University of Sydney Business School, Australia Fun Fact: I got a black-eye from a friend of mine with a paddle, while rafting in a rainforest in Australia in a crocodile infested area.

Manager, Management Consulting CEMS year: 2004 Exchange semester: Uni zu Köln, Germany Fun Fact: I lived in a dormitory in Cologne, which had such a bad reputation that Bild referred to it in an investigative article as "Hell in Cologne"

Partner, Technology Advisory CEMS year: 1998 Exchange semester: Uni zu Köln, Germany Fun Fact: I got to 21 Kölsch beers at a place called DasDing in Cologne, where students could drink for free every Tuesday until 11...

Viktor Eperjesy Consultant, Tax Advisory CEMS year: 2016 Exchange semester: UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Ireland Fun Fact: Don't drive when you are tired in a country where people drive on the left side of the road. Otherwise you'll end up like me, driving in the wrong lane!

Mátyás Leitner

Bernadett Nádasy

Mátyás Leitner Consultant, Management Consulting CEMS year: 2016 Exchange semester: University of Sydney Business School, Australia Fun Fact: While rafting in Australia I accidentally fell into the river. Just 1 minute after seeing a giant crocodile.

Annamária Németh

Bence Damjanovics

Viktor Eperjesy

Bálint Végh

Flóra Bagyinka

Antal Kerekes

Bernadett Nádasy Consultant, Management Consulting CEMS year: 2008 Exchange semester: Stockholm School of Economics Fun Fact: I met my husband through the Program, who is also a CEMSie!

Dávid Somosi

Annamária Németh

Flóra Bagyinka

Senior Consultant, Technology Advisory CEMS year: 2012 Exchange semester: Copenhagen Business School Fun Fact: I think Józsefváros (Joseph city) is by far the coolest district in Budapest

Senior Consultant, Management Consulting CEMS year: 2013 Exchange semester: UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School Fun Fact: I did my CEMS internship at PwC in Vienna

Consultant, Management Consulting CEMS year: 2015 Exchange semester: Louvain School of Management, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium Fun Fact: After coming home to a Winter Camp from Belgium, I missed my flight back and couldn't make it to a skill seminar, which almost got me banned from skill seminars for a semester.

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TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME Aday day a consultant A of of a consultant

Have you ever wondered how a day of a consultant at PwC looks like? Wonder no more, read on and follow me for a day!

Have you ever wondered what a day of a consultant at PwC looks like? Wonder no more, read on and follow me for a day! 12:00 – 13:00 Lunchtime! We are heading out to one of the many restaurants we have around the office. (Unless we are having a Lunch & Learn session where we get to hear about new trends and ideas while enjoying a lovely buffet lunch.) In the past year we attended Lunch & Learn sessions with a magician, a stand-up comedian, an actor and a gossip researcher (did you know that even existed?!??!). Other sessions are devoted to presenting our projects to fellow colleagues in our lines of service, or other departments (the tax and audit folks).

11:00 – 12:00 The team evaluates the kick-off, we distribute the duties and define the next steps.

10:30 – 11:00

13:00 – 14:30 I am working on a project task before catching up for a coffee with a colleague in the bar downstairs to prepare for the meeting ahead.

We are heading back to the office in a Nissan Leaf, which is our electronic company car and is really easy to drive!.

14:30 – 16:00 We are meeting the head of the NGO we are supporting through PwC’s Civil Mentor Program to help them establish stable operations and cash-flow. The work they are doing is amazing and it feels really good to be of assistance to them!

09:00 – 10:30 With my team we are having a project kick-off with a new client who would like to assess its operations’ efficiency. In the meeting, it turns out they are super-excited about our up and coming business lines for fintech solutions and implementation of disruptive technologies like drones, blockchain, social listening and chatbots. I bet you didn’t know about these either! Well, we might have just set the ground for a new project.

16:00 – 17:00 I am working on a business development material for the client we met this morning to show them some more of our expertise in new technology trends they were so excited about.

17:00 – 18:00 07:00 I start the day in the gym which I use for a reduced price thanks to the special discount for PwC staff.

We are finalizing our internal research project paper on circular economy with some colleagues. Others dwell into consumer trends, robotics or blockchain technology. I really love the freedom and opportunity to immerse in topics you are excited or care about.

18:00 I am heading out! Unless we are having a PwC Film Club or it is Friday, when we have a fröccs Friday in the bar downstairs, courtesy of PwC!

If you want to know more about life at PwC , let’s catch up at the Christmas Ball and have a chat!

If you are interested in our open positions, please visit: https://www.pwc.com/hu/hu/karrier!

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BECOME A TOP CONSULTANT IN TERMS OF BOTH EXPERTISE AND PERSONALITY

INTERVIEW WITH ATTILA RÉDEI, MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT, CEMS ALUMNUS Why did you decide to work as a consultant and why did you choose IFUA Horváth & Partners? How would you characterize the corporate culture? I chose advisory because Corvinus University of Budapest offers some really great case-solving seminars which give students an opportunity to work on interesting case studies and present them in a team to real-life consultants. I took part in these courses and I felt that I would like to do this in my professional career as well. There are three reasons why I chose IFUA Horváth & Partners. First of all, many of my classmates are working for IFUA so I knew that I will be part of a great team. Second, IFUA is the company which offers fast career track and excellent learning opportunities. I have been working here since September but I can already feel how much IFUA contributed to my professional development. Last but not least, collegiality is the main determining factor of the corporate culture. Everyone is really helpful and I feel that it is a common goal to improve myself both personally and intellectually. Regarding the corporate culture, I would like to really highlight that IFUA devotes particular attention to acquire and develop leadership skills right from the very beginning. On the other hand, the company puts great emphasis on being a community. There are a lot of team building activities which help us to get to know each other better, to build trust, and to encourage communication and increase collaboration. What kind of projects are you working on right now? Do you have any specializations? Currently I am doing a project at a global bank which has a service centre with fairly wide coverage ranging

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from South Africa to Kazakhstan. We are working on the development of a global reporting system which will help the client to create all of its regulatory reports from a global platform. The project is really great because you can work in a multicultural environment. For example I have direct contact with developers who live in India. Now I am taking part in IFUA’s brand new career programme, called Up & More. ‘Up’ means that you can progress fast in you professional career, ‘More’ means that you get more through an excellent community. During the Up & More programme, you can take part in different projects targeting different companies with different solutions. During the first year you can decide what kind of industry or solution you are really interested in and then you will be part of a specialized competence centre. Who are you looking for at IFUA? On what levels can people apply? I think it is important for the applicants to be able to think structurally and creatively. You have to be able to handle unstructured business problems and offer them structured solutions. Of course it is also important to have good communication and presentation skills because you have to present your ideas with confidence and clarity to the client. Currently I think people can apply on all levels however I would really encourage people to join as an intern. As an intern you have the opportunity to work on projects from the very beginning and even visit clients. Do you have any advice for those who would like to work at IFUA? I would encourage everyone to apply who would like to work in a diversified environment with multiple challenges. It is important that the applicants should be able to work under pressure while they maintain team spirit and business thinking. For example, you have to clearly understand what creates value for the client. Finally I would really recommend to join as an intern or a fresh-graduate because I think as a consultant you can face with more challenges than in any other business segment.

OUR CORPORATE PARTNERS

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CEMS OFFICE & THE MANAGEMENT ZITA DR. ZOLTAYNÉ DR. PAPRIKA, DEAN OF CORVINUS BUSINESS SCHOOL We are excited that the CEMS Graduation Ceremony will take place in Sydney in 2017, the first time outside Europe in the history of the CEMS Alliance. The ceremony will be followed by the Annual meeting. I have the honour to be a member of the Governance Task Force where we will address the challenges in the CEMS Governance.

RICHÁRD SZÁNTÓ, VICE DEAN, CEMS ACADEMIC DIRECTOR I am very proud of having hosted the CEMS Career Forum in Budapest in 2017 with recordbreaking numbers: more than 1100 students and alumni representing 65 nationalities, 360 company representatives from 44 Corporate Partners, and academic representatives from 23 CEMS schools. I also had a wonderful experience at Koç University, where – as a member of the Peer Review Team – I enjoyed Turkish hospitality.

ANITA SZÖLLŐSI, CEMS PROGRAM MANAGER In the previous academic year I was delighted to welcome a growing number of incoming CEMS students. The Business Communication skill seminar continued to score second best in the CEMS Alliance. The CEMS faculty had a chance to meet in a new format in the Community of Curriculum practice in Prague. The program managers’ meeting was spent in a friendly atmosphere in Milan where, besides discussing best practices, we made raviolli together.

LÉDA SZŐNYI, CEMS CORPORATE RELATIONS MANAGER In 2017 we were happy to host the CEMS Corporate Relations Managers meeting and the Alumni Directors meeting as well. Both were very successful, our international colleagues were fascinated by the organization, the University and Budapest. It has recently been announced that four new Corporate Partners have been admitted to the CEMS Alliance: among them Daimler with a dedicated CEMS alumnus working there.

VIKTÓRIA FARKAS, ASSISTANT AT CEMS OFFICE The fall semester in 2017 was really exciting for me, because I was asked to take photos for the CEMS Office. I took photos of the most exciting events, such as Block Seminar, Welcome Event and last but not least the Career Forum. Budapest hosted Career Forum this year, which gave me valuable inspection what is truly like being a CEMS Student and experience this sparkling environment.

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CEMS BOARD OF 2017 KRISTÓF DÓCS, PRESIDENT 2017 was an outstanding year for CEMS Club Budapest. We had more exchange students than in any previous year, and the Career Forum returned to Budapest again, which gave us a great international exposure. Besides maintaining our annual Club events, we were able to come up with some new initiatives as well. I feel grateful for being part of this amazing Board of ours, I personally learned a lot from our team and I believe we made Budapest CEMS life even more exciting than it was before.

ÁDÁM KOVÁCS, TREASURER Had I been asked at the time, challenging standards, expanding my skillset, and building a great team are how I would have defined my ideal term in the CEMS Club Board this time last year. Without a doubt, these have all been achieved. Apart from fulfilling my responsibilities as Treasurer, I had the unique opportunity to take part in the organization of the Career Forum which was a truly enriching experience. I am grateful for the versatile nature of the tasks I was presented with and the amazing group of people I encountered along the way.

KATINKA FÖLDI, CORPORATE REPRESENTATIVE 2017 was a challenging but definitely one of the very best years of mine! Besides learning a lot, trying to do my best to create a bridge between corporate partners and students, I got to know outstanding people working in the Board to make the CEMS year a great one. I am proud of new programs such as the Corporate Drinks and Corporate Breakfast we launched this year and looking forward to see what the next generation will bring to the upcoming CEMSational year.

LÁSZLÓ TÓTH, CORPORATE REPRESENTATIVE As a Corporate Representative, I am proud that I could add value to both CEMSies and companies during this busy year. I am also grateful to many people, but most of all to Katinka for being such an amazing teammate. Together we could launch new programmes and initiatives such as the Corporate Drinks and the connection of teachers and our corporate partners. My most memorable moment stays the Business Project. While it was an amazing experience, I never thought I could work so much for free. Cheers!

MÁTÉ PÁL, SOCIAL REPRESENTATIVE The spring of 2017 was the most memorable period of my CEMS journey. It was intense, yet very interesting to organize programs for this year’s very international cohort. First, it was challenging to bring people from different countries together, but with the help of my fellow board members we succeeded. From the Block Seminar in January until the end of the semester, throughout all the events and activities, a real community has formed from the 50 classmates. I am glad that exchange students left with a very positive experience from Budapest, eventually making it a more popular CEMS destination. CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017

CEMS BOARD OF 2017 ALEX CARDEÑOSA, SOCIAL REPRESENTATIVE I am proud to say that I am now part of History as having been the first incoming student to join the Board of CEMS Club Budapest! It’s been a unique opportunity for me to get to know and work with Hungarian people and I feel that by being part of the current 2017 cohort but also as an exchange student, I could contribute with valuable inputs. I hope to see you guys soon somewhere around our CEMS network and I have only one thing left to say: köszi puszi!

ALEXANDRA MÁRTON, CSR & SUSTAINABILITY REPRESENTATIVE I’m extremely happy and grateful for this CEMS year filled with adventures. On top of studying and working abroad which has been a huge dream of mine for a long time, I got to know a lot of smart and inspiring people and also had the pleasure to work with the Board team as Sustainability Representative. I’ll never forget my CEMS journey and all the amazing people I met during this year and can only recommend this experience for the next generations!

KINGA DIENES, CSR & SUSTAINABILITY REPRESENTATIVE When applying for the CSR and Sustainability position for the Fall, I could not imagine that I could participate in so many different projects and contribute to sustainability in this wide angle. It was a busy semester regarding CSR activities, we had the Charity Run event providing donations for InDaHouse, Walk&Wine tour for GSW2017, Pro Bono Consulting Project for Szimbiozis, the Career Forum Charity Sale for Amigos and the Christmas Ball Charity for Cseppkö Gyermekotthon. I am grateful to have been part of the CEMS Board, because I could contribute to a better society.

ZSÓFIA ZÁMBÓ, ALUMNI REPRESENTATIVE Being a Board Member of CCB taught me a lot and made my CEMS journey truly special. I had the chance to work with an amazing team and as the Alumni Responsible of the Club I organised events like the SAMP program, the Consulting Night and the annual Alumni Mixer dinner. I hope these occasions brought the Students and the Alumni community closer to each other, and they could build inspiring and valuable connections.

ZOLTÁN KÖNYVES, ALUMNI REPRESENTATIVE It was an amazing experience to start my CEMS year as a member of the CEMS Board. As the Alumni Representative, I am proud that in cooperation with the Alumni Board we had some new ideas which were put into practice. The semester started with a new programme, the Semester Kick-off which had an excellent atmosphere. We were also able to introduce a new concept for AlumNight as well which attracted lot of students. I am happy that with these programmes we could connect CEMSies and the Alumni stronger together.

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CEMS BOARD OF 2017 BERNADETT KONCZ, PR & COMMUNICATION REPRESENTATIVE Being part of the whole CEMS community around the globe is the best part of being a CEMSie. I had amazing time both during my exchange and my home semester, but it is also a great feeling, that wherever I go in the world, there will always be a CEMSie to hang out with. As the PR & Communication Representative of the spring semester, I am glad that I could represent the CEMS Board in different ways. Besides working together with the Board on a weekly basis, I helped many of the current and future CEMSies with their questions, and also made the cooperation smooth with the CEMS Office.

GERGELY ZÉRCZI, PR & COMMUNICATION REPRESENTATIVE Now that we are behind a busy semester I can admit that the Fall of 2017 was one of the most exciting and greatest time of my life. As a PR & Communication Representative I have tried to make the students’ experience seamless and colourful by providing all the necessary information and taking tons of pictures on our events. There were plenty of amazing projects which all required the collaboration of the Board members. I am very grateful for all the support and encouragement that I received from the team!

VIKTÓRIA VATAMÁNY, STUDENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE As soon as I was appointed as a Student Board Representative, I found myself in the middle of the CEMS universe. During my exchange I was consulting the CEMS Club in Rotterdam in the spring term as their SBR and I also took over the lead of the global Alumni Relations Team in the Student Board. Therefore, my network grew rapidly and I attended the CEMS Alumni Association General Assembly in Warsaw besides the 3 yearly SB meetings in 2017. I am so grateful I was part of this world and had a chance to raise the experience of many CEMSies in- and outside of Hungary.

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CRACKING THE MYSTERY THE CEMS STUDENT BOARD “BUILDING BRIDGES IN THE CEMS COMMUNITY” THE EXPERIENCES OF VIKTÓRIA VATAMÁNY, STUDENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE OF CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST My Global CEMS journey began, when I was appointed as the Student Board Representative of Corvinus Business School in early January. I was always obsessed with the CEMS MIM Program and offered my helping hands whenever it was needed from the local CEMS Club. As a socially active person I was also continuously in touch with all stakeholders, which was the base of my motivation to become the voice of Hungarian students in the global board. My mission consisted of three main elements: • Increase the visibility of the Student Board on a local-level • Increase the visibility of Corvinus Business School on a global-level • Enhance the student CEMS experience in my cohort Basically, the CEMS Student Board consists of student representatives from each school within the CEMS Alliance and acts as the official voice of CEMS students representing student interests. By gathering student opinions about CEMS, the board is working on improving the CEMS community life worldwide. In order to make this happen the representatives are managing global projects in 7 virtual teams: Executive Team, Alumni Relations, Corporate Relations, Marketing & Communication, Global Sustainability, MIM Affairs, CEMS Club Support Team. The Alumni and Corporate Relations Teams are building long lasting connections between students, alumni and corporate partners by close cooperation with the particular stakeholders. The Global Sustainability Team develops global projects to help shaping future leaders to act ethically and in a socially responsible way. The CEMS Club Support Team is responsible for integrating recently joined schools in the alliance by building a global bridge between all CEMS Clubs in the world. Not to mention their best practice sharing

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facilitator role. MIM Affairs supports the academic side of the CEMS experience by managing University peer reviews. The Student Board is working together with the CEMS Head Office on future projects to improve the CEMS structure and experience.

MY YEAR AS A STUDENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE After my onboarding in January, I was ready to join one of the above-mentioned teams. My strong interest towards the Alumni network brought me to join the Alumni Relations Team and found myself in a middle of organizing the Global Alumni Week 2017. The project was successful as we made 27 Universities to engage with their Alumni. As a result, 58 events were organized on a large scale of variety starting from whiskey tasting in Dublin to Entrepreneurship Panel Discussion in Rotterdam. The concept of the Student Board was only clarified when I arrived to Prague in April. 1st

MEETING

–

PRAGUE,

APRIL

2017

I have officially attended my first Student Board meeting in Prague, where several members visited us from the CEMS Head Office in Paris. The board received loads of strategic information about the CEMS universe, and had a very interesting workshops and critical discussions about the CEMS Vision 2025. At the end of the Meeting, I was appointed as the new team leader of the Alumni Relations Team, so more challenges were coming up for the rest of the year.

THE JOURNEY OF THE STUDENT BOARD REPRESENTATIVE 2nd

MEETING

–

COLOGNE,

AUGUST

2017

During the last weekend of August I flew to Cologne for the second meeting. We received a very warm welcome from both the CEMS Office at the University of Cologne and the CEMS Club. Each SB meeting is always packed with corporate partner interactions, team sessions to work on our projects, sharing best practices, and discussions on globally important CEMS issues. For example, this time we talked about CEMS in the rankings and the value of CEMS outside of Europe. We were invited by our corporate partners Simon-Kucher & Partners and Bayer to visit their offices and to meet up with CEMS alumni working there. Henkel kindly provided us with beauty care products. CAA GENERAL ASSEMBLY – WARSAW, OCTOBER 2017 As a leader of the Alumni Relations Team, I was invited by the Executive Director of the CEMS Alumni Association to join their Board Meeting in Warsaw hosted by SGH. During the 2-day workshop, we agreed on the potential form of cooperation between the Student Board and the CAA. 3rd

MEETING

–

SYDNEY,

NOVEMBER

2017

This year marks a major milestone for CEMS. For the first time, the annual events and graduation are being held outside of Europe, therefore I am heading to Sydney to participate in my last meeting. All in all, being part of this world meant a lot to me. I did not only get to know new people, who share similar opinions, but also inspired me to develop personally and professionally.

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THE ALUMNI NETWORK The CEMS community is one of the most valuable advantages that stay with the members even after graduation. The community where like-minded members with shared values can benefit from both in business contacts and enjoy free time activities together. LOOKING BACK AT 2017 Throughout the year, CEMS students had many opportunities to meet and get to know alumni better. In the framework of the Student Alumni Mentorship Program (SAMP), CEMS students had the chance in February to meet CEMS Alumni members, who gained great experience in a certain field of business and were eager to mentor talented members of the next generation. After the Kick-off event where the mentors introduced themselves, fourteen Mentor-Mentee pairs were created based on the preferences of both sides. The biggest alumni event of the year, the Alumni Mixer dinner took place in April, where around 80 members of CEMS Club Budapest gathered for an informal night, to see fellow students and to meet other members of our amazing community. It was great to see so many CEMSies spending time together and we hope you will join the dinner next year as well! At the end of March, the first AlumNight of 2017 was organised. CEMS Club Budapest decided to invite three Alumni members from the field of Strategic Consulting. This was a unique opportunity for the students interested in this field to ask questions from our Alumni members, who work at the most prestigious consulting firms. In the last semester we started a new initiative and organised a Semester Kick-off event in the beginning of September - for which we invited CEMS students and alumni - to have an informal gathering. During the fall semester a new concept was introduced for AlumNights with the aim to generate round table discussions between the experienced alumni and the curious students in hot topics. The first event was about our top-notch CEMS success startups stories with Kinga Jentetics, György Szilágyi and Zsolt Ábrahám. The introduction of Alumni Representative position to the CEMS Club was a successful concept and a great help to the Alumni Board during 2017 and we hope to receive the same support in the upcoming year. THE GOALS OF 2018 1. INCREASING LOCAL FOOTPRINT The first priority of the CUB Alumni Board for 2018 is to reactivate the alumni by organizing the traditional events and add new programs in the upcoming year. As part of this initiative we are calling out for “Class Representatives” (one person from each year, who can communicate the programs with his/her ex-classmates and increase attendance). In addition we will try to reach out for those who are currently not members of our Facebook group, LinkedIn group or Google mailing list. 2. STRENGTHENING GLOBAL COOPERATION The Alumni Board as part of the global initiative will strengthen its international presence and aim to learn from the best practices of other CEMS Alumni Boards. The international opening will materialize in more focused communication, where both the globally organized programs as well as milestones of the value creation initiative will be shared with Alumni of CUB. For more details stay tuned and read your emails. CURRENT ALUMNI BOARD President: Éva Varga Members: Anna Kempf, Dániel Drácz We are looking forward to reconnecting with those alumni members who feel the passion to be active and contribute in engaging their fellow classmates in our social event.

CEMS CLUB BUDAPEST JOURNAL // 2017