JADE - European Confederation of Junior Enterprises Gazette for Junior Entrepreneurs April 2012
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Simona Lascu Vice-President Head of Private Cooperation and Alumni Management simona.lascu@jadenet.org
Inés Bultó Secretary General Head of Public Affairs, PR, Civil Cooperation and Events ines.bulto@jadenet.org Ioana Papuc Treasurer Head of Finance ioana.papuc@jadenet.org
PROJECT MANAGERS
Luis Obregon Senior Project Manager Brazilian Ambassador luis.obregon@jadenet.org
Matthieu Delage Senior Project Manager Public Affairs and Communications matthieu.delage@jadenet.org
William Atlani Project Manager Communications william.atlani@jadenet.org
Mateus Santos Senior Project Manager Brazilian Ambassador mateus.santos@jadenet.org
SENIOR PROJECT MANAGERS
EXBO CORNER
Daniel Falcon President Head of Strategy, HR, Enlargement and JE.NET daniel.falcon@jadenet.org
Arthur Nobrega Senior Project Manager Brazilian Ambassador arthur.nobrega@jadenet.org
Ana Flávia Accursio Senior Project Manager Brazilian Ambassador ana.accursio@jadenet.org Bárbara Teixeira Senior Project Manager Brazilian Ambassador barbara.teixeira@jadenet.org
Tarso Frota Senior Project Manager Brazilian Ambassador tarso.frota@jadenet.org
Antoine Sahaghian Senior Project Manaeger antoine.sahaghian@jadenet.org
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Dear Junior Entrepreneur, After the great success of JADE Spring Meeting 2012, JADE team is not willing to rest on its laurels. Being a Junior Entrepreneur means facing daily challenges, and it is through overcoming challenges that Junior Enterprises grow and become able to set greater objectives for themselves. This year has been very challenging for JADE and in many moments, the members of the team have been able to feel how their Junior Enterprise experience has helped them develop an attitude of going ahead no matter what they are facing, until they reach the goals that will help to whole movement to develop even more. If you can relate to these lines and are not afraid of tackling obstacles that you have probably never met before, we want you in JADE team. This month, JADE is recruiting the new Executive Board for 2013! Working for JADE means giving a lot, but getting even more in return. To quote Lorenzo Uberti, President of JADE 2011 and currently working in an important position in a German business, “after working for JADE, you can do everything you want with your professional life”. The deadline for applications is on April 12, don’t be late! Meanwhile, we wish you a very pleasant reading of JADE Gazette and hope to see you at the Assessment Week-End, the first step of the selection process, on April 19-22! Matthieu Delage European Public Affairs
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network
Index JADE.addicts: Are you addicted? JADE has a new member: WBC Apply for JADE Executive Board 2013! 1st Junior Enterprise in South Africa
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upcoming events
Excellence Awards
JADE May Meeting 2012 Summer JADE Meeting 2012 Junior Enterprise World Conference
JADE October Meeting 2012
11 13
previous events
JADE Spring Meeting 2012
15 16 18 19
QSTop MBA
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JADE.addicts: Are you addicted? 380 Junior Entrepreneurs are part of JADE.addicts
“Let’s stay in touch” – how often has this phrase been said without being followed through… Contact is maintained for a week, a month or maybe two but slowly one loses sight of the other. Through the organisation of the Summer Jade Meeting 2011 in Vienna, StuCon had the privilege of meeting 200 junior entrepreneurs. The desire to keep in contact was present in the entire StuCon-team as we were highly motivated from the SJM 2011.
Counting 380 members the group has become a great tool through which relevant events are communicated, memories and experiences are shared, in short, it has made it easy for JADE addicts to stay in contact. Having recognized the group’s potential StuCon decided to hand the ownership of the page over to the JADE ExBo. This transition was first announced at the JADE Spring Meeting 2012 in Brussels. StuCon is glad to have contributed in the foundation of this site and we are excited to see where the JADE ExBo is going to take it. In case you wish to join the group and you have not had the opportunity yet, please contact Inés Bultó (ines.bulto@jadenet.org) or Simona Lascu (simona.lascu@jadenet.org) from JADE Executive Board.
Aware of the difficulty of staying in touch with a network of people from so many different countries, the idea of creating a facebook group called JADE.addicts was born. The exclusive group, membership is only obtained via invitation, has developed nicely since last year and is open to all active junior entrepreneurs.
Get connected today! 6
JADE has a new member: WBC Striving to exceed expectations Having been established in 1996 and with 16 years of experience behind them, the WBC team has returned to JADE with full-force and enthusiasm. Our members, who come from all areas of academic backgrounds, provide WBC with a vast spectrum of skills and knowledge of Business, Languages and Psychology. WBC was presented with the award for “The Most International Junior Enterprise in Europe” in 2010 and 2011 due to our strong participation in international projects. The representation of 30 nationalities and 20 languages within the team and their development of strong relationships with other JE’s such as StuCon (Austria), Marketing Méditerranée (France) and UCJ (Brazil) also contributed to this achievement.
As a progressive Junior Enterprise, WBC has carried out many successful exchanges with both European and Brazilian Junior Enterprises, consolidating their visibility on an international scale. WBC continues to take the opportunity to mentor other Junior Enterprises, and help them to achieve their full potential by sharing best practices.
In order to promote the Junior Enterprise concept and slogan “Together We Grow”, WBC is currently in the process of establishing JEs within Universities across the UK, instilling into students how businesses operate and encouraging them to put theory into practice.
“Being part of the JADE Network provides us with an amazing opportunity to interact and exchange knowledge with more than 280 Junior Enterprises from 15 different countries. We know that the connections and relations we make within the JADE network will develop us beyond our limitations and gain greater perspective. Many students that have worked with JADE have gone on to set up their own businesses and proved immaculate entrepreneurial abilities.” Maryana Semenyuk, International Manager, WBC UK.
We are not just striving... we are exceeding all expectations
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Apply for JADE ExBo 2013, take the biggest opportunity! Applying to JADE ExBo 2013 will give you the chance to be part of an international team, coming not only from Europe, but also from Brazil. You will have the chance to meet and negotiate with high profile people, like Microsoft top executives, Ex CEOs, Chairman of IBM Europe, etc. Did it convince you? Probably YES, but if you are still doubting here are other facts that might convince you. You will have the opportunity to manage the European Confederation of Junior Enterprises, work with many different teams, countries and world-wide organizations. All this chances can be yours if you apply for JADE ExBo 2013!!
Still not convinced?? Great friends Great personal improvement Great challenges
Great personal Network Great career opportunities after Great travelling in Europe
This is JADE Executive Board! Profile of applicants for JADE ExBo 2013: •
JADE member (at Junior Enterprise or Confederation level)
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Student or fresh graduate with ability to relocate to Brussels for one year
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Good command of English and desire to improve professional use of foreign languages
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Identifies his/ her values with those of a Junior Entrepreneur
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Passionate about JADE concept and spirit
For more information please visit: jadenet.org/career/work-with-us or contact with us at human.resources@jadenet.org In order to submit your application please visit: jadenet.org/exbo2013
First Junior Enterprise in South Africa Members of Academy Consult build up the first student consultancy in South Africa Munich. From September to December 2011 five student consultants of “Academy Consult München” laid the headstone for the first student consultancy in Sub-Saharan Africa in Johannesburg. Following the example of other student consultancies, “The Consulting Academy Johannesburg” builds a bridge between academics and business to give South African students the possibility to gain real life experiences in consultancy projects. I n September last year a team of five experienced members of “Academy Consult” went to South Africa to found the first student consultancy of Sub-Saharan Africa in Johannesburg. Thereby they continue the almost fifty years lasting success story of so called “Junior Enterprises”. Within three months they managed to build the foundation for “The Consulting Academy Johannesburg”.
Project work at “The Consulting Academy Johannesburg” already started By now 36 African students form the team of student consultants in Johannesburg. The recruitment is based on a selection process that has been established at “Academy Consult” for many years and consists of a screening and interview procedure. The selected students come from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Ghana and Nigeria and cover from Bachelor to PhD different fields of study – from accounting to engineering, over law, medicine or computer sciences up to microbiology. In workshops about project management, presentation techniques, quality management and knowledge management they could acquire first consulting skills.
Several renown international and local companies support “The Consulting Academy”. Furthermore, patrons from business and academics provide support. They include Prof. Judy Backhouse (Dean of Faculty of Economics from University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg), Andy Goldstein (Executive Director of the LMU Entrepreneurship Center), Chris Dykes (Managing Director of Infinity Learning) and Yashivan Govender (Director of Operations of FirstStep.me).
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So far three consultancy projects started. One is about creation of intern guidelines for an automotive company and the other is the creation of a CSR-CompetenceCenter for a public-private organization. Five more projects are currently in the proposal phase. The elected management board of local students, consisting of CEO, Head of Corporate Relations, Head of Information Technology, Head of Human Resources and Head of Internal Affairs continue the administration of the association. After the German founding team has left, the local team ran through a whole recruiting process and acquired first projects without any assistance from experienced student consultants. The founding team and members of “Academy Consult” support “The Consulting Academy” with the quality management in projects. An international staffing of the projects is also planned.
“The project demonstrated once again – as in other European and South American Countries – that student-run consultancies have the ability to bridge cultural differences and inspire and connect companies and students worldwide”, said Maximilian Matschke, former chief executive of “Academy Consult” and founding CEO of “The Consulting Academy Johannesburg”. Max continues that their largest success was to anchor the spirit of a Junior Enterprise as experienced at “Academy Consult” among African students. For more information visit our homepage [www.academyconsult.de] or the homepage of “The Consulting Academy Johannesburg”. [http://consultingacademy.co.za/]
Johannesburg – “Africa’s Powerhouse” Besides the well-known BRIC-states South Africa is the new ambitious growth market for industry companies. In the province Gauteng and its capital city Johannesburg – in the economic press often called “Africa´s Powerhouse” – around 10% of the total African GDP are generated. The city of Johannesburg with its 70.000 students and the located companies offers ideal conditions for a student consultancy.
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JADE Spring Meeting 2012 Brussels, 8th-11th March 2012 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Around 350 people had the opportunity to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of JADE during the JADE Spring Meeting, the first JADE event of the year 2012. This international conference, on the topic of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, took place in the capital of Europe from 8th to 11th March and gathered students from over 38 nationalities, representatives of the European Commission and senior executives from big corporations among others. The four-day meeting was open by a ceremony at HUBrussel in which JADE Alumni presented the story of JADE and the representatives of all JADE members explained, in the most original ways, the reasons why the Junior Entrepreneurs from their country were willing to attend the event. The Opening Ceremony was followed by an extremely interesting key-note speech on entrepreneurship delivered by Ashok Rao, Chairman of TiE Global, which main goal is to foster entrepreneurship globally.
Another highlight of the congress was the ceremony that took place at the European Parliament, during which Peter Teirlinck, Innovation Academic from HUBrussel and Steve Duggan, Senior Executive at Microsoft delivered a speech. Furthermore, Marko Curavić, Head of Entrepreneurship of DG Enterprise and Industry from the European Commission, mentioned during his key-note speech the results of an Entrepreneurship Education research carried out in Europe that show that Junior Entrepreneurs are more likely to find a job, as well as to create their own company.
78% of Junior Entrepreneurs find a job right away after finishing their studies compared to 59% of the students who haven’t done any kind of Entrepreneurship Education. Organizations supporting the JADE Spring Meeting 2012
Furthermore, the Chairman of IBM Europe, the Head of the Innovation Community of Bayer Material Science and the Secretary General of EUROCHAMBRES were some of the guest speakers who participated in the Panel Discussion on Innovation and Entrepreneurship that was moderated by the Vice-President of JADE, Simona Lascu. During the conference, all participants had the chance to take part in over 23 workshops on business development and soft skills provided by entrepreneurs, independent trainers and multinational companies such as Microsoft, IBM and Accenture. Moreover, this year’s event offered the possibility to the Junior Entrepreneurs who are already planning to become entrepreneurs in the near future to pitch their business idea in front of a panel of industry experts. Additionally, the JADE Spring Meeting provided an excellent framework to enable the Junior Entrepreneurs to network not only with business men but also with other Junior Enterprises’ members, in order to exchange best practices and to discuss potential partnerships.
More particularly, the Excellence Awards offered the opportunity to eight Junior Enterprises from all around Europe, to present their activities and to showcase their best practices to the network. This year’s Awards were divided in four main categories: Most Entrepreneurial Junior Enterprise, Most International Junior Enterprise, Most Innovative and Creative Project and Most Socially Responsible Junior Enterprise.
Marketing Méditerranée: Most International JE In Marketing Méditerranée we consider the Excellence Award Competition as a real challenge as well as a great opportunity to share experiences with other Junior Enterprises. Being a dynamic actor in this network is a good way to improve our professional and personal skills. Participating in those awards enables us to go further in our projects and ideas, developing them concretely. Getting involved in sustainable development, internationalization, being an entrepreneur and working on projects encourage us to improve our whole structure. Moreover, winning such prizes allow us in being recognized by our school and our clients. It represents an essential advantage in business and for our future development. Every Junior Enterprise should experience it!
ESCadrille: Most Socially Responsible JE ESCadrille Toulouse Junior Conseil applied to the Excellence Awards since we wanted to share what is implemented in our structure as regards sustainable and socially responsible practices. It was also a good opportunity for us to find out about what other Junior Enterprises do. We are convinced that winning the Most Socially Responsible award will help us develop the activity of our Green Business Unit as well as raise CSR awareness among our team but also among our clients. Furthermore, this title will now be an official guarantee for our clients, and an additional stimulator for us. Finally, when you write such a report, it gives you the chance to think of all you do. It puts it all into perspective, and you then realize what more you could do to go even further in these actions. This process is really useful so as to set new objectives and strategies. That is why we highly advise other Junior Enterprise to apply!
LSM Conseil: Most Entrepreneurial JE This past year had been full of massive changes and incredible new projects but we had never really stopped for an instant to ponder and evaluate our progress. Just like climbing a mountain, our adventure was enjoyable yet challenging hard work. However, the real pleasure comes when one stops to admire the view. Preparing these awards was just like that small well-earned break and a great exercise to see where we stood after so many hectic months.
JEst: Most Innovative and Creative Project
Winning the award was splendid and has boosted our morale as well as credibility, bolstering the team to climb ever greater peaks. We wish to thank everyone for their support and hard work that has led to this moment; it wouldn't have been possible without you! We would also like to encourage all the small entrepreneurial Junior Enterprises to apply to next year’s Excellence Awards as it is not because you are not a big European actor that you don’t have any opportunity to win!
JADE May Meeting 2012 Vienna, 1st-3rd June 2012 The Challenge of Change This year the JADE May Meeting will take place in Vienna from 1st until 3rd of June. The event is organised by uniforce Consulting GmbH and is held in the „House of Industry“, the head office of the Federation of Austrian Industries. The location, situated in the city centre– close beside the famous ring road, where the most important sights of Vienna are located, offers numerous meeting rooms with high-tech facilities and glamorous ceremonial halls.
Apart from the locations, other highlights of the JADE May Meeting are related to the various speeches and workshops, concerning the topic of the meeting: The Challenge of Change. Due to the large network of uniforce Consulting GmbH, established over the last 20 years, workshop partners like the Boston Consulting Group enable to make the JADE May Meeting an unforgettable experience for everybody. A further bonus for all participants is offered by Austrian Airlines - the official carrier for the JADE May Meeting 2012: minus 15% on all applicable flights via online booking! These are just a few highlights of the May Meeting 2012 – more surprises are waiting for you in Vienna! Face the Challenge of Change and see you at the JADE May Meeting 2012! For further information visit our homepage jmm.uniforce.at or take a look at our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/jademm2012.
Aside from the great event location, also the accommodation is characterized by it’s centrality and modern equipped rooms: The MEININGER Hotel Downtown Franz is a newly opened 3-stars hotel, that features 131 rooms, an underground parking, WLAN as well as Internet terminals and an own bar with a gaming zone.
Plans for the Summer? Mamaia (Romania), 19th-22nd July 2012 International Conference on Intrapreneurship Traveling, staying with friends, enjoy the sun and have a lot of fun. But what about combing those and adding a little bit of JADE taste? This is what Summer JADE Meeting is about: travelling, enjoying time on the beach, mingling with other cultures, discover something useful for your future and definitely be in the JADE spirit.
This Summer we will talk about Intrapreneurship – the way companies allowed to the employees to act as entrepreneurs, while they are still in a multinational. Being an intrapreneur allows you to create new products, to innovate, to take risks in a big company, to have a chance to change a system. The event is organized by the young confederation JADE Romania and will take place in Mamaia resort, on the Romanian Black Sea. You will have a very flexibile programme that will also allow you to enjoy the the beaches. We have 8 km strip of sandy beach, where you can enjoy some watersports, biking, horseback riding, parachuting and beach games. We haven’t talk about speakers, right? We have great speakers and great companies from a lot of business areas, from IT to serial entrepreneurs and Social Media. Steve Price – Director EIIL, Simone Baldassarri – DG Enterprise (European Commission), Marius Ghenea – serial entrepreneur and business angel, Radu Georgescu – CEO of Gecad Group, Luca Sartoni – Social Media Specialist or Ketan Makwana – serial entrepreneur are just some of them.
For more, you can follow us on our Facebook Fan Page or on our website sjm12.jaderomania.org. Tickets are quickly sold out. If we would make a top, Netherlands, France, Belgium and Austria are so far the most curious country to discover more exciting things about intrapreneurship while having a great time. So take your intrapreneurial spirit and book a place to the most amazing event of the year Summer JADE Meeting in Mamaia, Romania! Hurry up, the ticket waves are getting sold out fast.
• If your Junior Enterprise is very entrepreneurial… • If your Junior Enterprise is innovative and creative… • If you want to showcase your best practices to other Junior Enterprises… • If you want to have more visibility in the network and in front of external stakeholders…
You can be a speaker during the Summer JADE Meeting on Intrapreneurship! Interested Junior Entrepreneurs please contact the Project Manager of the event at adelina.peltea@jaderomania.org
Junior Enterprise World Conference 2012 Paraty (Brazil), 6th-10th August 2012 Success on the registrations for Brazilians On March 6th, over 3,500 junior entrepreneurs from Brazil were connected to JEWC’s website, trying to guarantee their spot on the biggest event of the world. The general feeling was of excitement and hope. All documents in hands, the bed already set up and everybody else in the house already asleep. The time set to the big opening was 11PM – on a Thursday night. Five minutes more. Time to refresh the web page. Nothing yet. Once again. Nothing yet. With all the involvement of the Brazilians on our social media, considering their participation on all JEWC activities, the organization was expecting a big, really big, number of participants trying to register themselves on March 6th. That’s one of the reasons why we opened the registrations for non-brazilians first: we knew what was expecting us. That’s why we hired the largest server possible to host our website. That’s why we were so surprise when all of our expectations were beat – when over 9 thousand junior entrepreneurs clicked “Register Now!” at the same time. Page refreshed again. That was it. It was there. Registration: Who are you? That feeling lasted about 20 minutes. After that, there were no more spots. As we haven’t counted on that mobilization, every single one of the one thousand vacancies we provided on that night were over. Why is that?
The JEWC 2012 will be the biggest event of the Junior Enterprise Network and everything is being done to be not only the biggest, but the best one. And the numbers, as everything else, are huge: more than 2,000 people are expected. The best, though, is yet to come: for the first time in the history of the Network, an entire city will prepare itself to receive such a big event. And is not any city in Brazil, it is one of the most desired places for tourists: Paraty. A city is going to receive the world. On March 7th, we offered extra preferential spots – for counsellors, leaders of Junior Enterprises and members of the executive body of Brazil Junior and the organizing federations: Rio Júnior and FEJEMG. On March 8th, we opened a waiting list, for the ones who couldn’t register on the 6th. Since then, we’ve had a record number of registration and the participants in the Waiting List have already been called. The registrations for non-Brazilians are still open. Will you lose the opportunity that thousands of Brazilians would pay to have?
JADE October Meeting 2012 JADE Executive Board is looking for a Junior Enterprise to organize the October Meeting of 2012!
Why organizingaJADEMeeting? Work in an international project Gain recognition by the network Expand your network internationally Improve your management and team player skills Get in contact again with all your partners and clients
Application Deadline: 15-May-2012 Applications and questions to: ines.bulto@jadenet.org Conditions for the event: • Being hosted in the city of the JE • Gathering aprox 40 to 120 Junior Entrepreneurs from all around Europe • Taking place beginning October 2012 for 2-3 days (including a week-end) • General Assembly with 10 hours • Free placements for JADE Team members (9 in total) • Proposals will be voted by JADE country members during the General Assembly of JADE May Meeting 2012. Once a proposal is approved, no changes will be accepted. • Recommendation: proposals offering very good value for money will be particularly taken into account. Full support from JADE Executive Board for promoting and fundraising.
Application must include: • Information about the organization team from the JE (size, experience and number) • Motivation to apply • Detailed dates and agenda • Expected number of participants • Information about accommodation • Information about transport • Planned budget • Planned participation fee
Final proposal can differ if agreed with JADE ExBo 2012. Your suggestions are welcome. Please contact: ines.bulto@jadenet.org.
Financing your MBA At some point, usually early on in the application exercise, most MBA candidates wonder how to pay for business school. If you’re already wealthy enough not to have to worry about MBA fees then you could ask yourself if business school is necessary for you at all. And if you haven’t asked yourself that question yet, perhaps your lack of business acumen isn’t right for business school in the first place.
When MBA candidates initially look at the fees at most of their preferred programs it can cause a degree of shock. Fees at the top schools can figure in the high tens of thousands of dollars. When one factors into this the year or two out of earnings, depending on the length of the full-time MBA program, as well as living expenses, study expenses, travel and so on it is hardly surprising that, for a percentage of candidates, the business school trail ends right there. However, while MBA programs are not for everyone, successful MBA students are those who perceive business school not to be a cost at all but an investment. Whether you are a ‘career-developer’ staying within your chosen career or an MBA ‘career-changer’, most MBA programs are designed to help you progress financially when you graduate. Return on investment You probably will not earn mega-bucks immediately after you leave business school. Regardless, MBA graduates earn, on average, more than any other graduate and, with perhaps 30-40 years of work ahead of you, the return on investment of most MBA programs is extremely high.
Return on investment (ROI) can be calculated by the increase in salary over a career lifetime after graduating. An easier way to look at it is to calculate how quickly your course will pay for itself. There are no strict rules for this as there are too many variables, such as what your current earnings are, what your expected earnings will be and so on. However, if it will take more than ten years to get a return on your investment, something in the equation needs to be looked at closely before you sign the check for those course fees. Business school funding Paul Danos, dean of Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, says: “We look all around the world for the best talent. A lack of money never stopped the right candidate coming to Tuck.” This is a reference to most business schools’ internal departments, which are designed to facilitate MBA students’ passage through the course. While the business school itself is unlikely to literally dig into its own pockets to pay a student’s way, the best schools will provide a wealth of methods to get the student through their MBA. Scholarships, particularly in the US, are a favored method. There are ways the school can help guarantee loans or be aware of other avenues of funding, especially for international students, that they may not have been aware of themselves.
Business school scholarships “I spent almost as long on my scholarship research as I did on finding the right business school,” says one MBA student. And indeed scholarships are written into the fabric of business schools in many countries. There are scholarships which are school-specific, often named after the benefactors or alumni who offered the money for the scholarship initially. There are scholarships for MBA candidates from certain backgrounds too, which are usually much harder to find. Additionally there are international scholarships, not specific to any school in particular, such as QS’ very own Leadership and Community Scholarships. These total US$30,000 and are awarded to seven candidates who apply individually by stating their case for why they feel they have achieved enough to be offered the award. Candidates have to attend one of the many QS MBA events and be accepted to an attending business school in order to qualify. In addition there are other scholarships available worldwide that can be found with good research. However, not all scholarships are absolutely genuine and a lot of background work is recommended before applying for these. The general rule is if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. MBA loans For some years, loans has seemed like a dirty word in some parts of the world. Even now banks in the UK and USA are less inclined to offer loans to students from their own countries, let alone from overseas, and in many cases the repayment rates can seem extravagantly high for those loans. Despite this, money is available and it is worth looking at all the options available in the country you’re choosing to study in.
Some banks are more aware than others in this regard and, as MBAs tend to earn decent salaries when they enter the workplace, one would think banks would consider them a safe bet. To some extent this is still true, although it is a fact that loans are harder to come by, and more expensive, than they were some years ago. Likewise, with loans, for any MBA student who bankrupts themselves by taking on a loan at a terrible rate of interest or repayment criteria, business school may not be ideal for them in the first place. Company sponsorship In 2008-2009, company sponsorship had all but disappeared as corporations tightened their belts in the face of an international recession. Training and development is often the first thing to go in such straitened times. However, by the summer of 2011 the situation looked a lot less bleak and it appears that companies are starting to look again at their education budgets. After all, if they feel they have a person worth investing in, in order to keep them with the organization, it is likely to be more costeffective to develop that person at business school and retain their talents than to let them go, having to then reinvest in a new and untried staff member. One such person, an MBA candidate at American Express in the UK, said that her boss was “more than encouraging” and even brought the idea of business school to her rather than the other way around. If you feel your communication levels with your current company are good, then it is worth asking them what their opinions are on the issue. You may find that your boss is more amenable to this than you first thought. Whatever the methods you choose to pay for your business school fees and to cover your costs while attending business school, the return on investment financially is usually very persuasive. Other returns, such as career flexibility, networking and amazing business advice are well worth the investment, most MBA business school alumni agree.
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