During my 24 years of working, I gained robust experience in managing business, leadership, teamwork, business intelligence, networking and managing financial resources, including reporting to different levels of management. This experience helped me to be more creative, innovative and business oriented.

Throughout my 24 years of professional experience, I have acquired a great deal of technical knowledge and team management skills. Now, I specifically want to improve my business acumen, my strategic thinking and enhance my leadership skills through an MBA program. My choice of the MBA program at UniAthena will help me improve my skills in business management, leadership, improving my workplace performance, being more proactive, and making strategic decisions. I believe I will improve these skills through my Global MBA studies.

I have chosen to attend my MBA at UniAthena because I know the reputation of the Institution, including the accreditation and global recognition of the Global MBA program. It is perfectly organised and aligned with my selection criteria. Additionally, UniAthena is also a learning environment where I can take foundational courses to develop my business acumen and strategic thinking.

My main career goal post-MBA is to re-equip myself to continue growing in my professional career as a senior consultant and world-class agribusiness entrepreneur at an international level and thus position myself as a reference person in business management. At the same time, I want to inspire my team, creating positive impacts and leaving a legacy for young professionals.

I have a lot of experience in managing my time and combining it efficiently with other activities, without jeopardising my profession. To do this, I make good use of my time and allocate some space to take care of my online studies. I expect my experience with this Program will be no different.

A specific example of a challenging goal was during my employment at ADIPSA Program, I supervised a team of 24 staff and we were tasked to support and cover 20,000 stallholder farmers to increase their agriculture productivity and link them to markets to raise at least 50% of their incomes in just four years. Needless to say, it was really a hard and challenging goal. 

However, with my leadership and good support from my team, in just three years, more than 43,600 smallholder farmer members of 121 Farmer Associations (FAs) reached the program and established business relationships with private sector companies involved in the production and processing of cash crops and vegetables. As a result more than 35,000 increased their income more than 100%. Overall, it was a phenomenal experience.

Based on my own experiences, I have learnt that personal qualities are very fundamental to achieving success in our goals. These key qualities are: leadership, teamwork, integrity, confidence, respect for others, effective communication, planning and setting goals, active listening, accountability, delegation, honesty, problem solving and transparency. 

When I stepped out of my comfort zone to take on a leadership role, my first instinct was to learn how to do things and learn from others. The communication of experienced people and the trust I built with my team helped me to overcome the challenges. The end results were promising, as I have always preferred teamwork and trust in my team.

The book that I believe everyone should read is Growing a Business, By Paul Hawken (Simon and Shuster, 1988).

This book is my favourite because it talks about the importance of small businesses in a country's economy. The book also explains the business scene of the United States, where large companies are unfortunately reducing the number of jobs in that country, while small businesses are bringing a lot of jobs into the economy. This makes it clear that it is not just mega companies, but also small businesses that make a very valuable contribution to economies.

My dream job is to be a business manager with an international reputation and take part in the management of large companies, such as Exxon Mobile, BP, Tetra Tech and other mega companies. I want to become a benchmark in business management and inspire the world with good examples of leadership. 

My advice for those professionals who are just starting their careers is this – at the beginning, be active listeners, learn from those with more experience than you, and be confident in your creativity. Effective communication will be crucial for your learning process, so be as transparent and honest as possible.