5 weeks in Singapore

By Xavier de Susbielle, Global MBA student 2013-2014, France

We arrived in Singapore on February 13th, a beautiful, sunny day. It didn’t take much time for everyone to settle in at the Far East Plaza Residence in the heart of the city. It’s a shopper’s paradise, with luxury brand stores all around Orchard Road. Hats off to the Singaporean government for their efficiency! We went straight to the ICA building and obtained our student cards in just a few hours. It didn’t take long for us to start our mission of mastering the Asian market.

The Far-East Plaza Residence and its swimming pool

Classes in Asia

The lectures started with IT in Asia. We had one intense week to deal with this “delicate” topic. Some of us were still a bit jet lagged, but the view on the Marina Bay Sands Hotel kept our eyes open, while Professor Yan Li kept us going and motivated.

Are you jet lagged?

We hadn’t realized that we had already adapted quite to the Singaporean lifestyle. Philippe Bonnet, our HR professor (and also VP of Human Resources for Asia Pacific at Essilor), has been living in Singapore for almost 20 years. He briefed us on the challenges and opportunities of the expatriate life, which was quite interesting.

As a strategic business hub in Asia, Singapore is surrounded by many other countries and we didn’t miss the opportunity to take advantage of this. The weekends were the perfect moment for some students to relax in the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand, while others who stayed in Singapore enjoying swimming, shopping, eating (Chinese, Indian, or even Japanese meals), taking photos, and exploring everything Singapore has to offer like the beach in Sentoza or the Botanical Garden. That’s the Global MBA spirit; we never stop! The immersion in Asian culture was of great value and we learned so much that we wouldn’t have in France.

On Friday, February 28th, we met Leonardo Banegas, an alumni from last year. Leonardo is now based in Singapore working for KMPG. He invited us to the 43th floor of a building next to the Marina Bay Sands, where he and his girlfriend prepared sushi for us and gave us some precious advice for our future and on how he managed to quickly get a job after graduation.

Tai Wei Chao and Cedomir Nesterovic, our Negotiation in China and Geopolitics professors respectively, gave us a lot of precious information about Asia, such as the “tricks” to doing business in China, the political context, business in emerging economies, etc. Learning about these topics should prepare us to work within the particularities of the Asian business environment.

An amazing Indian celebration took place on Sentoza Beach on Saturday, March 15th., for Holi. Some of us went there to enjoy the party! Everyone was colorful! It was quite a fun day, people were free to put colors on anyone else, even if they didn’t know them. We danced together with a real feeling of togetherness. It was a good break before beginning our last week in Singapore, which is dedicated to company visits.

 Stay tuned!