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After graduating from a degree in engineering and subsequently working in the industry for 10 years, Luis Ignacio Figueras was seeking to be a part of something bigger outside of his native home of Santiago, Chile. The father of four had been looking for opportunities that would expand his professional growth while also settling in a liveable, family-friendly city.
Enter Copenhagen, which ticks all the boxes and more when it comes to what it has to offer. The city topped Monocle magazine’s list of the world’s best cities in terms of quality of life in 2021, and Denmark itself has consistently ranked among the top three countries in the World Happiness Report for some years. Copenhagen’s status as the “green capital of the world” further enticed Figueras — who works in the green energy sector — to relocate to the Danish city with his family so he could pursue an MBA at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS).
“I thought of Denmark as a place at the forefront of renewable energy. [Moving to Copenhagen] was also a family decision; we didn’t want to go to big cities,” explains Figueras. “I had already been working for 10 years and I thought, ‘Let’s take on this challenge and see what happens.’”
The Full-Time MBA at CBS would provide him with the right combination of skills and knowledge of what he needed to achieve in his career. “Everyone can take different things from the MBA, but leadership and everything related to sustainability were two things that were really important for me. You really dig deep into it during the MBA. Those were the biggest takeaways from the MBA that impacted not only my career, but also [my] personal development.”
Figueras and his family have fully settled in Copenhagen, where he now works as a technical project manager at Ørsted, Denmark’s largest energy company. The competencies gained from his previous industry experience, enhanced further by his MBA qualification at CBS, led him to overseeing large-scale offshore wind farms of 2,500 megawatts in the country. “It has been a huge change between what I was doing before, and what I’m doing now,” Figueras reflects on his journey.
A key reason for his growth is the country he’s in. Denmark is a lab for green solutions. Half of its electricity comes from wind and solar power — by 2030, the government aims to use zero fossil fuels in its electricity system. On the career opportunity front, Denmark leads the way too. Figueras and many other CBS graduates have connected with organisations and masterminds who are forward-looking and taking sustainability to the next level.
Rewarding careers through a triple-accredited programme
If you’re ready to take a leap towards the next rung on your career ladder, an MBA degree from a prestigious business school like CBS is the perfect stepping stone. Surrounded by a culture of innovation, happiness, and growth that is distinctive to Copenhagen, CBS is a place where ambition and drive are rewarded with self-development in a supportive environment. Its triple crown of international accreditations — the AMBA, EQUIS and AACSB — all attest to its illustrious reputation that will not go unnoticed by recruiters.
CBS is a place where self-discovery meets possibilities. This was what Frida Roervik, a Norwegian graduate of the programme, uncovered during her MBA experience at the school. Coming from an engineering background, Roervik started her career as a Design and Mechanical Engineering intern .
After a stint as a Program Manufacturing Leader at a top global automotive supplier, she decided to return to school to learn about strategic decision-making and polish her business acumen after spending a few years in the industry.
“Some of the aspects that I enjoyed from the Copenhagen MBA programme itself was the 12-month [duration], so it’s quite intensive yet isn’t too long. It has this Leadership Discovery Process that goes on throughout the year, which is a really unique part of the Copenhagen Business School MBA,” explains Roervik. Today, she is a senior associate at leading consulting firm BCG – a testament of the MBA’s power to place graduates into new industries or elevate their careers.
Another distinguishing feature of the Copenhagen MBA at CBS is the option for students to personalise it in one of four concentrations — Digitalisation, Entrepreneurship, Finance, or Governance and Sustainability — on top of their core courses. The MBA culminates into real-life application through its Integrated Strategy Project (ISP), where students can showcase their newly acquired skills by working closely with a local company on a strategic business challenge.
CBS graduates are armed with experiential knowledge on how businesses operate in one of the greenest and most innovative cities in the world. Source: Copenhagen Business School
It was the experiential portion of the programme that helped Roervik unlock her true calling: consulting. “Coming into the MBA, I was absolutely sure that I was going to return to the industry,” she says. “But the MBA is really a journey of self-reflection. With much help from the careers department at CBS, I thought about what it is that I actually wanted to do and I realised I wanted to solve unique challenges and make a positive impact for people.”
Roervik is not the only CBS success story. In recent years, CBS MBA graduates have landed positions at top consultancy firms like Deloitte, Boston Consulting Group, and McKinsey and Company.
The professional outcomes of many past graduates from CBS are just as inspiring: up to 80% of them switch roles after graduation, and 100% are employed within six months after completing their MBA. “I completely changed my path and career. I’m very happy with the decision that I made,” says Roervik.
Your career will soar with CBS
The tailored career services at CBS is where you’ll find the link between your studies and your post-graduation goals. From the very start, you’ll have the opportunity to network, go on company visits, attend various events, and benefit from the school’s MBA Alumni Network, the largest of its kind in Scandinavia.
”It’s an intimate learning environment and our selectively small cohort permits participants to interact closely with us throughout the year through the Career Programme. The programme includes workshops, one-to-one coaching, personal branding, company events, and smaller professional breakfasts and coffee meetings. We help participants secure rewarding opportunities post-MBA and we keep them up-to-date with friendly networking sessions.” – Malene Sejer Larsen, MBA Careers Manager
If you see yourself remaining in Denmark post-graduation, CBS will match you with an alumnus who will serve as your personal mentor to assist in planning strategic career moves, in addition to providing valuable insights into the local job market. Whether you’re seeking a new venture in another industry, or stepping into a leadership position from your current role, CBS has all the tools you need for entrepreneurial and management excellence – and to start your career with a bang.
At the end of your MBA year, you can take on an Integrated Strategy Project (ISP) where you’ll test your newly acquired skills by working closely with a local company on a strategic business challenge. Another option is The Internship Project where you are placed within a Danish company to gain commercial insight, exposure to cutting-edge research and techniques, and more. 2021 Internship Project Companies included Nordea Bank, Mærsk, Pandora, Novozymes, and Milestone.
“I was interning at Pandora and this was a great experience because I was able to apply learnings from the classroom directly to my internship,” says Kelsey Frandsen, MBA alum. “It taught me to pay attention to trends, to keep my eye on the future of the industry, and understand the importance of future-proofing businesses.”
To find out how the Copenhagen MBA can transform you professionally, click here.
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