There are two Executive MBAs at Grenoble Ecole De Mangement that stand out from the corporate career crowd. When Anthony Eid and Maurizio Molina linked up with the French-based business school, they took their first steps on a path to becoming entrepreneurs.
Most EMBA students chose the part-time program so they can continue to work in their established business careers. And Grenoble, a high MBA Ranking university, is one of the best at developing executive careers.
But Maurizio and Anthony had other ideas. For the former, a month on Grenoble's International Executive MBA was enough to change his career path completely. Maurizio is now the CEO and co-founder of Talaia Networks, a young technology-based start-up offering software solutions.
"I think we are the only two entrepreneurs on this program at the moment," he told BusinessBecause. He launch his business in November 2012, along with four other co-founders who invested personal savings to get Talaia Networks off the ground.
Yet his background is far from entrepreneurial. The Grenoble IEMBA student began life as an engineer, a career path he followed for 15 years before deciding to switch to business.
He had worked in several different countries - including Germany, the UK and Switzerland - but France came calling. Even before he caught the entrepreneurial bug, an MBA from Grenoble was Maurizio's way of breaking into the business world.
"The motivation was to position myself better," he said. "I wanted to move to the business side of things and an MBA looked an obvious choice." It is expensive launching your own start-up, and Maurizio thought Grenoble offered the best price-to-quality ratio.
"That was one thing which makes this MBA attractive," he said. "For the quality of the program they are offering, the fees are really affordable compared to a lot of other French business schools."
Grenoble's reputation is also a consideration. Anthony, an international student who also began his career as an engineer (electrical) in Qatar, was enthused by the university's top ranking.
He joined the program in 2012 and commutes from his current position at a construction company in Lebanon. "Grenoble was the most interesting to me and its' top-ranked around the world," he said. Anthony too wanted to enhance his business career after a long run in engineering.
He says doing business in Lebanon has been tough for the last few years and after working as a project manager for four years, he needed to enhance his business skills. "I just felt that I needed to take my studies to another level. I was fed up with technical stuff and I wanted to be in a managerial position," he added.
Maurizio and Anthony may both be entrepreneurs, but they were drawn to Grenoble for different reasons. They are dissimilar in as many ways as they are similar. But they have both been given an entrepreneurial head-start and they have both launched new businesses since joining the program.
Grenoble offers students' both an Executive MBA and International Executive MBA. When Maurizio joined the International course, it was a challenge launching a start-up, learning the program's content and completely switching careers - all at the same time.
"It is taking 150 per cent of my time - like most start-ups," he said. "When I joined the MBA program I didn’t have a clear direction. But a few weeks in, and I was pitched the idea to start a company with some people I knew back in Spain and Italy (his home). It seemed the perfect match."
But the IEMBA was essential for him to develop Talaia Networks. He could put into practice what he learned on the part-time program immediately. "I didn't really know anything about finances or budgets and I basically had to start from scratch," Maurizio said.
"But I could put into practice, on the job, things I learned in theory during the IEMBA. The microeconomics classes; all the finance modules; estimations of budgets; profits and losses.. all these things I put into practice right away. Without Grenoble I'd have difficulties in this job and difficulties understanding how to run a business on my own."
IEMBA and EMBA students benefit from a short, intense course that is designed to cater for all. And Anthony is a case in point. He couldn't take a year out of his job at construction company ELDACO and instead commutes from Lebanon to France to attend Grenoble's classes.
He admits it is logistically difficult but he knows the benefits far outweigh the challenges. He may work for a large company, but Anthony is every bit the entrepreneur. He developed a plan to expand the business into Africa - essentially setting up a whole new company from scratch.
"I needed to get in touch with different cultures, because here in Lebanon you meet same people who all have the same mentality. I had to see how things are done in Europe," he said. The international element of Grenoble's course has helped him immensely.
"We tackled world-wide business companies and how they have expanded, through case studies," he said. "I looked at Africa and studied the market (for a case assignment) and while I was doing an essay for the school I came up with this idea to expand with my company.
"I approached the CEO and he gave me the go-ahead. This is how it all began."
Flash-forward to 2014, and it is a total career change for Anthony. The EMBA student has begun expanding into Africa and and he is handling everything in the new company, from "A to Z".
It was a huge culture-shock when he first visited Africa. "Its all about trust: if there is no trust, you can never do business in Africa. It took a while to establish the company," he said. But the EMBA has taught him how to manage these challenges and has made him a better leader.
"The personal development has helped me a lot because being a leader is very difficult," Anthony added. "It has been beneficial learning how to lead and how to manage people, and the way Grenoble has taught us these skills has been great."
Anthony has also become an accomplished negotiator. "The negotiating process at Grenoble was amazing," he said. "You learn how to establish trust with an opponent to achieve a good outcome for your business.
"The EMBA has taken my whole career to the next level."
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