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How Business School Helped Unleash My Potential As A Serial Entrepreneur

Crimea-born serial entrepreneur Daria Tsiomashko enrolled in a business master's in Barcelona to develop the skills required to scale her businesses

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Wed Nov 22 2023

BusinessBecause
For Daria Tsiomashko, becoming an entrepreneur was the only way to achieve the personal growth she desired. 

Born in the Crimean Peninsula, which was a part of Ukraine until the Russian annexation in 2014, Daria’s mother was a teacher while her father served in the military. 

At university she studied languages, before opting to become a teacher. But Daria soon decided the world of public education wouldn’t provide the space to grow in her career. Instead, she decided to carve out her own path. In 2017, she launched ‘KIDS Studio’, a private school for students aged between four and 17. 

“I found that, if you have your own business, that’s actually perfect because nobody puts limits on you,” she explains. 

Over the following four years, Daria led KIDS Studio to become a team of 25 people. She also launched another business, ‘PODRUGI’, this time in the beauty space. 

But despite becoming a serial entrepreneur, Daria still felt she lacked some of the fundamental knowledge needed for her businesses—and herself—to grow.

“If you had asked me back then how I managed to create this business model and get the revenue to make it work, it was mostly intuitional,” she says. “I had no theoretical background.” 


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Enrolling at EAE Business School 

In 2022, aged 27, Daria decided the next step in her entrepreneurial journey would be to gain a formal education by applying to business school. 

With few institutions nearby, and the attractive possibility of living and studying in a different country, Daria decided to leave Crimea and apply to study abroad. 

She felt a top business school in Europe would allow her to experience a new culture while also practicing the language skills she’d cultivated during her bachelor’s degree. 

“I wanted to go somewhere to challenge myself, where I’m no one,” she explains. “I wanted to shake myself and see what I’m capable of when I’m not surrounded by my family, my friends, and in this comfort zone.” 

Daria chose EAE Business School, in Barcelona, where she’d get the chance to study the school’s Master in International Business, a generalist degree teaching the fundamentals of management within a global context. 


Studying a Master in International Business

With a clear goal guiding her path, after arriving on the EAE campus in Barcelona, Daria immediately threw herself into her studies and embraced the learning experience. 

“I enjoyed my classes because I got exactly what I wanted—I came there with a specific purpose of getting knowledge to scale and grow my businesses,” she explains. 

The curriculum incorporates a range of fundamental theories in areas such as people management, global markets, and internationalization. Students can also learn about topics including data science and business analytics. 

While well-versed in running a company, it was the first time that Daria had learned about certain areas that are key for entrepreneurs, such as financial management and balance sheets. 

“I had some reports in place but they were very chaotic,” she says. “The financial courses helped me a lot and now I have a much better financial structure.”

Overall, Daria enjoyed the wide variety of subjects covered throughout the curriculum, but adjusting to life on-campus was a challenge, she admits. 

Leaving Crimea for an extended period for the first time and immersing herself in Barcelona, one of Europe’s key cultural hubs, proved overwhelming for the initial two months of her studies. 

“But I think as long as you know why you’re doing this, if you know your motivations you can always adapt,” she says. 

“When life gives you challenges, you can always find a way to overcome them, you have to find your comfort zone in the most uncomfortable place.” 


Developing as a serial entrepreneur

Throughout the 12-month EAE program, Daria was exposed to a range of practical opportunities including business simulators and group projects. 

Designed to give students the opportunity to practice the skills they learn in class, these experiential learning opportunities provided Daria with a variety of learnings that she could directly apply into life as an entrepreneur, including learning to work with people from different cultural backgrounds, and delegating key tasks. 

“They made us work in teams, as things would happen in the work environment,” she explains. “If you want your business to grow, you need to learn how to let control go and teach people how to perform on their own. 

“Simulations were my favourite thing because they’re very practical, you can practice how you’re going to be in real life negotiations or crisis management situations, for example,” she adds. 

With the program taught by expert professors who have extensive academic and industry experience, Daria relished the opportunity to gain professional advice that she could immediately apply to her businesses. 

Now three months since graduating, she has continued to apply the lessons she learned both inside and outside of the EAE classroom. 

Today, she is responsible for 33 people across the KIDS Studio and PODRUGI teams, who she manages remotely from her home in Barcelona. 

While running two businesses remotely poses some challenges, Daria feels the foundational business knowledge she gained at EAE has been invaluable in her development as an entrepreneur. 

“It’s helped me mostly psychologically, and it’s helped me manage my team because I am more confident,” she says. 

“If you want to be a leader, if you want to be an entrepreneur, and if you want to build something, that’s actually one of the most valuable skills.” 

Student Reviews

EAE Business School

Student

Verified

19/08/2022

Online

Amazing tutors

I did a MBA online that was deliberately spread out over 3 years as I was in full-time employment at the time. Building relationships with the tutors was by far the greatest outcome of this degree. Yes, the course content was OK (some units were far better than others) but the connections made were worth the entire cost. Hence the 5 stars. The tutors were practising entrepreneurs and experts, so the information they gave was 100% applicable. The tutors that really stood out were Luís Losantos and Martín Garcia, who not only gave their time to answer questions during the course but continued to provide help and guidance after my degree ended. As it was an online course, it was difficult to build strong relationships with my peers, but I also could have made more effort on that front. I am still part of a WhatsApp group and I see dinners being organised from time to time. All in all, the MBA was well worth the time it took. A big thank you to all the EAE team for the experience.

Rongrong

Verified

5/04/2022

On Campus

Facilities

I like the technical classes because I can learn lots of skills and the professors here are so nice and responsible. Due to the pandemic, all sessions were recorded, so if we are not clear about some knowledge, we can redo it from campus.

Bremen A.

Verified

2/02/2018

Experience of a student at EAE Business School.

During the time that I was studying the masters in finance, I lived many pleasant experiences. Where not only I learned academically but also about the values of the university, which served me for my professional and personal growth. It is a university with excellent teachers, a very good academic environment, with a focus on getting students out of there with a high level of knowledge and competence in the workplace, always being hand in hand with the current world (In my case, in financial matters and everything related) its facilities are also adequate. On the other hand, the academic management is very focused on always giving a good personal service to the student and finally the opportunity that EAE Business School offers to colcoarte in the labor market through its own stock market. I recommend EAE Business School.

Student

Verified

1/02/2018

Very good Networking team

It is an excellent business school, with a very good team of teachers, experts in their areas. The amount of people from different countries of the world who come here to study opens the doors to the multicultural and explore from person to person as part of the work is done in each of those countries. The school has good facilities, the administrative team has improved, which is where they might have some faults but the rest is recommended to anyone who decides to do any of their Masters.!

Daniel

Verified

21/11/2017

Incredible experience!!

I always wanted to study outside of my native country (Peru), especially in a master's degree that combines technology with business knowledge. The master that I studied at EAE business School fulfilled my expectations not only with the knowledge imparted but also with the filter of the students who were in the classroom. All were very interesting profiles in such a way that there was a good contribution from everyone.

Maria Soledad

Verified

11/07/2017

International MBA

I had an enriching experience studying at EAE. I have enjoyed the multicultural group of students who attended and almost all the teachers have been very well prepared and dedicated to the students. I believe that the one thing that EAE could improve is the network between the students and companies for laboral trainees. However, I would definitely recommend this business school.

Adolfo

Verified

17/06/2017

Dynamism to power

I study Master in Couching, emotional intelligence and management development. Therefore my opinion is from that angle. It is a dynamic, agile and very present University. Economically it may seem expensive, but what it is, it is valuable. He knows that true knowledge goes through practice and structures the course accordingly. highly recommended!

Andres

Verified

12/06/2017

An excellent option

It is a well-known school in Spain, which belongs to the important group of companies Planeta and which has offices in Barcelona and Madrid. Among the many benefits that I find, are: Very varied courses, very qualified and human teaching staff, very comfortable facilities with many services, staff of the school willing to help all students, ....... That is why I confirm that it is an excellent option!

Student

Verified

21/04/2017

Cultures

One if the best universities in Spain. The education is really good and instructors are well educated. They univerisity have to many different cultures which is great to do connecetions and know more about different cultures. The way they teach and give classes and business games are great and usefull for your daily basis not just in business. Please the instructors and students are so friendly.

Student

Verified

3/12/2024

On Campus

eae

I loved studiying my Masters degree in EAE in barcelona, In my opinion its a short but very complete program that has classes from accounting to all human resources related classes. I loved EAE because many people from many countries come to this university so we build a family with them. The oportunity in studiying in europe also gives students the oportunity to travel a lot.