You are graduated now. How did the study programme prepare you for your future career?
I focused on learning more about business and trade and learning Japanese. We had projects where we had to create a market entry plan, and we focused on export and import activities. This is what I am working in now. At the moment I live in Japan now and I am a business owner. At some point you need to do everything from the business side. The study programme prepared me when it comes to finance and I understand business development. Might be nice to share that in my company we match clients and experts in the Food and Beverage industry to support with market entry, expansion and innovation and we do this across 30 markets. With all the projects that I did at International Business it is now easy to understand someone who is looking for market entry for example, and how a proposal looks like and what type of questions I would need to ask. Being able to speak Japanese is of course a useful asset that I have. International Business was a really good base for me.
What did you find most valuable about the experience about studying International Business?
I enjoyed the intercultural sensitivity, and everyone being open to cultures. That is obviously influencing people’s decisions, or how do they behave. We did have a course about this and doing exercises. In the programme, everybody was coming from all over the world to study International Business and it is good to know that Asians behave differently than Europeans or Americans. It definitely helps when you move continents at some point. I really liked the exchange and internship. I went to Japan at Sophia University for an exchange and then to Vietnam at Red River Foods - an American cashew nut processor company, for my internship. The fact that you get the opportunity to go to these places as a student is invaluable. My career started in supply chain and operations and based on that year abroad I could select the direction I’d like to develop myself in. An internship is always meaningful even if you do not like it, as in the end, you know what you enjoy doing, but also what you do not want to continue working with. Because of that experience, I selected my industry.
How did you experience the teachers and staff during your study?
What I enjoyed is that the teachers had practical experience and knowledge from the industry they worked in. For example, my supply chain teacher had a previous career in the supply chain. He could bring a more realistic view point as well as real-life examples.
What advice would you give to current high school students?
It must be difficult to choose a major when you are in high school or think about what you want to do as a career. I have chosen International Business at that time. I think it is important to choose a major that offers different possibilities, so you have some time to explore and learn more about various topics. In that way, you can form an opinion about marketing, trade, or logistics or human resource management. Start broad, and narrow down later. And lastly, you should definitely go abroad!