After working in audit for three years and qualifying as a chartered accountant in South Africa, I decided to return back to my country of birth, the Czech Republic. By this time, I could really feel that an auditing career wasn’t for me and dreamt of pivoting towards Private Equity. My brother had just finished his MBA program in China and I could see how transformative it was for him. So, while working for a small family office in Prague, I started looking into various MBA programs in Europe.
When I landed in Geneva, took the train to Lausanne and spent the full assessment day at IMD, I immediately knew that was the place where I belonged. Why? Mainly due to the warm and personal approach of the MBA staff, faculty and participants.
My IMD Experience
My time at IMD in 2017 was hands down the best year of my life. I was 27 when I started the program, and it didn’t only enhance my career progression but also helped me transform and grow personally. Additionally, it enabled me to create countless bonds and friendships that will stay with me for life.
One of the biggest highlights of the year for me would be the leadership stream, with professors Jennifer Jordan and Anand Narasimhan. But my most influential / favorite leadership professor was definitely Susan Goldsworthy. She really had the most impact on my development and I will forever be grateful for that!
Even though my core goal was to go into Private Equity post MBA, the year certainly opened my eyes to new opportunities. While I did manage to do a project at a PE fund in Slovakia, the program helped me reprioritize certain values in life. This meant that even though I was fortunate enough to have a number of offers to choose from, I decided to stay in Switzerland and pursue a career in consulting for UBS in Zurich.
Since then, I quickly developed a passion for digital and innovative topics (e.g. FinTech, Blockchain, AI, etc.). Within a year I transferred internally into the Digital Strategy team of UBS Switzerland which is my role to date.
