Indian alumnus Sahil Chutani graduated from the International MBA at emlyon business school (France) in 2018 and now is based in Barcelona, Spain. Find out more about his story!
What was your educational/professional background before joining the International MBA?
I did mechanical engineering and then worked as a Business Development Manager in consumer goods for four years in an entrepreneurial role before joining the International MBA.
Why did you decide to join the programme?
My first preference for an MBA was France as a country due to the recent promotion of Indo-French ties, which made France more visible in India. I had also been in awe of French culture ever since high school. The admission process for emlyon business school was clear and simple to understand. And it gave flexibility to my career goals.
What were the strong points of the programme in your opinion?
The strength of the programme is in its diversity of candidates in terms of nationality and industry. Apart from the academic focus, it had many activities which helped me to learn more about the business ecosystem in Europe with educational tours to the World Economic Forum in Geneva and Finland, for example.
What company did you work with for the Entrepreneurial Leadership Consultancy Project (ELP) and what was your experience of this practical part of the programme?
I worked as a strategy consultant for the international hotel group Golden Tulip during my ELP within a diverse team. We were a team of four people from Brazil, China, and India. So we had a lot of different ideas and discussions on how to give the best outcome for the client. The goal of the project was to identify the gaps between the new corporate strategy for the hotel group and the existing operations in the hotels. We conducted secondary research and primary interviews and attended an international event in Turkey with regional managers from around the globe.
How did you decide what you wanted to do after the programme? What role did the career services play?
My consultancy role in the ELP helped me decide my future course as a consultant. Now, I am working as a strategy and M&A consultant for Alira Health. It is a global integrated advisory firm for the healthcare industry.
The job of the career services was to minimise the deviation along the path of finding the job. It helped to follow a structural approach to find jobs in terms of improvement in CV, building a network, and optimising the use of vast resources at our disposal.
What was your first job after graduation and how long did it take you to get hired?
I did an internship in my current company, which started within two months of finishing my course and I was hired during my internship. It took me less than three months to find an opportunity to get hired.
Do you have any advice for candidates applying to the programme?
First, to those candidates who don’t speak a major European language, you should apply yourself to learning a European language from day one if you want to stay here. Second, don’t give up even for a day. “If it is to be, it is up to me.” Just get up every day in the morning and take small steps to accomplish your goals. And I am sure you will succeed.
Any other points you wish to make?
If anyone wants to reach out to me, I would be happy to share my experience and help out if I can.
