Adisti Chandra
Published: 8 February 2024
From advertising to Management Consulting lead at Empassion, Adisti's Glasgow MBA brought a transformative shift with enhanced business knowledge.
What is your role now?
I’m a Management Consulting Lead at Empassion, a boutique consulting firm for social enterprises that provides management consultancy and financial advisory services. This includes helping social enterprises to fundraise and also advising those looking to invest in social enterprises. I give tailored support covering business process improvement, business model validation, financial modeling and capital fundraising.
I am also a core mentor at Instellar (Empassion's parent company) during the incubation and acceleration programmes for new social enterprises.
How has the Glasgow MBA helped with your career development?
Previously I worked in the advertising industry. On the MBA I gained so much knowledge. It helped me understand business holistically, look at problems from another point of view and form more strategic thinking. I began to realise I didn't want to spend my whole career working in advertising and wanted to move to management consulting.
My first job after the MBA was as a corporate strategic planner at a state-owned telecommunication company. I was there only for a few months before I was called by Deloitte asking me to join its Merger and Acquisition Advisory team. My interview skills had developed through the soft skills I learned during the MBA. In working as a Consultant, I needed to use analytical, research, writing, presentation and leadership skills – all of which I learned from the MBA.
After almost three years at Deloitte, I followed my passion in social enterprise and moved to Empassion.
What were your stand out moments from your time on the Glasgow MBA?
The presentations we had to do in front of our MBA class to defend our standpoint and views, and the interview techniques we learnt. In Indonesia, we are not used to speaking our mind in class to share our thoughts, so it was good learning to become confident in expressing my opinion. I think that changed me and helped me a lot during my career development.
What did you enjoy most about your time at Glasgow?
The weather - I love rain, the beautiful University of Glasgow campus and the people, because Glaswegians are friendly.
What you would say to someone who is considering studying the Glasgow MBA?
You should.
First published: 8 February 2024