After many years of working as a software developer, I started building my own product. Given my career trajectory, you might have guessed what kind of product it is: an HRIS (Human Resources Information System).
After struggling to sell it and seeing some of my colleagues struggle with sales, I took the advice of my friend Tim to enroll for an MBA at Rome Business School. I wanted to sell my product. My former boss will say that if you build the best software in the world and cannot sell it, it will end up on your laptop.
With the goal of becoming a salesperson (or business leader), I enrolled for the one-year executive program, and it has been nothing short of eye-opening.
The pre-masters training, which is a set of four short courses with an assessment at the end of each, prepares you with the soft skills needed for the MBA. These courses: Time Management, Basic Accounting, Quantitative Analysis, and Speed Reading are the foundation upon which the MBA will be built.
The program I opted for is the online version because after working remotely for the past 3 years, I cannot afford to spend my weekends in Lagos traffic.
Last week, we officially started our classes. On Saturday, we started with Global Marketing Management. This seven-hour session, though long with breaks in between, helped us understand the difference between domestic, international, and global marketing and see the big picture of a product's movement from the local to the global scene.
Sunday was a four-hour marathon in Geo-Economy and Geo-Politics for Business. This was so interesting that we could not go for breaks! We had two breakout sessions with case studies that helped us understand how geopolitical stand-offs and natural issues between world powers could affect the global economy. We also looked at different trade routes and organizations and how they affect trades and supply across the globe.
I may end up pivoting from tech to business. I would keep my fingers crossed for now. I promised my career advisor Ejiro that I would write more. This is me trying to keep that promise.
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