Andrea is a study-commuter; a less common breed of business school student that is balancing a career with one of the world’s best consulting firms with a part-time MBA.
This is what it takes for him to blast through his studies with Imperial Business School. “Travel-time became study-time,” he says. “It was challenging, but I was motivated. I didn’t mind working hard because I enjoyed it."
Andrea would work from Monday in Stockholm and fly back to London on Thursday evenings to spend the weekend studying at one of the best b-schools in the UK MBA Rankings. His friends would worry about him. “But I was more energetic than them,” he says. “When you do something with passion, anything is feasible.”
This is the level of commitment that is needed to reach the top of the consulting food chain. It is one of the most popular MBA Jobs and competition is fierce. Speaking with Andrea now, he doesn’t seem old enough to have been immersed in the consulting function for over a decade. He is from a remote town in Italy and joined IBM in Milan back in 2002.
After moving to their London branch eight years ago, he was promoted three times in quick succession, rising through the ranks to Managing Consultant after being selected for the company’s Top Talent Programme, a feat which only 5 per cent of IBM’s employees achieve.
If this was another story about a successful consultant, it would be interesting. But with Andrea, there is more. After working for some of the best firms in the world, flash forward to 2013 and he has started up his own consultancy group.
There is no doubting his talent. But it is surprising to hear that he took up consulting by chance. Andrea was set on a career in engineering and studied it at undergraduate level in Italy, his home at the time.
“I graduated in engineering and I didn’t even know what consulting was,” he says. “The offer from IBM diverted my career. I thought I was going to work as an engineer, but then I discovered the business world was more appealing and gradually I discovered a passion for consulting.”
Like many MBAs are, he was drawn by the ability to meet and work with a wide range of new people, work on different projects and in many difference places. Consulting was and remains one of the most popular career paths for those seeking a multi-functional role.
Debate still swirls around whether you need an MBA to launch a consulting career – and in Andreas case, the answer was no: he had already had a successful career with IBM for five years. But he thought an MBA would help make the next step in his career. He had a thirst for knowledge.
“It was my love for studying,” he continues. “Even now, I am thinking about what I can do in the next few years to satisfy that thirst for learning. I wanted to give myself more understanding and a better businesses background. I realized an MBA would be the best possible option for me.”
Andrea may be from Italy, but he thinks London is the place to be for business. He considered studying at Cass Business School and London Business School, but chose Imperial because he felt that it was the right environment. After attending an MBA information session, he knew that the atmosphere was right for him.
“I realised after I started that the value I got back was much higher than I was expecting,” he says. “I was definitely less mature than when I finished. Working with such a diverse group of people has been extremely valuable to my career.
“The MBA was a place where you free up your brain and express yourself. I learnt from people that had different experiences and new ways of thinking. The MBA was the best for me; it was a very good place to be.”
After studying an EMBA at Imperial, Andrea landed an Executive Advisor role at KPMG. He worked for diverse projects across Europe and the United States, but after two years, he had a desire to leave. Andrea felt that he needed to express himself and have the freedom to evolve.
Andrea has since been running Thinketh & Company, a management consulting firm and advisor on strategy, operations and business turnaround. He founded the company in March this year. It would take many MBAs considerable courage to leave a top consulting job with KPMG. But why work for a firm when you can create your own?
“I had a desire to express myself and to pioneer new ways to deliver value and identify new business opportunities for my clients," he said.
“I took the risk and challenge to create a start-up. I want to challenge the status quo in consulting and make a difference in business. I have my own goals and objectives and I thought taking my own path was the right thing for me to do.”
This week, BusinessBecause reported that British-based SMEs were on the rise. But one in three start-ups still fails in the UK. It would be a mistake to assume that Andrea’s path has been plain-sailing. At first, his colleagues couldn’t understand his decision to leave KPMG and there were times when he questioned himself.
Many startups struggle to find the finances to get going, but Andrea dipped into his savings and says that finance wasn’t the biggest problem to get his business off the ground. Rather, it was finding clients.
“The first challenge is to overcome the fear and tell yourself that you will make it; to build that state of confidence; to face the uncertainty,” he explains. “It was definitely not easy and I had many challenges when I started.
“It was a learning process from building the website, to forming the company, all the admin things, to finding new clients. I had faith that it would come, and it happened by chance that I got my first client project in May with a business owned by a private equity company. It’s been an exciting year and it has been great so far.”
Andrea has added an Associate Director to his business, and has two other Associate Consultants that are collaborating with him on projects.
Andrea may have had doubts at first, but he is starting to see the rewards. It was a big decision to leave one of the world’s top advisory firms, but eight months into running his own consultancy, and things are looking up.
“At first I thought: how will I do it on my own? But I have faith and believe in myself,” he added.
“I have a vision. I look forward to seeing what I will achieve."
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