It is a bright Monday morning somewhere in Central London and Evgeniya Neobutova heads to work at her family's start-up design business. She sees a random girl crossing the street wearing a dress - a dress that she helped design, create and deliver to the fashion faithful.
"To see the look on her face, to see how she feels, to see how she wears it; that feeling is indescribable," says Evgeniya, an MBA student at the University of St. Gallen.
"As a designer, there is nothing better. It makes me proud to be a part of something that brings people so much joy and happiness."
It has been a year since Evgeniya was a fashion entrepreneur, a year since she began a planned sabbatical and started an MBA program at one of Europe's finest business schools.
At the time she was running Eva Evanovich, her family's design house that traded under Amaka Showroom.
The business started as a partnership until 2008, when Evgeniya's family bought-out their partners and she joined the company along with her sister, Olga Evanovich, whom is a designer.
For a while, it was sisterly bliss. "The day-to-day operations were up to us," says Evgeniya. "It was very exciting to be a part of a fashion start-up."
Yet the success of their business, which the sisters ran for around three and a half years, masks a rather different career background that Evgeniya is only too happy to share. She is an IT technician by trade - but the only one I have met that fancies themselves as a fashion entrepreneur.
"My background is in IT project management, so I'm a very technical person," she says. "I just took it as yet another project. I didn't have a creative background but to me, the two industries looked the same.
"In IT consulting, you are always limited in time and finance, and you have a specific deadline and a task which you have to perform. They are both similar."
There is clearly more to fashion entrepreneurship than meets the eye. Evgeniya is not your average IT techie. And she is not your average MBA, either.
So it came as no surprise to hear that when she joined the company, during the height of the financial crisis, when they were losing customers left-right-and-center, they found a way to claw back business.
"We felt the financial crisis very hard," she says. "When I joined we worked with Asos (the leading online retailers) and had great exposure to markets all across Europe. We had a good customer base.
"But as the crisis evolved all our customers decreased their orders significantly and it was tough to compete in the domestic market.
"The majority of department stores preferred to develop their own lines internally, rather than work with independent labels."
It was tricky, but they managed to find customers in Central Asia and the Middle East. Having a bricks-and-mortar shop in London wasn't enough. They expanded their online presence and, simply, survived.
Evgeniya and Olga sold the business's online presence to another company (their employees that were eager to keep the brand alive) and after going their separate ways, an opportunity for Evgeniya to begin an MBA beckoned.
St. Gallen is a world-renowned business school that sits high in Switzerland's MBA Rankings. It was a clear choice; it is a university known for honing many different career paths - entrepreneurship included.
Evgeniya insists it wasn't a negative decision to close the business. "Rather, it was an excellent chance to better understand business and how companies are run," she says.
"St. Gallen is so unique, it's an almost boutique-like environment which exposes you to the in-depth entrepreneurial outlay of a business. This MBA is not the development of my career in the cooperate world, its development and evolution of me as an individual."
It is a rarity to see IT and fashion meet in such a way. Evgeniya has a truly diverse background and an MBA will only increase her breadth. She has just completed an MBA project with Cognizant Technology Solutions - a leading IT consultancy - and is a member of St Gallen's Consulting Club.
So I ask: which is it going to be, IT consulting or design entrepreneurship?
"My passion was always that I wanted to be a part of creating value for the future," she responds. "That’s why I originally chose IT; at the time, it was a new wave of technology.
"In, truth I'm more of a technical person."
Not quite an answer. And yet, that does an injustice to her achievements. Running a start-up in the cut-throat fashion industry, in the midst of the financial crisis, was no easy feat.
Evgeniya and her sister are a truly unique prospect; part of a handful of female business owners in the UK.
Her involvement with St. Gallen's Women In Business Club is a statement in itself. The Club, run by MBA student Anna Markmann, seeks to promote diversity in what is a frankly unrepresentative business environment.
She may be part of a minority, but Evgeniya doesn't think that women are held back in business because of gender. "Women don't have a disadvantage," she says.
"I believe every person sets limits to themselves, regardless of gender."
So what are her limits? What does she plan to do after graduation? It is not exactly clear. But one thing she is certain of is that an MBA will help her get there.
"I have a few things on my mind," says Evgeniya - although she can't give away too much detail. "I'm thinking of using my IT background to help other companies evolve and implement their IT strategy for the future.
"But first I will have to work for other people; I cannot just roll out of nowhere, fresh out of the MBA, and tell these companies what to do. It doesn't work like that.
"After I get my name and reputation out there, it will be much easier. I see the world as a field of possibilities and this is a very tiny step towards being independent."
The girl that crossed the street in Central London all those years ago will have had no idea she was wearing a dress created by someone who, somehow, manages to merge design, entrepreneurship, IT consultancy and business mastery.
It is an exciting mix.
RECAPTHA :
5a
10
57
7e
