Manchester's 18-month MBA just the right length for telecoms engineer who helped launch iPhone in the Middle East
Jai Kishan Somasekharan is a full-time MBA student who took a break from his high-flying career in the telecoms industry to gain a better understanding of finance and marketing at the Manchester Business School.
Jai is an Indian national who went to school in the North of India and gained his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from the College of Engineering in Trivandrum, Kerala Southern India. He began his career in India as a Test Engineer for telecoms projects but gradually moved into business analysis roles.
He was drawn to Telecomms because of the fast-paced nature and dynamism of the industry, especially in the Middle East and Asia Pacific region. “Telecomms is booming in the Arab world and in the Asia Pacific region. There are more and more telecoms licences being granted and competition and government regulation is fair. It is a good place to be," he says.
Right before his Manchester MBA, Jai worked for Du in Dubia as the Release and Delivery manager handling critical projects such as the release of Apple’s iphone in the Middle East. He found this move to project management very interesting after having worke din technical roles.
His interactions with colleagues in various business units eventually inspired him to seek a better understanding of businesses. "I am well aware of the many unique challenges of telecoms since the decisions we have to take are very critical and have huge impacts.
"For example choosing to launch a product on a particular date risks a product not being ready for whatever reason or where a minor mistake in the configuration of a system can lead to huge losses. The market is also extremely competitive so timing is everything.”
For Jai, the dynamism of the telecoms industry was what pushed him to break from his career to “learn key performance indicators and how to take critical and far-reaching decisions”. He chose to study at Manchester business school because he wanted to be in an English speaking country. He was also convinced by the length of the programme. “One year was too short for me because I felt I would not be able to learn enough in that time frame. The Manchester MBA is 18 months long therefore leaving more time to do live projects”. He recently completed a very successful project working with a charity to analyze their key growth indicators.
Jai is planning on deploying the knowledge he gains from his Manchester MBA back into the telecoms world when he graduates in 2013. He knows he will be able to add immense value to big-picture strategy decisions in this cutting edge sector.
More stories about students, alumni and programmes at Manchester Business School here
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Student Reviews
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The course structure
The course is well structured and organised effectively. Every subject in the field of international business is covered in the course module. The lectures are of excellent quality and are simple to comprehend.
· The lecturers are also very knowledgeable about their subjects, quite thorough, and very helpful when it comes to answering questions and giving additional information on their subject.
· Students can easily access the assignment, lectures, and seminar content thanks to the blackboard technology. Students also benefit greatly from the reading materials that are posted on the blackboard.
Practical Business Experience
3 live consulting projects, Non-for-Profit consulting, Commercial Business Consulting and International Business Consulting projects within the programme, provide us with a great opportunity to exposure to the real business world.
Quality education and student support system
What I love about The University of Manchester is the fact that, alongside with the excellent education it provides, it also takes care of the well being of the students and supports them throughout the year.
Endless networking opportunities!
I would 100% recommend this university! Throughout my 4 years there I received endless guidance and support from the amazing staff; both professors and student support teams. A particular highlight was the insightful guest lectures, networking employability events and career meetings, these significantly helped in preparing me for my future career.
Fantastic University!
AMBS provides excellent teaching and outstanding facilities, both of which combine to make a great learning experience.
The teaching staff make sure we have plenty of resources to aid our learning, and always make sure we are making the most of our studies.
The business building itself is the most impressive on campus, and provides plenty of places in which we can work.
Great facilities and support
It is a great university that provides extra support for its students. The teachers are very helpful and willing to support you and the environment is just great. It offers good facilities, study spaces and workshops that can help in your experience as a student.
New building, innovative teaching methods
The staff is very well prepared and pays a lot of attention to the student. The building is new and full of updated facilities. Teachers propose intriguing learning methods and there are plenty of international students to learn from.
It's an amazing University!
I think that AMBS is among the most well rounded universities in the UK. The cultural diversity among the students as well as the faculty is what catches my attention the most. The campus is very new and beautiful and has all kinds of facilities.
Quality and QS World Ranking
AMBS has the diverse set of batch where the students get the opportunity to mingle with the students coming from different parts of the world. The group of faculty is also very diverse having different skill set. I'd always recommend it for studying masters in business analytics.
