Daniel is also president of the Finance Club at CEIBS, and tries to connect members with the wider financial sector. He explains why he is mad about finance – he already has an MA in the field – and why Shanghai is a hot destination for financial careers.
You already had an MA in Finance – was an MBA on top of that not overkill?
Not really. I got my MA in Finance from Fudan University (FDU), which has the best and most prestigious finance program in China. FDU MiF offers academic depth while the CEIBS MBA focuses more on improvement of one’s soft skills and leadership.
More importantly, a business school such as CEIBS provides more than just a platform for job hunting. You get to make friends with people from the rest of the world, as about 40% of the MBA students come from overseas, and it also provides real business operation experience through the curriculum in different types of companies and industries. Those experiences are something you don’t get from FDU.
What were you hoping to get out of your MBA degree?
I hope to take a rest after working exhaustedly for several years in an investment bank. My previous company was a Chinese state-owned investment bank so very few people speak English or have an international vision, making it impossible to explore outbound deal opportunities, where my interest lies.
So doing a full-time MBA program at CEIBS, I get to live on my own schedule and hopefully gain some experience that will benefit me in the future.
What separated CEIBS from other leading Asian business schools?
The most significant competitive advantage CEIBS has is its location, which connects students with a huge job market with tremendous opportunities. Many prestigious global and local companies have a good relationship with CEIBS, and promise to recruit several CEIBS graduates every year.
Given the advantage of the close connection with China as the fastest growing economy in the world, CEIBS is also closest to the evaluation of business dynamics, which are constantly put into the design of the MBA curriculum. So, CEIBS MBAs are exposed to a wider scope of business problems during their studies.
What's the next step in your career and how will an MBA help you achieve it?
I will work in private equity as an investment manager, and I already got a Hong Kong-based summer internship offer from China Merchants Capital, a PE subsidiary from a Chinese central SOE.
I got the internship opportunity during a HK Career Trek initiated by the MBA Career Development Centre at CEIBS last October.
You're currently president of the Finance Club at CEIBS – what career-related networking opportunities do you provide students with?
My job as the president of the Finance Club is to help the career switchers improve their technical skills and business understanding in finance, and connect club members with a wider network of financial professionals through a series of networking events, which may also bring job or internship opportunities.
What's the best event you've held this year?
What is your opinion of Shanghai as a destination for financial careers?
The advantage of Shanghai as a financial center lies in its internationalization and openness. A lot of multi-national companies have set foot in this city and thus need all kinds of financial services. That makes Shanghai the number-one market of foreign exchange and financial sales and trading in China.
Beijing, as the political and regulatory center of China, is also entitled to many advantages in its finance sector development, such as large private equity investment and commercial banking – mostly primary market businesses which require a closer connection with the government and regulatory institution.
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