By Dinal Edirisinghe – NUS MBA Class of 2021

I graduated with a NUS MBA on 2nd July 2021. I would like to dedicate this post graduate degree to my mother, father and Business Mentor Mr Chandra Jayaratne. All three of them would often ask me when I plan to complete my MBA. In July 2018 with 11 years of work experience, I began applying to 12 MBA programs in Singapore, the United Kingdom and Australia. I received six offers with financial aid and chose the highest ranked university as per the Global MBA Rankings by the Financial Times in 2019 – National University of Singapore better known as NUS.

I want to share five reasons why I strongly recommend the NUS MBA based on my experience during the last two years. Just 5 reasons. Nothing more – nothing less.

Reason 1 – Vision & Location

NUS Business School Vision:

“To be the leading business school in Asia, globally recognised for excellence in education and research”  

NUS is probably there already. Naysayers will naturally quote a school 2 MRT stations away from us but I feel NUS much like its host nation Singapore is punching above its weight class compared to its global peers. Prof Nitin, Academic Director-MBA and our Corporate Strategy core module prof taught us that vision statements or winning aspirations are about big dreams focusing on competitive success. I would thus make the case that NUS Business School needs to now amend its vision to “be the leading global business school recognised for excellence in education and research”. I don’t mean to be overconfident. I just feel NUS has already achieved the vision statement it has right now and needs to look beyond.

Being located in Singapore, a vibrant city state in the dynamic Asian continent, makes the NUS MBA a great future-oriented choice. The Singapore outside NUS is a practical case study of the concepts we learn in the classroom – leveraging end to end digital technology, the brilliant integrated government response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the humility and simplicity of the high achieving Singaporean people just to name a few in an endless list.

Reason 2 – Orientation and Launch Your Transformation

The Orientation Program organized by the Graduate Studies Office was a fantastic way to kick off the MBA. I want to personally thank them for making me participate in the Amazing Race around Singapore blended beautifully with Macarena dance moves which helped me get more exercise in a day than three cumulative years as a Start-up Entrepreneur prior to this.

The picture above is from our Orientation Dragon Boating experience. I learned to row for the first time in my life and also had the time of my life (doubt my bad rowing coordination skills were that wonderful to the rowing team members around me though). I was not supposed to take my phone while dragon boating however during the announcement to keep our phones in our lockers I ironically got a phone call, missed the announcement and inadvertently took my soon to be water-logged phone with me.

Launch Your Transformation or LYT as we call it, the first week of MBA classes, was unforgettable. Our delightful and inspiring Section H Faculty Member Ian flew in all the way from Australia and Ankit and Si Chao our Assistant Faculty Members were truly amazing. I will never forget the lesson on “Task and Relationship Objective” and how to give constructive feedback. Ian in a feedback discussion with me in the first week of August 2019 predicted how my two year journey was going to be and advised me how I can maximize my MBA experience.  His predictive skills could put the best predictive AI algorithm to shame. It was heartbreaking that Prof Lillian Cheng, the key architect of LYT passed away recently but I have no doubt that her legacy will live on through a great NUS LYT program in the years and decades to come.

Reason 3- Classes

The NUS Classes were transformational. I took 3 types of classes: Core, Finance & Marketing.

Prof Adonis’ Financial Management Class was so well structured it inspired me, a BBA-Marketing, to go on to specialize in Finance. Prof Joel’s dynamic and lively Operations Management Class helped us appreciate the case study teaching method and instilled in us the confidence to face any operational challenge at work. Prof Winston, our Accounting Professor, went to great lengths to teach us accounting principles including coming into class dressed as a pilot when we were discussing Boeing and Airbus and his tough Q&A during our final class presentation was very value adding. Prof Jo’s Microeconomics lectures on Game Theory has already helped me in evaluating job opportunities and strategizing for how likely I am to visit Sri Lanka in 2021 considering Singapore has closed it border due to Delta Variant in my island home. Our Marketing Intro Class taught by Prof Trichy had some fascinating cases such as The GAP and Rosewood and some brilliant guest speakers.

My Finance Electives were extraordinary. Prof Jumana’s brilliant Mergers and Acquisitions class helped me reposition myself for a career in Corporate and Investment Banking – an industry I walked away from for Travel and Tourism after 3.5 years post my BBA. Prof Emir’s Investment Management class empowered me to understand complex financial instruments and helped me help resolve a major financial controversy in Sri Lanka with burning socio-political implications which I had to do real time just before my final exam. My only MBA regret is not contributing more in that class but I had to prioritize getting called up to help in a tough and divisive Sri Lankan General Election on 5 August 2020 over my individual class performance. It was amazing how understanding Prof Emir and my group colleagues were of my unique predicament. Entrepreneurial Finance taught by Prof Yupana helped me develop my start-up Surmount Ventures’ financing strategies and understand how it can remain a successful family business despite ownership and management challenges/conflicts that are bound to arise in future.

Despite a strong prior foundation in Marketing, I was able to derive good value from my Marketing Specialization. Global Services Marketing Guru and NUS Business School Vice Dean Prof Jochen taught us Services Management and the one-week intensive GNAM Course was overflowing with critical insights for intelligent value creation in the Services Industry and he brought in some of the most interesting guest speakers one could imagine. Prof Vishal, the NUS Business School Deputy Academic Director – MBA, blew our collective minds away with insights and strategies for Marketing in the Digital Age and my group capped our MBA with a very enjoyable final presentation on “Social Commerce”. I was amazed to learn that Prof Robert Tan who taught us Brand & Product Management was a key driver of the Cinnamon Hotels Brand in Sri Lanka – the resort arm of Sri Lanka’s largest diversified conglomerate that I interned in as an undergraduate during the time they acquired the hotels. Thanks to Prof Chong Juin Kuan’s Behavioural Economics Class I designed a nudge to divert me away from consuming Coke almost daily and 4 months after the class ended I beat the feeling to open happiness and gave up Coke completely.

Reason 4 – Cohort

The NUS MBA cohort was diverse and amazing.

I could share countless examples of teamwork, empathy and building consensus to achieve a team objective. The Leading with Impact Class taught by Prof Jay really helped me improve my outlook toward teams and leadership and I tried as much as possible to employ the concepts he taught us in my MBA group work. The results to me were significant. In my two years of NUS MBA studies and group work I did not have a single argument with a MBA classmate even though we had many different opinions and perspectives.  Group work was one of the most enjoyable facets of my experience. I will also always treasure the parties (before Covid-19), dinners, lunches, drinks, cricket matches, conversations and practical jokes. Though many of us are now scattered globally I am sure we will get an opportunity to continue where we left off when we put together the unofficial Sri Lanka Global Immersion Program when global travelling resumes.

Our NUS MBA Consulting Project was poetry in motion. We were a diverse team of MBAs from 5 countries (a picture before social distancing taken in Feb 2020 of Kei, Fernando, Tarun, myself and Fung from left to right respectively is found below). We successfully strategized a Blockchain/Traceability Solution for the Palm Oil/Food Industry for United Overseas Bank (UOB) integrating the entire value chain creating benefits for People, Planet and Profit.

Reason 5 – Survival Kit & Career Services

The MBA Survival Kit class taught by Jonathan Kwan gave us the strategies and tools to both seek meaningful career options and excel in them. My appreciation for Survival Kit grew as my career search matured and my Career Advisor Alan was ever so patient with my career exploration which seemed to be in a constant state of change. Thanks to Career Services and Alan’s thoughtful and intelligent advice I was able to secure a Marketing and Business Development internship with Synectify- a NUS Deep Tech Incubator sponsored Personal Protective Equipment Blockchain Start up and a Digital Transformation and Change Management Analyst 5 month placement with the Rapid & Immersive Skills Enhancement (RISE) Project rolled out by BCG Singapore. Both experiences helped develop in me a deep appreciation for Technology, Digital Transformation and Management Consulting.

Hope you enjoyed reading my 5 reasons why I think the NUS MBA is a great transformational experience. Of course, I must not forget to thank the people who contributed to my pre-MBA foundation in Sri Lanka and my two undergraduate universities: University of Notre Dame, USA & American University in Cairo, Egypt.

So where do I go from here?

I guess time will answer this question but thanks to the NUS MBA I am cautiously optimistic 😊