Full-time MBA

The petite, young and smiling girl could have easily passed as a school girl rather than an MBA student. Often visuals are deceptive and I soon realised after five minutes into the conversation that Aakriti was not a fresh college MBA student but a professional who had worked in an airline company’s commercial department for few years before opting for a business degree.

The HKU Business School is one of the top business schools in Asia with a mentorship programme for their students. I have been a mentor to their students for the past three years.

Aakriti ticked all the boxes in our first meeting. She was in the office on time, dressed immaculately and introduced herself confidently while looking you in the eye. She carried a pen and notebook and started the meeting outlining the meeting’s objectives and agenda. I was pleasantly amused by the copybook style approach but later realised that she must have spent time preparing for this meeting. She was confident and natural too.

After the meeting she sent me the notes and created an action tracker of what advice I gave to her. She kept sending me updates. When we met for the second time I realised how organised she was. She not only progressed on the advice I gave but also prepared many questions for me. She used the meetings to methodically go over all her questions and even recorded the conversation. Her questions kept me thinking even after our meetings ended.

Soon after the pandemic struck she was India and could not come back to Hong Kong for several months. Fortunately the classes continued and she finished her semester in Hong Kong. Her questions and updates continued while she was in India. I connected her with one of my former colleagues who was an alumni of the HKU Business School. That connection proved very useful to her for practical reasons as she was going to London to complete her last semester at the London Business School (LBS) as part of her MBA studies. The alumni also went to LBS to finish his semester when he was doing his MBA at HKU. At the HKU MBA, students spend 3-4 months at either the London Business School or the Columbia Business School.

While in India Aakriti organised a virtual business event. She invited one of her professors and industry experts and myself to a panel discussion. This helped her in her course curriculum but also helped me and other panel members to connect with each other. The topic was “innovation & transformation management post Covid-19”.

Aakriti got an internship with a start-up before finishing her degree. The start-up is focused on digital payment systems using blockchain. My advice to pick up one of the digital technology topics might have helped her in some way but of course it was her own confidence, research and previous experience within airline commerce which helped her immensely.

Our official mentorship programme ended few months ago when she graduated with an MBA degree. Someone else would just move ahead in life as other mentees did. Aakriti is different. She contacted me after returning to Hong Kong where she now has a job in the same start-up. We met few days ago in my office.

Aakriti was the same as she was a year earlier – punctual, immaculately dressed but more confident and natural. She was humble, organised (still with pen and notebook), and cheerful. This time she had three questions which made me think. I was happy when she told she has a nice circle of international friends.

Even after finishing the official mentorship programme, this young and enthusiastic lady wants to continue the association to learn and enrich her professional life.

Aakriti is an ideal mentee. The following is a summary of how you can also be an ideal mentee:

1. Do the preparation for your mentorship programme
2. Do research on your mentor
3. Be organised for your meeting
4. Ask good questions
5. And take notes
6. Create actions and follow up when you close them
7. Keep the conversation flowing
8. Enrich the relationship by giving something in return
9. Seek return access
10. Express gratitude

I am lucky that I got a mentee like Aakriti. I wish that my next mentee will be like her.