Full-time MBA

Alex Qiu

Alex Qiu
Class of 2020
China

I manage everything for the brand I established six years ago. I design and customize products for local tastes as well as overlook the operations of the entire company such as financing, recruitment and daily operations as well as managing a small team virtually.

I chose Hong Kong due to city’s close connections to Guangzhou. I am interested in academic achievements, rather than just networking, which makes HKU a good fit as it is famous for its academia. I didn’t have any business management background so I came to HKU to understand finance, business management and accounting. I also took the opportunity to undergo a very strategic business expansion during my studies in Hong Kong. It is an expansion into emerging markets, as well as an upgrade to our brand. Pedro, from the MBA Business Lab course helped us to complete the big picture for our business expansion.

My overall experience of the programme is so far so good and I think the programme will pay off in the future. I learned a lot from the MBA and have gained a different mind-set and developed new skill-sets that may be required to further expand my business over the next few years. It is bad time to be an entrepreneur but it is a good time to learn and hone your skill-set. The MBA is an investment and I trust it is one of the best investments I will ever make.

The course is not without its challenges, however. The biggest of which was the intensity of the course as I was running the firm out of Hong Kong virtually. Spending one month in Beijing helped me a lot in terms of understanding time management and managing my work and study full-time. It was very interesting as we had many students from different backgrounds, some of which will become life-long friends of mine.

If I could give advice to future applicants it would be to be prepared for the programme to come at you very quickly and on a very tight schedule. You should prepare yourself with the relevant information as it will help you achieve.

Industry: Wine
Company: Mr. Sparkling
Job Title: Founder & CEO