Lucas Le Brazidec’s passion for artificial intelligence (AI) drew him to Institut National des Sciences appliquées de Toulouse for a degree in engineering.

Midway through the program, the French national found that although he loved the innovative projects he got to work on, he didn’t enjoy spending long hours coding.

His final internship at a startup piqued his interest in strategy-related work and inspired him to find a solution: remain in the tech world but work in a business role instead.

To acquire the skills needed, he joined the ESSEC Master in Management (MiM) program at ESSEC Asia-Pacific.

Why did you choose the MiM program and start at ESSEC Asia-Pacific?

I chose the MiM because I wanted the freedom to discover finance, marketing, and more. I wanted to be able to try new things and, if I didn’t like them, move on to something else—to have that opportunity to figure out what I wanted to do.

The Singapore campus appealed to me because I’ve done two exchange programs in Hong Kong and Asia. I wanted to travel and learn more about the region.

Besides this, the Asia-Pacific campus offers the Junior Consultant Experience (JCE), which allows us to work on a consulting project for an actual client. I felt this was a very concrete form of work experience.

Tell us about your JCE project.

We are helping an artist who is working on sustainability projects. She wants to improve how companies manage glass waste, so we’re helping her build a business plan, think about the strategy, and more.

It’s a lot of learning by doing, and I like that we can make a big difference even as students.

Working with people from different countries and industries has also been nice because we can learn from each other. That makes the project very interesting.

What’s the student life like in Singapore? Was it hard to adapt?

It’s super easy. Everyone is in the mood to meet new people, so we have many activities. No one in the program is left out or doesn’t have someone to hang out with.

Professors are also very easy to approach and super available. For example, I approached my strategy professor for career advice, and she shared her experience as a consultant and what she’d do if she were in my position. It was very impactful for me.

Besides the JCE, how else have you experienced ESSEC’s focus on real-world application?

All our classes use case studies based on the real world. For example, our accounting class analyzes reports from LVMH, and everything is very concrete.

I’ve also noticed that many professors are also industry professionals.

For example, our financial modeling class professor is an investment banker, so he talks about what’s happening in the industry and gives us insights based on his experiences. I find this a big plus!

Looking back at your first semester, what are your favorite parts of being in Singapore?

You can travel and experience different cultures. There are also many opportunities for part-time work with venture capital firms and startups.

This is the campus if you want to go international and gain industry exposure.

If I had to choose again, I’d still pick Singapore, 100 percent!