A major appeal of the ESSEC Master in Strategy & Management of International Business (SMIB) program is the opportunity to complete it at the ESSEC Asia-Pacific campus in Singapore. As our alumni have discovered, there are distinct practical advantages to studying and living in Singapore— especially for those who wish to carve out careers in Asia.

Alexis Maissant
Strategy Consultant in Singapore

“The Singapore campus helped improve my strategy knowledge and understanding of the ESG challenges faced in Asia,” Alexis Maissant declares. He shares that this is partly because the students in his 2022 cohort came from a diverse mix of at least 10 countries.

Alexis learned a lot about other cultures and how to collaborate with people from different backgrounds through their interactions.

Being at ESSEC Asia-Pacific also allowed him to participate in the Asian Strategy Challenge (ASC) and work directly with Decathlon to develop their Asian mountain sports products.

“This allowed me to better understand business in Asia. It also helped me see my strengths and weaknesses as a leader and consultant. This gave me insight into how I can improve my professional self and the key elements to building a good client relationship,” he says.

The experiences have served him well, helping him secure a job as a strategy consultant at sustainable design consultancy Arup. He excels as he quickly works with people from all over the region.

Christiane Chung
Sales Planner in Japan

Christiane Chung from the class of 2022 came to ESSEC Asia-Pacific with dreams of starting a career both in luxury and in Asia.

“The tracks offered in Singapore that were focused on businesses in Asia were beneficial for me in bridging the gap into the Asian market, enabling me to begin my Asian career,” she says, adding that in addition to classroom lessons, she also benefited from her cohort’s study trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which enabled her to see first-hand how business is conducted in another Asian country.

Christiane got her start in the Asian luxury sector when she was still a student, clinching a position as a strategic business consultant at Van Cleef & Arpels in Singapore even before graduation.

The sum of these experiences paved the way for her to join Louis Vuitton’s Japan office as a sales planner— a role requiring her to practice all she has learned at ESSEC as she harnesses her knowledge of the Asian market to project sales trends.

Keerthana Sreekanth Rao
Business Intelligence Analyst in India

For biomedical engineering graduate Keerthana Sreekanth Rao, who sought a role with large-scale impact, the SMIB program at the APAC campus made the most sense because “the diversity of the region offered many opportunities for healthcare professionals.”

The 2020 alumna took on the role of career ambassador and gained in-depth exposure to the Singapore ecosystem by supporting career fairs and networking events. She also participated in a consulting project with the Philips healthcare informatics business as part of the ESSEC Life Sciences Club, which later cemented her decision to join Philips as a business intelligence analyst.

“I believe the fact that I understood more about the healthcare informatics team, the way they work, operate, and go about solving issues, contributed to me getting the job,” she says.