Antonio

My name is Antonio and I am the CEO of TACTIC, which is a Belgian development and integration company focused on bringing together engineers to deliver efficient and innovative platform-based solutions, a company that I created 15 years ago. I am a serial entrepreneur and TACTIC is one of the five companies I created over the years. In addition to running my company, I am also interested in some IT companies in which I have invested.

As a Belgian, I initially studied at ISC Saint-Louis in Brussels. But I consider myself a self-made man since the thing I am working on right now, IT and entrepreneurship was not something that I studied.

Outside of that, I am the proud father of two wonderful daughters.

I am working at a position in a field for which I was not prepared. I learned IT by myself and I had different positions from where I developed my taste for entrepreneurship. I realized that I have made many mistakes over the years. My company TACTIC is very successful and may be merged or acquired by a Fortune 500 company. As such it is important that I prepare for the change that is to come.

I chose IMD for two reasons. I love Switzerland and want to start the second part of my career in Switzerland. As I am in the media and healthcare industry the market in Switzerland is perfect for the company. Secondly, the IMD EMBA is an extremely flexible program. As the CEO of my own company, I needed a program that was very flexible and would accommodate my job around it as there are weeks that I might be away at some location or that my weekends may be tied up in company work. IMD gave me this advantage as it allowed me to stop the classes when I needed to and restart them in an intensive manner later on. This format was essential to help me complete my studies as I could tailor the course around my needs and requirements. IMD has real experience in Executive MBAs and I was very impressed by the quality of the teachers and the students who were executives with key management positions.

When I initially went to visit Dr. Hubert Silly I was aiming for INSEAD, LBS, Chicago Booth, programs that would require me to complete the GMAT and an application. The most difficult part of the process turned out to be the GMAT. I had stopped my studies in 2003 and my first foray into the MBA Center was in 2016. I was also not exactly good at Math, nor was the level of professional English that I speak enough for me to get a good score on a more thorough level of English as expected by the GMAT. I was very pleased to find Dr. Hubert Silly who helped me prepare for the GMAT, spending time to help me perfect my Math and English skills and get the 620 that I did. I found out much later that IMD does not require a GMAT but having the score was a big boost to me and I was confident of my place there.

The second difficulty I faced was finding the time to get organized for the MBA as work and family kept me very busy throughout the day. I realized that the preparations at the MBA center were a good rehearsal before the MBA started and it allowed me to evaluate what I really needed.

As I continually travel due to business the flexible program at IMD really suited me. However, the intensity of the classes and the structure of the curriculum was a great support to my work. The IMD program is quite exclusive and I was pleased to see the quality of the students there. There were plenty of networking opportunities provided to the students who were mostly men and women in top-level executive positions in various companies, which I believe was a very integral part of the program.

 Before visiting MBA Center I had a very faint idea of MBAs and was thinking of applying to Vlerick Business School too, which is a very good school but cannot be compared to IMD, especially in terms of participants, in which case IMD had a greater advantage. I had a vague idea of the various Executive MBA programs in the market. Interacting with Dr. Hubert Silly I realized that IMD would be the perfect place for my MBA program. Hubert was my coach and he helped me identify that Switzerland would be the best place for me to study and that the flexible program at IMD would be the best for my case. A too rigid EMBA program would be impossible for me. He also gave me a clearer view of the format of the program and what being a part of it would actually entail.

My advice to potential candidates would be to investigate further. The EMBA is a commercially driven market with a lot of information given in fairs and newspapers being designed to target a certain audience. You need to go beyond advertising to see what really fits you.

I am a great example of someone who has received a lot of essential help to the program. Without this help from Hubert, first of all, in helping me build my application and second in indicating the best MBA for me, I would not have been able to find the best possible place for my MBA. I believe that he is one of the greatest minds who understand the MBA more than any other person and his help and advice would be a great boon for any potential candidates.