Mahesh

My name is Mahesh. My family left India at the beginning of the 20th century to move to South Africa where they have been successful entrepreneurs. I moved to the US in 2005 to get a degree. I got two degrees, a Bachelor of Science in Business (Finance) and a Masters in Management Information Systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. I began working for my family business as a business developer. However, in 2014 I left the family business to start my own company called Sevamob, which is a healthcare organization aimed at providing innovative primary healthcare services to low-income families in underdeveloped countries.

My education was mainly technical as I initially got a degree in Information Systems. After some time I decided to open my own start-up in the health care sector. I realized, two-three years into founding my own company, that I needed to develop my decision making, team management, and leadership skills while also improving my education to talk to investors at the same level. I was good at the operational aspect of my work but needed to develop finesse in other aspects. So I decided to go for an MBA to further my education.

I chose Duke- Fuqua School of Business as they have expertise in Executive education and the program that they offer is very global. I had a lot of missions, consulting projects outside the US, which was something I appreciated. At the same time, the program has a very international scope thanks to the partnerships Duke has created with programs outside the US.

The most difficult part was the GMAT. My profile as a global entrepreneur was appreciated by Duke but my problem area was the GMAT. First of all, when I decided to work from the GMAT, it had been five years since the last time I sat down to study. Secondly, the problem was finding the time to prepare for the GMAT in between my work and family. Fortunately, I received the support of MBA Center consultants which was of great help to me to reduce the time spent studying for the GMAT.

Amazing classes and interactions, well-respected faculty and great facilities. Apart from these, the networking opportunities here are great too. As I chose the EMBA program, I needed the flexibility of schedule for my classes. Duke has been a great school for my requirements and I was very happy with the quality of their program.

Find a program that gives you the knowledge that you can use right after work. Different programs focus on different aspects of the MBA program. You need to be able to figure out if that EMBA gives you what you really need as a working professional. Do not just focus on the big name. look for the values that you can extract from a program.

A lot of times people look for a program that is convenient in with their life, work and family. Be careful when you do that. It is better to travel a bit more or study a bit further away rather than simply looking for a convenient program and regretting it later.

Be surrounded by professionals like the ones at the MBA Center who can help you add value to your application. They helped me get into three programs, TRIUM, Chicago Booth and Duke. I know how difficult it is to get into these programs and without the help of Dr. Hubert Silly and the MBA Center, it would have been very difficult for me to have gotten these schools.