What I got from attending an EMBA
Graduation Speech: Cosmin Dragoi, Alumni Representative Executive MBA Class 2022
I was surprised when I got the call from Bianca, asking me to make a speech at the graduation ceremony. She told me to talk about what I got from attending this business school, what shall I use further, from what I learned and so on.
The truth is that I joined ASEBUSS by pure coincidence. A chain of coincidences, actually.
I graduated Cybernetics faculty, very upset that in 5 years of college I didn’t have not even one class of entrepreneurship. When people don’t have any skills in particular, what do they do? They become an entrepreneur. So that is what I wanted to do, to become an entrepreneur. But I didn’t know how to do it, so I decided back then that I needed to attend a business school. Didn’t have any money though, so it had to wait for a while.
Ten years later, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to join him at a business event. I asked: What kind of event is it? He said: Not sure, but a very nice lady invited me, so we should go. I said: ok, let’s go. We arrived at what it proved to be a presentation event of the ASEBUSS MBA program. That was coincidence no. 1.
It fascinated me, the people, the topics, but still the check was higher than my economies. So I still had to wait a bit more.
A few years later I had to rent an apartment. The landlord was a very interesting person, we talked, I asked him what he does for a living. He told me he was a professor at the ASEBUSS MBA program … coincidence no. 2! Later, he actually was my professor in the EMBA program.
Some more years later I was invited at a TV show. There was another guest on the show. We talked before entering, he asked me what I do for a living. He told me he is the Dean of ASEBUSS, his name – Mr. Ovidiu Dimbean-Creta. He told me to come by for a coffee, I said sure! It was coincidence no. 3, I had to come!
I finally enrolled the program. After one year of classes, my business started going really well. Not because of the things I learned in school, of course, but because this was another coincidence, no. 4!
I’ve been working in investment consulting for the last 17 years, especially in the energy sector and I was looking for several years for a solution to set up an investment fund for energy projects. I couldn’t find the right know-how or persons to do this with.
At the end of the EMBA program, I joined the mentorship program. I had an amazing mentor, Mr. Mihai Coca-Cozma, whose input was invaluable to growing my business. And at the very last meeting, when we were shaking hands goodbye, he told me: „Listen, I joined another program as a mentor, financed by BCR, that aims to support 5 fund managers to set up venture capital funds. We still have a slot open, are you interested in joining? Wow, coincidence no. 5 was truly amazing!
So I joined the VC fund program. We learned a lot, and during the program we had to put up our team. We were missing a CFO, so I thought at one colleague from EMBA, the best CFO I know. I told her: “Listen, I know you are the CFO of Samsung Romania for the last 15 years, but would you be interested in joining our project?” She said: “I was looking to join an investment fund for a number of years, thank you for thinking of me, yes, of course I want to join!” Coincidence no. 6!
I didn’t arrive at coincidence no. 7 yet. But I know it will be a good one, as I am a very lucky person to be here, as you can tell. So, what I got from this business school? So many coincidences for which I thank you all so much, professors, colleagues and all of you who made it possible. Thank you!
