菜单

为了此次采访,Michail特意下班后,从昆山一直赶到了中国中心。夜幕降临,我们直入主题,开始了采访。Michail来自希腊,算起来,今年已是他在中国的第四个年头了。他怎么会来中国工作生活,又是怎么会选择就读曼大中国中心的呢?

Despite long distance between Kunshan and Shanghai, Michail arrived in time at the China Centre. It was already an evening time. We began our interview immediately. Michail came from Greece. It was the fourth year for Michail in China. We wonder how he came to China and study the MBA with the UoM?

不如从头说起,从他和英国的渊源开始。很简单,Michail一直相信英国的教育水平,于是高中毕业后,他只身来到英国求学,在威尔士大学就读计算机工程。本科三年,印象中,威尔士几乎天天下雨。我好奇来自阳光充足的希腊的他,是如何适应的。他笑说,刚开始确实有些不适应,不过他一直相信,只要坚持,困难总会被克服。2001年本科毕业后,他不满足,于是申请到Glasgow的大学,连续拿下两个硕士学位:MSc. in Electronic Business, 以及MSc. in Business in IT Systems. 佩服于他的求学精神,还佩服他的眼光,要知道在2001年,电子商务仅刚刚萌芽,Amazon已崭露头角,但还远非今日之势,阿里巴巴在国际舞台还名不见经传;而在线支付则更多是一个概念性的产品。Michail已嗅出其潜力。

Let’s start from the right beginning. Michail believed in the quality of the British education. Therefore, he went to study in the UK and graduated with BSc. (Hons) in Computing from the University of Wales. In his memory, it was nearly raining everyday in those three years. I was curious how he got used to that weather, while he was from a sunny country. He said it was really challenging for him at the beginning, but he believes that is up to ourselves to make things better. Upon graduation, he decided to continue with his study and completed two masters: MSc. in Electronic Business, and MSc. in Business in IT Systems under a scholarship, respectively from universities in Glasgow. I respected that he had such a foresight on e-commerce. As dated back in 2001, e-commerce just came into its first steps. Amazon was known then, but far less popular than nowadays. Alibaba was even less known especially on the global market. Online payment was more a conventional product. However, Michail had realized its potential for future transactions in every business sector.

英国求学结束,Michail赶回祖国参军,因为在希腊,规定成年男子都必须服一年兵役。各种高强度训练Michail可以适应,可是最困扰他的居然是发现自己与其他人格格不入,几年的英式教育英式思维,竟然产生了文化隔阂。于是兵役结束,Michail义无反顾地返回英国求职。他还记得自己带着全部行李,自驾整整48个小时,一路来到英国。那年是2005年,他供职于一家保险公司的运营部门。然而一年后,由于家里的原因,他不得不又回到了希腊,从事IT业的商务拓展。

Upon completion of all the study, Michail had to go back Greece to serve the military obligations at Greek Armed Forces. Despite all other hardship, he found out that his way of thinking could not match with his acquaintances and he had a big culture gap with his peers in the army. In addition, he believed his professional career should start from the place he used to be as a student. While he was so used to British way of thinking, then he immediately went back to the UK upon completion of the national service. He still remembered that he took all his luggage and drove his car all the way from Greece to London, in the UK. It was in 2005. He later worked for an insurance company in Portsmouth. However, after only one year, he had to go back to Greece due to family reasons and postpone his plans for a later stage.

不多久,2008年,爆发了金融危机,这把火一直从美国烧到了欧洲。希腊是欧洲国家中最先受到冲击以及最重打击的国家之一。Michail决定再次回到受到金融危机影响偏小的英国,并尝试不同的行业。他考虑转向快消、食品行业,因为他认为这个行业受到经济冲击的影响相对会小。不久他就得到了一家跨国连锁零售企业的区域经理一职,巧得是,他被派负责中部及北威尔士区域共六家店的整体运营。Michail直言,那两年的工作经历让他受益匪浅,也很充实。他负责谈判、物流、审计、IT、人力资源、预算等等,所有一切。集团也给了他充足的培训。不过他的人生转折点也出现在了2010年,当时集团决定在希腊继续开疆扩土,便派Michail回到希腊负责开新店。本是好事,Michail也踌躇满志,谁知半年后,集团竟然突然决定从希腊完全撤出,并毫无征兆地解散所有希腊员工。不难想象,这样突如其来的决定对他来说是多大的打击。一直习惯了高强度工作节奏的他,在接下来的一个月的时间里,无所事事。是打击,却可能也是机遇。Michail隐隐觉得,命运可能在用一种特殊的方式,让他开启另一扇门。恰在此时,他的兄弟也决定出来创业。瞄准了金融危机下企业的需求,为那些希腊中小企业提供金融类解决方案,两兄弟联合创业,Michail负责整个商务拓展与市场营销。一年左右光景,他们的企业做得风生水起,也有了稳定的客户群。

He was working in IT companies in Greece until 2008 when the financial crisis took place. Greece was impacted heavily. Michail made a decision to join a new sector, rather than IT or financial industry, which could teach him lessons on how a business could survive under the most difficult economic conditions, so he switched to the FMCG/Food industry. He accepted the challenge to join the global leader of hard-discount in retail as an Area Manager and to run up to 6 supermarkets in the wider area of Midlands and North Wales. He was in charge of negotiation, logistics, operations, audit, IT, HR, budget control etc. Besides, the Group also offered him intensive trainings. He learnt a lot during those two years. In 2010, the Group had a bigger plan for Greece market and Michail applied to take this opportunity. Michail was in charge of developing the business network by opening new stores. However, the Group unexpectedly decided to withdraw completely from the Greece market and all its Greece employees were dismissed. It was not hard to imagine what a big strike for him. However, Michail didn’t give up. He soon started up a company with his brother to advise on financial solutions for SMEs in Greece, as they had realized the big demand in Greece then.

不多久,他收到了来自希腊企业Kleemann的邀请。经过仔细的考虑,他决定加入到了这家跨国大型制造企业,因为他预测这家企业一定能在金融危机后发展得更快。他负责非洲地区新市场的销售及商务拓展。18个月里,他开辟出了7个新市场,Kleeman也从当初他入职时的75个国家市场开拓到了100多个国家,也在那时出口额首次超过了内销。于是,2013年,成了整个公司的历史转折点,也是他的职业生涯转折点。他成为了当年的Best Performer,也由于他的突出业绩,当年他被赋予重任,派驻中国,负责在中国新建子公司,包括一所新工厂,为东南亚及中国市场供货。Michail负责整个亚太地区的销售及市场开拓。那时的他,虽工作超负荷,每两周就要出差,飞到新的国家市场。但令他自豪的是,经过不懈的努力,终于在2014年得到了回报。随着来自泰国的第一批订单,其它国家的订单也源源不断地涌入,渐渐建立起一个稳定和广泛的客户群。至今,他已把Kleemann的产品,带到了东南亚地区17个新的市场,东起印度,西至日本,北起蒙古,南至印尼。他笑言,对亚洲这些国家城市地理,他现在了如指掌。由于出色表现,总部赋予了他更多的支持与职责。

Their company has been established successfully and stably until today. It was in the middle of 2010 when he received a challenging invitation from a multinational company in manufacturing sector. So he decided to be involved at this new industry, as he predicted that this company will develop fast after the financial crisis. Kleemann offered him a job to be responsible for sales and business development in African markets. In 18 months, he successfully developed 7 new markets and in the meantime, Kleemann’s global markets went from 75 to over 100. The year of 2013 was a turning point for Kleemann when the export volume exceeded domestic market, as well as for Michail in his career path. He became the Best Performer and therefore assigned a more important task to open up the Asian & Pacific markets. Kleemann set up a subsidiary company with a brand new factory to serve the ASEAN markets, including China market. Michail was in charge of the sales, marketing and business development of ASEAN markets. Despite a heavy workload which required him to travel almost every two weeks, he was satisfied with every progress he’s made. His work was paid off until 2014 when the first order came from Thailand. More orders followed up and a wide network of clients have been established. So far, he has established the brand to 17 new markets in ASEAN territory.

虽然业务量加大,但一切都慢慢走上了正轨,使得Michail可以更主动地掌握自己的时间。也就在同年,2016年,Michail心里的MBA梦想再一次被点燃。这个梦想其实早在2009年时就有了,但是后来种种原因,迫使他不得不把这个梦想暂时搁置在一边。于是,Michail在比较了几家国际MBA院校后,最终选择了就读曼彻斯特商学院。曼商符合了他的种种要求:非单纯线上授课,有着合理的线下workshop;在中国,就能读到最纯正的英式教育;当然也因为曾经在曼城工作生活过,有着一份特殊的感情。他就读的课程,令他可以合理安排时间,飞到曼商不同的海外中心就读。

Back to 2009, he already had the dream, but was constrained by his limited free time. His MBA dream was postponed until 2015. In 2016, sales volume was increasing, and everything was already on track. Michail hoped to realize his dream of studying the MBA. After comparing several international business schools, he chose AMBS to start his Global MBA study. The MBA course fitted well his requirements: blended learning with well-designed offline workshops, on International basis; authentic British education and professors. Of course, he had a special emotion towards Manchester where he used to live and work.

Michail对于自己有着清醒的认识,对于学习,有着强烈的追求。他是big fan of life-long learning,始终相信‘活到老,学到老’。他也在不断实践着自己对学习的热爱。就读期间,他还另外安排时间就读了一个两个月的关于物联网的线上课程。Kleemann曾提出愿意出资供他就读曼商,换他两年的工作合约。虽然时间不长,但他还是拒绝了东家的提议,因为他不喜欢被禁锢的感觉,只相信自己的命运必须紧紧攥在自己的手中。Michail一直在思考自己下一步要做什么,他求学也是为了给自己更多地可能与资本。MBA的理论基础与对金融、制造业、IT、运营等的实际工作经验,加上对中国机会与实力的坚信,他认为必须做点什么。他看好工业4.0,他想做一些和这个有关的事情。

Michail is a big fan of life-long learning. He also took an online course on IoT during his MBA study to support his vision for the new era of Industry 4.0. Kleemann used to propose to sponsor his MBA study, in exchange for a two-year contract with him. However, he turned down this offer as he insisted to control his own fate. He was always thinking what the next step to take. His experiences in finance, IT, manufacturing, BD and operation, as well as his study in MBA led to his belief that he must do something new. He believed a promising future in Industry 4.0 and China’s strong competitive advantage in this area. He hoped to further expand the possibilities of Industry 4.0 in conjunction with EU, China and Asian emerging markets.

最后,Michail说,Nothing is Impossible。

经历了很多,他始终未放弃对学习的孜孜追求,也相信曼大带给他的,将不仅仅是知识的汲取,更将带给他一些意想不到的资源(比如校友)和帮助。他有着创业的梦想,实现下一个自我价值的信念。始终在异乡打拼的他,不服输,不断尝试更多的可能性,创造属于自己的一片天地。采访至此,不知不觉已过去2个多小时,夜更深了,送走Michail,抬头望天,看到了一片久违的星空……

It was going to the end of the interview. Michail said his belief in ‘Nothing is Impossible’ could also inspire wider Alumni. In spite of all the hardship in the past, he never gave up his pursuit to study. He also believed that the study with AMBS would give him not only knowledge but also more resources, deeper involvement within global business environment, entrepreneurship skills and a wider alumni network. He had a dream to start up his own business in order to blend the 100% of his knowledge and realize his value, under the objective that his company can make people’s life easier, efficiently manage resources in a harmonious way and protect the environment with side business activities.