After 20 years in one industry, Vlerick’s European Executive MBA has given entrepreneur Olga a fresh perspective

Olga Mirkina’s career in the automotive industry has spanned two decades. And throughout this time, she has achieved great success – including launching and selling her own business.

“My colleagues and I had an idea for an augmented reality product,” she says. “So in 2017 we quit our jobs and founded a start-up. We developed our product – and in 2022, we were acquired by Harman International.

“For the past two years, we’ve been integrating into the organisation while continuing to develop the product. I moved into a senior role, where I’m responsible for business development as well as clients and product development.”

So what does someone who has achieved so much do next? Olga decided her next leap would be to participate in Vlerick’s European Executive MBA.

Identifying her next move

Olga says: “I had built a career, founded and sold a start-up – and held a senior position. But I didn’t know what I wanted to do next. Climb the corporate ladder? Launch a new business? Retire? I thought the MBA could help me decide.

“On the one hand, I wanted to reward myself with something. On the other, I wanted to reflect on my entrepreneurial journey. Could we have done anything better? We were very motivated – and we had a great product. But we had zero business experience and definitely made mistakes. I was sure there were things we could have done differently.

“I spoke to friends about it – and they suggested an MBA.”

Olga lives and works in her home country, Ukraine. Because of the current situation in the country, she has limited options for travel – and this impacted her MBA options.

She says: “I didn’t want to do an online MBA – I wanted to travel. But I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it every three weeks, like many programmes require. That’s what first drew my attention to Vlerick’s European Executive MBA.

“I liked the format. I have a full-time job and children, so for me it was much more balanced to spend a few days away every three months. Yes, the online elements were on weekends, but it was still manageable.

“Also, all of the trips were to European cities, so I was able to get to them. And importantly, I didn’t need any additional visas.”

A programme packed with highlights

The European Executive MBA combines online learning with immersive trips to five European cities, which were a real highlight for Olga.

“We got to visit so many companies,” she says. “There was a theme to each trip – you explored a topic then visited companies at their offices and discussed the way they do business. It was very valuable.

“I couldn’t rank the trips because I got so many insights from each of them. If I had to choose a favourite it would be Copenhagen and the HR module. We met great companies throughout the programme, but when you meet a VP from LEGO, it really sticks in your memory.”

Another highlight for Olga was the interaction with fellow participants.

She says: “We were a very small group, six women and nine men which is a pretty good balance for an MBA. And we worked together so well. There was no competition – even when we had group assignments. We all supported one another – the atmosphere was so positive and really contributed to my experience. And now we’re friends for life.”

The freedom to do it her way

When it came to choosing her consultancy project, Olga leaned into her entrepreneurial experience.

She says: “My colleague had an idea for a technical automotive tool. For my Knowledge-in-Action project, I took his idea and applied a framework we’d discussed on the entrepreneurship course. I completed the first step of the customer discovery process and started to create a business model. It’s not yet complete, but we already have some valuable results.

“We’re now thinking about completing the rest of the framework on our own, and potentially launching it.

“I was very lucky with my academic advisor, Miguel Meuleman. We worked together well. He didn’t micromanage me and I was free to make my own decisions. But he was always there to offer challenge, answer questions and guide me.”

Diving into sustainability

Olga also found the programme’s focus on sustainability extremely valuable.

“I knew very little about sustainability before the programme,” she says. “So it was an amazing experience to dive into it. Not just regulation and reporting requirements, but the essence of what sustainability means.

“Before the MBA, I only considered the environment – the European Green Deal, electric cars and so on. But now I know sustainability is about so much more. I’m really interested in the social aspect – and as a result of the MBA, I’ve been challenging my company internally on this.”

The knowledge to make an impact

Olga also credits her MBA with boosting her confidence.

“I gained a lot of knowledge,” she says. “And now, in the discussions I have in my job, I understand much more about what’s happening in different areas – and I know the right language to use.

“Sometimes, you feel something isn’t quite working as well as it should – but you can’t pinpoint what it is. When you have time away to consider it – and you have the knowledge, frameworks and tools to apply – you can start to find the answer.”

Looking to the future

Olga has just graduated – and now the intensity of the MBA is over, she’s looking forward to taking time to digest everything she’s experienced.

Given the current situation in Ukraine, Olga has no immediate plans to make changes in her career. But the European Executive MBA has given her plenty of food for thought.

“I particularly valued meeting different companies,” she says. “When you work in the same industry for 20 years, you usually encounter companies that all work in a similar way – and you start thinking, everywhere must be like this.

“But the MBA gives you a fresh perspective. You meet new people and explore different ways of working and companies that do it well. I might join one of those companies one day – to experience a new way of doing business.”