Leonardo Banegas, Global MBA student at ESSEC Business School, France

After having grown up and worked in Citibank across multiple Central American countries, Honduras national Leonardo Banegas wanted to be anywhere but a Spanish-speaking country for his MBA. He eventually joined the one-year Global MBA programme at ESSEC Business School near Paris, France, where he is hunting for a post-MBA job in the consulting industry.

Heres a little conversation with him that will help you understand his choices and life at ESSEC Business School.

Who are you, what is your background?

My name is Leonardo Banegas and Im from Honduras. Before the MBA at ESSEC Business School, I was in Taiwan studying my Masters degree in Industrial Engineering and Management, where I was also trying to learn Chinese. Even before that, I was working with Citibank for four years in the Central America operations where I had to live and work in all the Central America countries and even at New York and Miami. I was in Project Management as a Regional Project Manager. Citibank had just acquired two regional banks in Central America. So I was working on the acquisition project in all the departments – finance, sales, customer service, operation – basically I was in contact with every department to see that our business had emigrated to new technologies.

At what point did you realise you wanted to do an MBA?

I started thinking about MBA when I was in Citibank, where my direct boss was a lady from London Business School and Columbia, who always pushed me to do an MBA. She took me as a high potential employee in Citibank because I was the youngest. I was 22 and was working with people aged more than 40. So she wanted me to go to a tough MBA because she saw potential. In fact, she wote a recommendation for all my applications.

In 2010, I was offered a full-scholarship by the government of Taiwan to study for two years there. I decided to go to Asia as I wanted to discover that part of the world. I tried to learn Chinese and after that, decided to do my MBA in a third continent here in Europe.

I specifically wanted to go to a country where there would be no Spanish speaking population, as that is where I come from. US, United Kingdom, France and Germany were my considerations.

Finally, after all my research, I joined the ESSEC global MBA programme as it was the most international among my acceptances and was one-year long. I think all this has been worth it because my career has allowed me to have different views from three continents.

Which other MBA programmes did you apply to?

I applied to four programmes. Apart from ESSEC, I applied to INSEAD, HEC Paris and IE Business School in Madrid. I was accepted at IE but I didnt attend it because the programme already had many Latin Americans and being with more Spanish-speaking people was exactly what I did not want. ESSEC offered me the best option at the right moment.

How long did you prepare for the GMAT?

GMAT prep was a long process for me. It took me almost six months to prepare for it using Manhattan GMAT online courses. I took the GMAT twice. I got 580 and I think I was one of the lowest scorers here.

What do you plan to do after your MBA?

Before I came here, I was planning to pursue a career in consulting or finance. This was one of the reasons why I joined ESSEC because it has a very good reputation in France and Europe for these sectors. This was my original plan but now I have been exposed to more options. Our Career Services team makes us think or look at opportunities that we didn’t know existed before. I am now also trying for business development at international corporations such as Lafarge, Airbus, etc apart from consulting.

Do you feel more confused after coming here?

In fact, I think I clarified a lot of things for myself here. For example, I wanted consulting but if I really wanted to work in France, it’s going to be very difficult if one is not a fluent speaker of the French language. I now have a clearer vision of how the job requirements are in each sector. So I am targeting the sector where I will have more opportunities.

Which electives are you taking to achieve your goal?

I love finance, so I am taking all finance courses which are embedded in the entrepreneurship and business development areas.

My favorite course until now has been Business in Society. We have a professor from Harvard (Anne Claire-Pache) who teaches it and the dynamics of her class are very different. We first have a case from Harvard and then we get a speaker from the company whose case we are discussing. So first we discuss the case with the classmates and then we have the view of the professional. For example, we see a Cemex case and then people from Lafarge come to talk to us. Similarly, we had a case on Timberland and the ex-CEO of Timberland came to talk to us. So every class is very complete in that sense.

I liked Statistical Analysis for the same reason, taught by Prof Vincenzo Vinzi.

Are you all set for your job search? Which do you think would be the easiest and the toughest parts of the search?

I think for me and most non-Europeans, the toughest part would be the French language. If we want opportunities in France, we are going to need to know the language. Yet, this is one of the locations I’d like to work at, so it’ll be tough. But Essecs reputation in France works in our favour. This is the balance that we have play with – reputation versus the language.

In France, I will look for work with international corporations which work using an English environment, such as Total or Airbus. We are also going to Singapore for six weeks where I will use some of my old contacts to target companies there.

The career services department is helping to figure out what our strengths are, what we want to do, how to evaluate the job market in each industry, work on our CV and cover letters, etc. Now, we are in the phase where everyone has to be proactive in looking for opportunities and be clear about where we want to go.

What is the biggest mistake that you could make during your job search?

The biggest mistake would be to wait for Essec to give me job. If you are reactive and wait for companies to come and hire you, it will be the biggest mistake you can make. The best approach is to be proactive and look out for ourselves with the support of Essec. We have a professional orientation here and we have to look for opportunities ourselves.

How have you financed your MBA?

About 50% of it was personal savings, the rest of it was scholarship and a student loan from a French bank. In my case, I was lucky because my uncle stays in France, so I had a guarantor. Otherwise it’s not easy if you don’t have a guarantor.

Does the loan weigh you down when you plan your career?

In fact, when I was doing my original financial planning, I wanted a loan for three years from the US or Latin America where the interest rates were high and I wanted to pay back as soon as possible. But in France, the rates were quite good and they allowed me a payback time of nine years. For this reason, I don’t have too much pressure. The worst case scenario is that I go back to my previous job in Citibank so that I can pay the loan easily. So I don’t feel that much pressure.