I am Serina from the Class of 2022, the HKU MBA Full-time programme. I come from Japan and I was with a Japanese conglomerate, Mitsubishi Corporation, and across the five years with those companies, I had experience in supply chain management, project management, and also subsidiary insight in the consumer industry, specialising in the seafood division. And now, I started my new career here in Hong Kong with JP Morgan.

An MBA has always been on my to-do list and I was seeking the timing to pursue it. During the pandemic, when I saw the world changing around, I saw it was also going to be a good time for me to reflect on what I want to do in the future. And then it came to the question of where I want to do it. And coming from a background mixing China and Japan, I have always had this passion to be a culture bridge in Asia. And so I can leverage my own background and experience. So an international city here in Asia came into the picture: Hong Kong was the place I chose to go.

I didn’t have a finance background, but then coming to this MBA gave me more exposure about the professional landscape in Hong Kong. I started to realise that finance is really the major field in this place. With good timing, I found there was a summer internship with my current company, which was open to MBA students across the globe and during my application process, the HKU MBA career centre has really been a great help for us. From the interview application,I could eventually apply for the programme and now successfully come back as a full-time employee. 

I would definitely say an MBA was a great help on this, so I was really honoured to present the HKU MBA to the World MBA Summit in Milan. Together with another classmate, I could showcase what I have learned throughout the journey being on a global platform that really elevates the whole experience as an MBA student.

 I would say doing an MBA is definitely beneficial for everyone who considers it. I wish everyone an incredible journey along the way and all the best.