NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance dition Second e April 2013
Dear MSc Finance Alumni, I was very happy to see some of you at the GGSB Graduation ceremony that took place in Grenoble end of March. Congratulations again to our new Graduates. We had the pleasure to have for the first time an alumni speech by an MSc Finance Graduate, Maria Kouyoumijian. Maria did an excellent job as you will see in this Newsletter. In this Newsletter, Ahmed Ezzat (Grenoble 3) will share with you his teaching experience with Singapore 1 students. Ahmed is working in a bank in Qatar but was willing to experience teaching so he took responsibility for the International financial management module in Singapore. End of April, Alexandre Baudin (Grenoble 4) will give a presentation on Hedge funds to London students. Going forward, I’d like more and more alumni to come back and teach or give a presentation to current MSc Finance students. If you are interested, please make sure to contact me. You will also meet with two alumni (Ahmed from London 2 and Hugo from Grenoble 1) that have accepted to tell us (almost) everything about their lives before, during and after the MSc Finance. Finally, we will give you some information about the Serious game module that took place recently on our 3 sites: its objectives, how it takes place, etc. I’d like to thank those of you that have sent me job/internship offers recently or accepted to advise students before interviews. I make sure to send these offers to current students and publish them on the Graduate Network. As you know, the job market in Europe is difficult so our MSc Finance students/graduates greatly appreciate your efforts to help them start their professional careers. Networking is key and we now have a very good alumni base, having started the program 7 years ago. Finally, you have just received an invitation from Monique Garnier to join our next Alumni meeting in London on May 23.The guest speaker is a JP Morgan Executive, Head of Equity Quant Strategy. His speech will focus on the theme of quantitative investment: How to use language recognition to invest in stock markets? I’ll be there as well and hope to see many of you.
Kind regards, Stephanie Boyer
CONTENT Serious Game - Alumni Success Stories News from your Faculty - Alumni Event- Graduation Ceremony
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NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance April 2013
Serious Game Hélène Michel and Olivier Cateura
We have facilitated the MSc Finance Serious game module (that replaced the Integrative case study) : Hélène Michel in London and Grenoble (with Jean François Perinel), Olivier Cateura in Singapore.
“Serious Game”: How to define such an oxymoron? We can present serious games as “games in which education (in its various forms) is the primary goal, rather than entertainment”. These applications then use the characteristics of video games to engage individual in a learning experience. They belong to the type of computer-mediated environments of human learning, combining mediatized learning by mac h in e s , si m u lati on , emotional reactions and professionalization. Serious Games as learning methods have been widely developed since the 2000s and Grenoble Ecole de Management is developing their use more and more. When using game with learners, we try to reach several goals: the first one is to enhance students’ motivation to learn complex concepts. Using competition, challenge or curiosity as levers, we engage them in this process. The second goal is to improve their academic level concerning a topic. The game is a kind of GGSB MSc IN FINANCE
“magic circle” where error is allowed. Therefore, we encourage students’ experimentation and creativity to analyze and solve problems. The third goal is to reduce the “knowing-doing gap”: with a classical learning approach, students understand a concept but have often difficulty to use their knowledge in “real” life. When using simulation, we offer the possibility to experiment different cases representing professional situations. We therefore increase the transfer possibility from “virtual” to “real” life, from “knowing” to “doing”. The Global challenge business game simulation is an easy to use and very interactive tool that gives the opportunity to our students to manage a high-tech company on a global market. Based on the Nokia mobile phone industry, the students have to understand the market, make strategic decision and finally be smarter than the competition. They learn strategic management concepts and how decisions (marketing, innovation, HR, manufacturing….) impact the
financial performance of a company. The game also provides an opportunity for students to develop their soft skills: team work in a multicultural environment (as students are in teams competing one against each other), ability to make decisions under time pressure (as several decision rounds take place throughout the week), written and oral c o m m u n ic a t io n s k il l s ( a s students have to explain their decisions and present their results), leadership (as they have to defend their position and convince their team mates and instructor)… To go further and discover more about Cesim Global Challenge: http:// www.cesim.com/blog/bid/125570/ Interview-Olivier-Cateura-OnBusiness-Simulations
We have really enjoyed this experience with the MSc Finance students: they have learned a lot, and had fun too ! Thanks also for the good atmosphere and interactive exchanges we got during our stay in the city of the Lion (Singapore) and the City (London) ! The MSc Finance intake in Singapore
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NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance April 2013
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you! One of our MSc Finance 7 Grenoble students, Anthony Abou Khater is our new program ambassador and has interviewed two of our Alumni. We are very pleased to share with you their experiences.
Hugo ROITMAN MSc Finance 1 Grenoble 2006-2008 Tell us about yourself: career e d u c a t i o n background. If you had the opportunity to start over again, what would you change?
My name is Hugo Roitman, 30 years, I am half French half Brazilian and got a bachelor degree in Business and Statistics at London Metropolitan University, UK. After a 2-year experience in telecom sector, I decided to apply for the MSc in Finance at GGSB which gives me the possibility to obtain more in-depth skills of some finance aspects and interact with other classmates which had an added value experience as well. I was among the first intake of the MSc in Finance (2006). From professional experience, I mostly worked in corporate finance by participating in merger-acquisition (M&A) deals through investment banking and global corporate company. Lastly, I am working at Louis Dreyfus Commodities in Brazil.
GGSB MSc IN FINANCE
I’m in charge of analyzing new deals for the Group and monitor the performance of the LDC´s investees. I already made several deals in the new technology sector and agrobusinesses. In Brazil, I often deal with leverage bury out acquisitions which means acquiring a company with a high percentage of debt. Merger and Acquisition enables you to better understand the real business model of the company by crunching deep the numbers through detailed financial modeling and interact with c-level people to understand the strategic rationale of the investment. So then for the reasons explained above, I would not change my background. What are the possible next steps for you? Well, as you acquire more and more “M&A” skills, you start thinking that applying this knowledge for yourself could be an option. I am thinking eventually to start my own business. I am already part of a business angel group here in São Paulo looking for new business opportunities to invest at early stage in new technology sector. What is it that attracts and excites you the most about Finance? What inspires you to continue working in it? For my standpoint, finance gives you the tools to understand the economics behind a business model, assess the economical return of the investment but mostly try to solve problems in a rational way. In the real world, it happens (in some of the cases) that companies provide subtly inaccurate financial information or tend to use creative accounting with lack of details. Accounting and finance are good base with logical process in order to criticize in
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NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance April 2013
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you! constructive manner the information you receive. This is the most challenging part which I like the most and where you can interact with people that have different perceptions. What do you do to keep your financial skills up to date? In my point of view, the only way to keep up to date is doing deals and analyzing real world investments. I was disappointed with the financial training offered in the market as it was not realistic enough. What, in your opinion, are the skills required to become a high performing finance professional? Be consistent, like any other job, discipline is the key point. What would be a typical working day for you? A typical vacation day? I start to work around 8h30 taking 30min to read online newspapers and focus on some headlines that might impact the Group´s business. After that, I usually have a to do list of tasks from different projects. I align some issues of the day or the week with my boss. My
GGSB MSc IN FINANCE
time is allocated to financial modeling of some businesses or assets that we will potentially acquire and scheduling meetings with the board of the Group. Most of the materials are in English version and an analyst always helps me to do it. I am also in charge of monitor the performance of LDC´s investees. Every month, I receive the financial report that plugs into my financial modeling. By analyzing some key metrics, we set some strategic and operational meetings in order to improve the performance. I usually finish late at night after 22h, every day. What are your most memorable moments at GGSB? I have good ones! I enjoyed having met some amazing teachers such as Isabelle Chaboud, Stephanie Boyer and Christophe Bonnet. I have made some friends with who I’m still in touch. What advice do you have for the 2012-2013 MSc in Finance students? Guys, enjoy this year as much as you can at GGSB with all the people and information available. Enjoy skiing as well, personally, I feel bad for not enjoying so much. Do great networking! I wish you guys the best for this year. São Paulo, Brazil
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NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance April 2013
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you! Ahmed ALHUMIQANI MSc Finance 2 London 2008-2010
as the rights and wrongs I made in my life are what shaped the person I am today. What are the possible next steps for you? My long term objective is to become a highlyskilled financial analyst and open my own financial consulting firm. I believe there is still so much for me to learn, so on the short term I plan to keep on acquiring experience from different fields to develop my skills, in addition to building a network of connections which is vital for a private business.
Tell us about yourself: career and education background. If you had the opportunity to start over again, what would you change? Before joining the MSC in Finance program in 2008, I was awarded a Bachelor degree in Accounting in 2007 October 6 University in Egypt. After graduating that year, I worked with Al-Saeed Trading Company (the largest group in Yemen) as a Sales Admin for four months. After finishing the MSc Finance in 2010, I completed a full time internship with DeloitteYemen for three months. Then I received an offer to work for “Shihab” (the 2nd largest FMCG Company in Yemen) as a Budgeting & Planning Manager. I worked there for 13 months, but due to the unstable political situation in Yemen, the company laid off 10% of their staff to decrease expenses. One month later I started working at Yemen Microfinance Network as a Finance Controller. I have been in this job for 20 months now. I would not change anything in my past
GGSB MSc IN FINANCE
What is it that attracts and excites you the most about Finance? What inspires you to continue working in it? I have always been attracted to numbers in general and that’s why I did a bachelor degree in accounting which taught me how to deal with numbers in a systematic way. However, finance excites me as it enables me to see and interpret a lot of the events around me in a different way. Figures could be easily misinterpreted if not presented in support of the so many factors we learned during studying finance. What do you do to keep your financial skills up to date? Once employed, we get shocked by the workload and barely have time to learn new things. What I’ve been doing to stay financially updated is: watching/reading the daily financial newspaper, participating in conferences and financial related workshops (I was in Sudan for the Sanabel’s Annual Microfinance Conference in November 2012) and seeking training programs provided by the companies I worked for (received 2 international and 11 local trainings in the past two years).
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NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance April 2013
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you! Is there something that worries you about the financial industry?
What are your most memorable moments at GGSB?
What worries me is that despite the new financial methods we hear about to prevent financial crises, crises still hit and are unpredictable. I once heard that “It is enough to believe in a financial crisis for it to happen”, while recovering from them costs a lot of time and resources.
The best thing was the students’ diversity, as the MSc Finance-London 08/09 class was made of 26 students with 21 different nationalities. The friends I made there were the main thing that kept me going throughout the year, but the memorable moment was when one of my classmates from Colombia Fabio Hernández asked me to be the best man at his wedding which took place in London.
What, in your opinion, are the skills required to become a high performing finance professional? I believe that some of the key skills are paying attention to details, be organized, problem solving and having knowledge of different financial software systems. However, these skills could be found in many people and to be dis t in g u is h a b le r e qu i r e s de v e lo p in g interpersonal and managerial skills. What would be a typical working day for you? A typical vacation day?
What advice do you have for the 2012-2013 MSc in Finance students? Back then, my flatmates kept telling me that I had no life and I needed to go out more often. My advice to the MSc in Finance 12/13 is the same as my response to them: “It is okay to spend more time studying and less time out if your future depends on it”. Until now I believe I did the right thing as this degree helped me a lot to develop my career.
On a typical working day (Sat-Wed) I would be in my office from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm during which I will be running the activities of the finance department. I would also be having almost daily meetings with the management regarding our donors, budget, fund raising and the status of the audit process. Other donors, partners and bank related meetings are also very common. My program on a typical vacation day (Thu-Fri) would be either spending time with friends and family. But in all cases my program must include sleeping as much as I can to compensate for working hard during the week.
GGSB MSc IN FINANCE
Sanaa, Yemen
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NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance April 2013
News from your Faculty assigned to teach at the Singapore Campus. It was a challenging opportunity due to the fact that mastering the technical tools required to teach the course is something while having the talent to deliver the information in a prescribed academic manner is a different thing.
Ahmed EZZAT
As a GGSB post-graduate Alumni and a practitioner in the field of Market Finance for the last 7 years, I was encouraged to experience teaching International Financial Management in the MSc Finance program. After consulting with Professor Stephanie Boyer “Program Director”, I was
Although it’s a bit tough at the first stance to be responsible for coaching a class of 12 students especially if it’s your first experience, I can assure you that early and thorough preparation of the material paves the way for a successful teaching.
highly multicultural, safe, great shopping malls, excellent food and good public transportation (but expensive). The climate in Singapore is tropical, so it is hot and humid all year round and almost every day it rains for a short period of time. Overall, it has been a great experience and I strongly encourage more GGSB Alumni to give it a try.
Singapore is an amazing place:
GEM/GGSB around the world! Finance Alumni Networking event in London on Thursday 23 May from 18:30 to 21:30. GGSB is holding a series of networking events and is very pleased to invite you to the next one, to be held in London on 23 May, with the presence of Stéphanie Boyer, Philippe Dupuy, Asset Management Professor and Monique Garnier, Alumni Manager. This event will include an Inspirational keynote speaker speech on quantitative investment, Marco Dion, Global Head of Equity Quant Strategy, J.P. Morgan:
“How to use language recognition to invest in stock markets” Venue: Radisson Blu Portman Hotel To confirm your attendance, please click on this link
GGSB MSc IN FINANCE
Registration
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NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance April 2013
GGSB Graduation Ceremony
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The Ceremony took place on 16 March 2013. The fresh graduates from the MSc Finance intake 5 Grenoble and intake 4 London had the chance to receive their degrees on that day. And around 25 students from the MSc Finance attended the ceremony! We had the chance this year to have our class representative from London to make a speech…
Maria KOUYOUMIJIAN MSc Finance intake 4 Class Representative.
Let me begin by saying that I am grateful for having been given this opportunity to speak to all of you. As Class Representative, I had the privileged of being involved in the student experience. So when I say that is truly an hono r to speak t o a distinguished audience, it is because I KNOW how hard you worked to get to where you are now. Congratulations!! You made it!
GGSB MSc IN FINANCE
The Grenoble Graduate School of Business is truly forging its way upward! MSc Finance is now in the top 10 of the Financial Times ranks! And like many of my colleagues, I am extremely proud of our achievements because this Masters degree was challenging… well, at least for the MSc Finance students. We watched yearningly as the “cool” BIB and MIB students organized parties and went on their fun ski trips together. We saw all the Facebook pictures. And what were the MSc Finance students doing for “fun”? Firstly, we did a Statistical Analysis to find out if in fact “the students” coefficient of happiness increased if the school fixes their ventilation system and
provided us with more oxygen?” and secondly, we drew a regression line to see if possibly there was a positive correlation between our grades and the number of times we complained to Stéphanie Boyer. The truth is we are truly privileged to have shared this unparalleled experience with unique people: from our outstanding professors (who were stern but supportive) to our diversified portfolio of lifetime friendships. And we are especially grateful for your dedication, Stephanie Boyer, to the MSc Finance program. Fellow students, you have been trained by this institution to lead, not just to build your resumes. A Masters degree from Grenoble means that we have been put through a rigorous test of endurance and tenacity, in exchange for a newfound confidence in ourselves. And along with our instinct and impressive achievement comes leadership and professionalism.
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NEWSLETTER GGSB MSc Finance April 2013
GGSB Graduation Ceremony We are entering a new world, filled with new i d e a s , n e w technologies, new f o r m s o f communication, and so I found in my experience that the following 3 principles are very important: ∾ Be the inspiration to the people around you ∾ Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, always be open to hearing and speaking the truth and to tweak yourselves constantly
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t h e w o r l d , Muhammad Ali, which motivated me during the most intense time of my life especially when I was writing my thesis. Hopefully they will inspire you as well to accomplish any goal you want to achieve. IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING Congratulations to all the graduates and thank you very much!”
∾ As I learned from my own work on Water Finance, our responsibility is to try to contribute to society in a unique way, being mindful that the future of this fragile planet is part of our inheritance. Lastly, I share with you three little words that I borrowed from the most famous boxing champion in
GGSB MSc IN FINANCE
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