Magazine

ISSUE NO. 3 / OCTOBER 2011

THE INGREDIENTS OF SUCCESS EBS LONDON FOOD AND DRINK SPECIAL

EBS London Magazine Keeping you in touch with EBS London.

EBS London Magazine is produced by the Alumni Relations Team.

Edited by Andy Harris Sarah Lewis Head of Alumni Relations and Events David Whitaker Contributors Mikko Arevo Jason Drew Emil Gigov Judith Perle Ibrahim Sirkeci Contact Alumni Relations Alumni Relations and Events Regent’s College London Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, London NW1 4NS Tel +44 (0)20 7487 7700 Email alumni@regents.ac.uk Web www.regents.ac.uk Illustration Michelle Kondrich Vicky Scott Photography John Carey Johnathon Gregson Oliver Jiszda Bex Singleton © EBS London Magazine. All Rights Reserved.

Reproduction in whole or part of any photograph, text or illustration without permission from the publisher is prohibited. Due care is taken to ensure the content of EBS London Magazine is fully accurate, but the publisher cannot accept liability for omissions or errors.

This magazine can be made available in larger print or alternative formats for people with visual impairment or dyslexia. Please contact the Alumni Relations Team for further information, on 020 7487 7793 or by e-mail to alumni@regents.ac.uk

CONTENTS 2

Food for Thought

4

News

6

Behavioural Economics: The Impact of Decision-Making

8

Anjum Anand: The Authentic Entrepreneur

10

The Protein Crunch: Civilisation on the Brink

12

Central Asia to Central London: Dina Lyuter

14

On the Red Carpet with Max della Torre e Tasso

16

A New Kind of Pirate Has Emerged: What Makes Us Pay for Digital Music?

18

The Long Way Round: Paul-Phillip Krengel

20

Back to School: Emil Gigov

22

Make Your Own Luck: Harness The Power of Your Network

24

Recipe: Goan Fish Curry

25

Alumni Update

26

Your News

27

Keeping in Contact

28

Alumni Events

FOOD FOR THOUGHT Welcome to the third issue of EBS London Magazine.

With our Food & Drink special, you’re in for a treat so sit back and enjoy an international meal and good conversation in the company of our many alumni working in the food, drink and hospitality business! We’ve brought together special features and profiles demonstrating the many ways in which our alumni are contributing to the pleasure and the business of some of the most essential components of living: eating and drinking.

Food writer, television presenter and champion of Indian cuisine, Anjum Anand (EBS London 1994) tells us about her mission to get everyone cooking stylish, healthy and simple Indian food at home; Jason Drew (EBS London 1988) fresh from his appearance at this year’s TED – Observer Conference in London gives us food for thought as he examines the implications of and some entrepreneurial solutions to the Protein Crunch, a nutritional crisis already looming. Along the way you’ll also read about the passion, enthusiasm and business acumen which have driven and shaped our alumni involvement in this sector. You’ll also be able to answer the question: How far would one man travel for a decent sandwich!

This is just the tip of the iceberg of course (or perhaps I mean the icing on the cake?) – Many of our alumni have been working in this field and continue to innovate and achieve in the sector. If you’re one of them, get in touch and let us know. We’d love to hear from you. And we hope there will be more opportunities to showcase alumni talent in the Food & Drink industry in 2012.

It’s not all food and drink of course. You’ll find a feast of College news and alumni profiles. Professor Ibrahim Sirkeci and his former student Lóa Bára Magnúsdóttir (EBS London 2009) investigate the illegal downloading of music; recent Regent’s College Mentor Emil Gigov (EBS London 1994) talks about his recent and most satisfying project, the launch of a new independent school that opened this September on the banks of the River Thames in Twickenham. You will also find more news of our everincreasing number of Regent’s Clubs in cities all over the world and the cream of this year’s events here at College.

We hope you will get involved.

Now, pull up a chair and tuck in …

David Whitaker, Head of Alumni Relations 2

EBS London Magazine / October 2011

NEWS Regent’s Centre for Transnational Studies

The Regent’s Centre for Transnational Studies has recently been launched to promote research and scholarship in transnational studies, as well as contributing to teaching programmes. The Centre is directed by Professor Ibrahim Sirkeci, pathway leader for EBS London’s MA in International Marketing, and Dr Assia Rolls, Head of Learning, Teaching and Pedagogic Research is the Associate Director. The research will be organised into four streams: Transnational Management, Transnational Marketing, Transnational Mobility, and Transnational Higher Education.

Increasing transnationality of large organisations, small firms, families and individuals creates a need for research in this field. The lives of more and more people are spanning across more than two countries’ borders, becoming transnational, creating challenges in understanding already complex human behaviour.

The Regent’s Centre for Transnational Studies will encourage and conduct research in topics such as international digital piracy, transnationality index, transnational consumer behaviour and mobile marketing. It will also cover neuromarketing and ethics, marketing of business schools, conflict model of migration, cultures of mobility, cross-cultural management, Islamic marketing, and place marketing and branding. Along with many affiliates and visiting researchers, the Centre is currently forming a steering committee and EBS London alumni are particularly welcome. Alumni are a key part of the strategy in terms of identifying current and emerging business needs in the world and setting priorities in research and teaching, as well as sharing their experiences and expertise with the EBS London community. More information can be found at www.regents.ac.uk/RCTS

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EBS London Magazine / October 2011

International Trade for Young Business: Calling all Entrepreneurs!

International trade and entrepreneurship are thriving and in response to this the MA in Entrepreneurship has developed a module designed for those wanting a practical introduction to importing and exporting, and international trade. Due to the nature of the global world we live in, we are all, if not actively involved in international trade, directly affected by it in almost every aspect of our daily lives. Where did that shirt or blouse you are wearing come from, or those packaged vegetables, car or cosmetic, and what did it take to get them to you?

The module, International Trade for Young Business, is taught by staff with direct experience and aims to provide students with a sound knowledge of how business trading works and strategies for dealing with international trade difficulties. The module is especially timely in terms of both the flourishing state of international trade and of the need of many nations to focus more than ever on export-driven growth.

New Business Relations Team

This summer saw the departure of Stephanie Douglas– who worked at Regent’s College for nearly 8 years and in her time as Business Relations Officer built up many useful employer contacts for both students and alumni. Before Stephanie left the Careers and Business Relations Team, she was able to hand over her knowledge of the role to the new team, Chris Sleeman, Senior Business Relations Officer and Sheepa Miah, Business Relations Officer. The additional resources within the new Business Relations team aims to strengthen existing relationships with employers and form many new ones! Using data collected from students and alumni that use the careers service, the Careers and Business Relations Team have been able to focus their efforts in finding employment for recent graduates and alumni, or internships and placements in the most popular sectors.

The team have had some great early successes with employers advertising opportunities through the free vacancies board, for all sorts of companies, at all levels. From full-time Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer positions, to part-time, temporary and graduate trainee roles in companies as diverse as AON, Copal Partners, from Bloomberg to Burberry.

There are currently over 150 opportunities posted for our students, recent graduates and alumni.

The new team are looking for innovative ways we can engage with employers from all sectors and this includes alumni – they would love to hear from you with your ideas and needs. Or perhaps you’re thinking of a career change and would like to look at our vacancies board from time to time, a link to the jobs feed can be sent to you via email. If you would like to receive this link, email the Alumni Relations and Events Team at alumni@regents.ac.uk.

New world finance research centre opening The new research centre for world finance at Regent’s College aims to provide a forum for banks, businesses and academics to develop joint solutions to banking problems gripping the world economy.

The Centre for Banking and Finance opens in October and is planning to deliver lectures an annual conference focussed developments in the sector.

“Reform is inevitable, but the question is how far and how fast,” said Dr John Thorp, Principal Lecturer at Regent’s College. “Added to this, the credibility of bankers and banking with the general public is at rock bottom. Three years on from the crisis of 2008, aftershocks continue to shake the markets and the global banking environment is still beset by problems. We see this is an opportunity to stimulate debate, and for researchers and the banking industry to face up to this uncertain future and work together to come up with answers.”

The research centre has been set up within the Faculty of Business & Management. The impetus came from teaching and research staff, according to Head of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Brian Kriefman.

“Banks and other financial institutions devote significant resources to researching financial markets and trends, but they may not have the time or perhaps the willingness to turn the investigatory spotlight on their own organisations.

We see ourselves as a centre of excellence, based in one of the world’s top financial cities, able to draw in individual experts and conduct independent research.

We aim to provide ideas and a fresh perspective to help steer banking through the next decade.”

To keep up to date with the new Business Relations team please join our group on Linkedin, follow us on Twitter @RC_getinvolved or contact us anytime at employers@regents.ac.uk

5

BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS THE IMPACT OF DECISION-MAKING Mikko Arevuo, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management at EBS London discusses how behavioural economics has emerged as a radical new way to explain human economic decision-making. He considers the advances in behavioral economics and the implications for both the practice and teaching of strategy.

Strategic management’s intellectual heritage is rooted in microeconomics and its assumptions of rational human economic behaviour. Mr Spock, the Vulcan first officer of the USS Enterprise, in the TV series Star Trek, epitomises the concept of ‘homo economicus’ of traditional economic models. Powered by a computer-like mind, he is capable of making complex calculations and processing vast quantities of ambiguous information to support perfectly rational decisions, while still managing to keep cool in the face of unrelenting alien phaserfire, without the slightest show of emotion. Surprisingly, however, it is not Mr Spock who saves the day for the Starship Fleet, but James T Kirk, the human, often emotional and fallible, captain of the USS Enterprise.

Traditional strategy analysis models that you studied and probably use in your work to assess the external environment, analyse the firm’s resources and competencies, and create a fit between the firm and its competitive space, are based on the rational assumptions of traditional economics. Thomas Kuhn, the great historian and philosopher of science, observed that science evolves in violent fits and bursts resulting in “paradigm shifts”. Economics is currently undergoing such a revolution; it is now widely accepted that the traditional economic models based on rational decision-making have become unsustainable.

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EBS London Magazine / October 2011

Behavioural economics Behavioural economics has become an increasingly prominent perspective in explaining human economic behaviour. Drawing from history and psychology, behavioural economics offers a radically different perspective to help us understand how people, organizations and markets really operate in comparison to the traditional economic models. According to the behavioural economics’ view people are bound by biases they are largely unaware of, thus assuming that their behaviour is based on rational economic decisionmaking processes.

Some of the most common biases that researchers have discovered include: Framing bias How a problem is framed influences the way we think about it. Consider two statements: “A decision to close our manufacturing facility will result in a definite loss of one third of our workforce.”, and “A decision to close our manufacturing facility will enable us to save two thirds of our workforce.” Under the assumptions of perfect rationality, the framing of the problem should not matter as both statements are identical.

Escalation of commitment bias We often have difficulty admitting we have made a bad decision. Consider an investment decision or an acquisition. Even if financial indicators were to show that predicted returns will not be achieved, managers keep throwing ‘good money after bad’ in the hope that things will turn around. Related to this is a ‘sunk cost’ bias. We refuse to cut our losses. This is a product of a basic human psychological condition known as ‘risk aversion’: we attach a greater utility to the pain of a loss more than to the utility of a similar gain. In other words, the pain of losing £100.00 is greater than the pleasure of gaining £100.00.

Strategic management’s intellectual heritage is rooted in microeconomics and its assumptions of rational human economic behaviour.

Representativeness bias People have a bad habit of drawing big conclusions from small and biased samples. Top management teams with similar educational, social and ethnic backgrounds tend not to engage in rigorous debate.

Rather, they use their shared reference points to make a narrowly considered decision.

Over-optimism bias People overestimate their own competencies and underestimate the competencies of others. In managerial practice, this may lead managers to overestimate the strengths of their own firm and underestimate the strengths of their competitors. Over-optimism bias can also see managers attribute the firm’s success to internal factors, but any downturn in the company’s performance is attributed to external factors.

Implications to strategic management Most strategy scholars and practitioners agree that all strategy is to some extent emergent, rather than the result of a planned process. Henry Mintzberg, one of the early critics of the planning and design approaches to strategic management, argued that intuitive decisionmaking and learning from actions were a better basis for strategy making, than rational frameworks and systematic decision processes. The existence of decision-making biases has a profound impact on

strategy. Strategic decisions, by their nature, are ‘big’ decisions. They are made under conditions of imperfect information, uncertainty, ambiguity, and they often have an organization-wide impact. These decisions also involve a significant resource commitment, and they are difficult to reverse in the short term.

As all strategy analysis is about helping managers make better decisions, it is important that managers become aware of the hidden dangers caused by unconscious biases. In order to facilitate this process we have incorporated sessions on decision-making into the final-year core business strategy syllabus. Our students participate in learning exercises that cover the fundamental tenets of behavioural economics.

They also engage in group decision-making situations using visualization tools to make sense of a strategic problem that allows them to explore the basis, and biases, of their decisions.

I started this article by citing Thomas Kuhn, and I wish to close by paraphrasing his thoughts in the context of strategic management education. As the science evolves, it is the responsibility of us who are part of this discourse, to ensure that the lead-time from academic research to class-room is made as short as possible.

7

ANJUM ANAND THE AUTHENTIC ENTREPRENEUR With five books, two TV series, a new food range and a reputation as the face of healthy Indian food to add to her CV, we spoke to EBS London alumna, Anjum Anand, about her passion for cooking, career ambitions and the ingredients behind her success.

Anjum studied at EBS London in the early 90s and planned to use her education as a spring board into the business world. Inspired by her father, she formed her plans to fulfil this ambition.

‘I wanted to be a successful entrepreneur. I didn’t know what I would be doing but I knew I would be doing something where I was my own boss and I assumed I would be successful. You know when you are a student you are very naïve, the world is your oyster. If someone had told me then what I am doing now I would have looked at them like they were completely crazy.’

This entrepreneurial spirit resonated with the culture of

EBS London and allowed Anjum to mix with a whole generation of students interested in doing something for themselves. Her first jump into the business world with a firm making flat pack furniture never promised to fulfil her dreams and provoked a change of direction. Her love of cooking at home led to an exploration of the food industry with roles in innovative restaurants, such as Café Spice in New York, the Mondrian Hotel in Los Angeles and the Park Royal Hotel’s Indian restaurant in New Delhi.

Having done all this she returned to London and decided she wanted to write a book. Anjum explains how the motivation for this stemmed from her own poor memory.

‘I was learning recipes from my mother and tweaking them to make them easier or healthier. I needed to write it all down so I could remember it for myself and my kids so I could pass it down to them as I loved the idea of passing down the culinary heritage to my family.’

This idea soon developed, as Anjum saw the lack of healthy Indian cook books on offer during a visit to a specialist cookery book shop in Notting Hill. Finding a publisher proved to be hard in a market dominated by TV chefs but, despite the many rejections, ‘Indian Every Day: Light, Healthy Indian Food’ was published in 2003.

It was another four years before the BBC decided that mainstream television was ready for an Indian cookery show and approached Anjum to present.

Her series, Indian Food Made Easy, was aired on BBC2 in 2007 and subsequently around the world.

Entrepreneurial spirit resonated with the culture of EBS London and allowed Anjum to mix with a whole generation of students interested in doing something for themselves Although the media were quick to label Anjum as the “Indian Nigella Lawson” she has always been mystified by the comparison. However she explains that not everyone close to her struggled to make the connection.

‘Clearly there is some resemblance because my own daughter when she was about one or two saw a magazine with Nigella on it and said ‘Mama you’. I think Nigella is amazing. She is hugely talented, a great writer and an amazing presenter, so for me it is always a positive association.’

Anjum has put her passion and knowledge for Indian cookery into a new range of sauces called The Spice Tailor. The new products offer a more authentic taste of Indian food than dishes that were originally made to cater for the British palate, as Anjum explains:

She has been impressed by the new calibre of chefs who have been putting their stamp on Indian food in restaurants around the UK. This change is mainly in London and other big cities and is slowly spreading around the country. This slow development has led to a uniquely British style of Indian cuisine.

‘I feel like there are two cuisines: the curry house cuisine which we all still love for what it is and there is more regional Indian food. I almost feel like one won’t kill the other but think the two will co-exist. We love all the curry house nostalgia and that is Indian food for a lot of us.’

Anjum has been described as many things, including TV chef, cookery writer, entrepreneur and the face of Indian cookery, but she has a for simpler way far seeing herself.

‘Indian food generates from the Indian home and what I’ve always done is to try to showcase a lot of India’s great dishes. The Indian food market hasn’t really moved on from these jarred sauces of Jalfrezi and Kormas. I always wanted to add a bit of authenticity to it.’

‘I see myself as me, I don’t label. When I meet someone and they ask what I do, I say I am a cook. We must love what we do and my career came about through my own passions but I don’t think it should define us.’

Despite this lack of authenticity on the supermarket shelves, Anjum feels there is more and more authentic Indian food being served in restaurants around the UK.

Anjum’s new food range for The Spice Tailor is now available in Waitrose stores across the UK. See Page 24 for her Goan fish curry recipe.

9

THE PROTEIN CRUNCH CIVILISATION ON THE BRINK The credit crunch has shaken our global economy, but it will recover. The ‘Protein Crunch’ is far more serious and it is unfolding right in front of us. Our food, protein, comes from three sources: our water, land and seas. All of these natural resources are under increasing pressure from our burgeoning population: when more demand meets less supply, we arrive at ‘The Protein Crunch’. As the world’s resources become increasingly stretched EBS London alumnus Jason Drew (EBS London 1988) explores the challenges ahead.

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10 EBS London Magazine / October 2011

I have spent the last 25 years of my life fighting and winning in the game of business, from running other people’s multinational companies to creating and then selling my own. Two heart attacks later, I realised that the only game worth playing was that of living. I changed the struggles of the boardroom for a passion for life and moved to live full time on my farm in South Africa’s beautiful Tulbagh Valley. This lit in me a passion and a concern for the environment: I began to read everything I could find on our water, land and seas.

I then travelled the world to see for myself the damage man is wreaking on these three vital eco-systems. I began to understand the extraordinary and unexpected connections between the many things I saw: from the teeming masses of China’s cities to the fertile plains of the Indus Valley and the dry rivers of America’s Mid-West. I began to realise the complexity of Nature and how the environment has shaped our past and will determine our future.

With nearly one billion people hungry and another billion people overweight or obese, something clearly isn’t working Just 100 years ago it would have been inconceivable to think that the human impact on the environment might become so great as to threaten the Earth and our own survival. We now stand at a turning point in our history and in the history of the Earth. Mankind has acquired the scale and the power to wreck the biosphere on which we depend – yet also the knowledge to fix it.

Throughout history, humans have cleared land or fished out rivers, and after exhausting other natural resources, moved on. Now with nearly seven billion people on the planet we are destroying environmental systems everywhere and simultaneously. There is nowhere else for us to go.

With nearly one billion people hungry and another billion people overweight or obese, something clearly isn’t working. Having watched the recent credit crunch unfold, I saw many similarities in the way our environmental and food production systems were and are being stretched to breaking point. With food demand outstripping supply, food prices will inevitably increase.

Food price inflation brings with it civil unrest and political turmoil, as we have witnessed in the start of 2011. Social order has already started to collapse in many failed states like Sudan and Afghanistan. In our interconnected global world, state failure may become contagious as environmental refugees migrate to survive.

The Protein Crunch explains our impact on the earth’s natural systems and its resources on which we all depend. As some of these ecosystems become less productive or fail altogether, the speed and severity of The Protein Crunch will accelerate. The way we respond to these environmental challenges is a matter of life and death, initially for the poorest then for the rest of us.

Many civilisations have collapsed before ours, but will we be the first to foresee our demise and prevent it?

It seems that our brains are wired to react to emergencies, but if the threat is not immediate we find it hard to galvanise ourselves into action. It is as if we are floating down a river heading towards a waterfall, ignoring the roar of the water and waiting until we see the foaming water, before we react and then look for someone else to blame for our predicament. What the Earth needs is for many more of us to understand our predicament, and start the sustainability revolution we need to survive. There will be no time to waste looking for scapegoats: we will need to move and make change happen fast. Capitalism may have caused many of our existing environmental problems, but it may also be the best tool to get us out of our predicament.

As a lifelong capitalist and now eco-entrepreneur, I have seen and become involved with some extraordinary businesses around the world. Three of these are both unusual and interesting: using fly larvae, Gibraltarbased Agri-protein recycles abattoir waste into useable protein for animal feed at a fraction of the price of existing natural sources; the UK’s Oxitec genetically modifies and breeds sterile male mosquitoes, which when released breed with wild females that lay eggs that won’t hatch, substantially reducing disease-carrying mosquito populations; the Urban Wind Farm in Belgium has borrowed wind accelerating techniques from aircraft wing construction as well as braking technology from Formula One race cars to help generate clean power from urban rooftops. All of these could be billion dollar businesses within the next 10 years. The next fortunes will be made in the business of the environment.

Until recently, I understood neither the unbelievable risks we are running nor the extraordinary opportunities for entrepreneurs and eco-capitalists like myself. I am now committed full time to making a difference to the world we live in – through creating more awareness of the environment and excitement about the business opportunities it can bring us all. The clock is ticking. We are in a race between education and catastrophe. We need to understand both the harsh reality of where we are and the exciting future we can make for ourselves.

Let’s get busy repairing the future.

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CENTRAL ASIA TO CENTRAL LONDON DINA LYUTER Dina Lyuter is currently working as the PR manger for SamarQand restaurant in London while she finishes her MA International Marketing at EBS London.

When did you start working in the restaurant business?

After completing my first degree and before I started at EBS London I worked at Novikov Restaurant Group in the PR and Marketing department, quickly being promoted to Marketing Manager. I was responsible for the diverse cuisine restaurants and it was a great experience. I helped create different flavours and event concepts for those restaurants. After a year I was accepted onto the MA at EBS and decided to move to London. Now

I live between two cities and I’m in love with both of them!

I started to work with SamarQand after my exams in May. As I’m doing an internship it’s a part-time job but I enjoy my work and hope to stay there as a full-time employee after I get my dissertation results What is the inspiration behind SamarQand?

The aim is to promote the popularity of authentic Central Asian Cuisine among Londoners and visitors from all over the

world. SamarQand is a bar and restaurant jointly owned by experienced restaurateurs, Iskandarbek Narzibekov and Bek Narzibekov. They have used their knowledge of Central Asian cuisine and culture to create a unique concept which they feel will be appreciated

by Londoners as well as the Russian speaking community. The management team that work with them to run SamarQand have been responsible for running some of the top venues on the London restaurant and bar scene including Hush, Bungalow 8, Harvey Nichols 5th Floor Bar, Milk & Honey and The Player.

SamarQand has been open around a year now and has been growing steadily in reputation and popularity. It is very interesting to run the project from start-up and to enjoy results.

How do you promote and market the restaurant?

We are promoting SamarQand through different channels.

One of the most successful is E-marketing and social networks.

The official Samarqand facebook page has around 1,000 friends.

I invite them to different events; they recommend us to their friends and get news from the restaurant. This is the new ‘word of mouth’! Also we have organised networking parties in our restaurant, where local businesses meet each other.

12 EBS London Magazine / October 2011

Why did you choose to study at EBS London?

I came to London to choose a university for my MA degree three years ago. I visited four different business schools, had meeting with lecturers and checked programmes.

I chose EBS because of my friends’ recommendations and because of the interesting MA programme and the very special atmosphere that I felt on my first visit there.

What does networking mean to you and how do you use it?

Networking is very important one’s future career and business.

I studied with people from all over the world and still keep in touch with many of them.

We swap connections to help each other with our own business and ask for advice when we need it.

What is your next goal?

To become PR Director of a big restaurant group in two years.

SamarQand is a fast growing business and the owners are thinking about two more projects. I would love to participate in these projects in PR. I understood that restaurant PR and management is the right place for me and I enjoy my work every day.

What do you like to do when you are not at work?

I like to spend time with my friends and family. I’m so happy, because I have amazing friends, some of them from Russia and others live here and in Europe. When we are all together, it is unforgettable! Also I can’t imagine my life without my family and boyfriend, I like cooking for them. We travel a lot and of course I always check interesting, well-known restaurants in each city I go to!

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ON THE RED CARPET WITH MAX DELLA TORRE E TASSO In the heart of Knightsbridge is Nozomi, an established restaurant and bar renowned for its contemporary Japanese cuisine, lively atmosphere and international clientele. Described by Time Out as ‘simple, sexy and stylish’, Nozomi has built its reputation by offering a high quality drinking, dining and entertainment experience at one venue. At the heart of this slick operation is EBS London alumnus, Max della Torre e Tasso. We met him at his award winning restaurant bar to find out how he built this thriving business.

Max and his business partner established Nozomi in 2005 with the intention of delivering not just a simple restaurant but more of a ‘lifestyle experience’ for the party people of London. Music is key to this experience with a DJ playing every night to provide the rhythm of the evening that slowly builds to a crescendo. Equally important is the innovative style of Japanese food which as Max explains has been selected to be part of the experience.

We wanted to do Japanese food because it is light food and very popular. It was when we opened and it still is now.

I am Italian so I know if you do Italian food it is very heavy.

You have dinner and you are tired. This combination has won Nozomi a loyal client base and industry recognition winning the London Club Award for ‘Best Restaurant/Bar’ in 2006 and again 2011. Maintaining this success requires highly effective marketing and PR and Max has developed his own approach to achieve this.

Max has adopted a highly personal form of direct marketing to retain customers that relies on networking and maintaining a high profile on the restaurant floor.

I don’t believe in conventional marketing. We used to get approached by magazines like Vogue for advertising, which I think, is useless. You spend the money and you can’t see the return.

14 EBS London Magazine / October 2011

Max has adopted a highly personal form of direct marketing to retain customers that relies on networking and maintaining a high profile on the restaurant floor.

Repeat business is very important so the philosophy of knowing every client and having a personal welcome for all is instilled in the whole Nozomi team. This personal approach is also used to meet any negative reviews head on with Max taking the lead where possible.

I invite them to come back with me to try it again. This is where the management comes into play, we offer them a drink, we say sorry and we try to keep them happy. By the time they leave 99per cent are happy and they have had a good time.

Nozomi attracts a high-profile client list that includes premiership footballers, formula one drivers, politicians and pop stars. As Max explains, this newsworthy mix of celebrities inevitably attracts attention from the media.

We don’t call the paparazzi, I know a lot of restaurants do but we don’t do that. When Rihanna comes she brings her whole entourage. She has paparazzi following her. When celebrities come here the other customers see them and for me that is better than paparazzi pictures.

Unlike many EBS London graduates, Max didn’t have any burning career ambitions during his studies and instead used internships as a way of narrowing his options. This work experience taught him many things and confirmed that he never wanted to work in the banking sector.

I used to sit there watching people that looked miserable all day in the office and I thought I don’t want to do this. I got into the PR and marketing by chance, I really enjoyed it and I’ve never looked back.

The success of Nozomi has led to the opening of a seasonal franchise restaurant in Ayia Napa, Cyprus and hosting a string of 1980’s themed parties around Europe. The future holds plans for further franchise restaurants in India and Beirut as well as talk of a consultancy business. Max clearly has no shortage of ideas so we expect to be reporting on his successful business ventures for many years to come.

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A NEW KIND OF PIRATE HAS EMERGED WHAT MAKES US PAY FOR DIGITAL MUSIC? EBS London aims to create opportunities for our students to get involved in real, worthwhile research which often continues beyond graduation. Alumna Lóa Bára Magnúsdóttir (MA International Marketing, 2009) was one such student who benefitted from this and she is currently a successful brand manager in Oslo, Norway. In conjunction with Professor Ibrahim Sirkeci, Lóa embarked upon a project investigating the question: What makes us pay for digital music? A freebie is always nice but as the industry and makers of music are getting worried that their incomes are in decline this was a very topical and timely piece of research. The project was recently published in The Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing.

Our research used an online survey to measure consumer choice and found that illegal music downloaders expect a similar utility from both unpaid and paid for channels, while those who always pay for digital music tend to have a more positive attitude towards their chosen channel (i.e. purchasing). It seems difficult to convince people to pay for music when their expected outcomes are the same. We have also found that age, education, and income of women and men played a limited role in their choice.

We compared the satisfaction from illegal downloads with the satisfaction from purchased digital music, breaking it down by product attributes. Security of the internet source, variety of available music on websites or servers, the quality of the music, concerns about copyright, and the perceived legitimacy of the internet source were significant determinants for consumer choice. Our study is likely to guide digital music providers in designing their marketing plans by using key attributes and consumer perceptions.

Increasing use of internet marketing means that more studies of the online behaviour are needed and we are looking forward to developing more projects with students.

Although it is difficult to prove empirically, we now have a feeling that the prevention efforts by large companies do not alleviate the problem, for instance one pirate allegedly said “People will pirate no matter how much effort is spent trying to stop it. Stop wasting money on that and spend the money on improving your product.

Even us, criminals, know when a company deserves money for their product.” The prevention efforts also create strong anti-copyright and anti-corporation sentiments. We tend to agree with some other researchers that the music industry should come up with better products and add value to their products rather than making law firms richer.

Internet penetration is continuously growing in the UK and elsewhere. We increasingly shop online and downloading music and movies are the top items we purchase. However as humans we love to share things too. Digital music has largely replaced the CDs and therefore volume of sales shifted. Overall the music sales, online or offline, seem to be increasing.

To move forward one needs to understand digital music downloading behaviour. We wanted to understand the product attributes that attract music lovers. In other words, what else is there beyond moral beliefs and attitudes? We tested the importance and significance of characteristics and made comparisons between purchased music and unauthorised downloading.

Personal characteristics and attitude to moral values appeared to make a difference but we cannot say

that illegal downloading is a commonly accepted sin. Nearly two thirds of respondents admitted to downloading music from unauthorised sources, and over 30 per cent of respondents would prefer to download illegally. The satisfaction rates were higher in those who purchase and when compared to those who ‘just download’. When the quality of pirated music is close to that of purchased music, illegal downloading becomes the viable option.

Our research shows that for a unit increase (Likert scale) in satisfaction with quality for downloading, the odds of choosing illegal downloading increases 12 times, all else being equal. This makes the quality of music files a key attribute to focus on for the music industry. At the same time, the ability to copy music without restrictions was the most important reason for choosing illegal downloading. Price was a commonly cited factor but online storefronts replicating the pricing structures of the brick-and-mortar shops are unlikely to do the trick when the quality of illegal downloads is so good. Digital music downloaders avoid insecure sites computer viruses and don’t like to wait so long for tracks to download. Thus web security and faster download times are keys to success.

Professor Ibrahim Sirkeci is the Director of Regent’s Centre for Transnational Studies, his current research revolves around transnational consumer behaviour, transnationality of organisations, remittances, development, and human mobility and insecurity. Professor Sirkeci’s most recent book on remittances and the global financial crisis is published by the World Bank this year.

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THE LONG WAY ROUND PAUL-PHILLIP KRENGEL In the heart of the trendy Kreuzberg district of Berlin is Babanbè – the first Vietmanese Banh Mi Deli to be opened in the capital. We spoke to EBS London alumnus, Paul – Phillip Krengel, about the journey he took and the decisions he made that led him to open this restaurant.

After graduating in 2008, Paul-Phillip returned to Berlin to work for the family business. As much as he enjoyed this experience Paul explains how he always had his sights set on different horizons.

“When I was a student I always wanted to do something by myself. I could never see myself in the finance sector or in a big bank or another big company, I always wanted to do something entrepreneurial.”

Having dreamt of travelling along the Silk Road since his teens, Paul-Phillip decided to find a way of putting this dream in practice. His research led him to the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation which works in Mongolia to help at risk street children to gain an education and continue in the mainstream schooling system. The foundation benefits from individuals raising money to buy ambulances which they then drive from Europe to Ulan Bator in Mongolia.

Inspired by this idea, Paul-Phillip used his EBS network and other connections to find out where he could buy an ambulance.

He quickly found a suitable secondhand ambulance but was immediately presented with a big decision to make.

“He told me I had three days to make my choice and I said ‘OK I’ll take it’ even though I had no idea how I was going to get the money. I had to raise 12,000 euros so I used my connections, wrote to companies to tell them about the project and in the end it was quite easy.”

18 EBS London Magazine / October 2011

After adding some of his own money to the funds already raised he began the final preparations for the 4,000 mile journey across some of the wildest terrain in the world. Paul-Phillip was joined on the trip by a fellow EBS London alumnus, Martin Nolting, who took a break from his job to make the journey. After setting off from Berlin in the summer of 2009, it took two and a half months to make the journey to Ulan Bator.

The intrepid travellers helped the charity for a few weeks before heading deeper into Asia. Exploration of parts of China took Paul-Phillip on a 36 hour bus trip to Luang Prabang in Laos to pick up a longboat that took him 800km down the Mekong River into Thailand. It was in Bangkok, where he met a friend of a friend, that the idea for Babanbè was born. Paul-Phillip explains.

“We both loved cooking and we started talking about a special kind of bread you get in Vietnam called bahn mi. I had an idea about bringing good quality noodle soups to Germany and the two seemed to go together. We went our separate ways and agreed to meet up when we got back to Berlin.“ Months later they did meet again in Berlin and their plans to bring a taste of South East Asia to the city developed quickly. The Banh Mi is a hybrid of creative Vietnamese and French baking originally developed by colonists at the beginning of the 20th Century. Research into this specialist bread revealed that it had become a modern food trend, popular in cities all over the world from New York to Sydney. Confident that this popularity would transfer to Berlin, the first restaurant opened in October 2010. The next one is due to open early next year with plans to open a third and long term the possibility of a chain of franchise restaurants.

If you are in Berlin and would like to try these delicious sandwiches yourself, Babanbè is located in Oranienplatz in Kreuzberg.

Open Monday-Friday until 18:00

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BACK TO SCHOOL EMIL GIGOV EBS London alumnus Emil Gigov graduated in 1994 and has since enjoyed a successful career in finance and more recently in venture capitalism. He tells us about an exciting new development that sees him launching an Independent School in South West London.

Following my graduation I spent several years working in a corporate finance role, with a particular focus on leisure, media and marketing businesses. I had a very enjoyable time and learnt a great deal about mergers and acquisitions, transaction origination and deal management. With the excitement of every closed deal, there inevitably came the disappointment of not being able to follow up on how the business progressed from then on. During my four years at EBS London I developed a real interest in all aspects of how businesses compete and grow sustainably for the long term. This desire to become more involved prompted me to move to venture capital, and I have spent the past 11 years with Albion Ventures as an investor, working closely with fast growing small businesses. I have been closely involved with more than 20 businesses in sectors as diverse as healthcare, engineering, software applications, leisure, media and retail, typically as a non-executive director or investor representative with an active role in setting the strategic direction, identifying and addressing specific risks and managing growth.

With the excitement of every closed deal, there inevitably came the disappointment of not being able to follow up on how the business progressed from then on.

During my four years at EBS London I developed a real interest in all aspects of how businesses compete and grow sustainably for the long term.

Among all these positions none has been as satisfying as my recent involvement in setting up Radnor House School, a start-up independent school on the banks of the Thames in Twickenham, London. The opportunity came unexpectedly in the June of last year, when I was approached by a young but very talented education professional, David Paton, who was looking to set up his own independent day school that would provide inspirational education in a caring environment for boys and girls aged between 7 and 18. He had come across a property, which was marketed for sale and would provide the perfect site for the new venture.

Pope’s Villa was the site of the great 18th century poet Alexander Pope’s home. Here he had met with other leading literary figures of his time, such as Voltaire,

Swift and Parnell. The grotto, where Pope spent long hours working on his famous Homer translations, is well preserved today and attracts visitors throughout the year.

There could hardly be a more inspirational place to start up a new school! Despite the obvious attractions, this was nevertheless a risky venture. It is rare for a venture capital investor to back a start-up school, mostly due to the time it takes for a new school to mature. Fortunately, Albion Ventures manages evergreen funds and can take a long term view for the right investment opportunity.

Having done initial market due diligence that showed an encouraging picture, David and I worked on a detailed investment plan that showed a funding requirement of £8.7 million, a substantial sum of money. It was clear the investment returns could be attractive in the long run but only if we could ensure that parents buy into the vision from the very outset and trust that the school can deliver it. To this end we set out to put together a very strong management team that combines educational experience with energy, enthusiasm and sound business skills. We were fortunate to be able to attract Robert Cook to be the headmaster, and Dr Colin Diggory, to be chairman of the board. Between them they have over 40 years of headship experience in top independent and state schools. We also recruited an experienced finance director to oversee the administrative and financial aspects of the new venture. Simultaneously and within a short space of time we negotiated the purchase of the property, completed detailed due diligence on it, negotiated a £1m refurbishment contract and developed a marketing plan for student recruitment.

Radnor House opened its doors for the first time on 5 September 2011. A dedicated and talented team of teachers and an exciting curriculum awaits the 130 boys and girls who will join in this first year. During the past twelve months the school has established itself firmly as an integral part of the educational scene in South West London and, as a director of the company and governor of the school, I have been fortunate to be involved closely with its success and to work with a fantastic team of people. I am a firm believer in the value of education and the life changing opportunities it provides, which is why I have enjoyed this project so much. My next challenge is to ensure that the excellent education offered by Radnor House is not restricted only to those whose families can afford to pay the school fees and to this end I am working to establish a charitable trust to provide financial help to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it. I would very much like to hear from anyone who has experience of fundraising for this type of charitable organisation, please contact me through the Alumni Relations and Events Team on alumni@regents.ac.uk.

For more information on Radnor House School visit www.radnorhouse.org 21

MAKE YOUR OWN LUCK HARNESS THE POWER OF YOUR NETWORK Academics aren’t known for agreeing with each other. Yet researchers from top institutions around the world agree on at least one thing: building a strong network is one of the keys to success in business. And they make their point clearly and forcefully. In an article published by the MIT Sloan School of Management, Rob Cross and his colleagues state, “what really distinguishes high performers from the rest of the pack is their ability to maintain and leverage personal networks. The most effective [high performers] create and tap large, diversified networks that are rich in experience and span all organizational boundaries.”

This academic consensus begs the question: Why? Put simply, the answer might run something like this: Networking is so important because it can help us in almost every single aspect of our professional (and most probably personal) lives. I’ve spent the past decade helping people find ways of networking more effectively and, crucially, getting them to feel more comfortable doing so. I’ve brought together some research findings on key networking skills in the box on the right.

22 EBS London Magazine / October 2011

Over The Garden Fence David Ogilvy, the famous advertising guru, is reputed to have said: ‘50per cent of all ads work. I just wish I knew which 50per cent’ The same is true of networking. One contact, one event may prove pretty fruitless; the next unexpectedly interesting and useful.

if you aren’t willing (or able) to have those conversations, you’re going to miss out on lots of opportunities.

It’s one thing knowing that you should network if you want a fulfilled and successful career, but sometimes it’s easier to be motivated when you hear a real life success story. I once attended a formal networking dinner and found myself seated at a large square table, only able to chat comfortably to my two immediate neighbours.

The person on my right was hard work, and I eventually gave up my attempt to create rapport. Instead I turned to my left, and there I struck gold.

Judith Perle conducts workshops with EBS London students and is a founder of Management Advantage (www.ManAdvan.com), leading workshops, seminars and masterclasses in networking skills. She is also coauthor (with Tony Newton) of The Network Effect.

Mike was the CEO of a relatively young telecoms start up, but had spent most of his working life rising up the ranks of British Telecom. Mike’s impressive cv made it relatively easy for him to get interviews, he said, but the obstruction always came at the last fence – employers were simply unwilling to give him a chance to do something new, to prove that he could move successfully from a corporate environment to a smaller and altogether more flexible outfit, even in the same industry sector.

Mike continued, “you won’t believe how I eventually got my break! My father-in-law, who lectures in Ancient Greek at Cambridge University, happened to be chatting to his neighbour, literally over the garden fence, and mentioned his son-in-law’s career issues. This guy listened attentively, and then said quietly: I happen to run an incubator. Tell Mike to call me, and I’ll see if I can help out”.

That’s exactly what Mike did, of course… and the end result was the opportunity to head the start-up which Mike was running when I met him.

I chose this case study for a couple of reasons. First of all, it provides more evidence that you can never know who knows whom. Networks really are like icebergs – most connections are hidden beneath the surface, and ignoring them is potentially dangerous.

Secondly, that particular networking event taught me very firmly that you get out what you put in. I wasn’t keen on going to the dinner but I pushed myself on the basis that I really ought to practice what I preach, and get out and about and meet new people. And on this occasion I was rewarded with an anecdote which I have told at almost every workshop or masterclass I have ever run!

Networking alone won’t change your life. But active networking will certainly go a long way to nudging things in the right direction.

Networking Works –– When it comes to the job search data from the Office for National Statistics shows that 26 per cent of respondents got their job through hearing from someone who worked there.

–– Communication skills top the list of qualities sought by corporate recruiters, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council.

–– Good ideas don’t really arrive ‘out of the blue.’

Research by Ronald Burt of the University of Chicago shows that people who network actively have disproportionately more good ideas. So networking is key to innovation.

–– It’s an old but nevertheless true adage that it’s cheaper to retain a satisfied client than to recruit a new one. Networking keeps channels of communication with key customers open so that potential problems can be spotted and dealt with before they turn into crises.

–– Academic research positively correlates the networking activity of SMEs with business growth, and the ability to attract capital.

Networking at Regent’s College –– The Careers & Business Relations department (CBR) sees networking as something you should be doing daily, almost without thinking. In an age when over 70per cent of jobs are not advertised, the more people you have on your side, the faster you can crack this hidden job market. Despite common misconceptions, true networking is not cynical or exploitative, but simply about nurturing a web of contacts for mutual benefit. It can help you to find a job you’ll love, accelerate your career progression, and win your organisation new business – and this becomes even more critical, the more senior you become.

–– CBR runs frequent workshops and seminars on effective networking and using new media channels like LinkedIn that are open to students, postgraduates and alumni.

This story is also a nice example of how valuable chance encounters can be. I’m not saying, by any stretch of the imagination, that each and every conversation you have will bring huge benefits in its wake – but I am saying that 23

RECIPE GOAN FISH CURRY This is an authentic, delicious fish curry. Many coconut curries are mild; this is a spicy coconut fish curry from Goa. Use a firm white fish such as halibut, tilapia or monkfish. You can use boneless pieces of firm white fish but bear in mind they must stand up to cooking in a curry without breaking up as you serve. Serve with rice.

Serves 4

600g fish, firm white fish steaks or fillets, see above 3 tbs. vegetable oil 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 small tomato, quartered 6 fat cloves garlic, peeled 30g ginger, peeled weight, cut into large chunks 4-7 Kashmiri dried red chillies (mild, deep red chillies) 2 scant tsp. cumin seeds 4 level tsp. coriander seeds (or 2 tbs. coriander powder) ¾ tsp. turmeric powder 100ml coconut milk 4 good tbs. coconut cream (I find mine in cartons) 2-4 green chillies, whole 1 tsp. tamarind paste or to taste Salt to taste

24 EBS London Magazine / October 2011

–– Using a spice grinder grind the cumin, chillies and coriander to a fine powder –– Heat the oil in a large non-stick saucepan. Add the onion and cook over a moderate flame until they are golden brown –– Meanwhile, blend together the ginger, garlic and tomatoes until smooth, add a little water to help –– Add to the onions and cook over a moderate flame until the paste releases oil droplets on the base of the pan, around 8-10 minutes. Add the spices and salt along with a small splash of water and cook the spices for 2 minutes –– Add the coconut milk and 300ml water, bring to a boil and simmer for a few minutes. Add the tamarind paste, green chillies and fish, bring back to a boil and simmer gently until the fish is just done, around 3-6 minutes, depending on the cut and fish.

–– Add the coconut cream and shake in to incorporate, taste and adjust the salt and tamarind to taste and serve.

ALUMNI UPDATE Services and Benefits for Alumni As a former student of Regent’s College you are automatically able to take advantage of a range of benefits. These include services to help with your career such as our graduate job feed and invitations to careers events here at the College.

For a more personal service you can book an appointment with one of our careers coaches. You are entitled to five free coaching sessions to cover any or all of the following:

Join the Regents Club Regent’s Club is your network of alumni groups based in cities all over the world. The clubs are run by local alumni with support from the alumni relations team. Each club meets on a regular basis for informal social/networking events, creating a great social and professional network for you wherever you are.

Regent’s Club has been launched in Brussels, Berlin, Paris and Zurich this year and launch events are being planned in Madrid, Amsterdam, Oslo and New York.

Not one near you? Drop us a line and help us start one!

A full list of cities where you can currently join the Regent’s Club can be found on the alumni website. www.regents.ac.uk/regents_club Pictured Above: Members of Regent’s Club Berlin with Regent’s College International officer, Sui Yip, on visit to Berlin.

–– Individual career planning –– Personal network development –– Business start-up support This offer is open to all Regent’s College Alumni, regardless of when you graduated. You can use your coaching time to help land a new dream job, deal with the dark cloud of redundancy or just to open up new perspectives.

A full list of services and benefits can be found on the alumni website www.regents.ac.uk/alumni_benefits

Nurturing the leaders of tomorrow Students who started on the EBS London MBA Programme in September became the fifth cohort of students to benefit from the mentoring scheme offered by the College.

Mentors are drawn from the alumni community and other experienced professionals interested in passing on their knowledge to a new generation.

Personal and professional development is at the heart of education and the mentoring scheme has added an additional layer to the education of our MBA students.

Mentors meet or communicate regularly with their MBA student to discuss issues of interest, asking challenging questions and to impart their professional knowledge.

If you are interested in mentoring and feel that you have the time and enthusiasm to help develop our talented and driven students then contact us at alumni@regents.ac.uk for more details.

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YOUR NEWS 1991

1999 Alejandro Ruiz Chitty After graduation I founded a successful company in Spain: ‘Compensa, bolsa de intercambio’, with my brother Marcos.

This is a barter company that works with more than 500 companies in Spain.

1993 Balbanuz Elosegui De la Peña I was recently promoted to Export & Co-packing Manager within HERO ESPAÑA, S.A.

Bjørn Christian Nørbech I am organising the Oslo Global Mobility Forum on 2 November 2011. The forum is an opportunity to get to know Norwegian and Nordic businesses.

Scandinavia in general, and Norway and Sweden specifically have managed well through the financial crisis with low unemployment and thriving industries. It is Kulturtolk who has taken the initiative to host this conference, and we have teamed up with the Oslo Chamber of Commerce and BI. The conference will be hosted in English, so participants from abroad are more than welcome to participate.

1994 2001 Siamak Siassi After 15 years of experience in the Banking and Wealth Management sector I founded Stigma Partners in June 2009, to fulfil my ambitious plans to create a pioneering investment approach to wealth management.

Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the world centre for cross-border wealth management services, we are about to rank among the leaders in the Swiss wealth management space.

1996 Dragoslav Sekularac My wife (Viola Kapser, EBS London alumna 1999) and I now live in Geneva with our two children Kristian and Lara. I am working as a Global Head of zinc and lead concentrates at Louis Dreyfus Commodities, while Viola is opening an exclusive ladies-wear boutique in Geneva called La Muse.

1999 Viola Kapser (see Dragoslav Sekularac, 1996)

26 EBS London Magazine / October 2011

Julian Graf von Hardenberg In September 2009 I married Donata Murmann. We are currently living in Berlin and in February 2010 I joined Berthold Sichert GmbH as a General Manager.

Sichert is a manufacturing company and supplies outdoor cabinets for urban infrastructure in the telecommunication and rail industry.

Bernard Schlafstein I am currently working for GebrHeinemann in Hamburg, as a Senior Area Manager for the CIS, Russia and the Baltics, responsible for our retail shops in that region as well as wholesale clients. We are a duty free operating company, our company operates in Europe, Africa and Asia, but we have clients all over the world. Best regards to the best school of the world.

2004 Luis Viera I am currently working for Ron Santa Teresa, Venezuela´s first rum company and industry leader.

The company is currently undertaking an ambitious international operation, with a focus in Spain and the US. I am the Market Manager for Southern Spain. I first worked with them whilst at EBS London and introduced Ron Santa Teresa into the UK market. Six years later I have rejoined in Madrid where I currently live.

KEEPING IN CONTACT 2004 James Jin H Chung I am currently working at Citigroup Global Markets on the Credit Correlation Trading in London’s Canary Wharf. I got married in April this year, in South Korea, and we’re currently expecting our first child later in the year. It’s a girl!

2005 Angela Markovic I opened my own company in 2009, Dom Interiors Ltd. Dom Interiors specialises in the luxury commercial sector as well as the high-end private residential sector, offering bespoke Interior Design, Interior Styling and Project Management services.

I have decided to put the company on hold for 18 months and return to New York to work as a senior designer for Tihany Design, who specialise in the luxury hospitality sector. This is the sector I am most interested in perusing with Dom Interiors and want to gain experience and knowledge from the best in the field.

Regent’s College Alumni Association is an exclusive club with a diverse and vibrant membership. As a member, you have joined a growing network stretching across over 120 countries worldwide.

Alumni all over the world are working together to create an inspiring community. They are enriching social and professional life for each other and supporting the College. Stay connected with this community and you will also receive the following benefits.

–– Invitations to exclusive alumni events including reunions, sporting events and our monthly drop in sessions.

–– Free alumni publications and monthly e-bulletin to keep you in with news, fascinating editorial and exclusive special offers from your alumni community.

–– Membership of the Regent’s Club – our international alumni network extends across the world delivering the alumni association to you and bringing you together with Regent’s College alumni when you are travelling.

Whenever you move, keep us updated with your latest contact details on the alumni website www.regents. ac.uk/alumni_update_form or by scanning the QR code below on your smartphone.

2006 Patrik Utterstrom I have recently started my new job as EMEA Marketing Manager for Hertz On Demand, the new car sharing venture by Hertz. Based in London, I will be developing and leading the marketing strategy for the European car sharing concept. It is a very exciting position as the concept is still in its infancy, and I see a lot of potential for the future.

2010 Camila Gonzalez I got married in June 2011 to Christian Gastaldi, in Turin, Italy. I am currently working as a Wholesales Manager for Brand Studio Ltd. We represent luxury fashion brands all over Europe, Russia and Middle East.

I have great memories of my time at EBS London and give thanks for everything they taught me I am where I am today.

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ALUMNI EVENTS Regent’s Club Paris Le Bus Palladium, 8 Rue Fontaine, Paris Tuesday 25 October, 20:00 We are pleased to invite all Regent’s College Alumni to the launch of Regent’s Club Paris – one of the latest groups to join our international alumni network run by alumni based all over the world.

Alumni Comeback Sessions Regent’s College Brasserie Thursday 3 November, 18.30 On the first Thursday of the every month you are invited to join us in the Brasserie at Regent’s College for a relaxing social and networking event. Your first drink is on us and there are always new alumni to meet as well as your old friends and former tutors to catch up with.

Careers Event Apple Business Reveal Tuke Common Room, Regent’s College London Wednesday 9 November, 18:00 This is your chance to meet representatives from Apple to find about more about working for Apple, graduate careers and their latest developments. The business reveal will be followed by a networking reception.

RBS London Reunion Saturday 19th November, 17:30 We are delighted to invite all RBS London alumni back to the college for an exclusive reunion. If you also studied at RBS London or would like to attend as a guest of an RBS graduate you can book your ticket online www.regents.ac.uk/RBSL/reunion

Alumni Dragons’ Den Herringham Hall, Regent’s College London Tuesday 22 November, 18:30 Following our successful event last October you are invited to return to the Dragons’ Den. We are assembling a new panel of Regent’s College alumni who have already made their mark as entrepreneurs to judge the next generation of pioneers.

A new cohort of brave student entrepreneurs will get three minutes to pitch their potential business ideas to a panel of our fiercest Alumni Dragons. The winner will be the student whose ideas the panel of Dragons deem to the most worthy of investment.

The Regent’s Lecture Business at the Crossroads: UK issues in a European and global economy Tuke Hall, Regent’s College London Wednesday 30 November, 18:30 We are delighted to invite all alumni to the latest in series of landmark lectures at Regent’s College.

Director General of the CBI, John Cridland is joined by a panel of experts to debate the future of British business in Europe.

COMING SOON EBS London Alumni Reunion Celebrating graduates from 2006 to 2011 We will be completing our series of EBS London alumni reunions by inviting back everyone who graduated in the last 5 years. Make sure your contact details are up to date to ensure you receive your invitation.

For a full list of events see the alumni website or scan the QR code on your smart phone. www.regents.ac.uk/alumni_events

28 EBS London Magazine / October 2011

EUROPEAN BUSINESS SCHOOL LONDON REGENT’S PARK, LONDON NW1 4NS

LOOKING TO BOOST YOUR CAREER? Make us your next stop.You’ll be supported by industry professionals to sharpen your skills, and will explore your options through personal career coaching.

1 year programmes January and September start dates – MA in Management (International Marketing) – MA in Management (Human Resources) – MA in Management (International Business) – MA in Management (Entrepreneurial Management) – MA Luxury Brand Management – MSc Global Banking & Finance – MBA International Business

CONTACT US TODAY FOR A PERSONAL CONSULTATION +44 (0)20 7487 7505 / ebsl@regents.ac.uk / www.regents.ac.uk/ebsl These awards are currently validated by The Open University.

It seems like such a small place but I meet EBS London people everywhere, no matter where I go.

Lina Petraityte, EBS London Alumna, Class of 2004