MBA Student Profile: Jasone Andonegui, Aston Business School

MBA student Jasone Andonegui explains his motivation for taking the plunge, as well as his hopes and expectations after graduating from business school.

Deciding to enroll on a business school's MBA program can be an extremely daunting prospect, with full-time MBA students having to give up work, as well as find a way of funding their tuition and living expenses. Spanish born Andonegui who enrolled in a program at Aston Business School shares his experiences.

1. What were you doing before your MBA?

I was working as a Customer Service Manager for EDS, based in Vauxhall Motors Ltd in Luton, UK.

2. What were your main reasons for deciding to attend business school?

My main reasons for pursuing an MBA were:

- I would never be able to go further in my career without a degree from the UK.

- I always wanted to work for myself and set up my own company, the MBA would give me the knowledge and perspectives that I need to achieve that.

- I needed to recycle and renew my knowledge.     

3. What research did you undertake in selecting your school?

I did undertake some research and the main reason to choose Aston was that the school scored 24 out of 24 in the QAA teaching assessment. Obviously money was an issue as well and I was forced to ignore London Business School (LBS) since it was not something I could afford.

4. What were the main criteria in your selection?

As I said before money played an important role and reduced my choices, other than that subjects of the course and the teaching score were both quite important.

5. Why did you decide to study overseas?

There was no doubt for me that UK was where I wanted to undertake my MBA degree because I was already living there. It made no sense to go back to Spain to study.

6. How well do you think the MBA is regarded in your home country?

Spanish education is very degree based.  So I would say it is very well regarded.      

7. How are you financing your studies?

Well, unfortunately I didn't have the cash to pay for the course so I had to apply for a loan through AMBA that I will start paying at the end of this month and continue until 2011.

8. Have you already been, or do you intend to become an entrepreneur?

Yes, I have already set up a company with three other people. We are working on it part time since all of us need to work until the business produces any money which will happen, hopefully in six months time.

9. Are there any well-known and/or successful entrepreneurs that are alumni of your school?

Not that I am aware of. But I can tell you that three or four more MBA students and alumni are going to set up their own companies in the near future.

10. What do you expect to do on graduation and where do you expect to be based?

I am already working as a community regeneration manager in Birmingham where I will be based for a few years, I would say my expectations are:

- Create a business that it is successful and probably sell it when it is worth a lot of money.

- Retire to the sun and do voluntary work.

- In the meantime, my challenge is to input all my knowledge into the Public sector were I am actually working for.

11. Where do you see yourself in ten years time?

I see myself enjoying  my life with my kids, living in a nice place and coming back to Birmingham now and then to oversee my business and make sure everything is going smoothly and to do some work as well.  Otherwise, I enjoy doing voluntary work.     

12. How easy or difficult do you expect it to be to achieve these objectives?

It won't be easy, but I am sure that some is already happening because I am working for it to happen. So even if my business doesn't do as expected, at least I tried.

Doing my MBA has been the smartest decision I have ever made.  I have the knowledge and the confidence to do what I want to do and I had a fantastic time during the course and lots of amazing friends.