Shalva Chkhaidze
Full-time MBA, 2003
Country of origin: Georgia
Employer: Castel Sakartvelo Ltd
After graduating from Tbilisi State University I worked in business management with the accent on sales, marketing and operations. In 2002 I was granted a Chevening scholarship to go to the UK to study.
I wanted to enrich my business understanding and therefore, I decided to undertake an MBA. I had several universities to choose from and one of them was Lancaster. There were three reasons why I selected it:
- Lancaster University Management School was very highly rated for research
- It taught a very interesting blend of subjects
- The Lancaster MBA had a contract with British Airways to teach the managers of the airline. I thought a serious company like BA would have a good reason for co-operating with Lancaster. And besides, my ex-colleagues from BA advised me that if I wanted to take MBA I did not have to look any further than Lancaster.
And so I didn’t. My choice has been justified. Lancaster University turned out to be perfectly positioned for students whose aim was to get quality education – teachers were helpful and welcoming; professors were well-known in the academic world for their professionalism and skills; classes were highly multinational, which helps students understand each other’s cultures better.
Lancaster University’s campus is situated away from the distractions of everyday life, allowing you to concentrate thoroughly. Yet this does not mean that you will be deprived of a social life – a 15-minute bus trip will take you to the small historic city of Lancaster, and Manchester is not far away either.
The MBA course at Lancaster University Management School is very intense, highly informative and useful. With its help I learned more about finance, investments, managerial accounting and organisational behaviour than I had imagined would be covered.
In the study process I enjoyed most of all the fact that our classes were tailored to be as close to reality as possible – in other words, we had to work with real clients. Thus during our business planning course I worked with a small software development company and prepared a business plan about how to develop and sell new software for hikers and mountaineers. During the Managing In Action course [now called the Consultancy Challenge] we had to work with a firm of northwest heating contractors, who had human resource and cash-flow problems. Finally, during our summer project, we produced a consultancy report for a supermarket chain on the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management system.
This synthesis of theory and practice augmented my self-confidence and my business acumen, and I know that with the knowledge gained in Lancaster I will cope with all the ups and downs of business. The prestigious qualification of the Lancaster MBA is now backed up with new commercial experience. Quite shortly after my returning home, Ernst and Young Tbilisi employed me on a project. I then became one of the directors of Finstar, a Russian investment company in Georgia. In 2005 I moved to a new position as Deputy General Manager of Castel Sakartvelo – the largest beer producer in the Caucusus.
The group-work method of studying allows students to forge strong friendships and to get to know one another really well. I gained many very good friends, and I will always stay in touch with them and be there whenever they need me.
