“I obtained my undergraduate degree in International Business at Stellenbosch University. My programme included a six month exchange for which I came to KU Leuven’s Brussels campus. I went through each partner university of Stellenbosch to choose my exchange university. The quality of KU Leuven drew me in, its standard and rating – plus the great match between the subjects and what I was looking for. My choice was purely academic, but my experience went far beyond. I just fell in love with the university, the city and the people and wanted to return for my postgraduate degree.”

“At Stellenbosch I had focused on financial and investment management. For my master’s I wanted more strategic insights, to apply my mind to different business concepts and problems. My feeling that the MBA programme could fill that gap, specifically the Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Strategy track, was spot on: it has been an incredible journey!”

MY CURRENT POSITION “I graduated in July 2023 and started working in November at the management consulting firm Step Advisory in Johannesburg. We focus on elevating our clients’ business and expanding their growth. I work in the Strategy and Growth Division, which focuses on organic growth. My job covers anything aligning to strategy, innovation and market insights and intelligence, including a bit of research and analytics. We also have a Mergers and Acquisitions Division and an Implementations and Execution Division, which takes our strategies to clients and breaks them down into tangible objectives that they can implement. We are quite a small team, about 25 people, but still create immense value and good insights to our clients. We help businesses to develop or refine their strategies, to expand their footprint and optimise their network.”

“I have always had my eye on management consulting. The nature of the industry is exciting because every project and every client requires something different from you. You have to put on different thinking hats when you work with people in different industries. I particularly like that we mostly talk with CEO’s, CFO’s or COO’s, so people who are experts in what they do and in their industry. Advising clients with decades of experience pushes you to think outside of the box to bring that external perspective to the table.”

WORLDCLASS PROFESSORS

”In my day-to-day job my MBA has been invaluable because of how KU Leuven’s master programme has shaped my thinking. It has provided me with a toolkit of frameworks but also with ways of thinking that help me start to tackle any problem. Not knowing where to begin is often the biggest hurdle with business problems and frameworks cannot always be implemented in day-to-day business life. A framework can spark ideas though, and is quite helpful as a starting point.”

“My choice to study in Belgium has been one of the best decisions I have ever made on numerous fronts. Anyone who would consider studying at KU Leuven: I could highly recommend it.”

“I really want to compliment KU Leuven on its worldclass professors. Even the longest lectures were always excellently executed. Keeping your students engaged takes skill in itself, but I was most impressed by their networks with people in industry. They invited guest speakers and tapped into their network to create case studies for us that would simulate real life business cases. To actually see how theory can be implemented into practice was an eyeopener. I particularly feel fortunate to have had the Innovation Management course by Professor Teirlinck, who also became my thesis supervisor. I really appreciated him taking the time so I could bounce of my ideas and discuss research articles with him.”

“I enjoyed all courses of the programme as they all added value, but I especially liked the entrepreneurial ones. They were a bit more creative and pushed you to come up with business studies yourself and present them. We got a good blend between absorbing knowledge and executing what we had learned and putting our own spin on it, whether in a group project or individually. I also loved International Business Studies because it touched on the strategy components and thinking around frameworks, businesses and case studies.”

SMOOTH SAILING

“Having already studied in Belgium, settling in was easy because I knew the city and still had friends in the area. My first encounter with Belgium for the exchange programme was a somewhat different story. Due to visa delays I arrived a week after classes had started. I still had to find out all the details about how everything worked on campus because I had missed the orientation – not the best start for someone who likes her things in order. Luckily, I quickly made incredible friends who helped me catch up on what was going on, slot into the classes and get settled in the city. When I rejoined KU Leuven for my MBA in September it was smooth sailing from the get-go and I decided to stay in the same accommodation which made settling in much easier.” GRATITUDE

“KU Leuven also offers an incredibly international experience. I have made lasting friendships, mostly with people from outside Belgium. We still have contact and I went to visit some of them in their hometowns after graduating. Being surrounded by so many cultures and perceptions has really enriched my way of thinking. The diversity is humbling and makes you want to understand how other people experience the world.”

“The South-African lifestyle is quite different to Europe and I have a deep appreciation for culture and art, so I also explored Belgium and its surrounding countries, trying to strike a good balance between studying and travelling. Since everything in Europe is connected, you can hop on a train and seamlessly travel through borders – quite incredible. I never let it get in the way of studying, though. I am proud that I graduated magna cum laude, but I had a well-rounded lifestyle while I was there.”

“My choice to study in Belgium has been one of the best decisions I have ever made on numerous fronts. Anyone who would consider studying at KU Leuven: I could highly recommend it. If you have the financial means and the time and capacity it may be a life changing experience. It definitely was for me and I feel nothing but gratitude. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Just keep an open mind and manage your expectations. Your normal is not the next person's normal. You will learn a lot from other people and other cultures if you leave your box mindset at home, venture out and interact with new people.”

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