Your success is our success

It was back in 2007, right after enrolment to the COTRUGLI Executive MBA program, when I expressed my great enthusiasm about the CBS team and the EMBA program. The good part of the story is that all my expectations of that time have become reality. Even more, most of them were exceeded. It is not just about pile of books we dug in, great experience we exchanged with colleagues, broad knowledge we gained about business, state of the art findings presented by the professors, it is about a life style. Once you entered the COTRUGLI Business School door you stay COTRUGLI graduate forever. It is a never-ending story.

Each year new generations of COTRUGLI students come and they ask us “senior colleagues” for advice. It is like being a part of a big family where knowledge and experience are unselfishly shared. The decision to enrol the COTRUGLI Executive MBA program turned out to be the best investment I have made so far. The program built in a modular system enabled me to pursue quality family life as well as efficiently fulfil all tasks and duties at work.

Nothing is better for a lawyer working in the corporate surrounding than the supplementation of his legal qualification with an MBA title. Siemens is a multinational company present in 190 countries which employs more than 400.000 people worldwide. At Siemens more than 600 lawyers daily try to show their best. Vast majority of lawyers have international working or studying experience, many of them are Ph.D. or LL.M. graduates. In such a competitive environment it is not easy to play a prominent role. Fortunately, my MBA course gave me the broad understanding of business and an MBA title gave me a crucial advantage in selection process (I joined Siemens in 2010) as well as at positioning in such a prestigious environment.

Without CBS I wouldn’t have succeeded it.

I chose Executive MBA at COTRUGLI Business School because it was a high level Executive MBA in the first place. Next to that I liked to meet students from other companies / countries and learn from lecturers coming from all over the world since I wanted to develop myself in an international business environment. I completed Executive MBA program in 2007 as a best student in the class. At COTRUGLI Business school we had an opportunity to learn from the best international experts, lecturers who came from the best world

universities, with a creative approach that minimized absence from my workplace, which was also important for me. I see an EMBA as a critical point for getting into the corporate world at a senior level. The tools and knowledge gained at COTRUGLI became a very frequent feature in my presentations and negotiations. The program also inspired me for lifelong-learning, continuous improvement and fostering creativity. Another important benefit is networking – I met many smart, team oriented and hard working, highly experienced, highly motivated and self-driven participants, with whom even today I exchange ideas, discuss work issues and with some of them I have a wonderful friendship.

My professional career started in 1996 in a software company and continued in PBZ American Express and PBZ Card at different positions with different responsibilities. At 2008 I have joined middle management, a very challenging position in Intesa Sanpaolo Card, which is a payment Card Company dedicated to developing and managing card business on an international level. As member of Intesa Sanpaolo Group, one of the largest European banking groups, we service clients from financial and banking sectors across Central-Eastern Europe and in the Mediterranean basin. And to conclude, I am very happy that I joined COTRUGLI Business school – this unique, innovative, real world experience made me grow as a manager and as a person.

I joined COTRUGLI Business School at the moment when I was working as a Head of Telecommunication Clients Department at Hewlett-Packard. I had also been building my working experience working at Computech, Siemens and Accenture. Since my entire career was oriented towards building new values for my clients, continuous learning and personal development have always been a part or my work as well as a part of my character. My wish to carry out my work as efficiently as possible, motivated me to continue my education through an MBA program. While analyzing available options I focused most on contents and its impact on the harmony between professional and private life. COTRUGLI has proved to offer most.

Top quality international faculty, modules organized in a way to fit fantastically to managers who wish to better understand their work and its global surrounding, and all of that still allowing for normal private and professional life. During my two years at COTRUGLI one more aspect had an enormous impact on me: interaction with other students. To be surrounded by high quality people who found themselves in a similar phase of their business life, with similar challenges and thoughts, and to advance with them from module to module… all this brought not only new knowledge but also width and depth of thoughts, new ideas and courage for further life decisions.

In 2007 I founded Golf Zona ltd., the leading Croatian company in golf equipment distribution and golf court equipping while in 2011 I start Oktel – optimized telecommunications ltd., a consulting company specialized in optimization of ICT expenses and processes. The development of both companies was made possible by 100% of experiences and knowledge gained at COTRUGLI – I employ ten people at three offices in two countries and I am constantly looking forward to new challenges and successes.

Golf is life-style.

Being a part of the great COTRUGLI family is definitely life-style.

What better way to get motivated than in a room full of experienced and successful professionals? What better way to expand one’s knowledge than by a faculty of renowned professors? An incubator of ideas and a melting pot of managers, engineers, and various professionals from various industries. A place where one sharpens management skills, leadership style, communication skills, and strategic thinking. This is the environment of COTRUGLI Business School.

I’ve worked in the Finance Industry for over 15 years and want an additional impulse in my professional growth. While enrolling in an Executive MBA program at COTRUGLI Business School, my expectations were business skills development and network expansion. I gained a lot more! Not only have I developed as a Professional but as an individual as well… Not only have I expanded my business network, but I made friends as well… This is my experience with COTRUGLI Executive MBA Program.

II started the COTRUGLI EMBA program in 2013 with the 11th ZG generation. Till then, I was a Mechanical Engineer in the position of Head of Manufacturing with 17 years of experience in the company in which I was the 16th employee, and we built it from scratch to the position of the regional leader in the branch with almost 300 employees. As the company grew, my position in it was higher and higher, and several staff and relations I was responsible for grew constantly. Throughout all these years, we had approached different training, seminars, consultants, and literature, but my bosses decided we needed something more serious to improve my managerial skills. So COTRUGLI Business School was chosen, and from today’s perspective, it was one of the best business decisions in my career.

COTRUGLI opened a completely new business perspective, way of thinking, and doing tasks for me. With so many years in business, I didn’t hear something completely new, but I felt that after every model, I filled some gaps in my knowledge. Finance, Accounting, Sales, and Marketing gave me, as a Production Engineer, precious knowledge and prerequisites to better understand these functions in the company. Some others, such as human resources, communication, and especially leadership, empowered my feeling of responsibility for the employees. But it is not only up to knowledge. It is even more up to approach and understand the wider picture. Working on interdisciplinary teams on the same tasks allowed me to better understand different points of view. My fellow students unselfishly shared their knowledge and experience.

They were friends, fellow students, and teachers at the same time. I learned a lot from them, and I can say that I gained a fantastic business network in those two years. At the very beginning, I was scared about how I would organize my private life, work, and business school but COTRUGLI has taught me how many reserves and potential we can pull out ourselves. There is a saying: “If someone wants to learn something, he finds a way, he doesn’t find an excuse.” This may be the most precious take-off because our growth and learning didn’t finish after graduation.

Do you love to learn? Are you willing to constantly invest in your education and obtain new knowledge? I certainly am. Those motives brought me to COTRUGLI Business School. Since I always preferred straight-forward communication, greatly appreciated modesty and fairness, I was instantly attracted to the model COTRUGLI was offering; variety of professors and colleagues from different countries were definitely the right surrounding for me.

Currently I lead team of 75 colleagues in hospitality business. And it is all about people. Training, coaching, leading, managing would never be the same without experts and courses at COTRUGLI Business School. Business environment is changing so quickly that only the most innovative are able to maintain the competitive edge. Nowadays, situational leadership requires simultaneous use of various leadership styles, which is often exhausting as you have to react skilfully in order to adequately protect the company and people. But I adore my job and constant challenges it faces me with. And when my batteries are low, meditation helps me to recharge and quickly get back on track. So it is not just about professional development, it’s also about gradual upgrade of your personal competences.

Metaphorically speaking, it’s like two different worlds coming together – like jing and jang, like sunrise and sunset, like me and my self. I would never recognize the crucial importance of mentioned elements without participating at Executive MBA program. Gaining experiences is one thing but seeing things from totally different perspective is what makes the program worth every second of time and money invested. It was amazing journey filled with new projects and new acquaintances in high speed reality! Try it!

In my personal statement at the time, I wrote, “In 3 to 5 years, I find myself running my own business in a consulting company with 2 or 3 highly motivated professional co-workers. ” I started my own consulting company in 2017 with three co-workers! One of my COTRUGLI classmates helped me in doing so!

On the 3rd question “Describe how you can use your MBA education in your current position and how your experiences will contribute to the MBA group” I stated that “I expect that MBA education will enlarge my contact network, which might lead to various opportunities for me as well as the company I work for. I want to back up my “on the field” business knowledge with other case-studies and exchange experiences with other participants. I feel like I can add a lot to the MBA group as I am a great promoter and motivator, I connect people and inspire them never to stop learning… “with my COTRUGLI MBA fellows we started during the study a small start-up company called MBA friends with 22 co-founders (mostly MBA’s) from 5 different countries!

On the sixth question, “What are the three terms that would best describe your expectations from E/MBA?“ I started with “Network, Knowledge, and New experience.” My COTRUGLI MBA experience has gone beyond my expectations. I got a chance to meet the actual world-class lecturers and to learn from classmates, managers, and entrepreneurs from all over the region. I’ve grown and learned from my classmates as much as I have from the projects I’ve undertaken.

Outside of the classes, projects, and big life decisions, I also have gained friends and colleagues for life. My network has since then significantly grown. After graduated an MBA from COTRUGLI Business School in 2013, I have contributed to the growth and success of various organizations over the past six years.

During the last two years with my consulting company, I have successfully orchestrated changes at a high-tech company and at a state-owned Telecommunication company. Previously, I worked as the Director of Sales and Marketing at Steklarna Hrastnik, where I was one of the critical drivers of a well-known turnaround case in Slovenia.

I started my career working on projects for the Croatian production company, Croatia Film. After taking over licensing agreements with leading domestic companies and successfully managing the brand Hlapić as the company's flagship project, I was appointed as the Executive Director of Croatia Film. Given that promotion and advertising have always been a significant part of Croatia Film's business, I sought additional challenges in the marketing agency Spotstudio, where I was soon appointed as the Director.

After more than five years of agency experience, I took on the role of Marketing Communications Manager at one of the leading telecommunications companies – Vipnet. Rapid development and advancement, in my case, are solely the result of intensive work and learning. Passive observation has never been my choice. I have always wanted to be part of the stream that drives and brings about change.

I believe that the Executive MBA program at COTRUGLI Business School is the best choice for anyone who does not want to pause their career to learn but rather wants to enhance and upgrade it actively using new knowledge and insights in their daily work. That was my guiding thought when deciding on further education – an approach to education that would allow me to use new knowledge on a daily basis, improve my managerial skills, and bring a fresh perspective to my work. Exchanging experiences and knowledge with colleagues and lecturers, as well as the connections made within the school, are considered one of the most valuable experiences.

Ever since I started working, I have been a part of the financial industry and the banking sector respectively. All the positions required excellent knowledge of the Croatian corporate sector and the ability to synthesize a lot of different data through communication with internal and external clients to make the best decisions. However, being a banker in today’s world isn`t just that. The banking industry is going through a process of massive change as it moves towards digitalization. While bankers have started to embrace the technological revolution, challenges still need to be overcome. In a digital world, the main competitors in the banking sector aren`t just other banks. Our main competitors are telecom companies, the IT sector, and FinTechs that are successfully challenging our decisions and strategies.

Hence, besides my constant willingness to learn new things, I believed that an MBA program could make an additional push in my mindset to embrace the challenges mentioned. Meeting excellent professors with broad international experience supported by the COTRUGLI team and having the best colleagues made this two-year journey a life-changing experience. I got to know extraordinary professionals from different sectors that made me rethink my ideas, my view on things and my stands in general. They made me think outside of the box and rethink myself, and I started seeing things from a different point of view, which enabled easier cooperation and more productive meetings in my workplace.

We did a lot of brainstorming, but most importantly, we became friends along the way. We had a lot of fun working on our case studies in dedicated teams, and we always learned something new about ourselves through these interactions. This makes you open your mind to new challenges through practical work in real-life situations. Still, the best thing is that you see how important teamwork is and that sometimes it is worth it to thrive on someone else’s idea rather than your own, which is a common compromise that you have to accept in big teams such as mine.

In 2012, I was officially promoted to Team Lead, and back then, I was the youngest Team Lead in Erste & Steiermärkische Bank d.d. where I still work. I have always been guided by the thought that it is important that you always know what your strengths and weaknesses are and that constant work on yourself is inevitable for success. I knew I was allowed to grow and develop the team, but also me as a manager, and I do not miss opportunities, so I took it. On one occasion, I read a quote from Jack Welsh: “Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.”

I liked this quote very much, and I decided to go in that direction, and it is still my lodestar. From the very beginning of my career, I have been working in strategic risk management, which involves knowing the broader picture of the functioning of the economy and banking as a whole, as well as at the micro level. However, I needed to continue learning and understanding business and developing myself, so in 2013, I enrolled in the COTRUGLI MBA program. Great colleagues, an excellent program, top-class international lecturers, a hardworking environment, and intensive teamwork with managers and potential entrepreneurs from all over the region made me who I am today. It made me rethink myself, my ways of anticipating situations and solving problems, and my collaboration and decision-making styles.

Today, I am the Director of the Quantitative Research department, which involves Data Science, leveraging it to enhance the Bank’s business processes and integrated risk management, which results in defining theIoptimal level of risk that we are willing to take without questioning the sustainability of the Bank’s business model. Daily, we cooperate with all of the bank's organizational units. This brings challenges, requires constant adaptation to situations and people, and not infrequently requires compromise solutions, which we do not always favor.

When I took on today’s role, I faced several challenges. Mastering the technical preconditions for understanding and doing this type of work was only one of them; however, as the biggest challenge, I would highlight people, i.e., managing excellent talents and a concentration of high IQs, but sometimes also powerful egos. Every day requires me to work with different people, negotiate, discuss, and deliver solutions and decisions. The MBA program has given me great tools to act in this role. It taught me how to get the best out of people and reach my goal and that it is not a defeat if it isn’t immediately the way I initially imagined it.

To be clear, it is not always a success, but I can see the progress concerning before. The program taught me that you’ve got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, which has also become my favorite life quote. Everyone who wants to succeed in life and achieve something has to face some sacrifices or mistakes.

I am happy that I was given the opportunity to work with top experts, some of whom I can call friends today, to acquire new professional knowledge and skills to perform excellence in strategic activities, establish the ability to keep a level head at all times, nurture and grow a team, evaluate opportunities and risks, and deliver innovative new solutions to challenges.

I am coming from a broad overall business perspective obtained during nine years’ experience of doing business in Delta M Group, the biggest private company in Serbia, further extended through generating valuable experience in the Coca-Cola Company. Having a very demanding and time consuming job in the Coca-Cola Company, as a Commercial Finance Manager responsible for Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania, in order to gain structured knowledge, to leverage work in domestic and multinational environment and to build further personal growth I realized that I needed to continue with quality education and development.

In 2007 I applied for a COTRUGLI scholarship program. After the intensive and highly competitive process I realized that the EMBA program at COTRUGLI Business Scholl is the real thing for me. I was really happy when I heard my name on the award ceremony. Although the program is very intense, classes are held during weekends which makes it possible to work and study at the same time.

The two years of Executive MBA program at COTRUGLI Business School and more than sixteen different modules helped me to gain an overall business perspective as well as to build strong network with my colleagues at the alumni club. Knowledge, availability of information and expertise that eminent lecturers provided us with, helped me significantly during my career change from beverage to IT industry. If you are streaming towards business excellence as I do, I strongly believe that Executive MBA program at COTRUGLI Business School can provide to us all the necessary support that we need on that journey. The Executive MBA is the best way to evaluate your achievements to the present point, if you strive to constantly improve yourself like I do.Ivana Milić

As Biovega rapidly grew from a small company to a medium-sized one, my responsibilities multiplied accordingly. I was a “self-taught” entrepreneur and manager, (I graduated from the Faculty of Special Education), and that is why I felt the need to check “where I am, what I’m doing well, what I need to improve and how to raise the quality of corporate management. ” All this together led to the decision to enroll the COTRUGLI EMBA program, and it seemed like a good idea to me to enroll one more person from my company, so I proposed that to my deputy Žana Hinek.

It proved to be an excellent idea because during the education we complemented each other; we had the opportunity to exchange our ideas and perceptions, and to discuss many topics that we wanted to apply in Biovega. The biggest challenge that I encountered while attending school was the issue of synchronization of time for school attendance and the usual business and family obligations, and I felt the responsibility to make adequate preparation for attending the program. The school has confirmed many things I already tried at work; it has strengthened me in some of my efforts, but also opened up some new possibilities. Certainly I would like to mention that communication with my colleagues at school was extremely valuable to me, and I am glad that after school was finished we have stayed in touch with each other, and help each other when needed.

Although I consider all modules interesting and useful, to me the most useful modules were related to strategy, leadership, HR and personal development, because I felt that I could immediately apply some things into everyday situations. Practical work in teams, discussions and assignments were my favorite part of education. The education at COTRUGLI has definitely strengthened my confidence and competence in the everyday business challenges.

My career started to move rapidly in the last few years and although I gain some expertise and knowledge through my daily activities, I felt that I am missing some important points. My background is pharmacy, so once I started managing people and projects, there was a need for a higher level of business education.

I have been appointed as a leader of the biggest Clinical project, leaving me not enough space for personal development. In parallel it was necessary to gain wider knowledge of business in general. COTRUGLI Executive MBA helped me keep moving through my career. I was finally able to look from a different perspective. 2 years of hard work have passed and although sometimes it seemed impossible to cope with everything, I have now great feeling of satisfaction. COTRUGLI EMBA program offered excellent professors from variety of business areas, giving the opportunity to familiarize with different branches. Every lecturer had a specific approach based on his own experience, so the modules where interactive and I was able to implement gained knowledge immediately in my daily work. Although, the program is very intensive it also allows flexibility, so the absence from work is minimal.

The main advantage of COTRUGLI Business School is definitely the number of participants. There is no such school in region that gathers so many different business leaders. Program is organized in such way that there is enough time for networking, while people could meet and share business ideas. In the end, the School does not give the knowledge only, but makes you change your life style in business environment, and I can definitely say that it changed my perspective of future. Once you leave the School it is with high self-awareness of your own expectations and abilities. There are no limits.

After my bachelor’s in Microbiology and my Ph.D. in Biomedicine, I needed to broaden my horizon. While doing my Ph.D., I was already interested in business and economic topics. When the MBA opportunity emerged, it felt natural to go on this path; I grabbed this opportunity with both hands. Being a full-time employee in the pharmaceutical company Novartis and combining studies was not always easy. However, all sleepless nights, traveling, and hard work paid off. I’ve gained additional knowledge that I was seeking, but most importantly, I’ve met so many interesting people from different countries, professions, and backgrounds. We’ve been sharing so many experiences and learning from each other. Since I spend a lot of time with my classmates, we bounded in a way that still keeps us in contact, even after we finished our studies.

And the friendships we made are priceless. On the professional side, the MBA opened for me new opportunities. Only a month after graduation and receiving Dean’s Award for Outstanding achievements, I moved from Slovenia to the Netherlands for a new challenge. I’ve been promoted to a leadership role in a Biopharmaceutical company, where I am still working.

Today, as Head of Quality Control, I lead the site's second-largest department. I see that the experiences I’ve gained during my studies are helping me in my day-to-day work. I am grateful and honored to be part of this amazing journey with COTRUGLI Business School. For the great professors we met, our friendships, and the knowledge we gained!

Like Benjamin Franklin said: “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”

Choosing a reasonable and competitive MBA program has always been a difficult task. It has to consider students’ education, experience, aspirations, and long-term goals. It has to ensure that all of that, married with a good MBA program, would take a student’s career to a new trajectory. Choosing COTRUGLI MBA filled up all of those requirements after I attended their curriculum presentations, offered to all prospective students.

Their intensive program, during which we worked as a team on different projects, has taught me a lot about the personal insight of each team member, making me a better team leader and a manager. Having said that, the real-life application of the learned lessons has proven invaluable in my banking and entrepreneurial careers combined with building successful teams abroad. It also marked the start of my transformation from a senior IT professional to a career IT manager, a challenging but rewarding path that the COTRUGLI MBA made much easier. This all marks a major milestone in my career, and many steps and achievements will follow. As Winston Churchill once said, ‘No success is final, and no failure is fatal.

I clearly remember the moment I decided to enroll in an Executive MBA at COTRUGLI Business School. I was on a weekend with my friends and family, and I saw an advertisement for a scholarship event. At that moment, I was finishing a one-year education program in Human Resources Management. Still, I knew I would like to continue with education and learning in a more intensive program. And COTRUGLI Business School was an excellent choice!

After only two lectures on the Executive MBA program, I told my colleagues: „ I already know that I will miss this when we finish “. The reason for that was a great generation, many experienced colleagues ready to share their knowledge with me, and fantastic lecturers and professors. The way lectures were organized was exactly what I expected: a lot of group work and discussion, business cases, and examples from real business cases.

How has an Executive MBA helped me in my career? I’ve gained so much self-confidence and proof that the sky is the limit. There is nothing that we can’t do if we make an effort to achieve it. Since I entered the human resources world, my ambition has been to develop myself into an excellent and highly skilled professional who can give perfect support to businesses. EMBA gave me the tools to achieve this and make my dream come true.

I have started to think more strategically, and I’ve learned how to cope with business challenges. I have learned a lot about finance, sales, entrepreneurship, strategy planning…shortly, and everything I needed to be an excellent human resources manager. Only 8 months after finishing my EMBA, I have easily gotten a new, higher position in another company, and I’ve become more valuable in the labor market. Although the two-year program was intensive and required a lot of discipline to finish, I’m grateful for the experience, which helped me grow personally and professionally.

Being an engineer by formal training, I started my career at T-HT and Ericsson Nikola Tesla at various positions. The job complexity and levels of responsibility were rising with each new position and, by the time I joined b4b, it became obvious that I needed extra education in areas not covered by an engineering curriculum. My work started to revolve more around processes and business, and less around IT and computing. As responsibilities grew I became aware of the lack of soft skills as well. People needed to be managed and led, and I had only a vague idea of how to do it.

Well, that was that – I decided to enroll an Executive MBA program at COTRUGLI Business School and had very high expectations. Soon after the first few modules I realised I was really able to use the knowledge in real life. Immediately! I started looking at things from different perspectives, a skill mostly acquired from my fellow students of different backgrounds. My network started to spread rapidly and I started to have new ideas. One thing led to another and I suppose the inevitable happened – after graduation I started my own company, in partnership with a fellow student from my generation. We sat down, listed the things we believe we were good at, devised a business plan as taught at COTRUGLI and started a consulting company of our own – Simulus grupa.

We have now been operating for some time and have successfully finished a few projects, with lots more on the horizon. We stayed very close with our fellow students and we are constantly spreading our network through COTRUGLI Alumni, something that is invaluable in our line of business. Most comforting of all is that I know I can always knock on COTRUGLI doors and a friendly face will greet me and offer help in any way. That really is priceless.

I am a pharmacist and I have been working in a young and perspective Croatian pharmaceutical company. My responsibility increased every year and at 2006 I was promoted as a Director of the Croatian market. The company has highly skilled personnel because we believe that education and everyday learning is a priority for further development and achieving goals. At JGL’s “Knowledge is Power” is a very important phrase. Business environment which we are a part of is more and more challenging, more competitive and fast changing. Besides professional knowledge, managers must acquire wider knowledge and skills to get an ability to execute all strategic activities.

Few years ago my CEO decided to send me to COTRUGLI Business School to enhance my knowledge and to improve my managerial skills. Before that I completed various training courses but at COTRUGLI Business School for the first time I was delighted to meet real world-class speakers, acquire practical and appropriate knowledge and make the best of networking. Flexible scheduling of modules gave us an opportunity of planning time and this part was no less important for my family and me.

After completing Executive MBA program at COTRUGLI Business School I became JGL’s regional director for SE Europe. Excellent COTRUGLI regional networking helps leaders to meet other proactive, high qualified, self-confident and socially aware people in open communication who can move the boundaries in heads and encourage the development and growth of this region.

After my working experience in media and several years at the PRIME Communications PR agency as PR Director, I wanted to expand my knowledge in economics, management and leadership, because I felt that with new skills and experience I would be able to better understand the needs of my clients. MBA program of COTRUGLI Business School met my demands so I instantly decided to start this challenging and educational adventure. Although my expectations were very high, the experience and knowledge that I gained with this MBA program exceeded my expectations. And today, after this special experience, nothing is the same and this form of education changed my business views completely.

Besides new skills and competences in various business segments, MBA taught me to set the right goals and to achieve them very quickly and without obstacles. The greatest advantage of MBA for me was meeting and working with colleagues from my generation, what gave me the opportunity to exchange experiences and opinions and it was a real pleasure to learn from them. Working together with ambitious and capable young professionals from different sectors and countries on cases and business plans helped me to acquire a broad spectrum of knowledge.

Although sometimes it was difficult to balance between business commitments, traveling to lectures in different cities, studying for exams and follow each lecture it was worth it, because it influenced my professional and personal development.What is for sure, I will remember this MBA experience because it directed me in the right way and I believe that I acquired knowledge and friendships that will play an important role in my future career. For those who are ready for change and have the ambition to achieve more than average I recommend MBA, because I believe that this is a life changing experience.

As an engineer, I was responsible for providing measurable results. As a person with an affinity for sales and business development, I wanted to make a change, moving from the»safe« environment of R&D to the» uncomfortable« zone of sales. It was already clear to me at that point that the same approach practiced in R&D will not work in sales. Especially not with the biggest customers where initial communication and discussion will not involve only R&D and procurement people but also marketing, product development, sales, legal, and senior management. How do we approach each situation, and how do we manage all these challenges?

I needed a tool—an education/coaching program that would allow me to balance my new working position with all the courses. COTRUGLI was an obvious decision, as it met all my demands. The courses and lecturers were a completely new world for me.

It was exactly what I needed at that point to fill me with appropriate business practices, knowledge of how to handle special cases, how to approach people, and to be able to open my mind and think about what the opposite side or even my own colleagues are thinking. How to listen and not only how to speak. It taught me to rethink things that seem to be clear but are not. And having integrity is already a win on its own.It has given me the confidence to face all the challenges that came with the new position. After almost two years  and countless business trips, meetings, discussions, and negotiations worldwide, it is clear that attending the COTRUGLI bus was the right decision.

I have to mention all the wonderful colleagues who made this 2 year journey one of the best experiences I have had until now. Every day was something new, and I learned from each of them at least as much as I got from courses/lectures.

Thank you, guys, and thanks to COTRUGLI for making it happen.

Being a lawyer by background and education, after more than 12 years of professional career in banking and the law industry and being an equity partner in one of the biggest Croatian law firms in 2011, I realized that I have to become more proficient with numbers and industry trends to progress both professionally and personally. Therefore, I enrolled in the Executive MBA program in 2012 primarily because modules were organized during the weekend, and it seemed feasible to manage my professional and private life while learning.

During my two years at COTRUGLI Business School, I remembered that I loved learning and made lifelong friends who have also become my business partners and clients today. I realized that I wanted to test myself as an independent service provider, and I have successfully started a business.

Due to the skills and lessons I have received during my EMBA course, I still run and develop my business. The numbers became my friends, and I have learned to understand better the functioning of the economy and society as a whole I have also learned to identify better when to introduce other experts.

So, COTRUGLI Business School not only helped me to realize myself as an entrepreneur but also planted a seed of gender equality during my business communication module held by excellent Marijo Bos, who was running as PWN Global president at that moment. My colleagues and I spent a whole year preparing a business plan for our city network of PWN Zagreb using all the skills and tools we received during our MBA courses. Today, I am proud to share with you that PWN ZAGREB is one of the NGOs constantly growing and increasingly having a social impact on gender-related issues by advancing the way women and men work together.

My COTRUGLU journey started with building up on my pharmaceutical background, especially in fields like finance and leadership, so that I could perform better at work. Little did I know then that the thought would take me so much farther than I initially planned to go and bring me much more than a new set of skills.

I applied for a scholarship one Spring day of 2011, late at night. After finally putting to sleep my 2-year-old daughter, I saw an ad in a corner of a daily newspaper website and said to myself, “Let’s give it a try!”. When I actually won the scholarship, there was no turning back. It has been more than seven years since I finished the program, and when I think about it, I first think of the people I got to know there. I truly enjoyed the environment that COTRUGLI has built for us. In my generation, there were students from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Serbia, Macedonia, and Bulgaria, and all brought different ideas and perspectives. With time, I almost forgot all about numerous reading materials, deadlines, tiredness, late-night Skype meetings with my classmates, and all the hard work and dedication that each and every one of us put in during those 15 months.

On the other hand, I vividly remember all the lectures, dynamic discussions, eye-opening “aha!” moments (thank you, Mike George and Nicolas Kfuri), and great parties in Belgrade, Rovinj, and Zagreb. Dealing with difficult people, structuring big projects, managing expectations, learning how to communicate with and align different pieces of an organization – the MBA prepared me for all of that through countless group projects, constant confrontation with unfamiliar subject matter (and having to make sense of it), and various sorts of work challenges.

Like many of my colleague engineers, my career started at my current company 12 years ago. Shortly after I started as a system engineer, I got to participate in transferring and organizing one regional competence hub to our Zagreb office. I suddenly found myself in the position to fully understand the “why” of a business move of my company. I wanted to continue managing business, and only a few months after starting as an engineer, I got my role in project management—such a thrill for me.

“I know you run fast, but until now, you have been running alone. The only way to know how fast you run is if you run with others. ” My manager told me this when I started to work in the Project Management Office. I like my job, and I wanted to run as fast as I can, which also motivated me to educate myself in business further. COTRUGLI caught my attention right away, and the challenge was accepted. Everything was going great, and my motivation was higher than ever.

The MBA program provided an incredible experience, one you take with you for life. COTRUGLI hosts and staff gave us a lot of fun and as much hard work around the program. The lecturers presented the modules in such a way that I was looking forward to each one that was coming next. The knowledge and the fact that I’ve shared it with some of the most amazing people I’ve met just sums it up for me.In my career today as Senior Project Manager, I still apply what I’ve mastered in the MBA program. I consider program and project management the most critical link in the supply chain as today we go above the classic methodology and reach out to surrounding domains of business such as sales, consulting, finance and HR.

I’m also investing in the business plan presented at COTRUGLI as my team’s final exam. This makes it a full circle closed on the expectations I had when I first thought of going to MBA, but I’m sure it will continue to provide me with future success. And I still keep my notes…

When I got back to Slovenia after finishing my bachelor’s degree in International Business in Chicago, USA, a friend of mine said he just finished the MBA program at COTRUGLI Business School. I wasn’t interested at first, but he explained some good points, and I agreed to visit open day.

During an MBA, I met a lot of amazing collogues who are successful managers and entrepreneurs from the Adriatic region. COTRUGLI Business School brings you practical cases with top-ranked international lecturers who are not only good lecturers but good managers as well. With that, they gave me practical examples and experience that I can use in life – business and personal.

I have to thank the MBA program at COTRUGLI Business School for a great experience, for gaining a lot of knowledge, and for making a lot of new colleagues. With some of these colleagues, I became close friends and also co-workers. Another good and crucial thing you get with this program is a network that I am using today and will use in the future. Highly recommend! With some of these colleagues, we are thinking of going again.

When I applied for the EMBA program at COTRUGLI (2017), I was just 28 years old. The whole thing happened “by accident.” The year before, I went with my colleagues on an over-weekend module on Digital Transformation, not knowing that three years later, I’d be leading the whole department in charge of Digital Transformation and Innovation in our company.

What should have been only a once-off education became an unforgettable two-year experience when I decided to apply for a two-year EMBA program. I know I would like to have more of what COTRUGLI has to offer, and I’m very happy about that decision. Not only is COTRUGLI, with its respective portfolio of lecturers, a source of new knowledge, but collaboration with colleagues and friendships that I’ve made during my studies are priceless.

Balancing work and private life with obligations in EMBA studies was challenging, but all the effort paid off. The cool thing is that you not only get some new ideas that you can plug and play in your organization immediately but also receive knowledge that will help you in the long run throughout your career.

On top of everything, COTRUGLI is constantly following new trends (now blockchain), and it’s cool that you can work with the COTRUGLI team after finishing the formal part of the journey.

During my work experience, I came to know different aspects of technology, finance, and business overall. Changes, frequent changes, and intense changes come quite naturally to me with constant new challenges. Decisions lead the way through these changes. One such decision was the one to enroll in COTRUGLI MBA, and it was surely the decision well-made and one changing my professional stance and personal approach to many things in life. What has changed?

My background originating from technology and mainly IT in a telekom company, although making me very open and curious, still created a very limited view of the broader domain called Business. COTRUGLI Business School gave me a comprehensive overview of business through various aspects such as Sales Management, Marketing Management, HR Management, and Leadership through various real-life examples, simulations, concepts, and tasks. Crafting technology background with these newly learned aspects made me a true professional, framing all domains into a balanced picture.

But this was not the only change. Thanks to professors such as Mike George and soft skills training, reaching self-exploration made me realize more than business. It made me understand what makes me fulfilled. And for that, I am truly grateful.In my current role as a Purchasing Manager, it is surely COTRUGLI MBA school, their professional team, and a generation of excellent minds and friends that ensured I got here. It is each of these ingredients that made a difference.

So thank you all once again for the ride of a lifetime.

Having worked in a marketing department of an international company for a decade I had an opportunity to develop and master many skills necessary for running a successful business. Nevertheless, the office organization does not give the opportunity for job rotations or other projects which would enable me to broaden my views and get insight in different business perspectives such as HR, financial or operations management. Getting a broader picture was my expectation back a few years ago when I decided to attend a business school.

The Executive MBA program enabled me to make a more thorough and systematic approach to many problems I am facing in everyday work. COTRUGLI Business School also gave me the opportunity to connect with colleagues from different business areas and different countries and exchange views and experiences. Yet, it cherishes individuality so it enabled me to develop my own business profile. To my surprise, my classmates were not stuffy, serious businessmen but young, interesting and innovative people who made this kind of education interesting and creative. I would like to believe that I am more successful and productive now and that I do add more value to my team. Also I am enriched with new friends and colleagues.

After spending over 18 years in Legal, I chose a new career path by taking on the Strategic Deals Development Director position for CEE in Oracle Croatia. While most of my „colleagues by profession“ still do not understand why I would trade the position of Legal Director for a Business role, all my COTRUGLI friends do, and let me explain why. Being a typical Gemini and Philomath, I have always craved to gain more knowledge and experience new opportunities because this feeds my brain and soul. So, my brother, who is also a COTRUGLI alumnus, did everything to persuade me to join the COTRUGLI MBA program.

After a few years, I’ve finally caved in and started my Executive MBA journey. Although initially intimidated to be amongst the best of the best, I soon realized that one’s profession and background are unimportant. What matters is whether you can see the broader picture, are resolution-oriented, can adapt to diverse individuals, and be a team player. I started the Executive MBA as a Corporate Lawyer to gain more insight into business reasoning and decision-making and an overview of a Company's functions. But what I’ve obtained in the end was so much more.

I have become acquainted with the Company’s daily challenges and gained knowledge about different markets and industries, marketing and sales processes, strategy, and finance. MBA also enabled me to grow on a personal level. Throughout that journey, I have discovered that I have natural leadership skills and that my ability to adapt to different personalities easily gives me the necessary edge. So, when an opportunity to change my role came across, I grabbed it because I was confident I could own it.

Albert Einstein said, „Education is not the learning of the facts, but the training of the mind to think.“  COTRUGLI professors and your fellow students provide this to you throughout the MBA program by constantly challenging you and placing you outside your comfort zone. In today’s modern digital environment, where change is the only constant, it is not relevant whether you are a lawyer or an engineer, but how quickly you can adapt to new circumstances and how fast you can learn and develop new skills. To prepare for this era of change, the Executive MBA program provides you with great tools. Two things in life never go out of fashion: a little black dress and education!

After I had graduated from college, I soon realized that no matter which industry you are in, you need to know the basics of the business in order to advance. Reading about various post-graduate programmes, it seemed to me that an MBA would be the best way to “get the bigger picture” and catalyze this process enormously. Aside from a powerful life experience, the MBA degree should supply three main value propositions: Skills, Networking, and Brand.

One day, I have accidently stumbled upon COTRUGLI MBA program. Since that day, my life and my career have taken a whole new direction. I have been given the opportunity to meet motivated and knowledgeable young people, to listen to lectures of world’s finest business professors, to learn and evolve both personally and professionally, and last but not least, to have wild parties with our so called “hard core crew”

Once you join COTRUGLI, you become part of a pan institute chain of people who share your thoughts, your experiences and your background. The power that this network wields and the advantage of the same is enormous! Job, career, academic know how, medical – you may be stuck on any conundrum, and summon help from a worldwide association simply by an email or a phone call. And this fabric is one of the strongest that I have witnessed till date, and I am sure that no query addressed to this group has gone unanswered.

Finally, the best thing about an MBA is that it muscles up your personality.An MBA course is a hotbed of activity where the participants are constantly goaded to deliver. These are make or break conditions – you either shape up or ship out. But besides competing, you learn to co-operate, to lead and to follow and to win and lose with dignity. If all of this is not enough reason for you to sign up, please give the brochure to the person you think has the best potential of becoming an MBA.

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade and Master’s degree in Computer Science at Stanford University, USA. From the beginning of my career, I occupied a managerial position – first as a Project/Product Manager, later as Operations and Business Development Director in a local software development company.

At the time of COTRUGLI Business School enrolment, I was working as a Business Development / Sales Manager in Comtrade. After seven years of managerial working experience, I obtained a lot of knowledge and developed skills, but still, I remained with a strong ambition for more advanced professional excellence.I wanted to have structural knowledge in all managerial disciplines, particularly in finance, marketing and strategic planning. I chose COTRUGLI Business School to continue education because of excellent balance between theory and practical knowledge, admirable lecturers and superb networking opportunities in Serbia and in the Region.

COTRUGLI Executive MBA program gives you new knowledge that can be applied in everyday work, gives you new perspectives, inspires you, and it opens your mind towards new opportunities. It provides you with the possibility to speak with top of the class managers from various industries, and to learn from their success stories. On the other side, COTRUGLI Business School provides you with the opportunity for extensive personal and leadership development. Today, I am Business Development Manager at Siemens Serbia, in charge of business with FIAT and the City of Belgrade, and I am looking forward to further personal and business challenges. COTRUGLI EMBA was, and still is through alumni program, an extraordinary and invaluable experience!