The post was written by Maya Helbaoui and first published on news.imba.ie.edu.
“I have a doctorate degree in Pharmacy (Pharm.D) and I am a current IMBA student with over 6 years of experience within the healthcare and media industries in the Middle East as a medical consultant, project manager and executive producer for health media projects. I am also a current member of the Wharton Global Consulting Practicum here at IE.
In general, the WGCP is a consulting project in which 10 MBA students (5 IMBA students from IE and 5 executive MBA students from Wharton, USA) work together on a real life problem – the market entry strategy for a Spanish client into the US market, keeping in mind that companies and sectors change every year.
This year’s project is about the biotechnology sector and involves 2 Spanish biotech companies that already have different products in Spanish and European markets; the goal as stated previously is to help them develop a strategy to enter the US market.
From my experience at this point, the WGCP creates a very challenging and competitive environment in which all team members have to dedicate a big chunk of their time to work on deliverables, market research, interviews with KOL’s among others in addition to the heavy workload of the IMBA here at IE.
However, it is an excellent experience based on its “hands on” nature which gives all participants the chance to work with a real client and apply all the lessons learned during their MBA.
In addition, working with 4 other male members which are each from a different country and a different background in my particular case, has been a great learning experience personally and professionally. Working under stress, during holidays, and for long hours made us not only stronger in facing challenges and difficulties but also taught us how to manage stress and learn from each other efficiently. The WGCP experience made us great friends; which might also be due to the fact that I mostly end up cooking for everybody. In any way, I feel very lucky to be able to work with excellent and highly experienced people, students, faculties and staff of both schools that are driven by visions that will pave the way towards the future.
In sum, the WGCP is a prestigious and great networking opportunity that allows participants to connect with people from different sectors and different positions, to travel and experience new places, to learn about a totally new area and industry and, most importantly, to see the big picture of any project or situation. Simply put, it’s an experience that opens the mind and expands ideas!”
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