Takeshi Kawasaki, MBA '07
It was an emphasis on educating entrepreneurs, rather than simply training specialists, that drew Takeshi Kawasaki to enroll in Concordia's MBA program. An international student, Tak also saw the small class sizes Concordia offered as an excellent opportunity to communicate with his professors.
While he was in the program, he began focusing on starting his own company. His classes gave him a clear picture of what that would require and helped him with such topics as "how to write your business plan" to "how to reach orbit and maintain it." What he learned he describes as "very practical, and not too theoretical."
In addition to his professors, Tak remembers lectures from guest speakers as being one of the best parts of the program. The experiences that each of those speakers offered formed the basis for how Tak would think about his own business.
Tak is now the Vice President of Kawasaki Rolling, a metal manufacturing company that he operates with his father in Japan. While the business climate is challenging, he contributes much of his success to those lessons he learned in his MBA program: writing a business plan, doing market research, and finding funding for resources. "So far, following those steps and thinking about what I learned has made our company stay in a good position in the market."