MBA Alumni Profile of Andrea Rickers

Andrea, why did you choose BRS-University for your MBA studies?
Was there anything in particular that made you choose BRS-University? 
How was your academic and professional background prior to the MBA program and what has led you to the decision to start the MBA program at BRS-University? 

I had worked in IT consulting and in the pharmaceutical sector for quite a while before I started the course (I have approx. 15 years post-graduate work experience) and wanted to change my career. Since my background is in Business Management (BA in European Business / Diplom-Betriebswirtin (FH)), I was looking for a course with which I would be able to complement my business knowledge with some specific NGO management insights. 

A few criteria were decisive in choosing HBRS. First of all, the vicinity to Bonn was attractive to me because I wanted to relocate to this region after having lived in Frankfurt, London and various other places. Since I was planning to find a job in the Bonn area from the outset of the course, I presumed that being close to institutions such as the United Nations, Welthungerhilfe, Aktion Mensch etc. would be an advantage in finding a job after graduation. I was also looking for an international course in English language because I wanted a global atmosphere for my studies. An additional plus was the fact that I could study while still pursuing a (part-time) job due to the design of the course (although this was not a total must for me; I would have also chosen the course had it been a full-time schedule). 

Tell us about your time at our BRS-University.
What did you enjoy most during your time of studies? 
How did the MBA program help you to shape your professional profile?

I enjoyed most being in an international group with people holding truly diverse qualifications. We had students from about 15 nations in class with professional backgrounds such as accountants, social workers, psychologists, marketing experts, lawyers and many more…. This remarkably contributed to the programme being a very enriching experience. The level of loyalty and the team spirit were quite high, I would say. We helped each other to find jobs and built our own (professional) network. 

Notable experiences and favourite memories:

• Meeting Rupert Neudeck during the introductory week and hearing his incredible life story that lead to founding Cap Anamur was very impressive to me.  
• Attending lectures with Prof. Holtz, who can draw on a wealth of experience in German development policy.  
• One wonderful experience was Prof. Schiebold’s confident and charming reaction when one of our fellow students brought her very lively son with her to the lecture. He simply took the child up on his arms and continued the lecture

How did these experiences or my time at HBRS helped me to shape my personality? Well, my studies at HBRS surely helped in broadening my horizon and enhanced my understanding for the non-profit sector. They also helped me to find some orientation for career decisions, like: Should I go for a position in an NGO or rather focus on targeting CSR functions in a business company? Where are my strengths, where are my weaknesses? How can I contribute to the non-profit sector with my experience in business corporations? Do I focus on smaller or bigger organisations / companies? While I attended the course, I had the chance to work in an NGO and in a social enterprise. Therefore, I did not only learn theoretical basics about NGO management but I also gained some practical insights to help me with these decisions.

Tell us about your time outside the University.
What kind of extracurricular activities were you involved in?
Which events should not be missed to connect with other internationals?

Being German (even a local born in the Bonn area), I cannot really comment this from the perspective of an international student. But what I can recommend are some activities that might help to feel at home and experience some extracurricular quality time: 

• Sports courses of Bonn University (Uni-Sport). They have a broad offer from basketball to yoga classes with good quality coaches.
• We went on an excursion to Ahrtal, where we visited the former Regierungsbunker, had a wine tasting and lots of fun.  
• The nicest festivals to visit in Bonn surely are Rhein in Flammen, Karneval, Kirschblütenfest, Weihnachtsmarkt, Pützchen’s Markt, the Flea Market in Rheinaue, Bierbörse, Stadtgartenkonzerte, St. Martin’s parades… to name just a few. 
• WOKI cinema has sneak previews in English language and there are also other cinemas showing films in original versions (Brotfabrik, Neue Filmbühne, Kinopolis… etc.) 
• Internations.org might also be a good idea for foreign students to meet some other expats in Bonn 
• The city of Bonn has its own web presence in English language: https://international.bonn.de/ (I know that they organise special introductions to carnival customs in the old city hall building, for example. Always fun and interesting to attend)
• A brilliant yoga studio teaching in German and English is https://www.thevinyasapeople.com/ (depending on the Corona situation, they also teach online courses)

Andrea, please tell us more about your pathway since you graduated from BRS-University. In which business field are you currently working and what is your current occupation? How has the MBA degree contributed to your career so far?

During studies, I worked part-time for an environmental NGO and in a social enterprise for sustainable forest investments. At the NGO, I felt really relaxed, had a very good time and the chance to get a taste of what work is like in a non-profit organisation. But I also had to learn that employment is very often based on fixed-term contracts and social security levels are not high. Working in a social business, I experienced that salary levels in this filed can be quite low and that the management style can be somewhat unconventional. Nevertheless, I liked working in a smaller company.  
 
Yet, I went back to a business corporation for a while, because I had the feeling I needed to earn a “proper” salary and work in a “proper” job again, but found out that my ethical standards for the purpose of my work had changed during the MBA experience. And another disadvantage became evident after a while: The high workload and the massive travelling involved in my job made it almost impossible for me to advance with my MBA thesis.  
 
Thus, I quit the job to focus more on my paper and went through a short period of unemployment that I used for networking and coaching sessions (organisations like Wissenschaftsladen and Spinnen-Netz being very helpful at the time!). Through these steps, I gradually found my way to a master thesis topic that I was enthusiastic about: CRM systems in NGOs, i.e. Contact Relationship Management software in the non-profit sector. I had worked with this kind of software systems in a business context before, and up to a certain point no idea that the non-profit sector was also using them. Finding out how far the use of these systems is already spread throughout the whole industry was like an epiphany to me and the ideal topic for my work. Even better, during the interview phase of my thesis I got in touch with the IT consulting firm that I work for now. 

In September 2018, I started working in my current position as a project manager with SYSTOPIA GmbH. We are a small team of about 12 people and we service NGOs of every size, within Germany and neighbouring countries (e.g. Switzerland or Belgium). We advise them on how to implement and use an open source CRM system called CiviCRM. One of my current customers is Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Agenda 21 NRW e.V. who will start using the system by the beginning of 2021 to manage their network contact information.  
 
Since the focus is on very technical IT issues, I would not recommend the MBA course to most of my colleagues because it is more the IT expertise that we need than the business or managerial context. However, the course would probably be perfect for our manging directors. 

ALUMNI WISDOM
What advice would you give MBA program freshman to make the most of their time here? If you could offer one piece of advice to current students what would it be? 

If you change from the “business world” to the “NGO world”, be prepared for a bumpy ride with some disappointments, but also some very rewarding experiences. And remember that the most important learnings come from failures, not from successes.  
 
The MBA title on its own does not get you a job. You will have to invest a considerable amount of time and effort in networking, knocking on doors, talking to people, participating in coaching sessions etc. to find your way. Nevertheless, holding this MBA degree will surely be a door opener while doing this.  
 
Use your master thesis wisely to get a start into your post-MBA career by choosing a a topic that you feel passionate about, because writing 80 pages on a topic you do not care about can be pure torture. Furthermore, working on your thesis might get you a job by contacting potential interview and/or research partners. 

Thank you, Andrea for sharing your experiences and your personal story with us.
We wish you all the best on your further career path.

Your MBA-Team