EDHEC Global MBA Journey: From Chile’s Salmon Industry to Aquaculture Innovation in Scotland

Agustín Valdés joined the EDHEC Global MBA after seven years in Chile’s salmon industry, with experience across food engineering, quality and processing.

His ambition was to broaden his business perspective while continuing to build on the sector he knew well. The programme’s 10-month format in Nice, international cohort and Lead360 personal and career development experience gave him the space to connect his technical background with a wider view of strategy, leadership and international markets.

That perspective helped him identify a new way to grow within aquaculture. After graduation, Agustín moved to Dundee, Scotland, where he now works as a PM at Ace Aquatec, a technology company focused on fish welfare and aquaculture innovation.

His journey offers a useful perspective for candidates who feel strongly connected to their industry. As his example attests, career progression can mean changing geography, company context and business scale while continuing to apply the expertise already built through experience.

For Agustín, the Global MBA helped turn sector knowledge into a broader international career path: his expertise remained the bedrock, but the horizon simply got wider.

Q&A with Agustín Valdés
 

1. Why pursue a Global MBA after building expertise in the salmon industry?

After 7 years of experience, I decided I wanted to open my business point of view from specific industry experience to a world wide industry understanding, that could help me reach the next step as a professional with industry experience but a global mindset of how business operates.
 

2. Can an MBA help you progress without changing industry?

It really changes how you see business after the MBA. So, the way you can impact the same industry is very powerful. If you find the right mix of skillset you’ve got from your MBA and previous work experience and you place it against the real necessities in that industry, you will really enjoy how much value you can provide to better fulfil those needs. It could be through a job in a company or making your own startup since you will learn everything you need to launch yourself to be an entrepreneur.
 

3. How did the Global MBA help you turn a Chilean aquaculture career into an opportunity in Scotland?

From Chile to Scotland sounds quite rare, but the aquaculture industry is very well related and has specific hubs around the world. Ace Aquatec it’s a technology company I met while working in Chile, I found their products and the way they work was something I really liked, so I kept in contact with the people in Ace Aquatec.

During the MBA journey I realized how much I liked the blend between hardware and software to solve industry problems and Ace Aquatec came back into my mind, so I contacted them and I was lucky that they were looking for someone with a similar background to mine at that time.
 

4. What changes when you move from the customer side to the supplier side of an industry?

The biggest change is that I passed from being the customer of many suppliers to being the supplier of many customers. This is really a massive change since you understand the needs of the customers, and you need to be able to tackle them within the company resources.

Within the challenges I’ve encountered, I will say understanding the company and country culture has been a great learning journey and the GMBA helped as a first step. I also find this as an opportunity to work on your communications skills and improve your emotional intelligence.
 

5. How did the EDHEC Global MBA build your confidence in solving business challenges?

The MBA gave me confidence in how I see real business challenges, what to take into consideration and what to leave on the side. This was thanks to the various perspectives we experienced during the MBA courses and activities.
 

6. What advice would you give to candidates who want an international MBA experience without making a full career pivot?

If you are looking for an international experience that will open your point of view as a professional and you want to have a broader knowledge on how the business strategy could be defined for success, the MBA is a great tool to bridge that path.