An international and exceptional career after EDHEC’s Master in Management
Naveen Kumar Nayak graduated from EDHEC’s Grande École programme in 2018. He tells us how EDHEC’s master helped him develop his career capital.
You graduated from EDHEC Business School in 2018 from the MiM-Grande École. When you look back, what are the greatest opportunities you have had within the programme?
When I look back at my time in EDHEC, the 3 things that stand out to me are:
The diverse network of students that hail from different cultures. This helped me better understand different perspectives on subjects/things in general.
Access to an array of different facilities that make sure students are given the platform to grow and learn.
The professors who guided me when I needed it and helped me make better decisions.
Your best memory will remain?
The graduation ceremony. It was fantastic, with everyone getting together and celebrating the big moment.
In India, you studied engineering. How did the MiM-Business Management programme help you develop your career capital?
With some advice from mentors and friends, I knew that I wanted to complement my technology degree with a business degree. The EDHEC MiM programme provided me with a good platform to ease into the business world with a 3-year programme that provided me with the opportunity to study and work. In the first year of the programme, I learned the basics of management. In the second year, the internship helped me understand what I wanted to specialise in, so I ended up doing my MSc in Strategy, Organisation & Consulting. With digitalisation being at the core of every business operation now, the combination of technology and business degrees gives me more leverage to better understand problems and work on solutions.
Can you trace your career path since your graduation for us?
After graduating from EDHEC in 2018, I joined the Volvo Cars Global Graduate Program for 2 years (September 2018 - July 2020), did 5 rotations in different departments such as purchasing, HR, management support, Digital, and M&A. I went for an international assignment to Volvo Cars USA for 5 months as part of the program to work as a product owner in the Digital space. (Nov 2019 - April 2020). After the Graduate program, I joined the Purchasing team as a Senior Buyer in Digital Services. Handled various areas such as Electrification, Data, Analytics, and Innovation. Spent 2 1/2 years in this role (July 2020 - Jan 2023). Then I decided I wanted to broaden my scope in purchasing, so I took up a role in the Volvo Cars US office as a senior buyer in Profession Services ( Feb 2023 - current)
Why the automotive industry?
During my internship period, as part of the MiM programme, I worked at Toyota HQ in Brussels as a corporate strategy intern. Here, I was exposed to the amazing transformations in the automotive world. Areas such as electrification, autonomous, and new technology in the automobile motivated me to pursue a career in automotive.
You have just moved from Sweden to the United States of America. What is your new role?
I work as a Senior Buyer for Professional services. I am involved in buying projects, labor, and any type of services needed for the company.
You lived in India, in France, in Belgium, in Sweden and now, in the USA. How do you adjust to the different lifestyles?
From an early age, I learned to adapt to different environments. Now as I reflect on it, growing up in a boarding school in India has helped me and I feel I have sub-consciously learned how to adapt and build a healthy environment around me. The move to a different country does always come with a challenging start but it gives one a lot of freedom to explore oneself in a different environment.
How do you feel these different moves changed you?
I have grown as a person both personally and professionally. I'm much more confident and I have learned to be comfortable in my own skin. During the various moves, I have met so many amazing people and some of them have become family. The best part of living in different countries has been the cultural exposure I have had and the understanding of life from different perspectives.
What are the benefits are being an EDHEC Alumnus?
It has helped me grow my network and given me the opportunity to meet some EDHEC students and exchange ideas. I'm glad that some of the EDHEC students are in the Volvo Cars Graduate Program now.
Do you have a career advice for students?
If you're an international student visiting a new country, I'd suggest being patient with yourself. Develop your core values and understand yourself in a new environment but also be impatient and ready when an opportunity comes knocking at your door. Developing the confidence to follow your intuition will take you further to experience different things in life.
Finally, if you had 3 three words to sum up your EDHEC experience, what would they be?
Diversity, career exposure, and fun.
