Networking through my dissertation led to a job opportunity

Jun Bekku

Postgraduate student

The Sheffield MBA

Jun, who came to Sheffield from Japan, reflects on his MBA experience, sharing how his dissertation research and the opportunity to set his own research topic led him to find a job opportunity. He is now working as a Venture Capitalist at mint, a seed VC in Japan.

I wanted to take on a new challenger with greater social impact

Before starting my MBA, I was working as an HR consultant for seven years in Japan. I found my previous job rewarding, but I wanted to take on a new challenge with a greater social impact. While I had several career interests, such as starting my own business or transitioning to venture capital, I thought it might be valuable to take a step back to broaden my perspective and fill in any gaps in my business knowledge. That's why I decided to pursue an MBA.

The balance between urban life and nature helped me settle into a comfortable life

The city of Sheffield has a lively city centre where you can find everything you need for daily life, and when I wanted to relax, there was a beautiful, lush park just a short walk from my accommodation. This balance between urban life and nature quickly helped me settle into a comfortable life. To adapt to my new life in education, I made an effort to establish a routine. On weekdays, I would wake up at the same time each day, made time to go to the gym before heading to the Management School, and then spending evenings in the study room preparing for the next day's classes. While the assignments were very intense, working on them daily with my cohort provided mutual support and became a great source of encouragement.

The Sheffield MBA offers opportunities to apply knowledge to solve real business challenges

I wanted to learn each module not just as academic knowledge but as practical tools that could be applied in business. Sheffield University Management School and the Sheffield MBA offers opportunities to apply knowledge gained from modules to solve real business challenges faced by companies, such as through Marketing Consultancy Challenge and Internationalisation Challenge. The numerous opportunities for such active and practical learning were invaluable experiences. The process of working as a team, where members with diverse backgrounds leveraged their individual strengths to develop optimal solutions, greatly contributed to my learning and personal growth.

Through my MBA, I was able to identify the career I wanted to pursue

Through my MBA I gained a broad business knowledge in areas like marketing, finance, corporate strategy, and leadership. In addition, the diverse experiences here also greatly broadened my perspective. Spending a long time in the same place with the same people can narrow one's thinking. The Sheffield MBA brings together people from diverse backgrounds, and this diversity can truly lead to the discovery of the career one wants to pursue.

In today's era of high uncertainty, developing a career strategy is more than ever and the MBA programme enabled me to do this. The Personal, Professional and Career Development module provided me with an opportunity for mid and long term career development through self reflection from various angles. Through my MBA, I was able to identify the career I wanted to pursue, meet my current company through dissertation research, and actually stand at the starting line of that career. This is something I definitely could not have achieved without the Sheffield MBA.

I tailored my dissertation topic to my specific career interests

I chose to follow the traditional dissertation pathway for the Individual MBA Challenge because I wanted to set my own research theme. When deciding on a topic, I was considering pursuing a future career in venture capital, so I researched the Japanese Venture Capital (VC) industry and its added value under the theme “Exploring the impact of venture capital on startups beyond the funding function in Japan”.

During my dissertation research process, I interviewed several venture capitalists in Japan. During one of these interviews, a participant suggested that mint, a seed-phase focused VC firm, would be a good fit for me. Coincidentally, I had an interview scheduled with mint's General Partner the very next day! When I actually spoke with him, I felt their corporate culture and investment policy were perfect for me. I proceeded with their selection process and was fortunately received an offer as a venture capitalist.

As a venture capitalist, I want to help create as many companies as possible that will represent Japan's future. Whilst Japan hasn’t seen the emergence of large corporations like Toyota for some time, there are actually many startups with high potential. I want to contribute to Japanese society by investing in and providing management support to such startups from their seed stage.

The Sheffield MBA will give you many opportunities for growth

The biggest piece of advice I would give to people considering the Sheffield MBA is to take that first step. While living in a new place and returning to studies might bring some anxiety and stress, in Sheffield you will find a comfortable living environment, wonderful cohorts and academics, and practical, effective modules. Through your experience here, you will surely gain many new experiences and opportunities for growth.