Vincent Mahloko, HEC Paris MBA Class of 2024
Age: 29
Hometown: Bloemfontein, South Africa
Undergraduate Institution and Major: BCom Investment & Financial Management
Pre-MBA Work Experience (years, industry): 6.25 years, Asset Management
Why did you make the decision to attend business school? Why now?
The past 6 years of working were instrumental in this decision. Having had time to work with a lot of different people on a lot of different projects, I got to know myself more as a person over that period. I go to know what I like, and also what I do not like. But more importantly, I got to know what I would love to achieve in my life in the working setting. I know the scale and magnitude of what I want to achieve is on a global scale, and thus, it was important to me to attend a global business school as a result. The tools and networks business schools provide are instrumental to one’s growth as both an individual and a working professional. With my eyes on senior management next in my career journey, I felt now is the right time to ensure I am fully equipped to thrive in this next step.
Why did you choose HEC Paris? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
The first factor that weighed quite heavily on my decision-making process was being in Europe. This was an important factor for me. I then initially zoned in on which business schools are the highest ranked in the region, criteria I later redefined to be business schools I felt best related to me as a person instead of just being number one or two. It was in the interaction with HEC alumni and current students (around 10 altogether) through the research process that I knew HEC is where I’d feel home away from home. The genuine willingness to help from each person, and their shared experiences about the campus and the school, all with a smile on their faces, won me over. The rather unknown stat of how many Fortune 500 CEOs come from the school, an aspiration I have, was the final tipping point for me.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to the Class of 2024?
My ability to bring people together of different backgrounds and cultures. Everyone who knows me will tell you about my heart for relationships. In a class of 42 different nationalities, it requires an intentional effort to bring everyone together to have a great time irrespective of background. I enjoy socialising with everyone (understatement), and this is one thing I am able to contribute to my class. Having recently been awarded the “most likely to be at every party award” by my cohort, I think I am well on my way to achieving this feat by the end of our 16-month journey. It is a personal desire of mine that every one of us at the end of the 16 months, look back and say, “wow, that was the best time of my life”.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself that didn’t get included on your application:
I used to do athletics growing up and once clocked just over 10 seconds for the 100m sprint. I guess in a different life, I could have been Usain Bolt with a lot of practice.
Post-MBA career interests:
This has been an interesting one for most of us. Since coming to campus, we all have just realised just how many options the MBA opens for us. We understood it conceptually, but the reality hits when the Talents Team (HEC’s Career Centre) has all these amazing workshops with us about everything from Tech, Finance, and Consulting to many others. So personally for me, I want to use the full advantage of being able to take a step back and ask myself what I really want in my next step. What at my core matters to me, before then preparing myself for what is to follow. My current plan A is the Tech Sector, primarily Big Tech giants in management, as my former vocation was in leadership. But I know I would also thrive in Consulting at any of the big companies in the arena of Strategy Consulting. So the jury is still out on this, but fortunately, the program has many more workshops ahead to help us with this.
Advice for Current Prospective Applicants:
–What is one thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? Connect with as many of the current students as you can. The nuggets of gold I received from each were not only instrumental in my decision to apply, but also in the quality of my essays for my application. I also read every single page and subsection hyperlinks on the HEC Paris website, with genuine interest in learning about everything the school is and does. This allowed me to get a sense of the identity of the school and then, more importantly, translate it again into my essays.
–What is one thing you would change or do differently?
The GMAT or GRE decision. I would have taken a lot more time finding out which of the two I am most compatible with. Both tests are somewhat similar but also very different. So it is imperative to know your strengths and weaknesses when deciding between the two. This can save you a lot of time in the long run.
–What is one part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? I do not think there is a part of making it here I would have wanted to skip, as each has made me super grateful each day to be here. The challenges with the GMAT, the struggles with financing, and many other challenges I had to solve only reaffirmed my belief that even I belong here – upfront removing the imposter syndrome that one can struggle with at top business schools.
What is your initial impression of the HEC students/culture/community?
It has been beyond my wildest dreams. I am genuinely happy every day to get to be part of this community. The cohort consists of really smart people, but at the same time, really lovely human beings. That is what has, in one month, led to a lot of us already establishing good relationships with each other – people you want to keep for life.
What is one thing you have learned about HEC that has surprised you?
There are a lot of tools one has at their disposal to have a wholesome experience. Whether it be studies-related, career-related, or lifestyle related, there is an app or website for everything on the HEC portal or the campus repositories. This makes life so much easier.
What is one thing you are most anxious about in your first year?
There are a lot of opportunities the campus presents us with. You want to do everything, but you know you cannot do everything. So it is imperative to make the right decisions. Saying yes at the right times, and no at the right times. I have already drawn up my 16-month maps for my ideal possible outcomes and steps to take to reach them. My only hope is that I do not rush the process, but instead take the time to walk on the best route possible for me without running after the crowd.
What is one thing you are most excited about in your first year?
The opportunity to rub shoulders with future world leaders is an opportunity I do not take for granted. I look forward to engaging in difficult conversations around the world of business, and how we espouse the future thereof to be. The responsibility of businesses now transcends the pure profit narrative and extends toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability. And in equal measure, the role business plays in contributing to a better world for all in it has become ever more important as a lot of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are still beyond reach. The “how” to achieve this is not always easy to answer. I look forward to engaging with my cohort on this how before we all go into the different parts of the world. Legacy for me is important. I believe we all can leave a legacy behind that rings true to our personal life mission. Secondly, I am also very excited about the spectacle that is the annual HEC MBA Tournament, a tournament of around 15 business schools on a variety of sports. I look forward to helping with organising this.
Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your personal application or admissions process in any way? If so, how?
In all honesty, the pandemic was the reason I am here to begin with. As mentioned, I dreamt of being in Europe, but I always put off the dream from one year to the next. The pandemic, for me, was such a harsh reminder of the uncertainty of life and the fact that I do not have tomorrow promised with the rate at which we were all losing loved ones. I tend to write poetry whenever I need to make sense of life and what I am feeling, and so I wrote a piece called “A moment in time” in the fall of 2021. A piece in which I just remembered how we, through fear, go to our graves with our dreams. And I told myself I would not do that. That was when I set my heart on coming to Europe this year to finally pursue my MBA dream. And it came with faith. I left my job before I was accepted into the program, rather before I had even applied. I had a conviction I would get in, and I put in as much work as required into it. A lot of the times, the only response I had to myself and others was, “I don’t know how I am going to make it, but I am going to” whenever I was asked about things such as paying for the MBA. But through resilience and perseverance, I am glad to say I made it here, and every day on this campus for me is blissful.
