3 Reasons Why Nikos Pursue His 2nd Master Degree

Our DiMBA student, Nikolaos Kefalas from Greece, has extensive experience in the ship management industry across Europe & Asia. Nikos finds Digital MBA the most suitable MBA program to equip himself for a management role in this digital age and stay flexible for future relocation.

Nikos, can you tell us more about your professional background and current role on ship management?  

I started off my career as former Merchant/Navy Officer then accumulated almost 25 years of work experience in ship management industry across different cultures and countries like the UK, Greece and Hong Kong. My main areas of expertise are HSQE management systems and project management for oil & gas transportation and shipping.   

Currently, I ‘m based in HK for 8 years and work as HSSE/QA Manager for China LNG Shipping. I find the time has come for me to shift to the strategic and business development side of the industry.  

Learnt that you have obtained a master degree previously, why do you choose to study a second master degree / MBA at this moment?  

I strongly believe that life is a continuous learning process, so I take every opportunity I have to grow myself and learning has a strong connection to the quality of life. Therefore the more I learn, the better opportunity I can enjoy life.   

For my career advancement, I feel there’s a gap in knowledge and participating in this MBA program has helped me to cover this gap. Most importantly, I hope I can be part of the change in the company future development.  

What interested you in the first place in HKUST Digital MBA program? And which part of the program you like most?   

The uniqueness of this Digital MBA program is the flexibility which I can leverage to create the balance between a professional life, a family and study. So far I have studied for 6 month in the program. With the special features and quality digital learning platforms, I have a good learning experience in the self-study sessions in which you can maintain a progressing pace and a balance other life priorities.    

The DiMBA is under the same MBA umbrella of the HKUST Business School which is globally recognized. The diversity within the program with varied cultural and work backgrounds in each cohort is what makes the program unique.  

And being part of this prestige community and having the collective wisdom from people around is also what I enjoyed most.  

Can you describe how would DiMBA be beneficial to your future career plan? How does Digital MBA help you overcome the expected challenge?  

The biggest challenge is that given my niche professional background, I look forward to develop a solid business foundation and acquire new knowledge on technology and sustainability to advance further.  Now that I have joined the program I feel confident that it helps to develop my competencies and strengthen my knowhow in the required aspects.   

Being an expat, at some point in life you have to reunite with your family so I ‘m planning to relocate to US next year and I can still continue my study in this Digital MBA program.   

Share with us some more about the interaction between the class? Noted you had a gathering with the classmates, mind to share a bit? 

Yes, the interaction is overall positive, we have embraced the most out of it.  

In most courses I attended, I was assigned to a different group to work together on projects and presentations. I appreciate the opportunity to exchange ideas with elites and professionals with a different background. Interactions with professors are also challenging but thought-provoking. I ‘m able to apply the academic learning immediately at work and share with my co-workers the best practices on the adaptation of technology.   

Outside of classroom, me and my classmates agreed to have a monthly gathering in HK.  

It is truly amazing to connect with these people of strong professional backgrounds and benefit from the collective wisdom.  

What has been your most rewarding academic experience so far?  

I find the cryptocurrencies class most impressive so far, Prof Allen is very energetic in engaging with us, which inspired me to come up with new ideas to leverage on digital assets and blockchain in my industry. Also, we had weekly guest speakers from different industries presenting us real cases like digital contracts for fintech or application program on web 3.0 that I can study and adapt on my own projects.  

How would you recommend our program to our potential students?  

The keywords are flexibility, quality learning and diversity.  

The sweet spot is that I can attend the workshop even when I ‘m travelling to Greece or elsewhere.  

You don’t have to worry about missing the class. The materials are available online and you can revise repeatedly. If you attend the class physically, sometimes you might miss out a thing or two without a thorough note-taking.  

What‘s your piece of advice for our potential students?  

My advice is to embrace the most we can out of this program‘s unique features.   

With our strong MBA community, you can contact current students like myself to hear how our learning journey was like. For sure, it‘s challenging and rewarding at the same time, you will need to keep calm and positive to achieve your goals.