As we embark on this journey with Diego Garcia Fernandez (MBA 2017), reflecting on his remarkable career transformation and journey from CEIBS to the helm of business development at Ant Group, we also pause to celebrate a significant milestone. In 2024, CEIBS marks its 30th anniversary, and this special occasion will permeate our storytelling throughout the year. Under the theme of "New Beginnings", we weave the narrative of how CEIBS has been a catalyst for alumni like Diego, fostering transitions and opening doors to new horizons.

Diego, who hails from the Canary Islands, Spain, made a life-changing decision to transition from finance to business development, from consumer goods to technology, and from Europe to China. Now working as Head of Business Development for Southeast Asia at Ant Group in Singapore, his journey exemplifies the spirit of innovation and growth that CEIBS has instilled in its alumni over the past three decades.

As we delve into Diego's story of transformation, we invite you to join us in celebrating 30 years of excellence and look forward to the new beginnings that lie ahead for CEIBS and its alumni community. Our message of "30 Years & Beyond" resonates deeply as we continue to forge connections, promote lifelong learning, and uphold the legacy of CEIBS on the global stage.

Reasons for choosing CEIBS

Diego decided to join the MBA Programme in 2015. “Within China, CEIBS is a great platform to be the bridge between Europe, the West, and China: having a very broad-based alumni platform that could help me understand a bit more of what it is to work in those Chinese private companies, as well as getting all the experience from professors and classmates about working for Chinese leaders in Chinese teams. So, it really offered that value proposition,” he explains. Overseas exchange programmes further expanded Diego’s learning and connections across Asia.

Impact of CEIBS professors

“The great thing about the CEIBS faculty is their diverse background,” Diego says. “Professor Bala Ramasamy, apart from opening your eyes with understanding that maybe we shouldn’t look at the world map with Europe at the centre but rather with China at the centre, also runs ‘Flame Camp’, a program to bring interested students to rural parts of China or Malaysia to understand the impact of development on communities and smart ways of doing inclusive development. It is valuable because of his heritage, his connections and commitment,” Diego continues.

“What every faculty member has in common at CEIBS is motivation, passion, and the commitment to really go the extra mile and care to understand what the students’ passions are, and to offer MBA candidates their resources.”

The value of extracurricular activities to find your interest and tune your skill sets

Activities outside the classroom help you to explore. “Do you want to be your case study group leader to show your leadership? Do you want to run TEDex? Do you want to be the Number One in academics? It is easy to get distracted, but some people in the programme helped me to realise that deciding on what I do not want to do and figuring out where I want to go were more important than trying to do everything at a 50% rate.”

Diego underlines that “it is the kind of world-leading curriculum of the MBA that we study, and academic rigor is very high, but the key thing is to take advantage of the other opportunities that CEIBS offers. So, in my case I was interested in the student committee to nurture my capability of leading teams in China, which I haven’t experienced before, and negotiating with partners or building partnerships with Chinese companies that we needed to get sponsorships to run all the events and activities.”

Getting ready for a new beginning

Diego reflects, “It is so important and valuable to spend more time thinking about what we want and what makes us happy, what we are good at, versus trying to do too many things and just going with the flow and seeing where that takes you. So having the ability to reflect, locking yourself up for as long as you need to introspect and figure yourself out, that is very valuable. Because then you can run fast and then you have the resources, friendships, and network to find how to get to where are you going.”

CEIBS as an effective career platform

Diego benefited from CEIBS' career network. “It is hard to build that platform by yourself. We had all these tech companies coming to campus, so between class A and class B, I would just go to my dorm, put a shirt on, and there I was in front of the leaders of three companies. And these people stay back, you arrange for a coffee the next week and you send your cover letter. All of that is so valuable and hard to replicate,” he says.

This exposure allowed Diego to narrow down his preferences and focus. “When I wrote my cover letter for Alibaba, I had visited their campus twice and had five or six calls with Alibaba employees who were CEIBS alumni. So, the quality of my application was great. Frankly, I sent about sixty applications, most of which I never heard back from, but the two offers I received were from the tech industry: Amazon and Alibaba. This was only the result of focus.”

The importance of continuous life-long mentoring after CEIBS

Diego underlines how he found “mentors for life” at CEIBS. “CEIBS professors, such as Professor Juan Fernandez and others, guided me on macro decisions regarding what to do after CEIBS, starting from whether I should do a part-time Ph. D. program, on to how to get promoted, how to get a pay rise, or how to disagree without being confrontational in certain structures,” he says.

Key factors for a career transition

For Diego, career transition simply wouldn’t have happened without motivation, perseverance, and patience.

“Alibaba has a leadership program to hire MBA graduates from all over the world. A lot of them don’t stay. Or, they have a cultural clash because as MBA graduates, they might expect to have a job title or to lead a team, to have a budget or office. So, different people have different expectations. But at Alibaba, the culture is very humble. Results must be proven in order to get more resources. You start from a very small area, and then prove your way to getting more responsibility and to getting promoted. I feel that to grow in my career requires humility and patience. In a fast-moving tech company, sometimes we try things that don’t work. And, we are leading projects, pushing ourselves 150% and using all our contacts and time, but then it might get cut. So, it is important to be humble and not get emotional, and not to say things like “the management doesn’t understand” or “they are so impatient” or “they don’t approve of me”, Diego explains.

“Just quitting and going to the next place in resentment doesn’t really get you very far, and you probably won’t go deep enough to learn why it failed and how to come back stronger later. I think CEIBS really prepared me for that.”

From the CEIBS classroom to a company: cross-cultural cooperation

A CEIBS MBA class is made up of diverse nationalities. “That is important because in your comfort zone you would just hang out with the other Europeans or the other Latin American students and so on. But, when having to work with mostly Chinese classmates in groups, you learn how decisions are made. You learn how communication works. And, you make your mistakes and get feedback in a safe environment. I think that is gold if you are trying to make a career that in any way has a relationship with China. Interacting with those classmates from all walks of life had a large impact on learning motivation, perseverance and patience. It was a massive learning curve,” he explains.

Preparing for a global role after a CEIBS MBA

Currently, Diego is working with big players who use Alipay for e-wallet payments. This is a great opportunity to handhold Chinese companies that are expanding in Southeast Asia as well as empower local tech ventures to leverage Ant’s payment, credit, and orchestration solutions to go global.

“I am excited to leverage the cross-cultural communication and leadership skills that I acquired in the last few years. This was furthered by the CEIBS experience. To manage and build relationships with companies all over the world and to be their partner of choice in all these markets, no matter whether it is Japan, Pakistan, Singapore, or China. The MBA programme equipped me well to do this. And, when I travel to different countries, I have friends to visit or people to consult thanks to the CEIBS network,” he says.

Staying in touch with the CEIBS community

Diego is very engaged in the Singapore CEIBS alumni community and acts as a mentor for two MBA students every year. “It is a great way to keep in touch with what is happening on the ground (…) as well as WeChat groups, email newsletters and events,” he says.

Stay tuned for more inspiring stories in the CEIBS Spotlight Series, where we shine a light on the achievements of our alumni, our bridge between China and the world, as we journey forward into a promising future.

Learn more about CEIBS MBA programme here.