The best place to learn, network and fail forward: An MBA at ESMT Berlin
最好的学习、网络和失败的地方：柏林技术学院的工商管理硕士。
What separates top MBA programmes from others? While accreditation and a world-class education are important factors, that wasn’t enough to seal the deal for Su Bulingzi from China.
顶级工商管理硕士课程与其他课程的区别是什么？虽然获得认证和位列世界一流的教育是重要的一种因素，但来自中国的苏布玲子并不能够因为这种因素而确定交易。
The 32-year-old applied to the top four business schools in Germany and got offers and scholarships from all of them.
苏布玲子现年32岁，向德国排名前四的商学院提出了申请，并同时苏布玲子获得了这四所商学院的录取和奖学金。
For her, ESMT Berlin has several X-factors that the others didn’t: a good location, a strong network and a diverse culture.
对她而言，位于柏林的欧洲管理技术学院有几个X因素，这都是其他公司所没有的因素：一个好的位置、强大的网络和多样化的文化。
Through the German business school’s network, students get the opportunity to interact with influential guests, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
通过德国商学院的网络，学生们有机会与有影响力的嘉宾进行互动，这些嘉宾包括德国总理奥拉夫·朔尔茨。
She also had the chance to put classroom learning into action through the Responsible Leaders Fellowship (RLF) programme attached to her MBA, where ESMT Berlin students work with a social organisation at the end of their studies.
通过工商管理硕士这个专业附带的负责任的领导者奖学金(RLF)项目，苏布玲子还有机会把课堂上学到的东西付诸实践，柏林管理技术学院的学生在学习结束时与一个社会组织进行了合作。
The programme led her to São Paulo, Brazil, where she’s currently working with a social organisation, Vaga Lume, to bring books to kids in rural, remote areas of the Amazon.
她通过这个项目去了位于巴西的圣保罗，她目前正在那里与一个社会组织萤科合作，为亚马逊偏远农村地区的孩子们带去书本。
Before deciding to study for her MBA in Berlin, she worked for trivago in Shanghai, China. Her work with the travel booking company allowed her to get to know Germany more, and she soon realised she wanted to work there.
在决定去柏林管理技术学院攻读工商管理硕士之前，苏布玲子在中国上海的去旅游公司工作。她在预约旅游的公司所做的工作让她对德国有了更多的了解，她很快意识到自己想在德国工作。
We speak to the 32-year-old to find out more about her social work project and how her MBA is filling gaps in her business knowledge:
我们采访了32岁的苏布玲子，了解更多关于她的社会工作项目，以及她的工商管理硕士课程是如何填补她商业知识的空白的：
What made you decide to pursue an MBA at ESMT Berlin?
是什么让你决定在柏林技术管理学院攻读工商管理硕士？
One thing that was very clear to me was that I wanted to do my MBA studies in Germany.
对我来说很明确的一件事是，我想在德国读工商管理硕士。
I applied to the top four business schools in Germany and got offers and scholarships from all of them. One fundamental reason that I chose ESMT is because of its location. Berlin is a hub for innovation and technology in Europe, and that makes it the perfect starting point for someone like me who is interested in the internet industry.
我申请了德国排名前四的商学院，并同时得到了这四所商学院的录取和奖学金。我选择技术管理学院的一个根本原因是它的位置好。柏林是欧洲的创新和技术的中心，对像我这样对互联网行业感兴趣的人来说，这使它成为了我们的完美起点。
Another very important reason is ESMT’s network – the ability to connect students with businesses is very valuable and also how we get to interact with many powerful guests that visit us, the most recent one was Olaf Scholz, the new German chancellor.
另一个非常重要的因素是技术管理学院的人际网--这份人际网将学生与企业联系起来的能力非常有价值，也是我们与许多来访的有权势的客人进行互动的原因，最近的一位来访者是德国新任总理奥拉夫·朔尔茨。
Last but not least, I chose ESMT for its strong diverse culture. We have professors from all around the world and students from my class come from more than 20 countries. For some, like me, who are interested in working in an international environment, it’s the best place to learn, fail, and to adapt to working with an international team.
最后但同时也很重要的一点是，我选择技术管理学院是因为它拥有强大的文化多样性。我们的授课教授来自全世界各个地方，我们班的学生来自全世界二十多个国家。像我这样对在国际环境中工作感兴趣的人，对于我们来说，这是学习、从失败中振作，和适应与国际团队合作的最佳场所。
Tell us about your experience with Vaga Lume in Brazil. What made you choose that specific project, and what is it like so far?
告诉我们你在巴西的经验与萤科 。到底是什么原因让你选择了那个特定的项目，到目前为止这个项目是什么样的？
Brazil is a country that I have always wanted to visit after my volunteering experience in Venezuela. As a kid I was kind of a bookworm, so their mission to bring books to kids in rural remote areas of the Amazon excites me.
我在经历委内瑞拉志愿服务后，一直想去的一个国家是巴西。小时候我是个书虫，所以他们把书带给亚马逊偏远农村地区的孩子的使命让我十分兴奋。
A good book is like a good trip that can bring us a new perspective on life and be an inspiration for us, just like a firefly, the English meaning of Vaga-lume, which the organisation is named after. Alongside the mission, the project itself is also very attractive. My team works with fundraising, which is an essential part for any NGO. Specifically working with international fundraising, I’m putting to test my networking skills and business expertise.
一本好书就像一次美好的旅行，可以给我们带来新的生活视角，给我们带来灵感，就像一只萤火虫，这是该组织以其命名的萤科的英语含义。除了任务以外，项目本身对我来说也非常具有吸引力。我的团队负责筹款的工作，这对任何非政府组织来说都是必不可少的一部分。特别是在国际筹款方面，我正在测试我的人际交往技能和商业专业知识。
Because of COVID-19, the team hasn’t been meeting in person for the past two years. To help me, my classmate and project colleague, integrate into the team, we started to have weekly meetings biweekly from the start of the project. We even had a team event where the whole team gathered to do a walking tour in downtown São Paulo.
因为新冠肺炎疫情的影响，团队在过去两年里没有亲自和我会面。为了帮助我，我的同学和项目同事融入团队之中，我们从项目一开始就开始每两周开一次会。我们甚至举办了一个团队活动，整个团队聚集在圣保罗市中心进行徒步旅行。
My team lead, Fernanda Prado, is an outstanding leader and a talented hairdresser. She knows where she wants the team to go, but she also gives us a lot of flexibility to discover what we can and want to do for the project.
我的领队费尔南达·普拉多是一位杰出的领导者，也是一位才华横溢的美发师。她知道她希望团队所去的方向，但她也给了我们很大的灵活性来发现我们可以和想为项目做的事情。
My other teammates are also super smart and fun to work with. Rafael Sasso, who has a very rich and interesting career path, always knows how to prioritise “the million” tasks he has on his plate while having the patience to answer all my questions. Filipe Cincinato is the creative mind in our team and is always passionate about new ideas and telling us all about his projects.
我的其他队友在工作当中也是非常聪明和有趣。拉斐尔·萨索（Rafael Sasso）有一条非常富有和有趣的职业道路，他总是知道如何优先处理他手头上的“数百万”任务，同时又耐心地回答我所有的问题。费尔南达·普拉多是我们团队中具有创造性思维的人，他总是对新的想法充满热情，并告诉我们他的项目。
Elisa Villaméa, freshly graduated from university, has already gained much experience in communication and partnership building during her internship with Vaga Lume.
伊丽莎·比利亚米亚刚从大学毕业，在萤科实习期间，她已经在沟通和建立伙伴关系方面获得了很多经验。
What are some of the things that you have learned since being involved with the project?
自从参与这个项目以来，你学到了什么？
The ability to network is very important. I’ve learned this in the MBA, but during the project, it has been reinforced even more. During the MBA I gradually built up my confidence and started to feel more and more comfortable. In the project there are many moments that I’m networking and I see myself doing so both intentionally and unintentionally.
掌握网络能力是非常重要的。我在工商管理硕士课程中学到了这一点，但在这个项目中，这种能力得到了更多的提升。在工商管理硕士就读期间，我逐渐建立了自信，开始感觉越来越舒服。在这个项目中，有很多时刻我在建立联系，我看到自己在有意无意地这样做。
For example, to learn how to better use the resources on an international fundraising platform, I have joined an online networking event and have been talking with many other NGOs about their experiences, collecting learnings, tips, and struggles. I’ve also introduced a girl who works in a Ugandan NGO, that is also focused on children’s education, to one of my classmates who is currently doing RLF in Uganda.
例如，为了学习如何更好地利用国际筹款平台上的资源，我参加了一个在线网络活动，并与许多其他非政府组织讨论他们的经验，收集学习、技巧和斗争的经验。我还把一个在乌干达非政府组织工作的女孩介绍给了我的一个同学，她现在在乌干达做负责任的领导者奖学金(RLF)项目工作，这个非政府组织也专注于儿童教育。
Rather unintentionally, I convinced an alumnus to donate to support my project with Vaga Lume. We were having a virtual coffee talk to understand his post-MBA journey in Germany where I introduced him to the project, and it wasn’t my intention to achieve a donation in this talk but it naturally happened.
无意中，我说服了一位校友捐款支持我与萤科的项目。我们进行了一次线上的咖啡谈话，以了解他在德国工商管理硕士毕业后的旅程，在那里我向他介绍了这个项目，在这次谈话中，我本来并不打算获得捐款，但捐款自然而然地发生了。
Working and living in Brazil must be vastly different from being in China or Germany. How do you find it?
在巴西工作和生活一定与在中国或德国有很大不同。你怎么找到这样的不同？
Brazil is different from Germany and, for me, a bit more like China. Unlike Germany, where almost everything is closed in the evening and on Sunday, São Paulo is alive most of the time.
巴西不同于德国，对我来说，更像中国。与德国不同，在那里，几乎所有的东西都在晚上和周日关闭，圣保罗大部分时间都很活跃。
The very first evening I arrived in São Paulo, people were eating, drinking, and hanging out with friends on the street, outside bars and restaurants. Bars and restaurants feel more open, usually with no windows or walls.
我到达圣保罗的第一个晚上，人们在街上、酒吧和餐馆外与朋友们一起吃饭、喝酒和闲逛。酒吧和餐馆感觉更开放，通常没有窗户或墙壁。
It reminds me of Dai Pai Dong, a type of open-air food stall in China.
它让我想起了中国的一种露天大排档--代排洞。
During the day, every shop also keeps its doors open towards the street — not only the restaurants and the cafes, but also general commerce, gyms, and galleries.
白天，每家商店也都保持大门朝街敞开--不仅是餐馆和咖啡馆，还有一般商业、健身房和画廊。
Before my arrival in São Paulo, my colleague/classmate, who had arrived two weeks before, was already warning me that most of the people here don’t speak English. I found it true the second I arrived at the airport. I also found out that the people here are super friendly and are always happy to help.
在我到达圣保罗之前，我的同事/同学（两周前到达）已经警告我这里的大多数人不会说英语。我一到机场就发现这是真的。我还发现这里的人超级友好，总是乐于帮忙。
One of the first things I needed to take care of was to get a SIM card and the girl who helped me was very patient while we communicated mainly through translating text on the phone. She even gave me her WhatsApp number and was helping me, even on holiday.
我需要处理的第一件事就是拿到一张SIM卡，帮助我的女孩非常耐心，我们主要通过在电话中翻译文本来交流。她甚至给了我她的WhatsApp号码，并帮助我，即使是在假期。
There’s also this restaurant close to the place I’m staying where the girl that usually takes my orders started calling me “amiga” from the second day — she’s always happy to see me and we also communicate a lot by translating what we say.
我住的地方附近还有一家餐馆，通常为我点菜的女孩从第二天开始叫我“Amiga”--她总是很高兴见到我，我们也通过翻译来交流。
São Paulo has tropical weather and greenery can be spotted almost everywhere. There are big trees on the streets which serve as a perfect cover from the sun on hot days and help keep the streets cooler.
圣保罗有热带天气，绿色植物几乎随处可见。街道上有大树，它们在炎热的日子里作为一个完美的遮阳物，并帮助保持街道凉爽。
Have you had the chance to explore Brazil?
你有机会去巴西探险吗？
Exploring São Paulo has been quite interesting but adventures into the more natural side are about to come. Visiting Rio de Janeiro for a carnival has been amazing!
探索圣保罗一直很有趣，但进入更自然的一面的冒险即将到来。去里约热内卢狂欢真是太棒了！
It’s a completely different style of city and I’ve loved to learn about its deep history surrounding colonisation and explored the nature that wraps the urban scenario. In the future, I’m planning to visit the Amazon, also as a way to learn more about Vaga Lume.
这是一个完全不同风格的城市，我喜欢了解它围绕殖民的深厚历史，探索包裹城市场景的自然。在未来，我计划访问亚马逊，也作为一种方式来了解更多关于瓦加卢姆。
Lastly, what are your future plans?
最后，你的未来计划是什么？
My goal is to work as a project manager in an internet company. That is one of the main purposes for why I pursued an MBA. I’m excited to find a place where I can utilise my learnings and passion obtained from the MBA, current project with Vaga Lume, and all the interactions in between.
我的目标是在一家互联网公司做项目经理。这也是我攻读工商管理硕士的主要目的之一。我很高兴能找到一个地方，在那里我可以利用我从工商管理硕士中获得的知识和激情，目前与 萤科的项目，以及两者之间的所有互动。
