I would describe my INSEAD experience as something which scared me and provoked my insecurities in the beginning, but turned out to be shockingly fulfilling.
Erika Lajko

Erika Lajko

erika
Nationality/Passport: Hungarian Year of graduation: 2023 Current Role: Entrepreneur / Founder-CEO

What made you decide to pursue an EMBA, and why did you choose INSEAD?

Honestly, I didn’t know about the Executive MBA when I applied to INSEAD. Most of my friends attended the full-time MBA programme, so I applied to that and was admitted.

However, the start of the full-time programme turned out to be too early for me in terms of leaving my growing business. I asked for some support from the Hungarian alumni, and they were very helpful. They suggested to consider the EMBA programme, introduced me to EMBA alumni, and I realised that I could benefit much more from the EMBA than the full-time programme. So finally, I transferred.

Initially, I planned to apply to the top three US Business schools, but soon I realised that two years would be impossible for me to dedicate. After that, I only applied to INSEAD, because I believe that INSEAD has the best non-US MBA course one can find – the key benefit is the diversity for me which I find truly unique at INSEAD.  

If you were to describe your experience in one sentence, what would it be?

I would describe my INSEAD experience as something which scared me and provoked my insecurities in the beginning, but turned out to be shockingly fulfilling. A safe place to challenge and grow myself, and a blast of an experience

Has the EMBA helped you in your career so far?

Yes, it has given me a lot of confidence in my entrepreneurship journey. I act as a more confident leader with my team but also, I communicate more confidently with business partners. I started to implement new ideas – I feel that it is easier for me to get inspired because I feel that trying something different is easier than before.

What are your thoughts about the multi-campus experience?

I am really looking forward to travelling and experiencing the different campuses. So far, my class has only experienced the Fontainebleau campus but in the second half of the programme we will be travelling around the world and the class size will be doubled once we merge with the other sections. I am curious.

Could you tell us more about the Leadership Development Programme experience?

The group dynamics are very interesting.

In the beginning, you feel like you are attending a therapy session with a bunch of strangers, and then you recognise and start to realise the values of each person.

What advice would you give to someone who might be interested in pursuing an INSEAD Masters programme?

I would advise to think about their career path, what they want to pursue and to choose the right timing based on that. I changed my course because the GEMBA was more fitting for me – now I think I would have been suffering in the full-time programme at this stage of my career and based on the career path I am following.