Starting from an engineering role, Andrea become a Venture Capital Fund Analyst in Stellantis during his path in Luiss Business School: «The final field project helped me to get foot in my new job».
Andrea Caiazzo, 36-year-old from Naples, has already a solid professional story behind. Mechanical engineer with 10 years’ experience in automotive R&D, product development and program management, including international experience in China, decided to make a change in his life. He had strong technical knowledges but in order to grow in his position he felt the need to merge them with financial, strategic, and innovative ones. Luiss Business School’s Part Time MBA offered the right formula to join a new learning path without stepping out of his career. Leadership, soft skills, competitiveness, and a strong international challenge completed the experience.
Why did you choose the Luiss Business School’s Part Time MBA?
The first reason was related to the balance of the part-time formula. That flexibility allowed me to enroll to the MBA without stepping out from my professional career. I was also aware of the reputation of Luiss Business School, which is quite distinctive in Italy. Plus, the approach of this MBA is different from others now available in our country. I was very well welcomed and guided by the coordinators of the MBA which were supporting me from the application process and that made the application process extremely easy and very straightforward.
Which is the course that has had the greatest impact on your career?
I’m working in Stellantis, but the MBA helped me to switch in a new role: from a more technical and engineering one to Venture Capital Fund Analyst, something more related to innovation, strategy, and finance field. So, Corporate finance and Corporate investment banking were game changer courses. I must also mention Strategy, a bundle of courses, related to the innovation field.
Was there any speaker that impressed you?
We had the chance to get exposed to many guest speakers, lecturers and professors along the path. At the very beginning of our MBA we met Corrado Passera, a very impressive personality, with a relevant professional profile. Among other guest speakers, we enjoy the presence of Fabrizio Palermo, who play a key role in the Italian business. He brought to the class so many interesting business cases to discuss.
Soft skills, how did you manage to train them during the part time master?
Communication is the most important soft skill, for me. I constantly communicate during the daily teamwork, in delivering the final assignment… We had most of our lessons on campus, but we prepared all the exams in remote. It was a good chance to train the digital communication skills, that is quite important in my current working field.
Competitiveness: how did you train this soft skill during your career at Luiss Business School?
Most of the time we rather collaborate rather than compete. However, we had some chance to do so:: for instance, during the Marketing courses we experienced some competition on Mark Strat Simulation, which is a business game where you can implement a marketing strategy, you can run the simulation, and get some results. Competing against each other was nice and motivating to get the best results and a good ranking in the group. Also, some of us – including myself – participated in an international business case competition which was organized by HSBC. The bank asked to some Business Schools to develop a sustainable strategy for them. In addition, we also participated in a competition against two other Business Schools in the UK. It gives us also an international point of view on competitiveness.
Many alumni have experienced the value of the networking that is created at Luiss Business School. What has been your experience in relation to the Part-Time MBA?
Networking was one of the key aspect of the MBA. Luiss Business School committed a lot toward this direction. For instance, we had some Tea-break Networking Saturday, in “Sala degli Specchi” to get to meet each other, take it off and speak with all the other Master and MBA students, which was a very good opportunity. We had some Skill Labs, which was a good networking occasion, too.
At Luiss Business School we work a lot on Leadership. What do you think it means to be a true leader?
Leaders are individuals which are able to move, commit, motivate a group of people towards a common goal. Some people are born to be leaders, but leadership is a sort of muscle you can train. Our MBA is a good opportunity to do that. I apply my leadership style and skills every day in my new role to influence the people I work with to achieve a final shared goal.
Today you are Venture Capital Fund Analyst in Stellantis Ventures: how has the Part Time MBA impacted on your professional role?
You need tech and business skills. From tech side, I had already the knowledge, but I lacked the background on legal issues and some competences of business strategy. In this respect, MBA impacted a lot on this development path. For me it was the first opportunity to learn and train these skills.
Do you think your career path will change again thanks to the Part Time MBA? If yes, how, and why?
It has already changed because I changed my role during my Part Time MBA. I have to say that our final field project (which finalize my MBA curriculum) was for me the best chance to get foot in the door for in Stellantis corporate venture fund. So, MBA enabled that change.
What are your suggestions for future students – in and out of the classroom – on how to fully seize the opportunities of the Luiss Business School course?
My suggestion would be: attend the maximum amount of lessons with full committment, engage actively with the rest of the class and professors and ask as many questions as possible. As you will not have the possibility to ask them again or in another context. So, do not be shy, do some network around the Luiss Business School and outside of it. Many students are also coming from abroad so they can spend a nice and fruitful time in Villa Blanc, which is a beautiful location, and enjoying living in the heart of Rome. Just remember to also enjoy this part of the experience.
