How to grow your business with a master’s degree

When Zuzana started her master’s degree, she already had her own business. Impressively, she leveraged her studies to take her company to the next level and accelerate its growth.

Initially, her company was “[small and focused] on recruitment. It [was] a personnel agency which provided job opportunities and study programs for Slovak and Czech people in Spain. [She] started just with 20 students [who she provided with] job opportunities in the hospitality and gastronomical sector in Spain.” (03:44)

One of the professors in her master’s program helped her grow her business into a larger, hospitality-focused HR company. Because of his guidance and her studies, she ended up with “offices and employees and many important clients [like] Iberostar [and] different hotel chains.” (04:18)

In EAE Business School’s Master of International Business, students conclude their studies with a thesis project. While it’s normally done in a group, Zuzana chose to do it by herself and focus on her own business. This experience also provided her with valuable research, experiences, and insights that helped her grow her business.

Why Zuzana chose to go back to school at the EAE

Zuzana Topolska realized that she wanted to go back to school and pursue a master’s degree because “[she] needed to grow in her personal and professional life [and] get more knowledge regarding international business because that was [her] focus and what [she] wanted to do in the future.” (00:50)

There were several reasons why the Master of International Business at EAE Business School in Madrid stood out to her.

First, she was interested in studying in Spain because she had already spent time there and loved the culture. She had also already been doing business in Spain so it made sense to continue her studies there.

Zuzana also did a lot of research on different master’s programs and was impressed with EAE’s great reputation. She noticed the school was well-positioned in Spanish and European rankings. (01:29)

Lastly, Zuzana had always wanted to study at a university with a more international focus. She liked that the EAE had “students and professors from all around the world.” (01:48)

A look into Spain’s exciting start-up scene

With campuses in both Madrid and Barcelona, Zuzana says, “Madrid is an amazing place to start if you want to have an international company.” (06:13)

The start-up scene is bustling and vibrant and Zuzana points out that there are “many networking activities [and] recruitment dates.” (06:21) She recalls one specific event where “there were several market leaders presented and Google Campus and just so many activities.” (06:31)

Zuzana jokes that even though she had founded her own company before studying at EAE, when attending events like the one she mentioned, “she was even considering different paths.” (06:52)

This just goes to show the wide range of opportunities that are available to ambitious, business-minded people studying in Spain. If you’re interested in growing your business with a master’s degree, check out EAE Business School’s master’s programs and see what program would best suit your needs.