Make a Positive Difference to the Earth

Full-time MBA student Hsinchun Wang from Taiwan speaks about her experience at HHL

This interview was first published in March 2018.

Would you like to get to know some of our full-time MBA students and find out more about the diversity of HHL’s MBA class? Our students come from over 20 different countries and have diverse academic and professional backgrounds, hobbies, interests and career goals. They look forward to sharing their personal stories and motivations towards pursuing an MBA at HHL with you.

So get ready to discover our HHL family!

What is your professional background?

I am Hsinchun Wang from Taiwan but people know me by my English name, Phoebe. I am a European Political Sociology major. However, in practice, I had been working as a strategic partnership manager in semiconductor company prior to my move to Germany.

“An MBA was a way for me to learn how to use money, to make a positive difference to the earth, which we call home and which we have been damaging for centuries.”

What was your motivation for an MBA?

When I was younger, I was much more idealistic and believed in making a difference by working for NGOs or humanitarian organizations. As I grew older, I learned the reality is that the majority of the world follows money. An MBA was a way for me to learn how to use money, to make a positive difference to the earth, which we call home and which we have been damaging for centuries.

Why did you study an MBA at HHL?

Originally, HHL was a backup plan to my first choice Copenhagen Business School in case I do not get the scholarship there. However, during the HHL application interview, I found out that Mr. John Morton, the former senior director of Climate Change for Obama’s administration, is an advisor at HHL. That changed my priorities and I decided to attend HHL as this is where I believed I would find the answer to the balance between the environmental issues and capitalism.

Experience at DBFZ boot camp

It was an intensive two-day event for all participants where we got to know one another, pitch all of our ideas and choose our preferred business ideas to work on in teams. As I am passionate about environmental issues, I chose to work with a scientist from Deutsches Biomasseforschungszentrum (DBFZ) to materialize his scientific inventions into a feasible business plan and further present it in front of potential investors.

My previous jobs always involved co-work and communications with scientists and engineers. It is my specialty to translate the engineering language into commercial terms and strategies. This boot camp provided me with a platform to show my expertise in a local German environment which is what I was never exposed to before. As the result of this boot camp was very positive, the scientist also provided me a recommendation letter in German, which I believe will be valuable when I look for jobs in Germany.

How did you spend your free time in Leipzig?

I think for most classmates the situation is similar: we do not have any free time anymore after the middle of the first term. However, during the free time we did have, I went to Argentine Tango Milongas and learned Pole Dance. The people were very friendly and fun at both venues. Leipzig is not a big city but it is relatively international compared to the size of the city itself.

What were some of your favorite experiences at HHL?

One of my favorite days in Leipzig so far was one day in October when some of my classmates and I biked to Cospudener See. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Although the water was still quite chilly, we still jumped into the lake! It was a day filled with nature, peace, happiness, ice cream and Moroccan food.