My MBA Journey at BAU GSoB (Updated 2022)

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

After my glorious graduation as the Valedictorian of BAU Class of 2018, I have been directly accepted to the MBA program of  BAU  Graduate  School  of  Business—supervised by a special board consisting of the leading business executives in Turkey, under BAU Graduate School—on  merit-based  full  scholarship. I took some fantastic courses about Strategic Management and Marketing. 

UPDATE (July 2022): I have successfully defended my thesis (BTW, my CGPA is 4.00 😁🎉😎)

My Thesis: A Model Proposal for Automobile Brands to Be Successful in the Era of Smart and Sustainable Mobility

My thesis advisor is Dear Prof. Ahmet Beşkese—Professor of Management & Industrial Engineering, and one of the Vice Presidents of BAU (along with Dear Prof. Tunç Bozbura), who was also my advisor during my bachelor's degree. As mentioned in my graduation post, Prof. Beşkese and his close colleague Prof. Bozbura have been great masters and mentors to me. I am a proud follower of their management school, particularly their strategic management and intellectual capital approach. Besides, it has been highly inspirational for me to witness their career advancement over the years and their promotion to the Vice President positions of BAU.

Thanks to BAU's high-profile network, I took Globalization course lectured by Dear Mr. Servet Akkaynak, ex-CEO of Bosch Rexroth Turkey & ME, and Consumer Behavior course lectured by Dear Mr. Altay Ayhan, ex-VP of Yıldız Holding (Pladis). Professionals and executives also joined us in our other courses as guest lecturers.

As part of an intensive MBA curriculum, I have done assignments galore, including great team projects, case studies and in-class presentations. In addition, Dear Dr. Selcuk Tuzcuoglu, my precious marketing professor, encouraged us to submit ad campaigns weekly and we discussed them regularly during his lectures. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the half of the spring 2020 semester was conducted online. Even though, my teammates and I made a fantastic online team presentation by adapting to the new normal rapidly. Among my individiual assignments, my most favorite one was the presentation that I volunteered to make about how 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics affected China's globalization journey (as a coming out party).

BAU GSoB's MBA program has enabled me to gain business acumen and improve my conceptual skills as well as learning management and marketing theory. I am so glad that my network has expanded with great professors, experienced business people and lovely classmates from different professional backgrounds and countries 💗

Multi-cultural Globalization class of Mr. Servet Akkaynak, 2020. 

As the leading private university in Turkey's region in terms of full-time international student enrollment, BAU provides a multinational classroom experience. 

With Mr. Altay Ayhan while signing his branding book for me, 2019.

And I would like to end my post with a photo from BAU Industrial Engineering Society's alumni panel conference in December 2018.

BAU Graduation 2018—Proud to be the Valedictorian!

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Graduation ceremony of Bahcesehir University Class of 2018 was held on 9th of June, 2018 at Sinan Erdem Dome Istanbul. 

It was the greatest day of my entire academic life, since I graduated as the VALEDICTORIAN of Bahcesehir University (BAU) Class of 2018 (with CGPA 3.99/4.00) 😎😁🤩

Now, I am officially an INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER 😍🎉

Proudly, I have been awarded the Golden Brain of BAU, received the award from the Secretary General of South Africa's ANC Dr. Ace Magashule, Chairman of BAU Board of Trustees Mr. Enver Yücel and President of BAU Prof. Şenay Yalçın. 

I delivered the valedictory speech at the ceremony to more than 20,000 people with a great delight.

As I addressed the graduating class: "When we started Bahcesehir University, we were all sparks. We have been raised as pioneers to increase the welfare and happiness of our country and the people of the world. And now, we, as blazing flames, will chase our dreams, goals, and ideals!"

I am so glad that I had the chance to be admitted to BAU four years ago on ApplyBAU's merit based full scholarship. As I said during my valedictory speech, "Bahcesehir University has always been more than a university for me". BAU is a vigorous and ambitious institution that has an international vision. Being a student at BAU and experiencing its multicultural and dynamic atmosphere was highly inspirational to an individual like me, who aims to pursue a global management and marketing career. I had four fantastic years at BAU, full of academic and extracurricular accomplishments. I am grateful to my professors, friends and family. 💗

My lovely parents accompanied me to the event 😍

With Dear Prof. Tunç Bozbura, Professor of Management Engineering and BAU's Vice President. 

Very fortunately, I was his student assistant and junior researcher, worked on career studies and management practices. Furthermore, he was the one that recommended me to our CO-OP department to be chosen as the first student at BAU to initiate a one-to-one CEO reverse mentoring program. Dear Prof. Tunç Bozbura and his close colleague Dear Prof. Ahmet Beşkese—the Director of BAU Industrial Engineering and my precious academic advisor—have been fantastic masters and mentors to me. I have always felt their support. And I am so lucky that I had a great chance to become a follower of their management school and approach. In particular, I have gained a world-class understanding of the importance of intellectual capital from them. 

With Dear Dr. Ahmet Yücel, the Coordinator of our faculty.

And with my dears—Berfin and Kagan 💕 During the ceremony, my all precious friends came to congratulate me and shared my happiness. They made me feel again that's what friends are for ☺️🥰

I would like to end this fantastic post with some other related occasions:

Of course my great prom poses with my studymates 😅 BAU Prom '18 at Esma Sultan Mansion.

I was so excited to be the consort of HRH Princess Berfin 😍🤩😄

And our capstone project presentation. 

Advised by the Director of BAU Industrial Engineering Prof.  Ahmet Beşkese, who is also my precious academic advisor and mentor as I mentioned earlier, we proposed an extensive strategic management and marketing roadmap for B2C product-oriented IoT startups to better shape their product and business strategies. The team got A (highest letter grade attainable at BAU) 🎉

Collage of 2017

2017... Doubtlessly, it has been one of the greatest years in my whole life 🤩 I have proudly become the reverse mentor of VW Turkey CEO, also had a great marketing internship in there. Furthermore, I attended a fantastic summer school in South Korea which was full of joy. I am thankful for great friends and memories. Last but not least important, I was a panel speaker at TEGEP Turkey Education and Development Summit 2017. At the end, I can say that 2017 has been a wonderful year for me gratefully 💗

VW CEO's 22-Year-Old Mentor—Turkishtime Magazine (Program Update & HR Conferences)

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

In its July 2017 issue, Turkish monthly business magazine Turkishtime covered Mr. Uygun and me, who am proud to be his reverse mentor, with an article entitled "VW CEO's 22-Year-Old Mentor".

The article features Mr. Uygun and me as:

"Bahcesehir University Industrial Engineering junior Kaan Ozkorkmaz evaluates the developments in the automotive industry through the eyes of Gen Y by meeting Volkswagen Passenger Cars CEO Vedat Uygun every week."

And the article continues with the details regarding my reverse mentorship with Mr. Uygun as I shared in my previous post. 

Print version of the magazine. For the first time in my life, my pose is covered full page by a prestigious business magazine :D

PROGRAM UPDATE:

Our reverse mentoring program was ended in April 2018 due to the change of Mr. Uygun's position in the company. We had a reverse mentoring program where we met regularly for over a year and that was highly beneficial for the both parties. Although it is stated in Turkishtime's July 2017 article above that we meet weekly, there were times when the interval between our meetings became wider due to both of our busy schedules (e.g., my trip to South Korea).

I was invited  to  two high-profile HR conferences in Istanbul, namely TEGEP 2017  and  PERYON 2018, to  share  my  experiences as  an  accomplished reverse mentor. Furthermore, I advised several companies on how to start a successful reverse mentoring program in their organizations.

With my reverse mentee Mr. Vedat Uygun and our moderator Dear Prof. Ipek Altınbasak Farina at PERYON Conference in November 2018, where we, as conference panelists, shared the details our fruitful reverse mentoring program.

And as one of the panelists at TEGEP Conference 2017 with two other reverse mentors. Our moderator was Dear Melek Pulatkonak, the founder of TurkishWIN (The Turkish Women's International Network).

My lovely friends Berfin and Ediz were also present at TEGEP '17.

Reverse Mentorship at Volkswagen Turkey

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

Becoming an international actor in the automotive industry has always been my career aspiration. I am interested in marketing and management in the global automotive industry and pursue to reach the pinnacle of my career as one of the most respected automotive executives shaping the future of smart mobility. 

Now, I am doubtlessly grateful that I have made a vigorous start to reach my career aspirations by becoming the Reverse Mentor of Mr. Vedat Uygun, CEO of Volkswagen Turkey and board member of Dogus Automotive—distributor of Volkswagen Group brands in Turkey and holds more than 20% of Turkish Car Market. 

Since March 2017, I have been meeting with Mr. Uygun regularly to provide him with my analyses and recommendations regarding the marketing activities of the company and the latest developments in the global automotive industry. I proudly made the main presentation at the yearly strategic marketing meeting with advertising and digital agencies of VW in May 2017. In that meeting, I mainly shared my ideas to improve VW’s mobile app for a better customer experience and my suggestions to benefit from user-generated content campaigns to engage with the superfans of the brand. Upon Mr. Uygun's request, also the CMO of VW attends our meetings occasionally to get informed about my analyses and recommendations related to the marketing campaigns and customer experience of the brand.

I want to share our fantastic pose from April 2017 with my deepest thanks to Mr. Vedat Uygun. Having automotive chats with Mr. Uygun particularly about the future of car brands as mobility providers is like a dream to me :D

I have been chosen as the first student at BAU to start one-to-one reverse mentoring programme. For my reverse mentorship journey, BAU CO-OP Department organized a fantastic event in February 2017 where I made an extensive presentation to Dogus Automotive's executives that included both my automotive analysis and an introduction of the concept of reverse mentoring.

Photo of the event includes Director of  BAU CO-OP Mr. Toper, first from left, Director of BAU Industrial and Systems Engineering Prof. Bozbura (whose student assistant I had been, who taught me the concept of proactive job application and recommended me to our CO-OP Dept. for this project), next to me on the left, CHRO of Dogus Automotive Mrs. Kulunyar, third from left, and Corporate Communications Director of Dogus Automotive Mr. Bebekoglu, third from right.

Consequently, I had the chance to have a meeting with Mr. Uygun. I presented him my analysis about the global automotive industry. And I proudly became his Reverse Mentor in March 2017 :D

Collage of 2016

2016... Gratefully, it brought me the opportunity of experiencing new cultures, expanding my horizon, sharing happiness and obviously posing a lot :D With my dear family and friends, I enjoyed a lovely year full of memories. I just had a time to prepare this collage in the break—due to heavy snowstorm hit Istanbul—during my relentless final exams. And now, remembering all those great times through my Collage of 2016 is highly motivating for me to go back to studying :D

I have not published a year-end post before, but I hope it will become a tradition in my blog :D