This Swiss management school helps graduates hone their business acumen

Mr Marcos Cadena, 45, recalls being taken aback at the direct nature of some of his classmates from different backgrounds back when he was studying at EHL Hospitality Business School. 

Today, the chief technology officer at Jollibee is more than adept at working with people from multicultural backgrounds. 

“Part of being a leader involves dealing with multiple types of personalities. You need to understand and accept that people are different,” said Mr Cadena, who is half-Mexican, half-Swiss. “I see managers today who fail not because they’re incapable but because they do not understand how to work with different cultures.”

He credits his leadership and people management skills, along with his adaptability and business acumen, to his education at EHL. 

With campuses in Switzerland and Singapore, EHL is the world’s first hotel school, with a rich heritage in education excellence since 1893. For five consecutive years (2019 to 2023), EHL was ranked No 1 among hospitality management universities worldwide in the QS World University Rankings. 

Said Dr Inès Blal, dean of EHL’s undergraduate school: “Throughout EHL’s history, our positioning has always been unique. Our roots in hospitality management and know-how continue to provide a distinctive approach to our teaching and research, which enriches our courses in management, finance and even marketing. As a result, many business leaders from diverse industries beyond the hospitality sector – such as banking, real estate, consulting and luxury manufacturing – recruit our graduates.” 

Renowned for its Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management, EHL also offers postgraduate programmes such as Master’s degrees in hospitality as well as a range of professional and lifelong learning courses. In 2021, EHL opened its first international campus in Singapore and has since welcomed around 350 students from 40 countries. 

BROADENING HORIZONS, BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

Mr Cadena, who has a prior degree in economics and business informatics from Switzerland’s University of Fribourg, enrolled in EHL’s International Hospitality Management Bachelor programme from 2004 to 2008. He undertook courses that ranged from finance, statistics and economics to business communication, foreign languages and hospitality management. 

The breadth of the curriculum at EHL was an eye-opener for Mr Cadena, who added that it was more “scientific and business in nature” than he had expected. “A common misconception people have about hospitality management schools is that you only learn how to clean rooms and how to serve in a restaurant. While these operations are vital to many businesses, they are a very small part of the learning experience. At EHL, the emphasis is on building social and leadership skills and business acumen to allow you to excel in managerial positions.”

Mr Cadena appreciated the practicality of EHL’s curriculum, citing how a statistics course he pursued taught him not just about concepts such as median and standard deviation, but also about entering data into a spreadsheet and executing it in a work setting. 

This transference of skills is reflected in his career, which includes roles in e-commerce, digital marketing and technology within the hospitality and food and beverage sectors, and which has seen him work in multicultural environments from Switzerland to Thailand, and now Singapore. 

While many people think of hospitality from a customer perspective, Mr Cadena explained that there are operational and technological aspects – such as human resources, data privacy, sales and analytics – to consider and manage. In his current role, he oversees a variety of functions, from marketing and digital capabilities to enterprise services.

Apart from technical knowledge, Mr Cadena also found the presentation skills he gained at EHL immensely useful in his career. At EHL, he had to give presentations multiple times a week. Everything was recorded, so that students could review the recordings and improve their presentation. 

After graduating, Mr Cadena joined Kempinski Hotels as a corporate web and e-commerce project manager, and later became its corporate director of digital strategy. He shared: “I believe it was my ability to present ideas in a way that people understood, and lead others towards change, that was a factor in my career progression.” He still uses the same skills when speaking at large conferences and to manage an organisation of 280 people from around the world. 

A valuable takeaway of his education was the ability to communicate with others from different cultures. Besides enrolling in classes on diversity and inclusion, students at EHL work as a team with others from multinational backgrounds. “Within a team, we all have different strengths and weaknesses. I developed the awareness of when to push and when to pull when dealing with people, and how best to work together as one,” he said.

GAINING A STRONG FOUNDATION AND COMPETITIVE EDGE 

For Ms Melissa Lou, relationship building and the ability to work well with people from different backgrounds were also crucial to her career success.

The 35-year-old Singaporean, who graduated from EHL in 2011, is a senior venture architect at BCG X, the corporate venture-building arm of Boston Consulting Group. 

Said Ms Lou: “I work with a multidisciplinary team, where everyone has expertise in different areas, such as engineering, product and strategic design. The ability to work with individuals with diverse skills and personalities to achieve our business goals is an important skill set that I picked up from my time at EHL.”

An initial interest in event management was what led Ms Lou to pursue her bachelor degree with the school, though she wasn’t sure that she wanted to build a career in hospitality management. “What I appreciated about EHL was that it gave me new insights into the industry and showed me that there were plenty of career options outside of service and operations within the hotel line,” she shared. 

After graduating, Ms Lou worked in luxury events and partnerships, before striking out on her own and co-founding a technology start-up. She is grateful that EHL gave her a strong business foundation in areas such as financial management, marketing and operations as well as people management. 

“As a co-founder, I had to manage various business units. That was when I realised that the business acumen and relationship-building skills I acquired at EHL could be applied to environments outside of hospitality,” said Ms Lou.

Adaptability was another core skill she credits to EHL. “Because we were constantly exposed to different groups of people, projects and lines of work, it taught me to be flexible – which is crucial when launching your own business, particularly in technology, when you have to constantly pivot according to market conditions and demands. I believe this adaptability will give EHL graduates a competitive edge in today’s rapidly changing world.”

Interested in studying at EHL? Find out more about the Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management programme, which has two intakes in September and February. Applications for the September intake closes on May 1, 2023, for students requiring visas.

Pre-university students may also register for the upcoming Junior Academy Camp for a taster of the Bachelor programme.