Rihards Garancs     

HEC Paris

“Wizard in Excel. Keen on numbers. Obsessed with sport. Relentlessly seeking beauty and inspiration.”

Hometown: Riga, Latvia

Fun Fact About Yourself: While an undergraduate, I used to avoid dealing with .xls files and thought that in my career I will never work with Excel… Now I teach Excel in my school.

Undergraduate School and Major: Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, BSc in Business & Economics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Carlsberg Group Supply Chain Business Partner; Data Analytics Course Director at Stockholm School of Economics in Riga

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Built global supply chain business intelligence system at Carlsberg Group.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why?

I am amazed by the supportive culture and openness of my fellow classmates. Far before courses commenced, everyone is profoundly engaged with the campus experience. I expect that my colleagues are not only some of the brightest minds on this planet, but also will form a very strong community despite diverse backgrounds and cultures.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I find the double-degree program a competitive advantage of HEC Paris. Having access to the Asian market through the Singapore National University as well as the access to alumni network there are the main reasons I have chosen this program.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I cannot wait to become a part of HEC entrepreneurship club. I look forward to sharing my ideas and creating a purposeful and powerful start-up with my fellow students.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career?  First, it was my desire to dive back into a learning environment. Secondly, it was a chance to see my career and its prospects from the sidelines, exploring new opportunities that would arise from studying an MBA.

How did you decide if an MBA was worth the investment? Being a finance guy that was quite easy. Yet, I also had quite a lot of intangible benefits that would come with the MBA such as gaining a broad network of gifted minds, an opportunity to accelerate my career in the European and Asian job market, and being able to reinvent myself.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I applied for INSEAD MBA and IESE double degree MBA and big data analytics programs.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? I performed an ROI analysis for every MBA program I considered pursuing. I quantified all factors, including cost and unique intangible benefits. From the analysis, HEC Paris’s double degree program was an obvious winner. I highly valued HEC Paris academic level, its approach to leadership, and double degree curriculum.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? It has to go to my undergraduate university as it opened my mind to what opportunities are available and developed my high standards towards anything that I would do. It also paved the way to my international career.

What do you plan to do after you graduate?  I plan to build my company together with other talented students. I will continue consulting companies and reading lectures on business intelligence and data management. Besides, I am open to reinventing myself during my MBA studies, and I presume the campus experience will help me discover other sides of my personality.

Where do you see yourself in five years? I have a firm belief that I will be running my company, exploring different parts of the world, and serving my community with my mind and my heart.