From a promising manager to a world leader of change

The UCLA-NUS Executive MBA program, run jointly by the UCLA Anderson School of Management and NUS Business School offers two distinctive Executive MBA degrees. While UCLA has an award-winning faculty well-known for their impactful research and highly selective admissions process, NUS also produces outstanding scholars who have the ability to conduct cutting-edge research to create impactful change across continents. 

Patricia Reed, who has a background of B2B and large enterprises, is now also an investor and strategist. She attended this dual EMBA program in 2012 and seriously believes in making a difference – building a better tomorrow for future generations. Originally from the United States, Patricia currently resides in Singapore. For work, she has traveled across Europe, Asia, and North America. 

With the rapid rise of globalization, Patricia wanted to build a career with a truly global perspective on leadership and management. Therefore, she chose these two world-renowned universities in order to be a part of a global network. She says, “I was really drawn to the program because I have been living in Singapore since 2006. I liked the idea of an MBA degree from a prestigious Asian university and as an American, for the opportunity to go to California a couple of segments. Since I had [been] gone so long, I wanted to expand my network there [too].” (00:47)

A global network that guarantees global offerings

An MBA is just not about acquiring domain knowledge. It is imperative to build your own network during your studies, as this will help tremendously in your future career possibilities. The UCLA-NUS alumni network consists of more than 40,000 professionals. Additionally, graduates from UCLA can also join the 500,000+ global network. 

Alumni events take place across continents. The focus of these meets is on industries, career programs, social gatherings, and other forms of networking. Patricia shares, “I was introduced to someone who happened to have an Agriculture Feed (ag feed) company. [As I had invested in an agfeed company called Full Circle] I was looking for a contact in India. [During] a social networking event, I was talking about some of the fundraising for a couple of other start-ups. One of the guys [said], ‘I know someone who has the largest agfeed company in India. Would you like an introduction?’ A WhatsApp group with a couple of hundred people is very handy and when I need something, I just send a WhatsApp to the group, and [that is] the biggest ongoing benefit that I have had.” (06:31)

A flexible joint program with multiple dynamic cultures

The UCLA-NUS EMBA is designed to cater to demanding schedules. The entire program is 15 months long, with six residential segments every 2-3 months. This flexible schedule is intense and allows you to fully immerse yourself in a global learning experience, while you apply newly acquired knowledge, frameworks, and tools in real-time to your work. The program recently started offering an expanded selection of electives that can be taken during and in-between segments, across a variety of learning formats including blended learning, dual mode, online, and in person.

“I joined [the program] for a few reasons,” Patricia tells us. “I really liked the format of it. Having a full-time job with two kids, I still wanted to do an MBA. I took a few weeks full-time out of my work schedule per quarter and really just focused on [the] EMBA.” (03:14) 

This flexibility not only deepens your knowledge, thus enabling you to reach your career goals, but it also helps you to strengthen your perspective. Spanning four countries – the United States, Singapore, China, and India – the UCLA-NUS EMBA helps students develop a global mindset that is fundamentally essential to address current challenges in businesses and create opportunities for tomorrow. 

Patricia speaks highly about UCLA and NUS’ very different cultures. She says, “Professors in NUS, for example, were very Singaporean, more formal and structured, whereas the UCLA professors [were] a lot more informal – not all of them, but a lot of them had humor and storytelling.”

Reinvent yourself in order to re-engage with society

The basis of any inclusive society in today’s world is care, equality, social awareness, and responsible behavior. We all need to make an impact and make positive change possible. However, traditional philanthropy is no longer the way to change the world. This is where esteemed grad schools like UCLA and NUS play a pivotal role, as they help graduates build the skills they need to convert social needs into business opportunities. 

MBA programs teach professionals how to take challenges in stride and proceed with renewed energy and make an impact. EMBA programs are focused on education, research, innovation, and enterprise abilities, so when graduates leave the program, they have the vision as well as the fundamental knowledge they need to make the world a better place.

“I have children. I am a human being, [who is] renting space on this planet, and I feel that there’s a crisis happening and it’s very slow moving,” Patricia says. “Unfortunately, no single government can address it alone. It’s very easy to get billions of dollars for war, for some short-term crisis, but what seems to be more problematic is for governments to act long-term.”

She continues, “Being a vegetarian, I choose three times a day the amount of impact I want to have on the planet. I also wanted to start looking at other aspects of sustainability. I have invested in a sustainable agfeed company called Full Circle and I am also involved as a seed investor in a fintech [company] focused on lower income and micro-entrepreneurial women.” (04:09)

 

Empowering the underprivileged: The first step towards a sustainable future

Preparing academically to lead transformational change in any sector is one thing – but the UCLA-NUS EMBA program goes one step further, inspiring and creating leaders of global change by conducting research that has the potential to change the way business is led in modern society. 

For Patricia, addressing and empowering the wider world of human existence is her passion. She has realized that underprivileged women who do not have as much access to opportunities and finance, and who do not have the ability to even legally own their own property and land, are fighting bigger battles. “In Asia, women have a very hard time accessing credit,” she reveals. “They don’t have equity. Equity is often land, which is only owned by men and inherited by men. So, when they want to go to the bank for a loan, they have to bring their husbands. Their husbands will often take the money and [these women] may get part of the money. It’s not a straightforward relationship between a woman, her business, and the bank.” (08:16) 

Having realized this gap, Patricia invested in Lucy, a free mobile bank for women that was launched in Singapore. “It’s been traditionally an area that banks have struggled to serve because [these women] don’t have a lot of money and the cost of services [in these banks] is very high,” Patricia explains. “So, Lucy has created a SaaS platform, which is a B2B2C platform, which we can plan to partner with large banks all over the world to expand financial services in markets where there’s been a gap, specifically when it comes to serving women.” (09:05)

“In Asia alone, there are 245 million unbanked women and globally the opportunity is a five trillion-dollar opportunity,” she adds. “I see sustainable finance for women as a way to impact sustainability because women tend to be very focused on their families and use their resources very shrewdly. So, I see empowering women as a way to not just impact sustainability and their lives, but also expand the economies globally.” (05:48)

Practical vs. passionate

It’s true that MBAs help you think critically about your ideas. They give you the foresight to anticipate any impending challenges that might be in your way and make you bold enough to address the industry naysayers. MBAs help you become more articulate and succinct so you can look for the data you need to support your own points and, last but not least, they ensure you stay true to yourself and admit your mistakes when you are proven wrong. 

As we’ve seen, an MBA can make you pragmatic in many ways. But, when we spoke to Patricia, we could also hear her passion and the human side of her journey. Do MBAs make you humane and compassionate, too? We’ll leave it to you to find out – but we can tell you that successful MBA stories from esteemed grad schools like UCLA and NUS, as well as stories of achievers like Patricia Reed, can serve as inspirations for many. And, who knows, these stories might one day help you shape your own career.