Master’s in Management Celebrates Inaugural Class as Students Prepare to Graduate

Georgetown McDonough’s inaugural Master’s in Management (MiM) class completed their degree requirements in May. The MiM program is a 10-month, STEM-designated, full-time program designed for recent undergraduates from all backgrounds with zero to three years of work experience looking to launch their careers.

For Tanatswa Mapondera (MiM’20), the MiM program led to the launch of a startup called Spotlight, which aims to streamline the hiring process for students and companies. 

“The best thing about this program is the access to resources and mentors, both of which helped jumpstart my entrepreneurship journey,” he said. “I also met my cofounder my cohort, and we have shared many highlights over the past few months building our business model from scratch and creating a roadmap for growth.” 

Mapondera, who has a background in political economy, plans to land a full-time role in finance or consulting after graduation, while simultaneously working on his startup.

The MiM program launched last summer with an impressive cohort of 31 students. Most came from humanities, social sciences, or liberal arts backgrounds, with an average GMAT score of 680 and an average undergraduate GPA of 3.4. The group is diverse, representing 14 countries of citizenship, comprising 45% females, and 13% U.S. diversity. 

“Georgetown McDonough went after the best and brightest students,” said Evelyn Williams, academic director of the program and teaching professor of management. “It really is an accelerated program and it has been phenomenal to see how fast they have picked up on things considering the majority of students do not have a undergraduate business background.” 

As a global business education leader, Georgetown McDonough continues to leverage its location in the global city of Washington, D.C., offering opportunities to manifest both the university’s international networks and as an anchor institution in the nation’s capital.

The MiM program seeks to provide all students the opportunity to travel abroad to consult within an industry. As a graduate requirement in the MiM program, the Global Business Experience (GBE) allows student-led teams to partner with executives from multinational organizations to address complex business challenges. The program culminates with a one-week trip to their client’s destination to present their findings — this year’s destination was slated for Singapore.

Although the students were not able to travel abroad due to COVID-19, they continued to work alongside their international clients while sharpening their ability to communicate cross-culturally.

“The GBE presentation allows the students to engage with an actual company and get the experience of working on a live project, as if they were working in a top-tier consulting firm,” said Arthur Dong, teaching professor of strategy at Georgetown McDonough. “There is no substitute for on-the-ground experiential learning outside of the classroom.”

In today’s highly competitive job market, many students use this opportunity as a way to network themselves for post-graduate careers. One company was particularly impressed with the recommendations and competitive analysis presented by their student team. Human Capital Singapore, a prominent life-long learning and skills development organization, offered Ernesto Camacho (MiM’20), Yue Li (MiM’20), Wandis Lu (MiM’20), Dina Masri (MiM’20), and Anoop Mettu (MiM’20), an open invitation to conduct an internship with them in Singapore.

“This is the highest praise that a client can offer when they express appreciation for the insights and recommendations offered by the team to the client company,” said Dong.

Camacho is one of the lucky recipients of HCS’s offer and is excited to explore this opportunity as he is passionate about human capital management and finds it fulfilling to help organizations execute their critical business needs.

“The GBE project and MiM program has encouraged me to think strategically, stay true to my character, lead with compassion, and maintain courage despite adversity — all of which would not be possible without the world-class faculty at McDonough that are dedicated to student success,” said Camacho. 

MiM students will join the rest of the university during its virtual degree conferral ceremony as this inaugural class commemorates their achievements.