Student Interview #10 - Souhayl on taking part in the CPI Program

By Souhayl Amar, 1st year student, from Morocco

CPi Program : Création d’un Produit Innovant

After joining the MSc in Management, I decided to apply to the CPi Program. I got interested by the program when reading about it in the ESSEC Study Guide. Afterwards, I took a look at the program website and saw the videos of the previous editions. It seemed like a great opportunity to work and learn in an entrepreneurial environment! As of now, I don’t regret it at all. It’s totally worth it!

What is the CPi?

The CPi is a multidisciplinary program where students from three different backgrounds (engineering, management and design) work together on a company project during 6 months. It’s a joint program between ESSEC, Centrale Paris and Strate, three leading schools in business, engineering and design. Every year, several big companies such as Société Générale, Otis, or Thales participate in the CPi. This program, which enhances design thinking and open innovation, runs from from September to April. It concludes with the Trade Show: the final event where teams make presentations to a jury of teachers and senior executives from the companies that participate in the program. The CPi takes place on Tuesdays (all day long) at NUMA, in Paris. NUMA is a start-up incubator and a co-working space. It’s a place where entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, managers, and programmers meet to work and share experiences. 

My experience as a CPi student

I am working on a marketing project about the Oil&Gas industry for a French company called Vallourec. As part of our project, we visited the corporate headquarters in Valenciennes (France), and four of us had the chance to travel to Scotland! They went to Aberdeen to visit an offshore platform. The main goals of these visits are to collect data/information and to make observations about the working environment. In the following months, we will start making strategic recommendations and drafting business plans that suit the company’s needs.

I have found the CPi to be a very challenging and enriching experience so far. You get to learn a lot from other students! Teams are made up of 10-12 people so it’s important to be a team player and to put the interest of the group first. Furthermore, ESSEC students who complete the program get 3 UV and 2 months of professional experience since it is a demanding program. 






* To take part in this program, students need to have a good level of French.

Student Interview # 9 - Nihit from India on coming to France and settling into life at ESSEC

Interview with Nihit NINGTHOUJAM, 1st year MSc in Management student, from India who graduated previously with a degree in engineering physics from IIT Delhi. He tells us about making the decision to come to ESSEC, his thoughts on how the first couple of months in France have been and what his future plans are during his time here. This is his story...

After acquiring in-depth insights on diverse industries and business verticals through my business analyst position with a market research firm for 1 year, I realized that I wanted to specialize in Strategy in B2B sector with a tinge of entrepreneurship studies. While I was looking into various options of my higher studies, I came across the MSc in Management program by ESSEC through an engaging master class by a professor from ESSEC. 

Amongst all the master's programs by different business schools in India, Europe and the US, the prospect of pursuing MiM from ESSEC appealed to me the most because of the high flexibility of the curriculum, strong entrepreneurship culture and high interaction between theory and industry with an opportunity to do 18 months of internships and apprenticeship. Further, this course allows students to explore 3-4 business functions by providing an opportunity to do 3-4 different internships of 3-6 months.

I arrived at Paris during the last week of August 2014. As I have expected, I found it to be a very beautiful city with a very rich culture and vibrant night-life. I can imagine myself spending my youthful 20s here with a perfect work-life balance. By the way, people work for only 35 hours per week by French law. During these first few weeks here, my experiences have been very dynamic across learning French and French culture, exploring the world of student clubs and formulating my personal project plan. Also, I try very hard not to miss any party organized by ESSEC clubs. Why should I miss it? ESSEC is not only known as a top b-school in France but also known for its excellent parties. Every Thursday, we have theme parties at Foy’s – the student-run bar within the ESSEC campus.

Academic curriculum at ESSEC is very unique with high flexibility and opportunities to follow multiple chairs and tracks such as entrepreneurship, LVMH, sports marking, therapeutic business etc. Through the courses I am pursuing right now, I realized that the theories and concepts are holistically analyzed and illustrated by real life facts and examples at ESSEC classroom program. Most of the courses are evaluated and graded on the basis of real-life case studies without exams.

In the coming years, I plan to stick to my initial goal of focusing in B2B strategy and entrepreneurship.  Currently, I am striving hard to incubate an analytics product for hotels with ESSEC Ventures. Further, I will start my apprenticeship with Geoservices - a Schlumberger Company in the position of Strategy Analyst directly under Operations Manager of Europe. I will follow 6 months cycle in which I will spend 6 months at the company and the remaining 6 months at ESSEC for next 2 years. Apart from the interesting role of the position, I will be financially independent in next few months because companies pay apprentices their tuition fee plus monthly salaries for 2 years.

If you are looking for an illustrious management program with an opportunity to acquire dynamic professional experience while studying but you don’t want to compromise on fun, the MSc in Management program at ESSEC is perfect for you.