![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/11\/b6cf8e519175b6bb77b070c2b17625bf.jpg\")
<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nI participated in a diplomatic event as\u00a0part of my research<\/strong><\/p>\n I majored in electrical engineering at a university in Colombia, then worked\u00a0as a substation construction project manager for three years after graduating.\u00a0During that time, I realized that I wanted to learn about management and\u00a0finance, and decided to pursue further study. After being awarded scholarships\u00a0from the Government of Colombia and the Japanese Ministry of Education,\u00a0Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, I entered Waseda Business School.<\/p>\n I wanted to conduct research that would contribute to the development\u00a0of small and medium-sized businesses in Colombia, so while I was at the\u00a0Business School, I worked on a thesis on themes related to entrepreneurship.\u00a0As part of my research, I participated as one of the volunteer staff at a\u00a0diplomatic event hosted by the Embassy of Colombia in Japan where\u00a0Japanese and Colombian entrepreneurs exhibited their products. I explained\u00a0to visitors about the coffee, hammocks, toys and other products on display,\u00a0and also served as a Japanese-Spanish interpreter.<\/p>\n Having an entrepreneurial mindset has also influenced my life choices<\/strong><\/p>\n Conducting research for two years also had a significant impact on my\u00a0values and behavior. I developed an entrepreneurial mindset of my own, and\u00a0decided to look for work in Japan to broaden my experience in an unknown\u00a0environment. After spending some time job hunting, I joined a computer\u00a0manufacturer that I’d long admired. I’m now on a new career path in the field\u00a0of product marketing, which is a completely different area from my previous\u00a0job. In the future, I hope to go back to Colombia and share the wide range of\u00a0business knowledge and experience I’ve gained in Japan with students there.<\/p>\n Looking back over the two years I spent at Waseda Business School, all\u00a0the experience I gained there\u2014including from participating in various intercultural exchange programs as well as doing research\u2014is now proving to be a\u00a0real asset for me. This is because the ability to deepen mutual understanding\u00a0and build solid relationships with others is essential in every aspect of work\u00a0and life. If you’re considering a career in Japan, studying is important, of\u00a0course. However, more than pursuing learning to speak perfect Japanese, I\u00a0recommend that you actively participate in extracurricular activities\u2014such as\u00a0programs you hear about through the university\u2014broaden your horizons, and\u00a0grow in your own way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I learned the importance of deepening\u00a0<\/strong>dialogue with people while thinking\u00a0<\/strong>about what they want<\/strong><\/p>\n At the event hosted by the Embassy of Colombia, my job\u00a0was to introduce the products on display to the visitors.\u00a0In addition to introducing the products themselves, I also\u00a0explained the background and business purpose behind\u00a0their development, the entrepreneurs’ ideas, and so on.\u00a0By doing so, I was able to get many people interested\u00a0in them. This experience taught me the importance of\u00a0communicating with people by thinking about what they’re\u00a0interested in and what kind of information they want, rather\u00a0than just saying what I want to say in a one-sided manner.\u00a0Also, the reason I was able to participate in this event as\u00a0a volunteer was because I learned of it in advance and\u00a0approached the Embassy myself. I think it’s also important\u00a0to actively seek out information and opportunities regarding\u00a0areas you’re interested in, and throw yourself into them.<\/p>\n It’s a joy to be of service to\u00a0<\/strong>people through products\u00a0<\/strong>that meet their needs<\/strong><\/p>\n Thinking about and responding to what the other\u00a0person needs is also relevant to my current job\u00a0in product marketing. I work on product portfolio\u00a0management, which is about drawing up product\u00a0development and marketing strategies based on the\u00a0results of consumer surveys and market analysis. The\u00a0job is about meeting the needs of people out there in\u00a0the world, and it’s tremendously rewarding. I hope I\u00a0can be of service to people through the products I’ve\u00a0been involved in. Furthermore, the\u00a0 entrepreneurship\u00a0I studied at Waseda isn’t only about starting up a\u00a0company. The entrepreneurial mindset I’ve gained is\u00a0also serving as a foundation for coming up with and\u00a0proposing new business ideas in the company I work\u00a0at.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cristian Camilo QUITIAN\u00a0 Former ICC Student Staff Leader (SSL) Design Your Future Guidebook\u00a02021 Graduate Inte […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[94,117],"class_list":["post-14834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-general-en","tag-studentstaff-report-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14834"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14834\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14891,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14834\/revisions\/14891"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/inst\/icc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The ability to build interpersonal relationships that I cultivated through extracurricular activities is
\nproving to be an asset<\/h1>\nEncounters at WASEDA>>>
<\/a><\/h3>\nCurrent Job>>><\/h3>\n