Although it has been more than a decade since he graduated from PSB Academy with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) awarded by the University of Newcastle, Australia, Mr Kaushik Bhanushali's education has paid dividends.
When he graduated, he landed a job at Rentokil Initial in Singapore, a United Kingdom-based company, as a management trainee. Shortly after, he was offered the position of a business analyst.
Mr Kaushik, 32, has worked his way up, gaining experience in areas like financial planning, operations, management accounting and financial modelling.
Before he pursued his MBA, he already had a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, India, and a Master of Commerce in Accounting and Economics from the University of Mumbai.
Work success
Mr Kaushik attributes his success in Rentokil to the good analytic skills he developed during his MBA. He says that his education gave him the confidence to make bold changes that benefited the company.
He says: "I managed a team to set up a commercial laundry plant in Singapore. This is where one of the key modules of my MBA - Operations and Supply Chain Management - came into play. I needed to understand people and project management when managing big scale ventures where negotiations with several contractors were involved."
In 2014, Mr Kaushik, who was then a senior management accountant, left Rentokil to join real estate company PropNex Realty.
Today, he is an associate marketing director at the company, managing large portfolios and servicing clients - buyers, investors and corporations. He also advises clients on international property investments in Australia and Malaysia.
The jump to real estate might seem odd, but Mr Kaushik says that his knowledge on corporate finance, negotiation, marketing and accounting that he acquired in his studies has served him well as a realtor.
It gave him confidence when presenting investment figures to number-driven clients and investors who purchase commercial properties.
Mr Kaushik may have received his MBA in 2007, but he is still an active alumnus of the University of Newcastle where he served as the president of the Singapore Alumni Chapter from 2012 to 2017.
