With a background from technical engineering, Maryam Bilal has entered the business side of it during her Master programme in Entrepreneurship.
- The most valuable thing for me in this programme is the practical experience we gain, says Bilal, who is a second year student.
Intership led to job in impact start-up
The practical experience led her straight to a job as a product manager at the start-up Vipicash, where she did an internship during her second semester. It is a part-time job, as she is also writing her Master thesis this semester.
- One of their target marked it my home country Pakistan, which is a marked I know a lot about. So when they offered me the job, I thought it was amazing, she says.
- Vipicash is a FinTech social impact company providing a platform that allows safe cash transfers between developed countries and emerging markets, using simple tools like a phone. It means that people can transfer money to their family in their home countries, without fearing problems connected to corruption, mismanagement of funds or overhead costs.
Entrepreneurship connects technical skills with business
- My role as a project manager at Vipi Cash allows me to use my technical skills from my bachelor degree in combination with my new management skills, she says. This is also the reason Bilal applied for the MSc in Entrepreneurship in the first place.
- With the new shift to digitalization in the industry, I wanted to learn more about the business side of it. The courses in the Master programme is a bit of everything, from the financial aspects to the marketing side of business development.
Both corporate and start-up experience
During the Master programme in Entrepreneurship and innovation management, Bilal has both gained practical experience with start-up as well as in corporate organizations.
- As students we get a chance to learn both how start-ups and bigger corporations innovate. We can then decide what suits us and find our passion, she says and adds that the corporate experience from her second internship at Telenor also gave her new skills applicable to a start-up.
- I have been able to bring back the things I learned there, into the work I am doing now, relating to for instance costumer journey and commercialisation. Now it is part of the process of what we are working at Vipicash.