Mattia Palesa (MBA 2019) made a triple jump in his career after graduation

Name	Mattia Palesa
Study Programme	MBA (2019)
Nationality	Italian
Work Location	Hong Kong
Current Job	Product Manager (Lalamove)

 

Q1. Please use 3 words to describe your life in your residing city.

Lively, Unspoiled, Enchanting.

Hong Kong is filled with vivacity and culture which makes it hard to get bored exploring. Every inch is something new. Living here is a great place from where to explore Asia, to learn about the culture and to meet a variety of people from corners of the world that wouldn’t have dreamed of meeting each other. It’s kind of like travelling across the world to get exposed to cultures through people- except, it’s all in one place.

Q2. What is the one thing you miss from your studies at CUHK Business School?

Being on campus and having the infinite amount of resources such as computers, professors, and intelligent peers all around me, is something that I really miss. Once you get a job, you soon realize what an information-rich community school is! I actually miss 2 things: first of all, being surrounded by people with whom I can talk about anything with a deep level of knowledge on many topics. Secondly, being in between classes or study group and having that extra time to go read in the library, finding a little corner and opening a book. As stressful as an MBA can be, there is always a rush of excitement that goes into the work that you do that can be exciting. Most of all, I miss the high of walking out of the last final, no matter how well I did, knowing that I just took another step toward my ultimate goal. The feeling of walking out of your last final is remarkable and truly irreproducible!

Q3. What did you learn in CUHK Business School which has impacted your life?

CUHK Business School gave me a great platform to produce the famed triple jump – change geography, industry and function. With an all-round academic experience and professors who are always available to advice and share, you have all the tools you need to make the change. The experiences with my classmates, the alumni network and a global mind-set are the biggest takeaways. Aside from academics, the structure of the program has helped me to improve my leadership & teamwork skills and expand my international network. Furthermore, the rigour of the program and career services had prepared me to land in my current position despite having no prior background in the industry.

Q4. Which industry do you see strong business potential in your country?

The agricultural and food industry account for more than 1.3 million SMEs in Italy, making up approx. 5% of the GDP (14% including related businesses, and 9% in terms of jobs): it’s the identikit of the Made in Italy food industry, admired, and imitated (!) throughout in the world. This ecosystem is characterized by a number of strong points, but that’s now being squeezed by several issues that are not sustainable anymore. From the historically small size of its companies to the over-exploitation of natural resources from the competitiveness gap to overwhelming bureaucracy.

The introduction of new technologies is an answer for an old and stale sector. In the current economy, we can’t talk about agriculture without incorporating other areas of the industry and related services. Hence, thanks to a new conceptualization generated from a technological model that associates everything, when talking about ‘agri-food’ (agriculture and food) we refer to a transversal model of the entire agri-food sector whose real size is much larger than individual components, where probably, the sum is growing significantly. We talk about everything that happens from the production on a farm until it is consumed with a fork.