GEMBA travels back to Asia

November 14, 2022: a date that will be remembered, the start of a new learning module. After more than two years of long waiting, finally the GEMBA program travels back to Asia. Gemba cohort of 2023, close to March 2023 graduation, started their Mumbai, India, module at SDA Bocconi Asiacenter. The last time the program had one module in Asia was February 2020, with GEMBA cohort of 2022, right before the health crisis disrupted all programs.

This is a very inspiring and motivating news for the entire class and future GEMBAs. Learning about the giant internal domestic market of India, gave a fundamental perspective about the possibility of scaling up business, the fast adoption of inexpensive digital solutions that can serve a massive part of the population, the unprecedented growth scorecard that is driving India to becoming a 5 trillion dollar economy by 2030 with a GDP per capita of  2278 USD in 2021 to 5542 USD in 2030 (JP Morgan, 2022 and National Stock Exchange of India, 2022). All this happening in the midst of an important energy transition and other major transformations that will impact both society and the economy. "This is exactly the reason why a GEMBA program delivers modules where the action takes place: the learning impact of these news is much higher when participants have the possibility of witnessing in person and interact, during our renowned Learning Safari appointments, with local executives”, says Ferdinando Pennarola, GEMBA Academic Director. Mind-blowing was the visit to the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai hosted by Mr. Abhilash Misra, CEO of NSE Academy. “We are very proud to help the SDA Bocconi GEMBA class fast learn about our financial markets and solutions here in place, to helping our economy in its growth path”, Mr. Misra said at the end of the visit. Bocconi Faculty Alberto Grando, former Dean of SDA Bocconi, and Rama Velamuri delivered their respective courses on Operations Management and Entrepreneurship in India, well in synch with the local atmosphere beautifully coordinated by the Asiacenter team headed by David Bardolet, Associate Dean, and Alessandro Giuliani, Managing Director

Gemba 2023 will son be back in Asia in January with the upcoming module in Singapore. Finally, the learning about the most populated region of the world will be complete, with an experience exposure to the 650 million inhabitants of South East Asia. The Singapore perspective will close the loop of a global tour that started in Europe, moved to Canada, Brazil, California, back to Europe and finally in Asia, before the last module in Milan, March 2023 with graduation.

SDA Bocconi School of Management