MBA Program, Rotman School of Management at University of Toronto
Class of 2016
Kaur is currently in her first year of the full-time MBA program at the Rotman School of Management at U of T, specializing in innovation and entrepreneurship. Before starting her MBA, Kaur worked at the RIC Centre in various roles such as a Digital Marketing Manager, Operations Manager and Marketing and Communications Officer. Her most recent role as a Digital Marketing Manager was to lead RIC Centre’s strategic marketing initiatives, which included managing content to attract a qualified audience, growing new marketing-qualified leads, working with industry partners, start-up entrepreneurs and leadership teams to maximize exposure and much more.
Through her undergrad in Molecular Biology, Kaur realized that her skillsets and interests were largely directed towards business and commercializing the science she was studying through her academic courses. She was fascinated by the M.Biotech program as it would give her hands-on experience. Upon the completion of her internship at RIC Centre as a Marketing and & Communications Officer, Kaur was promoted to the role of an Operations Manager. She was able to understand the underlying set-up of a not-for-profit organization and the requirements needed on the operational end to make sure all aspects are running as expected. Because of her understanding of the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem along with the network of organizations at play and how they related to each other, a new role as a Digital Marketing Manager was developed for her.
Amarpreet credits the MBiotech program for giving her the opportunity to provide new marketing ideas, experiment and implement those that were successful. Gaining hands-on experience is exactly what Kaur sought while going into the program. She went from creating strategies to executing them; something she wouldn’t have necessarily been able to achieve in large companies.
Her advice for current MBiotech students is to have an open mind: “There’s a strong ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship in Canada; while biotechnology has a lot to offer, it’s important to keep an open mind and not limit your options within the traditional roles, but see where you can be the most valuable asset to an organization.