Maria Riolo

The EMBA programme has also helped prepare Maria for the next stage of her career journey. Earlier this year, she became an entrepreneur and founded the coaching and consulting firm niu:viu international, working with clients in Asia and Europe.

We caught up with Maria on her NUS EMBA experience.

In 2011, I took a career break and moved to Chennai, Tamil Nadu. I joined my husband, who had been transferred to India for a three-year international assignment. My career break and the fact of living in the region was an excellent opportunity to learn more about Asia and to prepare for my next role. This was my primary motivation to apply for an EMBA programme.

What attracted me about the NUS EMBA was its strong focus on the Asia-Pacific region, the holistic approach to doing business in a diverse cultural context, and a great blend of management theory with practical experience and insights on the ground in various countries and local organisations.

The setup of the NUS EMBA programme gave me great flexibility to live and study in India and travel to Singapore and the region for the onsite segments. The NUS EMBA was a door opener to securing a leadership role in Singapore, where I spent several years of my professional and personal life.

As a European with a Western background, I enjoyed the exposure to and experience of Asian and Eastern cultures. I learned to look at a given topic with new perspectives and think of business decisions more holistically.

The NUS EMBA, together with my professional experience, helped expose me to multiple facets of intercultural collaboration. These include building trust remotely, understanding the origin and reasons for different perspectives in negotiations, and working towards building a common ground as a prerequisite for team performance.

These insights helped me greatly when it came time to start my own business.

There are many special memories I can think of, like the places we visited as an EMBA cohort, the people we met and the fun we had! But, for me, the most valuable memory is the diversity of my cohort and the connections formed back then. These friendships have endured.

Yes! We have a joint WhatsApp group for the cohort where we communicate regularly. This is helpful as people are all over and keeping in touch with everyone. My classmates from Singapore take the opportunity to meet in person, and there would be a meetup when someone from the cohort is in Singapore.

My most important professional plan just turned into reality — I recently founded niu:viu international, and my focus will be on it. With niu:viu international, I coach and consult individuals and teams who see themselves and their organisations at transformational crossroads. My clients are business and HR leaders, mainly in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, who aim to enhance their leadership effectiveness, manage career transitions, lead teams and organisations, collaborate across cultures, and drive business transformation.

I very much look forward to this new professional adventure and to the opportunity of returning to Singapore and the region more regularly.

Keep an open mindset during your EMBA, don’t go with a ‘ticking the box’ attitude. While everyone sets goals when embarking on this comprehensive learning journey, the journey can change your goals or how you look at them. Be curious to look beyond what you learn, how you learn, and how this impacts you professionally and personally.

Furthermore, keep in mind that personal and professional success requires building your resilience, particularly in these unprecedented, transformational times. So, take time for personal reflection, be prepared to adjust your direction – and enjoy the ride!

First of all, congratulations to Associate Professor Prem Shamdasani, the faculty and the entire NUS Biz school team for 25 very successful EMBA years!

For the next 25 years, I wish the programme continued success in keeping on the path of radical transformation – a programme with strong Asian roots, delivering innovative business content to a great diversity of leaders in the East and West.