At this very minute, businesses all over the world are being brought to life by aspiring entrepreneurs. Whether they will succeed or not and why is what intrigues me.

My curiosity for business was sparked when I did an internship at TFL “Occupational Health” last year. I learnt valuable leadership lessons from the head of the department who showed me ways to motivate a team whilst staying in control. I also had the opportunity to see the work behind the organisation when I helped the administration team with their internet database.  During my time there, I also attended a Health Fair where I greeted TFL workers and was given the responsibility of performing health checks. It gave me a chance to develop my communication and organisational skills, skills needed for any good business venture. My work experience allowed me to understand the basics of how a business works and see it being applied in a real life context.

This experience and my interest in maths and business led me to choose the economic science section of the French Baccalaureate. Maximising profit and calculating margins are aspects of the course I particularly enjoyed. Furthermore, I found the international side of business interesting. Being bilingual and having learnt Russian for five years has given me an insight into Russian culture and will enable me to work in an international environment. My visit to Saint Petersburg made me aware of the growing appetite for western goods in Russia with the advance of capitalism. I also studied Latin and Ancient Greek. These languages have deepened my knowledge and increased my ability to analyse information. I enjoy debating in PSHE and like to get my point of view across.

In addition, I have taken art as an extra subject as I believe it offers new perspectives and stimulates ideas about design, helping to communicate these ideas visually. It has made me more patient and more open minded as well as giving me a creative edge. I have used my artistic skills to participate in the School Fashion Show last year. This made me develop my presentation and marketing skills, as we had to collaborate as a group to create a dance routine and design our clothes. I am a motivated and competitive person determined to succeed in anything I put my mind to. These new competences I have gained will help me with marketing and designing new business ideas.

Moreover, having been the editor in chief of an article about journalist, Nicholas Bellet, my interest in leading a group and organising tasks has been ignited. This year, I worked closely with two students on a group supervised coursework. We produced a magazine for seniors after doing research and finding out that the population in wealthy countries such as England is aging and that society is recognising the market potential of seniors. We identified a gap in the market and took advantage of that. Although our magazine wasn’t published, we still collaborated and had to manage the costs of printing our magazine, taking into account the economies of scale. I found that these two tasks fed my desire to study business. Wanting to extend my knowledge, I read a book on “Management: Theory and practice” by G A Cole. I found it particularly interesting to read about women in management and how to break through the glass ceiling.

David Kirkpatrick’s “The Facebook Effect” was also fascinating as I realised how a small idea can turn into a multi-billion dollar business and even change the world if you are equipped with the right knowledge and know how to exploit it.

What attracted me to this area of study is the breadth of knowledge I can acquire through the interdisciplinary and international aspects of business from marketing to finance. I feel this course will prepare me to work in a management role or even one day help me run a business.