Armen A. Avakian
Where are you from?
I was born in Iran, and then I was raised in the States, in Boston, and then we moved to Armenia. I’m Armenian, so I’m coming to Budapest from Armenia.
Why did you decide to come to Budapest for your MBA?
I wanted to do an MBA – that was for sure, so I was looking around. Why I chose the States first was my initial reaction was that I could get a student loan in the States because I’m a citizen. It would have been easier for me. My parents have a house there, so we have a mortgage, we have credit, my parent’s credit rating is great, so that type of thing. But then when I found CEU, it just kind of fit in. And it’s in Europe, and also CEU had this new transnational leader program that was launched last year actually, we’re the first year to do it. And that fit perfectly into what I was thinking at the moment, that business isn’t just business anymore, especially in Europe and Eastern Europe, and emerging regions, business is more global. There’s politics involved, there’s ethics involved, there’s different issues involved that American MBAs don’t really hit on very much.