About
Name: Tania Villares Balsa
Nationality: Spanish
Programme: MBA 2014
Education: Economics & Business Administration, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Current role: Investment Manager, Xesgalacia, Spain
Pre-MBA role: Senior Investment Associate, Unirisco Galicia
What was your pre-MBA background?
I came from working 6 years in venture capital in Spain where we were investing in spin outs from a university. I wanted to come to the UK to learn from the best ecosystem in Europe, and probably in the world. From there I decided to do the MBA in Cambridge.
Why was Cambridge an attractive programme for you?
Cambridge is a great place for aspiring entrepreneurs because there are a lot of investors – early and later stage. You also have a lot of support in terms of accelerators and incubators – Cambridge Judge has its own. Cambridge is a thriving entrepreneurial eco-system.
What stood out about the academic learning experience for you?
The most valuable academic learning experience was sharing perspectives with my classmates. We were a group of people from different backgrounds and from different countries. We used to explore cases and topics from different perspectives. Suddenly, a case became much more relevant and had many more nuances.
How did the MBA impact your career progression?
I was very lucky to do my summer internship during the MBA with Cambridge Enterprise – the commercialisation office of the University. I was able to stay and continue working there when my MBA was completed. I worked in their seed funds unit. We evaluated applications, assessed potential technologies and funding levels to offer.
My job consisted of meeting with very smart people with amazing ideas and trying to help them get these technologies out there into society. I was very lucky – the MBA led to me working for the best organisation in my field straight out of the MBA.
What aspect of the MBA learning/experience would you say you find most useful now in your professional life?
The most useful experience of the MBA for me were the practical projects – both the Cambridge Venture Project and the Global Consulting Project, together with the exposure that we had to other Cambridge programmes and societies. They provide a unique opportunity to learn different things, to explore new career possibilities that would not be possible in the real world.