Anton Sych
“The MBA drastically changed how I looked at myself and how I felt in the boardroom”
“Prior to joining the MBA in 2017, I was living and working in Dnipro, Ukraine. I was working in IT as Head of Quality Assurance for the biggest Ukrainian bank, Privatbank, but I was looking to make the career triple jump of a change in location, role and industry.”
Anton Sych is talking about the motivation behind taking his Modular Executive MBA at Bayes Business School, which involved a regular commute to London of nearly 3,000 kilometres.
“Working in Dnipro, I had limited exposure to the international business world, because my only experience was from a Ukrainian perspective. I thought being in a global economic hub like London would broaden my horizons and I would see how international business works in practice. Another factor was that at the time, there was already an ongoing conflict in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine. The safety of my family was another reason why I wanted to do the ‘triple jump’. I wanted to make a change in our lives.”
The search for the right business school
“Given I already had more than 10 years’ managerial experience, I felt an Executive MBA was a better fit than a Full-time MBA. I saw it as an opportunity to improve and consolidate the knowledge I already had - I thought it would help me to ‘connect the dots’. I also wanted to get insights and learn from my peers, who like me, would have several years of experience in different sectors. If they were already executives or successful entrepreneurs, then I thought I would enhance my knowledge. The part-time nature of an Executive MBA was also better given my family commitments at home, and meant that I could continue working at Privatbank, alongside my studies.”
“When researching where to do my MBA, I found a lot of good schools in Europe. But the issue was that for many Schools, such as in Spain, some classes were taught in the local language. So, that narrowed my search to English-speaking countries, such as the US, Canada, Ireland and the UK. The UK’s overall ranking and international recognition of the British education system is very high, so that was a deciding factor, along with the shorter commute time. Although in my case it was still 24 hours, once I’d travelled from Dnipro to Kyiv to catch a flight to London.”
A flexible programme structure
“I concentrated my search in London and Bayes’ high rankings were persuasive and it seemed affordable when considering the ratio between cost and quality. Because I was funding my MBA through a mix of private credit, savings and my monthly salary, this was an important consideration.”
“I liked the structure of the curriculum. The first year is about the core predefined modules, giving you a thorough grounding in areas like Leadership, Strategy and Finance. The second year was about specialisation and tailoring it to your career goals. I already knew that I wanted to concentrate on innovation and entrepreneurship, and I chose my modules around this cluster. My plan after graduation was to pursue Product Manager roles. It’s a role that creates a lot of value in the digital space. Given my experience in IT, I thought this cluster would be a good fit. One specific module which helped was the one on design thinking. It looked at how we understand customer problems, because all design thinking is based on a reflection of the customer’s ‘pain points’.”
“The flexibility of the second year was a real highlight for me, and I think it was instrumental in shaping my career. If you want to make a transition, you can pick the relevant modules to fit – obtain the knowledge, practice and talk to the leading experts in that field. Because of my triple jump goal, I was able to build a picture of what product management looked like and then pick the electives I needed to achieve that goal. It was exactly what I needed to make the transformation.”
“The international electives I took where both inspiring and insightful. I took the Digital Transformation elective in Silicon Valley, led by Professor Gianvito Lanzolla. We had a mix of classes, visits to leading tech companies, and panel discussions with venture capitalists. It was a great experience, which also helped to strengthen the bonds between students. Students from other Bayes’ MBA programmes were there too, along with faculty and alumni. It was a great way to network and get fresh perspectives you hadn’t considered before. That continued when we got back to London, working on group assignments with students from different cohorts. That greatly enhanced the experience as well.”
At TP Bank in Vietnam after the successful end of Consultancy Week in Hanoi.
“Although I was always busy with modules and assignments, I wanted to make time to explore London or take short trips around the UK. Photography is my passion, and I must have visited almost every museum in London.”
“I accomplished everything I set out to”
Today Anton works for DataArt, an AI software development and data consulting partner.
“I’m Head of the Product Lab, helping clients to build and deliver product expertise in their company. We work with a variety of sectors including healthcare, insurance, travel, finance and education. Our clients might not have the team or expertise in-house to build the digital products they need. We develop end-to-end teams that can help the clients to realise and build whatever they require. My expertise as a product manager is to orchestrate the development of the product and make sure we deliver value to clients and their end users. We’re trying to build the right products for the right audience and create a connection that keeps engagement high.”
“The MBA gave me a better strategic and helicopter view of business. Before the MBA, when I was working in quality assurance, I was looking at the world only from that angle. I didn’t have exposure to the whole business, I didn’t understand how finance worked, why we need project management, etc. When I graduated, I was able to see the business as a whole. I now understand how making decisions in my area affects other functions like marketing and operations, for example.”
“The MBA drastically changed how I looked at myself and how I felt in the boardroom. Before the MBA, I was slightly shy and entering the boardroom was a daunting experience. After graduating I could speak the same language as the senior executives, and with confidence. A big win for me was that the MBA polished and improved my soft skills. People might see an MBA as benefitting purely the hard skills, but I think honing the soft skills is a very significant part of what an MBA offers.”
“I achieved my pre-MBA objectives and accomplished everything I set out to. I wanted to improve my knowledge and gain an insight into international business, and I did that. It was my dream to do the triple jump, and I succeeded.”
“Immediately after graduation I secured a C-Suite level role as Chief Information Officer for a Ukrainian bank. But I realised that playing politics at that level wasn’t really for me. I wanted to return to be an expert in the field, creating value for clients in a different way. That’s something I get to do now in my role at DataArt.”
Staying connected to Bayes
At the start of 2025 Anton joined the Bayes alumni board, which meets four times a year to support the School in its mission to develop and maintain the global alumni community.
“If you think about the relationship you have with a university, you spend a relatively short amount of time studying there. But as an alumnus, your relationship lasts for decades. You have a lifetime value to the institution, and by joining the alumni board I’d like to help strengthen that longer-term relationship.”
Careers Beers networking event, organised by the Careers and Professional Development Team.
“One way that graduates can stay connected is by continuing to access support from the Careers Service. Even as an alumnus, you can have free career consultations, and that’s something I have made use of since I graduated.”
Free electives enable lifelong learning
MBA alumni are entitled to one free elective per year, after successfully completing their course. It is an ongoing opportunity to explore new areas of interest and stay up to date on emerging trends. Anton recently participated in the Innovation and Tech elective in South Korea.
“South Korea was a very deliberate choice for me, because I work in digital technologies. My primary interest was to look at the Asian markets, because they live and think differently to European and US markets, and they build their businesses differently. For example, a lot of their biggest companies like Samsung and Hyundai are family conglomerates. Having that cultural exposure made my understanding of the market much better.”
Looking to the future
“What I like about the future is change. It will never be boring. The world around us is constantly changing and as a product manager it means continually evolving how we work and think. That excites me a lot and makes life more interesting. Because of the connection I have with end users, I’m right at the frontline of change. That’s why lifelong learning is so important – I have to stay up to date with the latest trends and technology.”
What advice would Anton have for prospective MBA candidates looking to follow in his footsteps?
“Make the most of every opportunity, seize every chance to gain more insight, or work with people with different perspectives. You can learn so much from your peers, as well as the faculty.”
“The more you embrace the experience, the more fulfilling it will be.”