Nini Kinkladze, Global MBA: “BBS has allowed me to make that career leap I’ve been looking for years”
10 July 2019My name is Nini Kinkladze, I come from Georgia and after 13 years of experience in the marketing sector I decided to attend the Global MBA in Design, Fashion and Luxury Goods to further specialize in my sector of interest and acquire managerial skills to pursue and enhance my career objectives.
I have always noticed in myself a strong entrepreneurial approach, as well as a true passion for fashion and the luxury world. When attending the Faculty of Economics I launched my first project which allowed young designers to produce and offer their cocktail dress collections for female students next to the graduation party. The mix of marketing, management and fashion contributed to this first start up at the age of only 21!
My dream remained moving to Europe to attend an MBA, but an interesting job opportunity had opened up in my country, which I decided to embrace. Later, following the birth of my daughter, I worked in the marketing departments of prominent international cosmetics companies to promote their brands in Georgia, before becoming part of an important automotive company.
In 2015 Georgia was suddenly in the spotlight for a series of coincidences that also concerned the sector of my interest: in that year the Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia was named as the successor of Alexander Wang as Balenciaga’s new creative director. Furthermore, my country, at the crossroads of Asia and Europe, was gaining a new weight among the upcoming destinations for international tourism. It seemed like the perfect time to sharpen my skills and among European Business Schools with a focus on fashion and luxury, BBS appeared to be the ideal choice to pursue this objective.
The Global MBA in Design, Fashion and Luxury Goods was the opportunity I had been looking for years to make that qualitative leap that I felt was now needed. Getting back to school after over a decade of work experience gave me new energy. An international environment, a splendid setting suspended between nature and art, a city full of ideas and opportunities were some of the ingredients that allowed me to grow up personally and professionally. The Faculty and the opportunities of the study program constituted a huge challenge and the Bolognese experience allowed me to develop soft skills that I had not considered, as well as having made me an authentic citizen of the world.
My final project on the challenges and opportunities of Rosbalet, an emerging luxury shoe brand, allowed me to have a more complete picture of the sector and offered me the tools to move within an international context, making it increasingly clear to my eyes that my ultimate goal remains to acquire leadership roles in the development of new markets.
After the Master’s Degree, I returned to Georgia where I have been working for a year now as Head of Beauty and Aesthetic Department at JSC Gepha, dealing with the promotion and distribution of the leading European brands in the Caucasus region. This role, implying a constant international exposure and leadership skills would have been hardly attainable without BBS’s MBA! While further enhancing my position and visibility in my country, my ambition for the next few years is to leverage on the strong relation that I have gained with Italy and Europe to foster new projects in the luxury and fashion industry.
Nini Kinkladze – Georgia
Global MBA in Design, Fashion and Luxury Goods – Class of 2016-2017
