Varun Madhuranath now works for Amazon at their European headquarters in Luxembourg. He took Kent Business School’s BA Business (top up) course.
Varun grew up in Bangalore, India and studied business at undergraduate level in his home country, but he was eager to expand his knowledge.
‘Business is a popular topic in India and it is super competitive. The main objective for me, when looking to further my studies, was finding a course that had great links to industry.’
Varun set his sights on studying in the UK, a place he felt offered lots of opportunities.
He explains: ‘Growing up, I was used to typically attending lectures and taking notes. I loved the look of seminars and workshops in the UK, interactive discussions and the ability to really build relationships with my peers.’
He chose Kent’s BA Business Top Up degree as a way of progressing his Indian undergraduate program to a higher level, enabling him to study at master’s level.
While Varun admits that many of the topics on the course he had learned in India, he felt it was the perfect opportunity for him to broaden his expertise. It also offered practical experience that set him up for a future of higher studies and working abroad.
‘I studied in such a diverse cohort with students from all over the world, particularly Europe at that time. It was great to understand things about different cultures and the way they operate.
‘The topics were vast but taking a year to really delve into them helped me channel where my interests lie and what I wanted to do with my future.’
Varun went on to study MSc Value Chain Management (no longer offered by the business school). The course allowed him to work closely with data from retailers to gain a real understanding of customer needs.
‘We were working with data from large retailers, including Tesco’s, on exercises like creating new product placement, finding customer niches etc. It was really hands-on and exciting.’
Varun gained a data analytics role for retailer Boots, before securing roles for Amazon in Luxembourg, at their EU Head Office.
‘I am Senior Product Manager, working to help small and medium sized businesses sell on Amazon. It involves managing product roadmaps and working with software development teams to build solutions to help these small businesses become successful selling online, e.g. their pricing, catalogue, shipping etc and to fix any relevant customer issues.
‘My Business Top Up course and my MSc helped me immensely with problem solving. I learned vital theory that I still apply to problem-solving today. I also approach everything analytically thanks to my studies.
‘Amazon is a great brand to work for and has offered me so many opportunities and getting to live on the continent of Europe, somewhere with a great sense of community, is really more than I could’ve asked for.’
By Charlotte North