Webinar: Which finance programme is right for me?

Key Takeaways

hello and thanks for joining us so um today we're going to be talking about which Finance program is right for me but before we begin this webinar just a few housekeeping rules so this webinar will be recorded and it will be sent out to you within the next week so if you are unable to attend live we will be able to send that to you in the next couple of days so this webinar will run for about 40 to 45 minutes during that time we will go through the introduction so while we're on the webinar to know us an overview of the finance programs and we'll have some alumni Reflections and we'll have time for a short Q&A if there's any questions um that you're thinking about the programs or that you hear that spring to mind during uh the webinar please do add it to your chat and we will answer any general questions during the webinar and if you've got any specifically for the panelists then we will answer them towards the end of the webinar um just to be mindful if you do have your microphones on please can you mute them um that would be fantastic uh so that we don't have any transitional noise um so yeah before we start um we would just like to start by some by way of some introductions so my name is claraa blacking and polard and the reason why I'm here is I work as a program consultant for side business school where I look after the Oxford real estate program and the Oxford private Equity program um so my role really is to support all participants who are interested in applying to the program go through the application process and be there for you when you come to join us here in Oxford I'm going to hand over to my colleague Carrie to make her introductions thanks so much Clara and it's great to see so many people joining us today on this webinar uh which I hope proves valuable in starting your Executive Education Journey um as Clara mentioned my name is Carrie I'm one of the program sales managers within Executive Education and also lead on the recruitment for the valuation of private assets program so together with claraa we cover all three of our finance portfolio so I will start by giving a quick overview um of the valuation of private assets program before handing over to claraa to cover her programs of real estate and private Equity um if there are any aspects of these programs which strike your interest or feel like they align to your role um please do make a note and ask any questions along the away um or afterwards as well uh so the valuation of private assets program um is directed by ludic filipo and Anna kelica um which is five days long and immerses you in the world of private assets and really aims to provide you with the skills and the confidence to make and advise on investment decisions across classes and that can include venture capital and startups corporate Acquisitions real assets and private credit the program one runs once per year with our next cohort running from the 14th to the 18th of October this year so the program really allows you to gain Hands-On valuation experience across infrastructure real estate Emerging Markets ESG and impact investing and it really hones in on the key skills needed in this space um including negotiation strategies do diligence Financial modeling identifying common valuation mistakes solving commercial disputes and strategies to close the deal um so throughout the week we'll have various academic sessions case studies and group activities such as role plays um which allows you not only to apply your knowledge in a practical way but also build your connections with the rest of the cohort throughout the week that's a little overview of valuation of private assets so I'll hand over back to Clara to give you details onto her programs thank you claraa so as mentioned before my name is claraa and I look after the Oxford real estate program and the Oxford private Equity program if you're interested in the Oxford real estate program this might be the right program for you if you're an investor and you're thinking about leveraging your portfolio so this program is uh is led by Professor Andrew bour and he really has created this to get into the mindset of an investor to make you make solid investment decisions in the future so you might be thinking about scaling your portfolio diversifying your assets or for for example you're thinking about uh the risks that you might be in your Investments and also how to maximize return so this is a great program for you to get involved in if these are the things that you're thinking about so other things that is great about this program it's very practical it's a mix of lectures and case studies so you get to be in groups where you discuss real life cases and you can think about how that would apply to the strategies in your organization if you're thinking about setting a fund for example we have a great fund project where you're in groups of six to eight so you mix with people from different demographics and then you pit a real estate fund and then you pitch it to three investors at the end of the week and these investors can give you real time advice for example yes I would invest in you no I wouldn't invest in you why would I invest in you other other people and think they'll give you also practical things like this wouldn't work your term sheet is rubbish real great advice if you're thinking about doing a fund the other program I look after is the private Equity program the private Equity program is a great program because it gives you an oversight of the entire private Equity ecosphere so that means that you're looking at from things from raising funds right up all the way to Investments if you're interested in this program perhaps you are thinking about different types of vehicles leverage buyouts Venture Capital private debt and this is the program for you for any lawyers for example we have a great um speaker called Chris Callos who comes on to the program and for two days he talks about all of the very specific questions that sometimes you just can't get to the answer to so he will look at due diligence performance measures fund structures and for example a great question we get asked is why the European waterfall and why not the American waterfall so that's why he's there for the program is curated by Professor Tim jenkinson so he will get into the mindset of private equity and be there to support you during your Learning Journey other than obviously having fantastic learning Journeys you'll also be able to have fun and network with all the other participants in the program at so you have your teaching from 9 through 6 but afterwards you have networking dinners including being in a college and that gives you the opportunity to maximize your networking with your the other colleagues in the program as well speaking of networking um your classes um can be quite intense so we do ask people to sort of get out of your Organization for a couple of days fully immerse yourself um in Oxford and really enjoy the experience and enjoy the potential of your Learning Journey I'll hand over back to Carrie to walk through typical cohort profiles and that apply to some of our programs thanks Clara and yeah so just in regards to the cohort profiles for the valuation of private assets cohort it's compromise of a globally diverse group of financial professionals coming from a wide range of sectors and bringing diverse perspectives into the classroom so participants may come from Professional Services and Consulting corporate banking family offices private Equity Investment Management to name a few so you get a real mix in there and as you can see from the slides participants on the program typically have around 10 years experience in the financial sector and around five years in Investments or merges and Acquisitions or perhaps have responsibility for investment decision making within the organization um but if you're unsure on your suitability we're always very happy to have a conversation um about your experience and your background um our contact details will be on on the last slide so do get in touch if you want to discuss it further um and I'll pass that to Clara to to cover real estate and private Equity thanks CL similar to the real estate program I would say the to the valuation of private assets program apologies the real estate program we're really looking for a minimum of five years working real estate Investments so that's where you will be making the investment decisions and perhaps you're sitting in investment committee um you're working in SE Suite managing director um leing and looking after funds so these are people who have very large portfolios and making serious de decisions that will affect their businesses moving forward so we really want to um think about your strategy for the next 5 to 10 years although there's a 5year minimum I would say 95% of the program program are participants who have been around who have the experience of 10 15 or 25 25 years working in real estate so we see people who are entrepreneurs working in real estate we see people from uh private um private funds investment funds we see a rise in family offices for example who come to the program it's a real mixture of people working in the real estate space um so it's a really great program to get involved in and the private Equity program again there's a minimum of five years working in private Equity investment but that's not uh the usual that we have again it's 10 15 25 plus years working in private Equity these are senior Leaders with lots of m&a Leverage back leverage buyout experience um I would say typically as seen on the slide usually have great financial background from from economics accounting NBA and you want to come and really be immersed with other people working in this space so I would stress that these programs are not novice programs so if if you are thinking about going into real estate this isn't the program for you but if you are working in real estate you're an investor and you really want to meet other likeminded people who have the same experience levels and you're thinking about going into different markets for example or you you'll really want to maximize investment opportunities and maybe at risk um markets where you're unsure um this is a great program for you so um speaking of people who have been on the program I'm gonna hand over to Carrie now to introduce uh to talk about the program combinations that we have here at the business school thank you yeah as claraa mentioned if you are thinking that maybe one or more of these programs are suitable and you'd like to apply there are some examples here of combinations that participants have taken um you can take these programs solo uh but we have found that the learning Journeys on the slide have have the most successful outcomes um so it's worth worth thinking about your journey and how you can really accelerate your development and and impact your organization and role and you know there's you can think about taking them once or you can think about taking them in different combinations but we're here to help you to figure out which is the best starting point for these programs and where you want to go next so that's one of the great roles of the program Consultants is we're really thinking about you and your Learning Journey and what your objectives are and where you want to be so these are the types of programs you can do but if you're thinking perhaps which ones right for me which one should I start with please do reach out that's what we're here for so um Carrie I'll hand over to you um for the alumni section yes thank you well we are absolutely delighted to have with us today two of our very esteemed alumni Richard pellis and Melissa Aman who have attended between them all three of us Finance programs so this section of the webinar will be looking at alumni Reflections and how the programs have really impacted them so I'll firstly hand over to Melissa to introduce herself first followed by Richard before Clara starts off the questions to our alumni and what I will say if you do have any questions during the alumni panel please do pop them in the chat um because we will be taking questions from the audience um but first Melissa over to you thank you Carrie hello everyone and thank you for attending today my name is Melissa arriman I'm based in Zurich Switzerland and my private background private markets background began on the deal side with structuring commercial real estate deals and then I shifted into investor relations and capital formation where I distributed a wide array of alternative investment products um I've represented clients from across various geographies such as us Europe Africa Lam and China and have experienced working on the advisory side uh private Equity firms as well as the insurance side of the industry and in 2021 I leveraged my background into starting my own private placement business um which is called resilience capital in Zurich Switzerland and specializes in helping predominantly us-based sponsors expand into the UK um and Doc markets um and I also provide strategic advisory services spanning from product development and structuring um guidance on regulatory requirements and distribution strategy in execution on mainly fund and co-investment opportunities hello hi everyone my name is Richard Perales I am based in Peru I am a real estate portfolio manager with over 20 years experience I've been involved in Deal structuring investor relationships and asset management uh I am an Architect by training and and after an MBA like a decade ago I joined a real estate fund and I work in uh in a mix of Technical and business skills so I have uh been involved in the entire cycle of of the real estate uh business from Raising Capital to to exity strategies so we mainly invest in Peru and we are now targeting uh have a regional uh presence we are looking at Panama Mexico uh Colombia and Chile to expand our investment uh in real estate well thank you Richard and Melissa it's really wonderful to have you guys here and thank you for sharing your time with us and your reflections of the programs um so I'd really like to start with you Melissa um to talk about the question my question for you is can you you briefly tell me why you chose the program and I think you've got a unique perspective because you actually attended the first ever valuation of private assets program so you have a unique perspective as well yeah um for me you know it was around the time that I had started my own firm and you know my background has been predominantly on the fundraising side I mean in real estate I was um structuring deals but I wasn't um you know on the investment side in PE and a big part of the placement business is you know really evaluating managers to understand which you know strategies and teams are going to be the most marketable to an investor because at the end of the day if you have a great product but it's not the right time or it's not a you know a team that people really feel that they can trust and that they want to invest in um it's you know it's obviously not the uh the best selection so what I recognize that would be helpful for me would be to understand from valuation standpoint how to really look at these different managers um I mean both from the quantitative but also from the qualitative um you know metrics that you know one would typically measure with making those decisions and so from this program I was really able to get a deeper um kind of exposure to that and I would say in addition to that which which was really nice is that your your colleagues are all coming from different um areas within the industry and so everybody has different contributions in the discussions and the case studies and so it really gives a very well-rounded view um into this topic and so for me um that's what I was hoping to you know obtain by participating in this program and and I certainly did Richard same question to you so in my case I I took the two programs as as as you can see I I started with the real estate program in 2022 and uh What attracted to me it was a a need for me to know what's is in the global market uh since my background is mainly focus in in Latin America I wanted to know what's going on every everywhere else and uh and I got a lot of information not only by the peers you will have in in the classroom but also but the by The Faculty they have fantastic knowledge about the what's happening in Europe in Africa and uh in Asia and what are the trends uh it was really insightful for me to Interchange experience with uh with all of of them um and of course it uh it Leed me to the to the interest to take the private Equity program because one thing I learned in in the first program it was the that the real estate business is more or less the same everybody everywhere No Matter What er you can make this business uh apart from the uh local regulations or something like that but uh uh one thing I know that it was missing is uh in my knowledge it was the deal structuring and that uh part I got it in the private Equity uh program because I learned a little bit more how to uh mix that and equity and uh and all possible combinations to make a deal profitable and uh that's why I really connect those dots uh this is in terms of of what you have heard before about the uh the program combinations for me it worked very well to to take the the real estate program first and the private Equity program right afterwards oh thanks uh Richard Melissa so and your Reflections are really important because there'll be a lot of people who are thinking about doing these programs and this will really help them to sort of make their choices so thanks for sharing that feedback with us can I add to that actually um just popped into my mind because I mean to what to Richard's Point um so I started my career on the real estate side um so I didn't do the real estate program because I you know felt that I pretty covered in that area but what I will say is by doing because I also did two programs I did the private Equity program first and then I did the valuations program and what was so fascinating to me was when I did the private equities program and being in the industry I could really see how there is so much similarity between private equity and real estate but a lot of it is just different terminology so conceptually they're very similar but I think a lot of times people get a little bit tripped up about it because it's such different terminology and if you're not having that awareness of how they're interchangeable then it's almost like a foreign language right you kind of have to know what that language is and then you start to translate it into the other language and that's definitely something that I um you know became so clear to me and I could really see when I was doing the the fundamentals of the private Equity program thanks Mr that's really useful and thanks for sharing that with us um I've got another question for you so my question is kind of around your experience of being in Oxford and doing the program so looking back on each of your programs what would you say you enjoyed the most about your experience or what did you think you took away the most from being there okay well there's a lot of things so I'll try to uh to break it down to a few um I would say for one you know because it's been a long time since I've been in a in a school environment so it was really fantastic being fully immersed into an educational environment where everybody's bringing different perspectives and information to the discussions and everyone's so enthusiastic about it to be there to learn and share and so I really enjoyed that energy and that intensity I mean it's a very you know intense week for sure um they're very long days but it's it's so rewarding and everybody's there with the same you know objective so I think that's one and then the other part was you know being there at the University and the events that we had at the campus I mean we did one evening where you know we were wine tasting um with a somier um and then we also had a lovely dinner at one of the uh colleges and uh like a night cap after and it was just really um good quality time for networking and getting to know your peers and the other um you know the the program directors and the uh you know the professors leading um so I think you know that was also a real um highlight of the program and then um you know kind of touching back on what Richard said also really the the macro Outlook that you get from you know all of your peers that are coming from various geographies around the globe I mean you're hearing about you know what's specific to their market and you're able to really compare and contrast where there are differences and uh similarities and this is something that you know even when you're going to you know the conferences I feel like you don't often get a lot of that time to have those kinds of discussions because there's really such a a purpose there to you know Market your fund or have you know meetings about something specific so this is putting you in a similar type of environment but the focus is really about you and your you know your learning and and netw working with um you know other peers that are in the industry so I think those you know three things really stood out to me and I found you know just an Absolut tremendous opportunity in the program so as uh I do agree uh totally with Melissa as you can see in the picture so that that's me in the first role and uh the guy I have on my right side he is from Pakistan uh I'm not going to try to remember his name because it was quite difficult but one important thing is that uh you will learn a lot from your PE I mean uh before the real estate program because this is the from the real estate program I was not aware of uh of a an asset class in real estate called life science and those guys on my on my right side they had a pharmaceutical uh facility and they Pro provide uh um services for labs or for research research uh universities teams and and it was a real asset class it was booming uh at that point not long ago after covid everybody else in the world just focus on uh on health uh facilities and and labs and Pharma are one of the main things that are growing uh just beside the data centers which is is is more like on all news now but this one of things of the things I I I learned a lot from my peers um and I also have to say that when I was in this program as as Melissa said since we are both in in real estate from quite a long time I was really comfortable in in the among the class because everybody was speaking the same language but uh when I moved to the private Equity uh program it was not as easy as suspected it is true that it has a lot of similarities but it is also true as Melissa said that it's is another it's a foreign language you have to be uh really aware to connect the thoughts and and to make the the viance between the information and and just the language but it was really good also to to see the same reality from different perspective uh from the peers perspective as well because you will find people with a lot of experience um um people with zero experience maybe like like me in that case uh in the private Equity sector uh but you will learn I mean if if everybody else is in the same room it means that uh everyone needs something to know everyone needs something to learn so don't hesitate to take the risk to to learn with with everybody else thank you so much Richard and Melissa for sharing that and I think that's one of the key takeaways that we always sort of Miss sometimes with the programs is it's really really hard learning um because it's intense it's it's a short program but there's a lot to get through but it's done in such a in a way where everyone can help each other they're you're you're thinking about a program you're not going to know everything happening there but you've got fantastic peers that you can talk to who have been in similar situations who face challenges similar to yourself and you can sort of get some guidance or some strategies as well and it is fun and I I do enjoy the the dinners and the fun that we have afterwards because the networking is really important in terms of meeting different people getting different ideas and mindsets and really realizing how these asset classes work in different markets as well so thanks for sharing that um my other question would be you've kind of touched on a couple of highlights but what would you say is the most impactful thing that you took from the program and how does that apply to your role today would you like me to answer first yeah Melissa yes please um I would have to say definitely you know really understanding the the valuations approach the different methodologies and how you know each of those are applied to each respective part of private Equity you know BC um buyout grow grow and so forth um because it is very different right um and even also how you're evaluating a um more established manager versus an emerging manager um because these are things that I'm doing in my essentially day-to-day you know work um with my business um you know there's the execution part of the mandates that I have but then there's also the business development of meeting with GPS and um you know determining if it's something that could be a good fit for um you know Distributing to the markets that I distribute into and then also really correlating that too to where we are in the cycle um you know obviously you can't always time everything but you know there's certain uh strategies that become out of favor for a period of time and um it's just not um it doesn't make sense to be marketing those at that respective time versus you know for example right now um for the past year I've been working with a us um credit manager and um they have various credit products and you know senior direct lending right now is a very um kind of call it more safe um secure less risky type of um investment and because you've got the you know quarterly distributions um whereas you know in other sectors right now it's a little bit more um uh light in that respect so I think like these things for me were really um key to being able to continue to p P forward with driving the growth of of my business so I would say for me that was definitely the the Highlight most impactful to you know what I'm doing right now so in in my case I have to say that the real estate program uh help me to understand in a wider way uh the portol management and and the importance of div uh diversify portfolio to balance risk and to maximize returns I mean it's it's quite obvious but uh uh in the program you will have the opportunity to uh explore to make a a case study on that and it's it's quite interesting because you can easily translate it to your daily life and uh if I move to the private Equity program what I learn the most is the depth structor which it's connected with the other one because it helps you to um contribute to the profitability of the portfolio just by really um making efficient the financial side of the deal and uh I guess those were the most important lessons that I I can I can get it that's Richard and thank you Melissa so um we're going to move on to the Q&A part uh we have had a few questions that have come through um so what we'll do is we'll start with the first question from Michael John um to each of you and it's quite a unique question that we actually get asked quite a lot in terms of experience so Michael John said um why would such experienced individuals 20 plus years sign up for a program covering specifically PE valuation fundamentals surely you would have already been exposed to the program culum is this specifically focused then to transition between roles or is it uh is it to do with the experience in the industry or more about networking uh what would you say to that uh I'll start with Richard so I I will say beside the knowledge uh one important thing is is the networking so I I can um I can share a personal experience when I attended the real estate program I uh I met guy from Mexico but he is uh living in Panama uh quite a long time ago and we uh get really close and uh one important U opportunity it's became of that friendship because I was uh invited to his uh his company to help them to start a a real estate fund they they wanted to build a r and I uh act as a consultant for them because I I was uh I had the experience they have the interest and uh and I was in mer one week in Panama uh just meeting all the stakeholders possible to understand the ecosystem of the real estate uh business there uh and it was really insightful and not not only to try to transfer my knowledge into that uh ecos system but also to to gain knowledge for for for that uh specific country and it is nice I mean you you you will you never know where the opportunity comes from and it usually comes from from someone a mon the Tes from yeah same to you Melissa do you have any feedback yeah I would say a few things I mean yes even though having you know x amount of years of experience um you definitely have a lot of knowledge but I'm a Believer I mean things don't stay static things evolve they change there's different market dynamics there's different ways that things are done so I think it's you know what I seek in education too and continuously um you know learning is that you're really up to speed with what the latest is um because otherwise I believe that you kind of fall behind and um you know I want to be at the Forefront of you know what's what's new so yes there were things that maybe I already had awareness of but I think you also fill in the gaps where sometimes you're actually surprised too sometimes you learn something that you didn't realize you didn't you didn't know or you weren't aware of and you don't know that unless you're you know in an environment um that can demonstrate that to you so I think that it's really um impactful for that and then it also may help validate maybe an area where you feel that you're not that strong in and you want to try to augment that um that knowledge um it gives you that ability and then the result is that of that is more confidence in that respective subject so I think that that's quite key um the other thing too is yes definitely the networking I mean I also had a um you know very um positive um experience from the program Like Richard where I met several um LPS um both in the US and um and European LPS where I proceeded to then have um meetings with them with some of my clients and that purely came through you know the networking there at the program so I think that you know going into the program you can make out of it like what you want you know you really um if someone's not really looking to network which I think would be a Pity um it's not that you're forced to but I think you know you when you go into it with your eyes wide open and really kind of just you know open to all the different opportunities that come can you know come your way then you're also surprised at some of the other things that come your way that maybe you hadn't even expected so um so yeah I I think there's a lot to to really take away from programs like these thank you um another question that's come through that we get asked quite often is in terms of cohort sizes so for these programs the cohort sizes are 40 so we have 40 participants maximum for each program how would you how do you guys feel about the sizes of the cohort because we always feel for 40 is a great number because it gives you enough time to get to know everyone in the room but how do you feel about it um Melissa maybe start with you yeah I think it is a very good size I think that if it started to get larger it it makes it a little bit less intimate if that makes sense where then it's a little bit harder to to get that opportunity to kind of meet everybody because you got to remember you know you're sending a week there together and you know relationship building as we know it doesn't happen you don't just meet somebody the first time and then you know you've got this great relationship it's the repetitive you know the talking the interacting the working on things together where you really start to you know build that kind of relationship and I think that if there's too many people then it's really hard to get around to you know everybody and then maybe it also depends on someone's personality maybe you know somebody is uh you know more introverted and just wants to you know be around a couple of people but um but yeah I think that having that kind of size it just gives a good opportunity to to Really um engage in in fruitful discussions with um with your other colleagues so I I do feel the same I mean it's the size is is it's right I mean it's but you will find really interesting because each people even though are 30 or 40 they have different backgrounds so you each break time or each dinner time or you will find something new something interesting something different and uh it's quite uh it's quite good to have knowledge every time I mean it's you will enjoy a lot uh to learn from your peers that that's really that's really one of the most important things the one I value the most I guess thank you there was another question that came in from AJ around um wives attending and I think we do get we understand that people have family commitments it can be quite challenging to have a week off um away from work and the family um I would advise that this program is quite intense so most of your time I would say 9 to 9 until 6 you're doing your teaching and then from 7 until 11: you're doing your networking so it's quite an intense day so we do advise that where possible you know there's not really much time to integrate with the or to have them with you during the week so um yeah if you are thinking of coming where possible if you could come individually this is really for your focus um we hope that you would do that in that week yeah um yeah so another question H which please feel free to answer because I don't know the answer to it myself is um from Sarah so Sarah says that if you are in a high-risk unstable and unclear future in a country such as Iraq what in your opinion would be the best Finance program to apply um would what what would you what advice would you give to Sarah perhaps uh Richard or Melissa which would you'd like to answer first um I can I can jump in um so I would say you know in the valuations program there was um one speaker that we had that was um from Africa so you know another Emerging Market um because I also cover um African strategy so I'm you know quite familiar with all the risks that are associated with investing in emerging markets and um I thought that you know that speaker did a very good job of really talking about these types of um you know concerns that um that you have or you know it because it it's very different than developed markets and um I think that you know the fact that there was that module within the program um it really helps um touch on that because it's yeah it's a different perspective that you have to really you know have and in considerations because the questions that investors have are very different than um than what you you know than what an investor would have in like the us or Europe I mean they you know they they're comfortable with the markets they know what's taking place so they're not needing so much of like an educational background like they do in um in these Emerging Markets so I think that from you know the two programs that I did that the valuations program was really um helpful with uh touch on that and I'm sure that Richard you know sitting in South America can also probably speak to to this as well yes yes I do agree I mean it's uh in that case my answer would be the private Equity program because it will uh deal in in in a better way to assess all the uh the risk all the uh the due diligence uh that you have to do I mean it's an emerging market everybody is looking for a high the highest irr possible but uh no one is so looking at the risk that it comes with that and uh but you have to really uh take an assess on that and uh I guess private Equity program will help a lot with us as as Melissa said I mean the program and valuation will also do that thank you um we have a question from Tomas so Tomas says um can you mention one thing that you've learned that you can immediately apply to increase the value of your real estate projects or improve your daily work for example how does this real estate program that you did um how did the case studies for example help you as well so I I will uh I will mention that uh the portfolio point of view how to build the portfolio how to distribute risk and diversify not only location but also asset classes uh and in different times of of the investment period it's it's the most uh useful tool that I that I use in my daily life I mean is uh this and connected with the dep structure it helped me a lot to to have a wider view than I that I had before I mean everybody talks about the long-term Investments and uh many people can say that but uh long being a long-term investment is not only the possibility to have time you also have to have the exact knowledge to connect the dots between the time and the target markets and the trends and if you connect those three things you will know exactly uh where to go otherwise you will just stay with the same asset for a long period of time and not maximizing your profitability right um Lista did you have anything to add or well since I didn't participate in the real estate program I think that Richard probably has it well well covered since he did great and another question from toas which um I think I'll start and then if you'd like to add um is kind of talking around the programs and do they focus on current challenges or does it concentrate on future Trends and emerging market so what I would say is all of these programs and the program directors it's a curated week so they are looking at what your challenges are in in the market space and that's what's fed into the program itself and what really helps with the learning as we've mentioned before is the peer-to-peer learning so the real case studies the the peer-to-peer learning brought from the participants sharing what their challenges are as well so we mix that together um which is fantastic and then I would say in terms of future Trends we do look at we talk about what is AI going to do to the industry you know we have no idea what's going to happen but we do look at that and see how that might affect or are you thinking about planning that for that in your current organization so we are thinking of current challenges but we are looking to the future ahead as well so I don't know if anyone wants to answer a bit more on that I can elaborate on that I mean I remember when we were doing the um you know the private Equity program so I did it in I think it was q1 2022 and so you didn't really have this democratization of private Equity yet taking place but you could see that that was the direction things were going and we were having a lot of discussions about that and it was really um fascinating too because we would have these um questions that would be prompted and then everybody could start kind of you know um participating and having a discussion and sharing opinions and so um so yeah we talked about this quite in depth and then fast forward I mean that's essentially what has happened I mean there's you know most of the firms all the big players for sure have set up structures where you can then have retail invest going into so the wealth channels have really um embraced the asset class that's a big reason why you're seeing a lot of the growth taking place um so you know we were really you know at the Forefront of those discussions of that happening and now fast forward you can you can see that it has you know certainly um transpired that way great yeah so we we're almost wrapped up but we do have a couple of more questions for you guys so thanks everyone for sending through I I know we've really enjoyed receiving them so I hope these questions have been really helpful to you today so one of the questions we had um is um if you had to summarize your Oxford program experience in three words what would they be and why um Richard do you want to start [Laughter] no uh so I I I was remembering I mean one one thing that I have to do it's experience the the eox for experience I will call it like that um because uh as um as I mentioned before to you in in the previous meeting so the school really does really good job about you as as a participant enjoy the uh the city and the places and all the facilities the University have I mean it's it's really special to have dinner in a chch or to be welcome with a with a priest to the chch and and to to connect the uh your presence with the history of of the buildings and and everything it was I mean my first word was experience the second word will be uh the peers I mean it's it's really rich uh the variety of of knowledge and backgrounds and and cultures that it's it's really amazing to to have the only one is is the knowledge I mean this is the amount of information you will have uh available during the class and after the class because you will after be uh able to connect with the Alumni network and the all the resources that they uh that the the school have uh in it's it's I'm valuable amount of informations so if I were to describe it in three words I would say intense Dynamic and rewarding um intense because the days are very long you're starting you know first thing in the morning and you're going straight through you know the evenings post dinner um so you're you know getting back to your hotel around 10 11 o'clock at night and then you know doing the same thing each day for one week so that starts to get to be quite intense um dynamic because you're being intellectually challenged in so many different ways that you're not normally in your own um you know day-to-day environment in your office environment I mean sure you have colleagues but you're you know you're working on the kind of the same things you know what to expect I mean being in a new environment where you don't know you know what the next day is going to be like and there's new case studies or questions or discussions I mean you really have to be switched on um so that's a very you know dynamic um environment and then rewarding because you then get to take all of this back with you and you get to apply it to what you're doing and you know you really feel um you know accomplished and and what you've done in that intense week and so um yeah those would be the words that I would use to describe experience um two final questions whil we have time um we often talk about diversity and inclusion how much would you say the diversity was important to you when choosing this program and how do you think that evolved during your week shall I go first Richard thank you um you know I think I think it's a couple things I mean being a female in finance you kind of know that usually you're outnumbered um so I didn't really have any sort of set expectation of ratios on gender I think I was more interested in you know that there will be people from all over the you know the world um so a lot of different cultures I mean I mixed cultured myself so I think that it's um you know fascinating to be able to meet people from from different walks and experiences so for me that was really more the diversity that I kind of put the emphasis on but I will say yes there were certainly you know females um in the uh in the classroom environment too so it was nice to to have the mix in in all regards so in my case I mean I I was uh in both programs I mean the the only one from South America uh I mean there were people from Central America and everything but they they they nobody else from from South America it was really good for me because it's like uh I I was there just to see the rest of the war not not exactly the rest of my continent so that that's why it feels good for me being the only one or the different one in in the class fantastic and one final question from us what advice would you give to people who are thinking about applying to the program um so Melissa you want to St yeah I would say I mean if you're thinking about it um and you're indecisive then don't overthink it just just do it um just go for it I mean I look at it this way um something like this you're never going to regret that you did it if you don't do it you may have regrets that you never did so that's my advice yeah in my case I have to say the uh the education in this kind of of uh Business Schools and and they're one of the tops in the world it's the best investment investment you will do uh and that's why I I I made it twice as as as M as well I mean it's just like we were I mean for sure we are going to be happy to come back and it's the best investment you will do for sure and uh don't hesitate to do it because uh you may feel a little bit short of knowledge in one side so uh as I said before if if everyone is in the same classroom it's because everybody needs some new knowledge to have and if you are in that uh in that position so you are in the same position of everybody else thank you so much Melissa and Richard for your time here and for answering the questions and thanks to the audience for providing them we've really enjoyed engaging with you and finding out what's really important to you when you're thinking about applying to the program um I would just like to say um this program is in support of our executive education programs here at side business school um so if you are thinking about applying and you're not sure about the application we actually have a webinar next week on Thursday the 12th of September you can join me from 1 till 1:30 uh in UK time and we'll be thinking about how to Ace your Finance program applications so the top tips dos and don't and what we're really looking for in terms of uh participants joining the program so we'll have the QR code up for you if you'd like to register um but we'll also send you some details um in the next couple of days um also if you are thinking about these programs as well you can apply now if you've decided to do so um the oxa program on valuation of private assets will be running from the 14th to the 18th of October so please do get your applications in soon the real estate program will be running from the 18th to the the 22nd of November and the oxy private Equity program will will be running from the 10th to the 14th of February 2025 so those QR codes are there if you're looking of and thinking about applying so I'll just hand back over to Carrie thanks so much Clara and to Echo um car remarks um to everyone thanks so much for taking the time out your day to join us um and and a massive thank you to Melissa and Richard for joining us today as well it's really really wonderful having such engaged alumni um and we really appreciate you T taking the time um for us today so I've put our contact details um up on the screen um so please do write them down write our details down depending on what program you're interested in we're really happy to send some further information schedule a on to on call uh always very happy to help and we really hope to welcome you to Oxford um at one of our upcoming programs so thanks again and have a lovely rest of your morning afternoon or evening thank you it was a pleasure to be here thank you pleasure thanks so much bye