Anne de Vries, Class of 2018

Hi Anne! You graduated from Amsterdam School of International Business (AMSIB) with a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Languages in the year of 2018, what have you been up to since your graduation?

I actually started my career already during my last year at AMSIB, and stayed on at the economic department of the Dutch Embassy in Rome, after finishing my internship there. After that I worked at a scale-up in the energy sector in Amsterdam, doing international business development for the Nordics and Southern Europe (while writing my thesis) and over the last 6 years I have been working in my current job at InnovationQuarter.

You work as a Senior Project Manager at InnovationQuarter Can you walk us through a typical day in your professional life?

Every day is different really. In my role my main goal is to support scale-ups in the renewable energy sector in their international scaling. Some weeks I travel with a group of scale-ups to introduce them in international markets and thus spending my days on trade fairs, or taking the group to potential partners and clients in a certain market. The weeks that I’m in the Netherlands, I visit companies to hear about their international ambitions and discuss how I can support them in obtaining those, look into opportunities abroad and am on calls with our international partners to set up programs to support our scale-ups.

Reflecting on your time at AMSIB, what are the key take-aways from your studies that you find useful in your career and day to day life?

The general understanding of all matters that are important for a company to operate internationally.

During your experience at AMSIB, can you recount a particularly memorable moment or period that stands out as your favourite?

My internship as a whole really stood out. It was a great opportunity to tailer the IB program to my personal interests and to kick off my career.

If you had the chance to tweak or enrich one aspect of your experience at AMSIB, what would it be and why?

It would’ve been to interact with more companies or various types and doing projects with them. During my time in AMSIB I was mostly introduced to multinational companies, but my passion is really with tech innovation and sustainability and it would’ve been great to have more of that within the program.

Considering your journey and experiences, what advice would you offer to current students navigating their academic and professional paths?

Make sure to differentiate yourself. There are tons of IB students out there, so try to stand out by doing what you love. Especially your internship and thesis are great opportunities to do so, so start early in finding the right company or organization that meets your ambitions and take all chances you get to build your network and skills.

As an established professional and alum, what wisdom or guidance would you share with fellow alumni as they embark on their own careers?

It is fine if it takes you a while to find your path. Maybe you will first have a few experiences that don’t really fit your ambitions and goals, but those will nonetheless be very valuable to get you in the job that is right for you.

Lastly, to add a bit of fun to our conversation, could you share an interesting or quirky fact about yourself that others might not know?

I lived in Antwerp for a few months and never felt as “foreign” in any other country.