Aveen Ghurbhurn

The Capstone experience provided a powerful toolkit which I was able to leverage to make it happen. Equally important was the dive into my personality during TRIUM that made me gain a better understanding of where I stand as a leader and the path I should take to become a better one.

With a strong background in investment fund management and private equity, Class of 2019 TRIUMer Aveen Ghurbhurn was initially drawn to the TRIUM program due its entrepreneurial focus and the opportunity to join a cohort of international executives. Aveen’s entrepreneurial spirit was ignited during TRIUM’s San Francisco module and throughout the Capstone Project Process, for which his team were voted as runners-up by the jury and their fellow cohort members.

His drive to ‘make it happen’ accelerated and helped to inspire his new business venture which would bring together his expertise in finance and telecoms at his company to incorporate a company with digital platforms specialising in fibre networks. This venture has proved successful with an equity fund raising of over 1Bn€  and recent award recognition as ‘Digital Infrastructure Investor of the Year’ and ‘Digital Infrastructure Deal of the Year’ by The Infrastructure Investor Awards 2020.

Here he discusses how TRIUM’s San Francisco module helped to inspire his new business venture and provided the tools for him to ‘make it happen’.

 

Can you tell us a bit about your background and what attracted you to the TRIUM program?

I’m currently based in Paris enrolled as a private equity specialist in the telecoms sector where I hold several positions as General Manager, Partner and Investment Director alongside board member mandates in several companies.

I joined the TRIUM program for the in-depth focus on entrepreneurship within an environment gathering three leading business schools and a cohort of international and successful executives.

 

What were your objectives when joining the program and why did you choose TRIUM over other Executive MBA programs?

Learning from a worldwide blend of top executives and highly recognised professors was definitely compelling and I must admit that the entrepreneurship focus of the program clearly made the difference. Furthermore, TRIUM also has a unique learning offering across a set of on-site and off-site modules delivered by tier-one business schools and designed to particularly suit an active professional life during the TRIUM experience.

 

You graduated from the program in 2019. Can you tell us more about some of your successes since graduation?  

The landmark achievement is the successful outcome for my venture incubated with my current company. In a nutshell, the venture is based on an idea I had following the TRIUM’s San Francisco capstone module which ultimately led to the incorporation of a company in 2020. This company operates as a digital platform which encompasses leading position in the telecom sector and most notably in fibre networks. This venture is also uniquely successful as it also comprised an equity fund raising of over 1Bn€ amid the COVID crisis. I currently act as General Manager of this company.

 

How did the TRIUM modules help you to develop your new venture? Were there any particular classes or speakers who helped to influence you?

The Capstone experience provided a powerful toolkit which I was able to leverage to make it happen. Equally important was the dive into my personality during TRIUM that made me gain a better understanding of where I stand as a leader and the path I should take to become a better one.

 

How did your idea develop throughout the program and what initial steps did you take to turn it into a reality?

The capstone pitch session during the San Francisco module with so many bright ideas generated from the cohort naturally nurtured my entrepreneurship spirit. After the San Francisco module, I came back to Paris with this obsessing question : “what would be a bold solution that I could apply to my two fields of expertise, finance and telecoms?” Really mind blowing, it started here …

 

What would you say are your main memories and key takeaways from the program?

The Capstone Project process was a life changing experience. I was successful in building a capstone team that was subsequently elected as runner-up by the Capstone jury and my fellow classmates. Looking back over my shoulder, it acts like an invisible driving force. Alongside this experience, the two other most useful takeaways from TRIUM are the tools I’ve acquired to pave the way towards becoming a leader and the wealth I’ve inherited from each of my classmates that came from all parts of the world.

 

What are some of the benefits of being a part of the TRIUM alumni community and three school partnership and LSE, NYU Stern and HEC Paris and how you have leveraged these?

The TRIUM alumni community is always keen to give advice and open their networks to help get in touch with the right person in a very efficient way. As the TRIUM brand is very strong across the three business schools, this provides further leverage to reach out to the wider alumni community of the schools.

 

What would be your advice for anyone who is considering branching out to launch their own business venture?

This is really going to be an exciting adventure and I strongly recommend you to have the right cocktail of skill-sets onboard as early as possible for your business venture. Think about how to gather them if you do not have the required expertise.

 

How did you manage your TRIUM studies alongside your other life and work commitments? Do you have any advice about this for current students? 

It’s all about finding time and surprisingly enough, one can create time.

 

Who would you recommend the TRIUM program to and what advice would you give to those considering the program?

TRIUM is a very rich program that offers a full set of in-depth dives across several expertise, amongst which I was particularly impacted by the entrepreneurship module.

I strongly recommend to join TRIUM with an entrepreneurship project in mind and run it through the Capstone experience with the aim to make it happen.

 

How would you describe your TRIUM experience in three words?

Be creative and bold, bend the rules and play your own music.