Kokulan is the CEO of easyCab medical, an ambulance company in Bern. The company works closely with rescue sections of hospitals to ensure the transfer of patients in need of intensive care after major incidents. Kokulan seems like the kind of person you want heading this sort of operation – he comes across as being very solemn, knowledgeable, and reliable.
Kokulan has a political science background. He joined his company while he was still studying, when it was still in start-up mode, and worked his way up.
His mentor at the time of applying for the EMBA was the chairman of easyCab medical and deputy CEO at one of the hospitals easyCab medical serviced. He had done the EMBA at UZH himself and recommended it to Kokulan.
“At the time, when I looked around at the CVs of some of my peers – clients, suppliers and the like – I saw that the majority had done an MBA. I realised that it’s almost a requirement now. I’m not necessarily looking for new opportunities, but I saw this as a sure-fire way to future proof my career,” Kokulan explained of his reason for enrolling on the MBA.
He recounted having a wonderful time on the course. “It was totally different than I expected,” he said. “I learned a lot of new tools, which help on a daily basis. But it was the social aspect that had the biggest impact on me. The diversity of backgrounds is a huge strength of this programme. Theories came to life when people were able to apply them to their own experiences. We didn’t just eat them up when they were thrown at us, we examined them from every angle, which led to some very intense discussions.”
“It’s very easy in certain situations to get stuck in a group mentality,” he continued. “Experimenting with different group configurations, we saw that when people from similar backgrounds were grouped together they would act alike, and this would inevitably lead to a somewhat flat approach. When we mixed the groups according to background – be it skill set, industry, gender, and so on – the solutions were often far more innovative. The sum of the parts suddenly became bigger than the whole,” Kokulan explained.
“I try to apply the mixed group approach to projects in my company now. Whether they like it or not!” he added with a smile.
