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Are you gearing up for a major transition in your leadership capabilities, your strategic thinking, and your personal growth as a tier-one leader and change-maker? Are you ready to explore the bigger picture, to join all the dots, and to expand your horizons and your influence exponentially?

 

Is now the time to accelerate your entrepreneurial skills, to make bigger bets, forge new connections and a global support network, and future-proof your leadership and your career?

 

Join us this September and discover how the Rotterdam School of Management top-ranked Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA programmes can transform your professional and personal trajectory.

 

 

Our in-person, on-campus MBA Open Day gives you:
  • First-hand and interactive experience of the vibrant dynamics that make learning so distinctive and uniquely transformational here at RSM, the foremost business school in Benelux (Financial Times Business School Rankings, 2024).
  • Direct access to RSM faculty—globally-recognised thought leaders in management, strategy and entrepreneurship and next-generation, personalised leadership progression and growth.
  • Comprehensive understanding of our Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA programmes: globally-ranked learning journeys expertly designed to transform your leadership and empower you to access the next level in your career, and in your life
  • A chance to meet international peers and future classmates—and to start building a global network of trust, support and lifelong bonds all over the world.

The RSM MBA Open Day

A unique focus on innovation, entrepreneurship and venturing for tomorrow’s change makers

As Benelux’s top-ranked business school, RSM enjoys a singular reputation for entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial expertise and thought leadership.

Our Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA programmes deliver the accelerated leadership development, the big-picture thinking, the innovation mindset and the agility to connect knowledge to vision, to spot opportunities, see alternatives, make new bets, learn from failure, and forge wholly new realities—for yourself, for your business, for your organisation.

Whether you are looking to launch your own venture, scale your business or lead performance, innovation and transformation within your organisation, we welcome you to join us here on campus in Rotterdam on September 13 and discover our MBA programmes for change-makers and trail-blazers. 

The RSM MBA Open Day integrates a dynamic and interactive blend of:

  • Sessions with our Academic Directors on how our Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA accelerate entrepreneurial and innovation thinking for growth, resilience and competitive advantage.
  • Hands-on workshops led by RSM faculty that expose you to our expertise and pedagogy in business creation, scaling ventures and innovation.
  • Networking opportunities with RSM faculty, alumni and prospective peers who share your passion for business creation, transformation and growth.

Don’t miss your chance to meet us, discover what our MBA programmes can do for you, for your goals, for your personal growth and for your business. Register now and start your journey today.

AGENDA

9:30-10:00
Registration and Networking

Meet fellow participants from around the world, engage with RSM faculty and connnect with RSM alumni over coffee and light refreshments.

10:00-11:00
(G)EMBA Programme Presentation with Q&A

 • Welcome
 • Host: Vasilis Zaravellas, Director of Recruitment and Admissions
   ○ 15 minute EMBA Programme Presentation: Prof. Erik Roelofsen
   ○ 15 minute GEMBA Programme Presentation: Prof. Hans van Oosterhout
 • Admissions Q&A Session: 20 minutes

Take a deep dive into the RSM Executive MBA and Global Executive MBA. Learn about our programme structure, highlights, experiential and in-situ, global learning opportunities and real-world outcomes for your leadership development, influence and impact. We invite you participate in an open Q&A with RSM experts for answers to all admissions and programme queries.

11:00-11:50
Interactive Workshops with RSM Faculty

Option 1: Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA): Buy Your Way into Business

Led by prof. Erik Roelofsen

Want to become an entrepreneur without starting from scratch? Discover how acquiring an existing company can be a fast and low risk path to ownership. You don’t need significant capital or a brilliant idea. What you do need is the right attitude – and the network.

This interactive session introduces the rich, evidence-based model behind Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

Option 2: Riding the Unicorn: Corporate Venturing in the Age of Disruption

Led by Prof. Dr. Vareska Van de Vrande

Global disruption, political uncertainty and shifting market dynamics call for greater agility and faster responses. Being able to effectively tap into the potential of startups and harness their innovative power helps firms to stay ahead in challenging times. In this workshop, you will discover corporate venturing as a tool to navigate the increasingly complex innovation landscape, in which startups are becoming more and more important..

Leveraging insights from research and real-world industry practice, this workshop explores the dynamics that sustain successful corporate-startup collaborations.

11:50-12:10
Refreshment Break

A moment to recharge, reflect, and continue networking.

12:10-13:00
Interactive Workshops with RSM Faculty

Option 1: Ownership and Governance Strategy for New Ventures

Led by prof. Hans van Oosterhout

When start-ups are successful in securing funding to finance further development and growth, they will face specific ownership and governance challenges that they will need to manage to secure their future flourishing. Drawing on academic research and extensive experience in the Euronext IPO ready programme, Hans van Oosterhout, explores some of these challenges as well as some foundational ingredients for developing an ownership and governance strategy for new ventures. 

Option 2: Money Talks: Demystifying Entrepreneurial Finance

Led by Dr. Yu Liu

Securing funding is one of the biggest and most defining challenges for any start-up. Unlike mature firms, new ventures operate under extreme uncertainty due to the lack of track records and unproven business models. As a result, entrepreneurial finance operates under very different rules. In this interactive workshop, Dr. Yu Liu, works with you to explore what makes entrepreneurial finance unique, from the logic of angel investing and venture capital to founder equity decisions. Along the way, you’ll also discover interesting insights from research and real-world data. Whether you’re founding, funding, or leading early-stage ventures, this session will sharpen your financial lens for the entrepreneurial world.

13:00-13:30
Programme Debrief
13:30-14:30
Networking Lunch

Deepen your connections and explore synergies with current RSM programme students and RSM alumni. We offer dedicated tables for participants interested in pursuing our Executive MBA or the Global Executive MBA, so that you gain clearer understanding of each pathway.

Speakers

Erik Roelofsen

Professor and Academic Director EMBA at RSM

Hans van Oosterhout

Professor and Academic Director GEMBA at RSM

Yu Liu

Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at RSM

Vareska Van de Vrande

Professor of Collaborative Innovation and Business Venturing at RSM

Vasilis Zaravellas

Director of Recruitment and Admissions at RSM

LIMITED PLACES AVAILABLE

Every year RSM welcomes participants and programme applicants from around the world. Places on our Executive MBA and Global Executive are purposefully limited as part of our commitment to creating intimate learning cohorts – cohorts where deep collaboration, trust, psychological safety and lifelong bonds and ties are fostered and nurtured.

 

To ensure your place at this year’s RSM MBA Open Day, we recommend you reserve as quickly as possible.

 

Secure your spot now and join us in September. We look forward to supporting you in making an empowered and informed decision for the future of your leadership and organisation.

Curious to discover more?

Request a brochure

Dive into the details of our EMBA and GEMBA programmes at your own pace.

Get personalised consultation

Receive tailored advice from our admissions manager to assess your fit and help position your profile for success.

Apply online

Start your application in just a few simple steps and take the first move toward transforming your career.

RSM is a highly respected business school, particularly in the Netherlands. Earning my MBA here strengthens my credibility and demonstrates my commitment to personal and professional development. Beyond the qualification itself, the experience is equipping me with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to grow within my company and lead more effectively.

Hannah Timmer, Executive MBA Class of 2026

The RSM Global Executive MBA programme is incredibly relevant to the challenges businesses face today. For example, we had a course on platform thinking, and although I use platforms every day, I had never really considered how they could make an impact in my job. That class opened my eyes to the possibilities and helped me think about how I can prepare my employees for technological shifts like AI. The RSM GEMBA makes you aware of global developments that can directly affect your industry. It forces you to ask: How can I use these trends to my advantage? How can I adapt? How can I think differently? This programme ensures that we don’t just react to change but actively shape the future.

Chrissy van der Valk, Global Executive MBA Class of 2026

RSM’s EMBA has reinforced my entrepreneurial dreams, and given me the motivation to take big steps, like leaving a good job to do something bigger for myself. I’m confident that my entrepreneurial journey will work out, which is why I freed up time to take advantage of RSM’s elective ‘Entrepreneurship through acquisition’ and getting to know the processes, peers and the professors in this course. I definitely like being in the Netherlands, it’s a great place to build a family and a business.

Raza Padhani, Executive MBA Class of 2025

It’s lonely at the top. If you want to keep growing, you need to expose yourself to the right people and the right programmes. Corporate environments are often driven by specific interests, particularly profit. At RSM, you get a rare opportunity to step back, collaborate, and learn from other industries. Sometimes, the best solutions to your challenges come from completely different sectors. This programme gives you a unique space where you can test ideas, challenge yourself, and evolve in ways that aren’t possible at work, with family, or even among friends. If you want to push yourself and become a better leader, this is the place to do it.

Daniel Dorobantu, Global Executive MBA Class of 2026