Mikael Thakur:: MBA, ecopreneur, innovator, thought agent,world traveller and adventurer.

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ABOUT ME - I'm passionate about life; I try to utilize every talent I have to the fullest while improving my shortcomings. Travelling around has allowed me to see the world from a different lense.

I love to learn, and explore the unknown. I'm all about strategy; if something doesn't work, I try it from a different angle until I realize that its not meant to be fixed or until it works the way it should. I'm constantly revamping my strategy, tweaking my lifestyle, and trying to learn from others.

EDUCATION
MBA in Entrepreneurial Studies & Strategy - Schulich School of Business

MBA School represented a new challenge for me. It was an opportunity to merge what I learned about business from a real world perspective and an academic perspective. The resulting "mashup" has greatly improved my ability to analyze business problems from a bottom-up and top-down approach and to think beyond ROI. Triple bottom line solutions and creating win-win gains that result in a sustainable competitive advantage are what I strive for. The business environment has changed, and the current 2008-09 economic crisis is testament that business strategies of the past need to be re-engineered.

One of the challenges with business schools today is that each subject major work in silos.
For example, Marketing majors only studying marketing; Finance majors do not look beyond NPV's, IRR's, and other financial jargon; and Sustainability majors do not understand the key
drivers behind every green solution they come up with. In today's competitive business environment, it is imperative that students remain flexible and integrate various academic business subjects - to create value and become successful business leaders.

Given my national and international work experience prior to completing my MBA, I was aware of the need to be flexible and chose my courses and major(s) wisely. The end result was having received a well rounded MBA education with a double major in Strategy and Entrepreneurial Studies, a minor in Information technology, and select key courses in marketing, finance, sustainability, international business, and organizational behaviour.

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The MBA programme at the Schulich School of Business has been ranked among the Financial Times ' top 50 MBA programmes in recent years. It currently appears among the top 20 by the Economist and Wall Street Journal .

Bachelors of Science in Biology with Pre-Medical Focus - University of Western Ontario '99,'97 & University of Manitoba '98.



The 90's

During my 2nd undergraduate year at the University of Manitoba (UoM) I was studying to enter the medical school program. The competitive nature of the bio-med program was challenging and it was here where I learned how to be more efficient and resourceful. It soon became apparent that medicine was not my calling as I was only interested in this career path for Social Prestige and Money.

I began looking for other career paths and stumbled upon the volatile world of penny stock trading. By leveraging my student loans, I opened up a trading account and made my first trade - Northern Minerals (TSE - NM) – and purchased 1,000 shares for $1. After reviewing Northern Minerals' financials, I was certain that this company was undervalued and was due for a "pop". Twelve days later, the stock ran up to $1.15, a 15% gain! (before commission). I eventually moved to Vancouver to be closer to the Vancouver Stock Exchange and the mining companies that were head quartered in BC. After incredible success with trading mining stocks, I was looking for bigger and better things. I then made 2 major decisions - I purchased my first long term investment vehicle - Real Estate (a 4 apartment multiplex in Toronto) and, like many visionaries in the late 90's, started a dot com company.... incidently enough an B2B Mining procurement firm called MinerMarket.com.

In my early 20's I was a landlord and a CEO of a company that in-housed marketing and strategy, and outsourced IT and business processes to Hyderabad, India. It was during this time that I developed my leadership abilities. Managing 4 tenants, delegating home renovations, managing offshore IT and BP support, and trading was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.... and what is the point of living if you cannot feel alive?


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The NanoBoxx - designed by Mikael Thakur
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Figure 1: Nanoboxx prototype. (c) Mikael Thakur, all rights reserved.

During my first year at MBA School, I was aiming to commercialize the world's smallest portable computer: the Nanoboxx™. Measuring approximately 5x2x2 inches, the Nanoboxx™ has no physical keyboard and no physical monitor, yet boasts a full-size laser projected keyboard and full-size projected display. By incorporating innovations in projection technology, Nanoboxx™ combines the pocket-sized convenience of a PDA with the computing power and ease of use of a laptop.

Portability, durability, and feature pack: the Nanoboxx™ will go everywhere your business takes you. ....READ MORE

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Mikael's Tag Cloud
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Carl Jung Personality Typology
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Type: ENTJ
Qualities: Extraverted(67%)    Intuitive(75%)    Thinking(75%)    Judging(44%)

* distinctively expressed extravert
* distinctively expressed intuitive personality
* distinctively expressed thinking personality
* moderately expressed judging personality

ENTJs direct their energy towards the outer world of actions and spoken words. They organise and structure the world according to logical principles, tending to control life - organising systems and people to meet task oriented goals and trying to improve the way things are done.

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