BIZLife „30 under 30“: Katarina Kuruc, Commercial Finance Analyst, „British American Tobacco“

Katarina graduated from the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade, majoring in „Finance, Banking and Insurance“. During her studies, she took part in Case Study Competitions: „ESTIEM“ organized by the Faculty of Organizational Sciences and the „AIESEC Global Talent Case Study“ competition, where her team won first place. She commenced her career in finance at the company „Deloitte“, where she worked as an assistant in bank auditing. After that she enrolled in the Global Graduate Program at the company „British American Tobacco“ where she was selected as GGP in Finance following a very demanding selection process. After nine months of intensive rotations within the finance sector for Serbia and the region, she received the opportunity to accept the first junior managerial position in Rome, where she currently works as a „Commercial Finance Analyst“ for all product categories which, in addition to traditional tobacco products, also encompass products of new generation. Is there anything you had to renounce in order to get to where you are now? There were times during my studies when I was doing 2 to 3 jobs in addition to studying and was doing my best to keep up with extracurricular activities such as numerous forums and practices. In those moments, I gave up the time I would spend with friends and family, but I always had their understanding and support, which helped me get to where I am today. Did success reach you, or was it the other way round? I’m definitely the one who reached success. I always had high ambitions and goals and there were times when people told me I was overambitious. I am very proud of myself and what I was able to achieve via effort and hard work. Due to that I was able to get to where I am now. In addition, the support I have at work and cooperation with a coach and mentor during the program has made a great contribution to me reaching the place where I am today. What is the most important lesson you have learned in your work so far? What I have realized so far is that learning is sometimes a very painful process, but the moment when you master something and learn something new is priceless. Learning from your mistakes, not repeating them, and being capable to move on are some of the most valuable things I’ve learned so far. What is the ultimate goal? For me, there is not just one ultimate goal. I look at my journey so far as an adventure and a set of goals that I accomplish one by one. All of this together makes one exciting journey. If I had to single out one thing that I might call the ultimate goal, it would be to remain faithful to myself, learn constantly and really achieve visible results in professional career and contribute to change for the better, regardless of where I am in the future. Favourite school subject? In elementary school it was chemistry, in high school it was monetary economics. First job? The first full-time job was assistant auditor at „Deloitte“. Business role model? Christine Lagarde. Motivational song? „Grown Woman“ by Beyonce.

Izvor: BIZLife magazin