From the Classroom to M&A: How Forward College helped Clarence land an internship at Eurvad Search
Clarence shares how his time at Forward College – the community, the curriculum, and constantly adapting to new environments – allowed him to land a summer internship as an External Growth Analyst at Eurvad Search, a Paris-based M&A boutique.
When Clarence first arrived at Forward College, a career in M&A wasn’t yet part of the plan. We sat down with him to hear how he got there – and what role Forward College played.
Q: Before we dive into your internship, tell us a bit about yourself. What brought you to Forward College, and what are you studying today?
Clarence: I come from a quite international background. I grew up in Brussels but had the opportunity to spend my last five years there in an international high school, where I discovered Forward College through the university counsellors. What drew me most to Forward was the small scale and tailored teaching approach. Additionally, the travelling appealed very much to me, as I was already looking into bachelor’s programmes in Lisbon and Paris but could not find any truly international programme that offered what I was looking for. Today, I’m entering my third year as a Double Bachelor’s student in Business & Management and Leadership.
Q: You recently completed a summer internship as an External Growth Analyst at Eurvad Search. What did your role involve, and what were the highlights of the experience?
Clarence: I was an External Growth Analyst at Eurvad Search, a Paris-based buy-side mergers and acquisitions (M&A) boutique that helps French mid-market entrepreneurs grow through acquisitions. My main job was origination, building and qualifying long lists of acquisition targets for our clients.
The highlight for me was the contact it gave me with successful entrepreneurs from varying sizes and sectors, which arose from the targets and clients we handled. I also enjoyed seeing how companies and entrepreneurs are seen and analysed by the financial world.
Q: Looking back, how did Forward College prepare you for this opportunity, whether through the curriculum, international experience, project-based learning, or mentorship?
Clarence: The role required a lot of adaptability and being open to learning many new skills. Adaptability is something the Forward experience forces you to develop, as you’re confronted with a changing life every year while meeting many new people from very varied backgrounds. The PBL course was also helpful in understanding the struggles of entrepreneurship and acquiring skills on the go to constantly evolve.
Q: Was there a specific moment during your internship when you realised, “Forward College prepared me for exactly this”?
Clarence: I think I realised this pretty early into the internship. First, the networking that got me the opportunity in the first place is something I built almost entirely at Forward, the campuses, the community, the way you’re constantly meeting new people, it just makes it inevitable. Second, Eurvad recruits heavily on human skills and adaptability, both of which Forward trains you in just by the way the programme is structured. That combination is really what let me integrate quickly and get the most out of the experience.
Q: What advice would you give to prospective students considering Forward College?
Clarence: I think students should consider what kind of person they wish to become when choosing university studies. Forward College allows any willing student to become very open-minded and highly adaptive to any environment they’re put in. For me, that’s one of the most valuable skills one can learn during their twenties, and I’m glad I made that choice.
