Nick Doman went to business school looking for a place to explore start -up ideas and build his network. Then, one day in class, he sat next to Will Pearson, who would finally become his trading partner.
“It was fierce,” explains the 30 -year -old entrepreneur. “We sat side by side and we talked to each lesson for the first half in 2017.” Quick advance until today, and their company, Ocean Bottle, which sells reusable plastic bottles with a social impact in mind, is about to achieve a profit this year, according to Doman.
Although Doman meets his co-founder at London business school (LBS) Although the study for a master’s degree may seem random is anything but. Thousands of people head for business schools to build a network, feed ideas in the hope that they will make it enrich and do good to society.
Weekends spent discussing ideas on pizza and beers to competitions where winners receive cash prices and mentorship, business schools – through their incubators – play more and more a role in the ‘Education of a new generation of entrepreneurs.
Ideas that have an impact are often simple. In the case of Bottle Ocean, for each bottle that customers buy, the company collects 1,000 plastic bottles to help reduce waste in the environment.
“I came with this idea, to place the goal at the forefront of what we have done,” explains Doman. “With a goal come for profit. We don’t have to exchange it against each other. »»
Some educators observe that Doman is typical of a generation of entrepreneurs who often want to do good and earn money. Jane Khedair is the former leader of the LBS incubator and now directs the LBS Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital.
“The objective of the founders is different from 15 years ago, when they were purely commercial and cared to secure an outing with a decent evaluation,” she notes. “Now their motivation is doing well in society.”
Entrepreneurs are also more educated than previous generations, explains Bo Becker, of the Stockholm economy school. “Previously, you needed to get your diploma if you were going to work in the system, but (it was not as crucial if you were going to be an entrepreneur. Now, many qualified entrepreneurs – and the typical founder tends to be more educated than in 1985. “
Commercial education and incubators play an important role in the education of modern entrepreneurs, explains that Andw “Zach” Zacharakis, professor of entrepreneurship Babson Collegewho has a strong accent on the subject. The concept of risk presents prominently in the schooling of future business leaders, says Zacharakis. “We work in all our programs to help students go into situations that are not overwhelming, trying to help them reduce the risk and identify opportunities.”
Zacharakis argues that it is important, both for consumers and entrepreneurs, that business schools and universities promote entrepreneurship. For consumers, he says, “radical innovations” that benefit society tend to occur outside large companies.
Entrepreneurs also benefit from this. “At the time of my parents, companies could guarantee a job for life,” he says. “Today, most people in their twenties and thirties will have six or seven careers. Entrepreneurship is a way to take charge of your destiny. »»
Goulnara Aguiar, 43 -year -old founder and Russian and Without sea The old former decided to take the risks of becoming an entrepreneur because of the lifestyle that he could potentially allow.
“Being part of the system is also part of the bureaucracy system – and I like freedom too much,” she says. “I had enough experience and I felt confident to start something, because I am a creative person. I wanted to make something that makes sense to me and my children.
Aguiar founded Ormex, a register for carbon storage in agriculture. “Insead helped me understand that it may be possible to have a viable business in the fields where our society needs it,” she says.
FT Global MBA Class 2025
This article comes from the MBA classification report on February 17
Nancy Hsieh, executive director of Rudolf and Valeria Maag Insead Center for Entrepreneurship, says that students who participate in the one -year program of the center generally have a ready to be launched by the end of the course. Insead also organizes a venture capital competition twice a year, after which the winners are twinned with mentors to work to improve their business idea while studying at the French school.
Hsieh says that participants are encouraged to reach a “minimum viable product”, by which they leave with the bases of implementation, including a website. Students can also present their ideas to a panel of investors and entrepreneurs.
“We favor a safe and united environment, but also rigorous, which prepares them for the real world,” she says.
And Hsieh believes that the wider company benefits accordingly. “Entrepreneurs create value,” she says. “They create jobs and provide new solutions to problems that already exist, but which have not been treated before in a certain way. They look at things with fresh eyes.