Archive for November, 2009
3 minutes to sell your business idea
Organised by the MBA Student Association’s Entrepreneurship Club, the Elevator Pitch Contest put our participants’ sales skills to test. Of the 26 projects submitted by individual contestants, 10 were short-listed and each contestant was given 3 minutes to convince the judging panel, formed by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and faculty, to invest in their business idea.
With three cash prizes up for grabs in front of an audience of over 120, our special congratulations to Eric King for securing the first prize followed by Tobias Caldeweyher and Pedro Martinho in respective order.
Celebrations continued with a cocktail, sponsored by Hard Rock Café, giving current Full Time MBA participants the opportunity to network and further discuss their ideas with local entrepreneurs and potential investors.
Posted in 
MO-viembre
Mo-vember took over ESADE. For the past four weeks male students have grown and groomed their mustaches in order to raise awareness for men’s health problems and raise money for a good cause.
The ESADE Mo Bros, supported by our Mo Sistas, started November clean shaven. After the first week the fearless uncovered their Mos and where soon followed by their fellow classmates in an effort to sport the most impressive Mo.
Every participant paid a small fee to enter the contest and to lay a foundation of funds to be donated to a charity of our choice at the end of the month. We supported by our Mos were walking billboards for men’s health issues and were able to raise some more funds. The month is not quite over yet, so the final amount we were able to raise has yet to be counted.
This very special month culminated in a Mo-Down last Friday. ESADE Mo Bros and Sistas met in a bar to find out who grew the most impressive Mo. The two charming ladies behind the bar of cafe Berlin not only served us drinks but also a verdict on who would be honored “most impressive” Mo. I hereby want to thank the winners and fellow classmates Brad and Ziad for their inspiring Mos!
Stay tuned for an update on the amount ESADE was able to raise! Looking forward to next year. I will miss you Mo…
In the fast lane with Scalextric
Bringing classroom theory to life, Sergi Pastor, Managing Director of Tecnitoys, was invited by Professor Xavier Busquets (Information Systems Department) to participate in the “Strategic Management of Innovation & Technology” class discussions during the analysis of the Scalextric case study.
As a result of a similar event the preceding year, Tecnitoys implemented the new product and business development ideas generated by our Full Time MBA students for Scalextric, resulting in the creation of a mobile application developed by the company.
One year later, the mobile application registered over 60,000 downloads and the fan page counted with over 30,000 members. Tecnitoys has already announced that its new and soon-to-be-launched Scalextric product will include the mention “product based on the ideas of ESADE students”! Watch this space…
Visit from the Director of Corporate Responsibility at BBVA
I was thrilled when, during his visit to the Net Impact club last Friday, the Director for Corporate Responsibility at BBVA focused on the ways in which the bank harnesses responsibility as a driver for differentiation and value generation (not philanthropy).
Early on, Antoni Ballabriga projected a letter from Societe Generale Asset Management upon the screen. It requested that, in preparation for a particular shareholders meeting, BBVA share its specific environmental objectives. This anecdote made everyone pay a little extra attention to the corporate responsibility initiatives that followed, which included responsibility to the customer, financial literacy and inclusion and environmental and social risk as well as eco-efficiency.
Mr. Ballabriga is an ESADE alumnus and dropped in during a visit to his home in Barcelona from his current base in Madrid. He was kind enough to join us afterward for a “Feeling Good, Feeling Better” beer. FGFB is a student initiative that allows students to donate 30 cents for every beer consumed to microfinance loans made through Kiva.org.