The ESCP Business School London Campus recently hosted its its 16th Jean-Baptiste Say Entrepreneurship Festival around the theme of How Entrepreneurship Can Address Local Challenges in Camden.
Students were tasked with coming up with business solutions that will help address various social and environmental issues in the London Borough of Camden community, such as food access, urban development and sustainability.
These challenges were presented by representatives from Camden Council, One Kilburn, Think and Do Camden and Camden Clean Air.
The MSc in Marketing & Creativity students were joined by Prof Stela Ivanova, ESPC Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, and supported by the ESCP London Blue Factory incubator.
She said:
“The direction of the Festival this year resulted from collaboration with the Blue Factory, as we discussed the importance of embedding our school in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“We thought, what better way to do so than to direct our biggest resource — our students’ talent, creativity and hard work — to address challenges that have local impact and result in self-sufficient and sustainable Camden-based businesses?
“The students’ engagement was high as they could see, meet and interact with the local streets and communities their businesses would serve. Their empathy and connection with the problems were a strong motivator behind their work.”
Over several weeks, student teams, supported by mentors and faculty, developed innovative solutions for the Camden community. Each team produced an MVP, identifying opportunities and viable business models. Projects were open for public evaluation, allowing attendees, including alumni and visitors, to provide feedback.
After a fair-style demonstration, teams pitched their projects in five minutes, followed by a three-minute Q&A with a jury panel, including Prof. Ivanova, Andrea Consentino (Founder & Managing Partner at Impact Fundry), and Tarek Anwar (CEO at Finvelo).
Both the audience and panel evaluated the projects, deciding winners in two categories:
Favourite Venture from the Panel: The jury awarded the Cambio team (Clara Piazenza, Isolde Steinhagen de Bonnevie, Sampreeti Singha Babu, Romain Jacquet and Megan Jones) for their marketplace platform connecting NGO projects with companies, allowing participants to track and measure their impact.
Favourite Venture from the Audience: The public voted for Refeed (Paul Gedda, Saloni Gupta, Jordana Jooyeon Kim and Laura Daniela Perez Rincon) for their idea to recycle food waste into gardening compost, promoting sustainable gardening.
Other student projects included a healthy food vending machine, job application services for retired senior professionals, and a coworking/incubation space to revitalise Kilburn.
The event featured an inspiring keynote by Thierry Moschetti, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of the Resilience Institute Europe, who shared insights on mastering stress and building resilience.
The festival concluded with a networking session, fostering connections among students, alumni and local business leaders for potential collaborations.
Romain Jacquet, on behalf of the Cambio student team, said:
“Taking part in the Jean-Baptiste Say Entrepreneurship Festival was an incredibly rewarding experience for us. Not only did it allow us to put our new skills into practice, but it also gave us the opportunity to get involved and give back to our local Camden community.
“We are grateful to Camden Clean Air (soon to be London Clean Air) and the many other NGOs, businesses, and individuals in the Camden area for their invaluable support in this project.
“As the name of our business Cambio stems from the Latin work for ‘change’, we hope this is what we will achieve.”
Founded in 1819, the ESCP Business School teaches responsible leadership, open to the world and based on European multiculturalism. Six campuses in Berlin, London, Madrid, Paris, Turin and Warsaw are the stepping stones that allow students to experience a European approach to management.
Every year, ESCP welcomes more than 10,000 students and 6,000 managers from 135 different nationalities. Its strength lies in its many business training programmes, both general and specialised (Bachelor, Master, MBA, Executive MBA, PhD and Executive Education), all of which include a multi-campus experience.
The Jean-Baptiste Say Entrepreneurship Festival continues to be a flagship event for ESCP Business School, fostering a culture of entrepreneurship, innovative problem-solving, and community engagement.
The next Jean-Baptiste Say Entrepreneurship Festival will take place in November 2024.
For more information on ESCP London Campus and how to get involved, visit escp.eu/london
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