Sponsored by EMLYON Business School.
France's EMLYON Business School, Purdue University in the USA and Zhejiang University in China have combined their strengths to educate the next generation of international entrepreneurs with their Global Entrepreneurship Program.
This is a 12-month, full-time MSc program and fully taught in English. Participants start the year in France, continue in China and finish the year in the US. Each location offers five modules, each of which is focused on key elements of successful entrepreneurship. This 12-month program also offers the opportunity to work on a semester-long consulting project with an operating company in each of the three regions.
Nicolas Kint (Belgium), a graduate of the program, explains how this program has been a valuable experience for him.
Preparing to go solo
Entrepreneurship continues to be a great source of interest among business school students. In the current business climate, they have to be better prepared to convince investors and improve their probability of success, not just in local markets but in global business cultures.
“Since childhood, I had the dream of being self-employed," Kint says. "But after my initial business studies in Belgium, all my friends were getting jobs at established institutions. I decided to take another path, but wanted to get the necessary support before launching myself in the unknown. That’s why I chose the Global Entrepreneurship Program, and that’s also what I got out of it. I now know how to value entrepreneurship, and I know I made the right choice.”
The Global Entrepreneurship Program gathers around 60 students from 22 different nationalities. They are taught by professors coming from all over the world with a global work experience.
Kint explains the value to us: “You get a global network, you get to understand and value the different cultures. You learn how to work and live in a multicultural setting. Important for me also is to accept that there is no one right business culture."
Diverse settings
"Imagine you study at Stanford in San Francisco," Kint continues. "Probably you’re going to be in a multicultural class too. But the difference in this program is, that the 17 different countries/cultures that were present, were respected in their own way. The Europeans as well as the Chinese and the Americans have their traditions, and we got to know, understand and 'live' them all.”
EMLYON Business School, Zhejiang University and Purdue University are recognized as leaders in entrepreneurship in their respective regions. Together, they believe they are able to provide the global perspective that tomorrow’s business leaders will so very much need.
“First of all, at each school, they opted for a totally different teaching style. As such, we studied business in three different ways. Second of all, apart from the classes at the business schools, we also had to finish a company project on each continent. This meant that we had to adapt and learn how to do business in Europe, China and the States, and I can tell you, it is pretty different.
"Last but not least, we had to live for four months in each continent. Again, you can’t compare living on a US campus with living in the city center of a European city. We had to adapt on almost every aspect you can encounter in business, and that’s what formed us as potential global leaders.”
