Description
During this such a brief file in relation to entrepreneurship ie founded by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship @ IE
Founded by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs
entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Bringing ideas to life!
IE
ie / 3
Index
Entrepreneurial Spirit at IE 5
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center 6
Academic Area 8
Venture Lab 10
Wide Open 12
Success Stories 16
Entrepreneurship IE
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Entrepreneurial Spirit at IE
If there is a school fully committed to fostering the entrepreneurial spirit, it is IE. The school itself was founded
by entrepreneurs, and the entrepreneurial spirit forms an integral part of IE’s day-to-day fabric – from the
teaching methods we use in our classrooms and the manner in which we develop new programs for the next
generation of students, to how we engage with the external community of investors, government agencies
and start-ups.
Our mission is to promote the development and consolidation of business start-ups proposed and launched
by IE students and alumni, both in Spain and worldwide, and to foster an ecosystem aimed at facilitating the
funding of past, present, and future business projects as an engine for growth and social welfare.
We know that the best way to manage change is to lead it, which is why our practical vision of training in
entrepreneurial skills is based on teamwork and aimed at giving our students a broader perspective, to make
it easier for them to be proactive and willing to assume risks while staying in touch with reality.
As a direct result of the emphasis we place on entrepreneurial spirit, more than 10% of our students set up a
business immediately after they graduate from IE.
Internationally recognized in the academic arena as a leader in innovation, IE’s success is unquestionably
rooted in its entrepreneurial vision.
www.ie.edu/entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurial spirit is made visible in the way our students tackle their work,
lead through example and ?nd new ways of reaching common objectives.
Entrepreneurship IE
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Center at IE
Entrepreneurial activity at IE is carried out through the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center, which has made our school an international
reference in the ?eld of entrepreneurship, placing it at the forefront of management education. We work from a dual perspective of
academic excellence and support for entrepreneurial initiatives aimed at generating growth and social wellbeing.
More than 1,500 of our students study entrepreneurship as a core course of all our Master programs each year. Students learn how to
identify business opportunities, develop business plans and access the resources they need to launch the plan. Optional specialized
courses are offered to complement this training.
Additionally, the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center has its own Venture Lab, an initiative that affords a unique opportunity for
those students interested in setting up their own business, by enabling them to develop a business plan under personalized tutorship
provided by IE alumni with experience in entrepreneurship or investment.
In terms of corporate initiatives, IE is a leader in the ?eld of entrepreneurship with projects like Pasion>ie and Spain Startup and
Investor Summit, as well as training and guidance programs launched in agreement with different institutions and aimed at fostering
entrepreneurial development in society and within business organizations, from top multinational companies to SMEs.
IE’s passion for entrepreneurship has materialized in Area 31, an inspiring space that hosts the entrepreneurship and innovation
ecosystem gravitating around IE Business School. Entrepreneurs are at the core of this ecosystem, which is also integrated by investors,
programmers, public administrations, corporate partners and anyone enthusiastic about promoting entrepreneurship. Area 31 can
accommodate for up to 100 startup teams per annum. It hosts teams of IE students as they make their business ideas real in Venture
Lab (IE’s Startup accelerator) or the Knowledge Incubator. There are also IE Alumni teams that are incubating their own startups in
Area 31. All of them are invited to present in front of investors at our weekly pitching slam, the Venture Network, and at our grand
international demodays: The Venture Days.
25% of our students go on to set up their own company at some point in their career.
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Entrepreneurship IE
The Entrepreneurial Studies Area of IE was founded in 1983. This key area in the IE Curriculum instills students with a fundamental
entrepreneurial culture to help them gain a better understanding of the environment and leverage opportunities that arise, aimed
at ensuring that business initiatives achieve the right bottom line results.
The world economy is currently undergoing unprecedented changes, which call for all of us to be capable of devising new strategies
and approaches that, in time, can transform these challenges into growth opportunities. Our research strives to provide managers
with the necessary tools to accomplish such a task, and this is why every student at IE must study entrepreneurship as part of their
program.
Faculty
The faculty at IE consists of both professors with PhDs from top international business schools and entrepreneurs with extensive
experience in the creation of start-ups. These professors lend their students guidance and support, which leads to a high number of
IE graduates who are currently running their own businesses.
Faculty in the Entrepreneurial Studies Area
• 12 full-time professors
• 10 part-time professors
• 30% of the full-time faculty is female
• Over 80% is international
Our part-time faculty has extensive experience running and starting companies, both in Spain and globally, and includes former
venture capitalists and entrepreneurs with global experience. In addition, the department has a network of more than 100 BP Tutors
who supervise over 250 business projects each year.
Courses and Programs
In addition to the mandatory entrepreneurship courses, which all IE students are required to take, the department provides a
great variety of courses related to the entrepreneurial context and experience. These include courses on individual and corporate
entrepreneurship, family business and social entrepreneurship, as well as multiple courses on venture ?nancing, managing growth
and creativity and innovation.
In addition, the Venture Lab is a highly selective process in which the best business plans can enter to polish and accelerate their
entrepreneurial projects.
The academic offerings are complemented by activities both academically and student driven, such as business plan competitions,
the Entrepreneurs Club, Venture Day @ IE and Angel Network meetings, that are designed to round up the entrepreneurial experience
of students at IE.
Academic Area
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My passion for entrepreneurial management
grew throughout my career in the airline,
banking, consulting and venture capital
industries, and especially during the years
when I managed the commercialization of
new technologies through the creation of
start-up companies. Working closely with
entrepreneurs and investors also stimulated
my intellectual passions, and led me to
become a professor. I began my new career in
Sydney, Australia. Now at IE, I’m excited by the
opportunity to support the next generation
of entrepreneurial managers and leaders. I
?rmly believe that all organizations – whether
young or old, small or large – need these
capabilities in order to compete and grow.
Peter Bryant Ph.D.
IE Business School
Entrepreneurship IE
One of the most important initiatives developed by the Entrepreneurhsip & Innovation Center is the Venture Lab, which provides a
unique opportunity for entrepreneurial students and alumni.
The aim of the Venture Lab is to incubate the development and consolidation of business start-ups, providing high-quality “deal
?ow” within a global network of investors. The Venture Lab isn’t only a business plan competition or a chance for students to
entertain interesting business ideas; it is a unique opportunity for students with entrepreneurial spirit and disruptive ideas to
begin the process of transforming those concepts into investment-worthy companies. It is open to all students of all programs at IE,
although its admissions process is highly selective.
The Venture Lab, which is open both to students and alumni, has its culmination in the Venture Day, a biannual event during which
the ?ve most promising projects are presented to investors with the mission of opening the doors to the relationships that might
eventually lead to successful funding. Venture Days are held bi-annualy in Madrid as well as internationally.
The Venture Day creates a setting in which all stakeholders in the national and international entrepreneurial ecosystem are brought
together: entrepreneurs, investors, service suppliers, consultants, analysts and academics. The event consists of several panels and
keynote speeches by renowned entrepreneurs, investors, analysts and academics.
That being said, it’s important to mention that IE’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs extends beyond the Venture Lab;
students can also choose the shorter elective known as the Knowledge Incubator to develop their projects. They also have the
opportunity to engage the support of mentors while working on their projects independently of the Venture Lab or Knowledge
Incubator.
All projects in the Knowledge Incubator receive the support of a professor and a mentor, which implies that the overall educational
experience is very similar to that of the Venture Lab.
Venture Lab
ie / 11
The Spain Startup & Investor
Summit is an initiative that
brings together all of the
key Spanish players in the
business ecosystem such as
entrepreneurs, companies,
investors, institutions and
government. The goal: To
support entrepreneurship,
job creation and the
promotion of Spain’s image
in the world.
The 2-day event which took
place in 2012 served as a
meeting-point for the 30
best startups in Spain, 185
investors, 1500 attendees,
1200 entrepreneurs and
over 10.000 followers via
streaming. The event is an
ideal platform to connect
Spanish startups with great
potential to the international
investor ecosystem.
Wayra is a program for
technological startups
promoted by Telefónica,
aimed at supporting the
creation of ICTs in Europe
and Latin America, making it
the leading global platform
for identifying technological
talent in the ICT world. IE
Business School has been
involved with Wayra in the
development of training
programs, which are taught
by its expert faculty in the
Academies in Madrid and
Barcelona, and by nourishing
the pool of mentors offered
to start ups throughout the
different acceleration phases.
IE Business School and
Accenture continue with
Pasion>ie Project, an initiative
that links the innovative and
entrepreneurial community
with corporations in order
to contribute to social and
economic development.
The training program,
designed and conducted by
IE Business School, offers
speci?c training courses for
startups, along with a period
of mentoring offered by IE
mentors and the innovation
heads of collaborating ?rms.
These projects are found
in the Smartcities, eHealth
and future commercial
distribution sectors.
Pasion>ie already holds claim
to very successful editions
that have led to agreements
between large companies
and startups, allowing for
the development of the
entrepreneurial ecosystem
and improving corporate
competition.
www.pasionie.com
Spain Startup & Investor Summit Wayra Startups Training Pasion>ie
Entrepreneurial talent
connected to corporate
innovation
Renowned event for
entrepreneurs in southern
Europe
Collaboration with the most
important techonological
incubators
www.spain-startup.com
IE Entrepreneurship
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center is strongly committed towards achieving sustainable economic development at a
global level, while remaining open to the entrepreneurial ecosystem that surrounds it. The Center’s activities go beyond the
classroom and directed to all agents who interact on a day to day basis within our economic reality.
A number of initiatives are launched with the sole purpose of improving the results and conditions needed in order to create a more
entrepreneurial and competitive society. IE Business School’s doors are open to all entrepreneurial activities, and for this reason it is
has become a world-wide reference.
Wide Open
Main force in the development of a global entrepreneurial ecosystem
ie / 13
Entrepreneurship
IE Venture Network is an
opportunity for the open
entrepreneurial community
to share and pitch their own
startups while expanding
their network with helpful
contacts in an informal
setting. During this weekly
event (Madrid), three
innovative start-ups pitch to
a panel of investors to receive
feedback, learn from each
other and gain insights into
the business angels’ market
– an invaluable resource for
early stage entrepreneurs.
This is a forum for engaging
the entrepreneurial
community as well as an
opportunity to promote
your start-up, and at best
securing an investment from
investors. IE Venture Network
is already present in other
locations like Barcelona, Tel
Aviv, Bilbao, Canary Islands
with more to come…
#ieventurenetwork
The purpose of this initiative
is to stimulate the early
stage investment industry in
Spain through the creation of
a € 40 million co-investment
fund. The co-investment
fund is made up of equal
contributions from ENISA,
Spain´s leading government
agency for the development
of innovation-based high
growth potential companies,
and an international group
of specialised private sector
investors. The Spain Startup
Co-investment Fund (SSCF) is
not only an instrument that
supports the development
of the Venture Capital
industry in Spain, but it is
also an initiative to promote
entrepreneurial talent,
bringing it to the attention
of some of the most
internationally active early
stage investors.
IE Venture Network Spain Startup Co-investment Fund
Startup pitches and
networking
Business Angels and Venture
Capital investment stimulus
IE Business School and
Fundación Canal launched
Comprometi2.0 in order
to transform business
ideas into real, innovative
and sustainable projects
which would help economic
development and generate
employment. IE Business
School selected 30 young
entrepreneurs, created teams
and helped them develop
their ideas. Finalists were
also mentored until their
?nal presentation given
before of an expert panel,
and the members of the
winning team received a
100% scholarship for IE
Business School’s Master
in Management. The latest
team teaching methods,
as well as Design Thinking
and Lean Startup were used
throughout this initiative,
which proved to be an
incomparable experience for
all entrepreneurs.
www.fundacioncanal.com/comprometi2
Comprometi2.0
Innovative methodologies for
the development of young
entrepreneurial talent
The Immersion Program for Business
Angels (BA) has been speci?cally
designed for private investors and people
interested in exploring different options
on how to invest their assets, but also for
entrepreneurs to acquire the necessary
skills to search capital for their start-ups.
The objective of this program is to facilitate
serious BA training, following the experience
of the national market’s best. Even if the
program does place a special emphasis on
internet-bases start-ups and emerging tech
companies, it does guide investors through
the whole process, which can be applied to
all new companies in all sectors.
Immersion Program for Business Angels
Training the investment
ecosystem
IE
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Entrepreneurship
Respiro Car Sharing
Claus Biernoth, Ian Paterson & Philippe
Remise
Global Executive MBA
Germany, UK, France
“Respiro Car Sharing was born in the
Venture Lab. During our MBA, we became increasingly interested in
the commercialization of green technologies as an ingenious way of
‘doing well by doing good’. Respiro is the ?rst car-sharing company
in the center of Madrid. We offer an all-inclusive, e-based, pay-as-
you-go service for € 0,15 per minute. Respiro empowers people to
make smart economical and ecological transportation choices, and
gives access without ownership, wheels when you want them. We
are part of a global phenomenon of transforming modern cities into
more sustainable environments.”
www.respiromadrid.es
IMASTE
Miguel Arias
MBA Part-Time
Spain
“I founded IMASTE in 2004 while still a part-time MBA candidate.
Although IMASTE’s initial focus was on organizing live career fairs
to bridge the gap between companies seeking talented employees
and university graduates, we are now the European leader in the
organization of virtual events and fairs, with more than 100 successful
events delivered in more than 10 countries. I am a civil engineer by
training, so before coming to IE, I knew very little about marketing,
human resources, strategy, etc. But my MBA experience prepared
me to overcome the problems and challenges of a start-up’s initial
phases by strengthening my ability to analyze, execute and adapt
the original business idea. Sharing ideas with other entrepreneurial
students, teachers and mentors was essential to my evolution.
IE’s powerful investor and entrepreneur network also provided us
with invaluable early feedback that both enhanced our company’s
chances of early survival and eventually laid the groundwork for
our successful expansion into Europe and the United States. As an
active member of IE’s entrepreneurial community, I also currently
serve as a member of the Venture Lab’s Selection Committee and as
a mentor to student entrepreneurs in the Venture Lab.”
www.imaste-ips.com
Prexus Consultoría
Nicolás Restrepo Abad
MBA
Colombia
“PREXUS is the ?rst consultancy ?rm in Latin America to lend
prices the importance they deserve in companies’ marketing and
competitive strategy. We’re fully convinced that you achieve better
results when you work on making a positive and sustainable impact
on the ?nal result of the income statement, and the effect of
modifying prices is ?ve times that of cutting ?xed costs. PREXUS ?lls
the gap between operational consultancy, aimed at reducing costs,
and strategic consultancy, that fails when it comes to making the
means for increasing income tangible.”
www.prexus.co
IE
RenewEn
Drury Elisabeth McKenzie
International MBA
USA
“I came to IE because of the Venture Lab. My company, RenewEn, is
a smart energy solutions provider, committed to providing everyone
everywhere with cost-effective and technology-appropriate
clean energy systems. At IE Business School, I was enveloped in
an unbeatable entrepreneurial ecosystem formed by diverse and
globally minded professors and students who helped me transform
my idea into a company. Without the support of my classmates
(Kannan, Vitaliy Bubka, Ashutosh, Agrawal, Carlos Morodo, Ajibade
Ogunbiyi and Andre Franciss), RenewEn might never have been born.
My ?nance professor and Venture Lab mentor helped me develop
a partnership with one of the world’s largest renewable energy
companies, and we are also about to engage two customers in Haiti
for small-scale renewable energy systems and water-puri?cation
systems. IE has helped me to make my dream – RenewEn – a reality.”
www.renewenusa.com
IE takes an active interest in the outcome of our students’ business ventures. In the following pages, we share a few of the many
success stories submitted by students and alumni.
Success Stories
ie / 17
Entrepreneurship
BUSUU
Adrian Hilti & Bernhard Niesner
International MBA
Liechtenstein, Austria
Adrian Hilti and Bernhard Niesner, co-founders, came up with the
idea for busuu.com as their ?nal project for their International MBA
program. They founded the company in Madrid in January 2008,
and, in only three years, it has become the world’s most active
language-learning online community, with more than 5 million
online users and over 5 million mobile application users. 15,000
new users register daily to access the 9 online language courses.
Registration is free, although users can pay a small fee to gain access
to premium contents. The courses combine more than 150 lessons
with interaction with other users in the community (native speakers
of the language they are learning), through an integrated video-
chat, with text and voice correction. busuu.com has won several
prestigious awards, such as the CEBIT Innovation Award and The
European Commission Language Training Innovation Award, and
was chosen best education start-up in the TechCrunch Europas
Awards 2011. IE students who wish to learn languages are given a
free premium account through the Student Of?ce.
www.busuu.com
DEVENALSA,
Deshidratadora
Venezolana de Alimentos, S.A.
Johnny Dao
International MBA
Venezuela
“The company specializes in fruit, vegetable and herb dehydration for
sale both to other companies and, through its trademark, as snacks
to retail stores. The training I received from the International MBA
program at IE complemented my skills and knowledge and allowed
me to start my entrepreneurial journey and launch a company in my
country. I’m currently managing the implementation of the macro
project and its initial phase operations. Everything I learned during
the program gave me the necessary skills to coordinate all the
aspects involved in the development and operation of a business
and, more importantly, the relationship between both. This global
managerial vision is absolutely necessary and essential to coordinate
the creation of a company and select the person best suited to each
task. The satisfaction I gain from doing something for my country
and creating new jobs, apart from the usefulness of our products,
is invaluable.”
www.devenalsa.com
BIT&BRAIN
María López
MBA Part-Time
Spain
Bit&Brain specializes in the development of Brain-Computer
Interface (BCI) technology, focusing initially on the areas of medicine,
academia and research.
Achievements: Winning project in the 8
th
edition of the Banespyme-
Orange competition held by IE. Awarded the Spin-Off seal by the
University of Zaragoza, the 1
st
prize in the IDEA competition of
Aragón, the CEEI Company seal and the I+E Company seal. Bit&Brain
was founded in September 2010.
www.bitbrain.es
Foundation for African
Leadership in Business
Marino Giocondi, Suzanne O’Brien,
Henry Okafor & Fabio Pisi Vitagliano
International MBA
Italy, USA, Nigeria, Italy
“While we were students at IE Business School, we established the
Foundation for African Leadership in Business, which creates MBA
scholarships for African students, partnering with universities,
corporations and other NGOs for funding. At IE, entrepreneurial
spirit is infused in every interaction among students, professors,
staff and alumni, and that spirit inspired us to create our foundation.
Our economics professor not only helped us develop the idea, but
also put us in touch with world-famous foundations. The personnel
at the bookstore helped us ?nd a printer. Student Of?ces introduced
us to key alumni, and Dean Santiago Iñiguez invited us a very
private dinner with an important leader in the world of foundations.
Thanks in large part to this continuing support, we have established
partnerships with several organizations, including IE, and have
already created two scholarships for African citizens.”
www.albfoundation.org
IE
CityDeal S.L.U
Gonzalo Castellano Benlloch & Philipp Hasskamp
International MBA
Spain, Germany
“We are co-founders of CityDeal S.L.U., currently the fastest-growing
company in the Internet space. Our friendship and partnership started
after we studied in the same program section. In February 2010, shortly
after ?nishing the International MBA, the Samwer brothers (German
serial entrepreneurs) offered us the chance to found the Spanish
branch of CityDeal. A few months later, Groupon acquired CityDeal
to form the world’s leading social commerce site, offering one great
deal, every day, in more than 170 cities across Europe, the US and Latin
America. Our MBAs not only provided us with many concepts and
experiences that we later used while starting up our company, but
also allowed us to nourish ourselves within a strong entrepreneurial
environment ?ourishing with innovative ideas. Moreover, it allowed
us to establish ties with other students and teachers who then have
supported us in our journey. Since graduating from IE, we have also
gotten to know the larger entrepreneurial community thanks, in part,
to networking events and speaker series sponsored by the Venture Lab.
In our fast expansion, we count and will count on the support of many
people that we met at IE and that are now, in some way or another,
part of our organization.”
www.groupon.es
SCHMOOZY FOX
Olga Slavkina
International MBA
Latvia
“Back in 2006, I had a well-paid job at a multinational in Brussels, a safe and steady career ahead of me, a highly ranked Master’s degree in
International Relations under my belt, and a daughter who had just turned 1: perhaps not the most common combination of life circumstances
that would prompt one to pursue a full-time MBA. And yet, to me it made perfect sense to come to IE and develop my interests in branding,
entrepreneurship and the web. After IE, I moved back to Brussels where I founded SCHMOOZY FOX, a brand and marketing strategy consultancy
that is based on my concept of Funky Brands™: products and services which owe their success to astonishing design and smart brand strategies.
I work both with large companies and start-ups, to help them position, launch and promote their products in real life and on the Internet.
Besides consulting, I write about branding and marketing, and publish a Funky Brand Interviews series on my blog. The Funky Brands™ concept
was nominated for the 2011 Accenture Innovation Award, and Funky Brand Interviews will soon launch in flm format.”
www.schmoozyfox.com
Ambiox Biotech
Teresa Gonzalo
Master in Biotechnology Management
Spain
“My passion for medicine and my desire to continue learning led
me to become a student at IE, with the vision of founding a biotech
company with colleagues at my research lab. Our product aims to
help prevent the spread of HIV. IE’s entrepreneurial spirit, combined
with the Master in Biotechnology Management’s integrative vision,
helped transform our scienti?c discoveries into a successful biotech
venture; Ambiox Biotech. The Master in Biotechnology Management
helped me develop my leadership, marketing and business
management skills. This dual training is essential, given that biotech
entrepreneurs must be ?uent in the different languages of science
and business. In addition, because biotech start-ups need investors
to survive, the training in ?nance and managing venture capital that
I obtained during the program was key, as are the introductions and
opportunities to present to biotech venture capitalists that we have
received thanks to the Venture Lab.”
www.ambiox.com
ie / 19
Entrepreneurship
Financiera Dimex
Juan Eugenio Clariond
International MBA
Mexico
“Dimex currently has 42,500 customers and three fnancial products:
Dimex Pay Roll, Dimex Consumer and Dimex Direct. It has 625
employees and is present in 25 Mexican states through 83 offces.
After working for four years in investment banking at Citigroup,
I decided to enroll in the International MBA at IE Business School.
Some months before I left for Madrid, a relative and I bought a small
?nancial ?rm that ?nanced electronic and white-line consumer
goods through a series of agreements with department and
furniture stores. Back then, the company trademark was Camernova,
and it had 3 offces and 42 employees. When we started, it was losing
money, but we saw that it could be an opportunity. My partner
and I realized that there were several bottlenecks throughout the
operation, and we thought a new focus and an adequate strategy
could help us turn the company around. We focused on our
customers: understanding them, spending time in the ?eld, and
starting to think like them. We modi?ed and restructured our services
based on their needs, as, with every passing day, it was easier for us
to see that our business wasn’t about ?nance, but about people. For
2017 we want to be a leading, diversifed and international frm, that
offers multiple ?nancial services to meet our customers’ needs and
that makes a positive and sustainable impact on our communities
and environment. Buy what you want, where and when you want it!”
www.dimex.mx
Tractis
David Blanco & Leandro Caldora
MBA
Argentina
Tractis was founded by David Blanco and Leandro Caldora, and it was
born as their ?nal project for their MBA program. Today, Tractis offers a
wide range of products, such as Tractis Identity, to verify client identity
online, Tractis Signatures, to create, negotiate and sign contracts
online, Tractis Webservices, to allow anyone to build applications
using their identity veri?cation, validation, timestamping and
evidence preservation infrastructures, and Tractis Hardware, to help
companies equip their customers with the necessary eID readers.
www.tractis.com
Beyond The Marketing
Marketing Consultants
Nelson Labrador Castro
Executive MBA 2011
Venezuela
Beyond The Marketing, with an innovative business vision and
the use of state-of-the-arts technology, designs, develops and
implements integrated marketing plans for customers who need to
communicate and commercialize their brands/products successfully
among consumers.
“The reason why I chose to study my Executive MBA at IE, more
than the school’s excellent ranking, was its extraordinary level of
global recognition as an elite school with a highly entrepreneurial
philosophy. You can see this for yourself from day one through the
Venture Lab, which introduced me to high-level tools and initiatives
in a business platform that allowed me to consolidate my position
in business, expanding my global vision to make me a successful
integral entrepreneur.”
www.beyond-themarketing.com
IE
Zinkia
Jose María Castillejo
MBA
Spain
“My entrepreneurial journey began when I was a kid watching my
grandfather’s example of the daily life of an entrepreneur. By the
time I ?nished my MBA, I already had my ?rst company running. It
was a great success during its ?rst two years, but it went bankrupt
in its third year! It was a good frst lesson. Over the last 25 years,
I’ve started and sold companies in different sectors: distribution,
agricultural process and biotech, fashion and design, construction
and energy, and now I’m extremely happy with Zinkia, the company
we founded in 2001 that created Pocoyo and many other animated
characters for kids and preschoolers. We created a global company
from scratch, which means that we are competing on a global stage
against the “big guys” in the entertainment industry. Nonetheless,
we have won many important awards, and we ?ght every day for
the quality of our creations, for the smile of our clients, and of course,
for growth. Within the next two years, 90% of our income will come
from outside of Spain, and we will have two more great properties
supporting Pocoyo, as we continue our expansion into becoming a
global entertainment company.”
www.zinkia.com
ie / 21
Entrepreneurship
IE wants to extend its deepest
thanks to all the students,
alumni, faculty members and
others who appear in this
brochure.
IE
Contact us!
Admissions Department
Maria de Molina, 11
Madrid, Spain
T: +34 915 689 610
[email protected]
Find us on:
ie / 23
Your future starts here
www.ie.edu
doc_457184755.pdf
During this such a brief file in relation to entrepreneurship ie founded by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship @ IE
Founded by entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs
entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship
Bringing ideas to life!
IE
ie / 3
Index
Entrepreneurial Spirit at IE 5
Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center 6
Academic Area 8
Venture Lab 10
Wide Open 12
Success Stories 16
Entrepreneurship IE
ie / 5
Entrepreneurial Spirit at IE
If there is a school fully committed to fostering the entrepreneurial spirit, it is IE. The school itself was founded
by entrepreneurs, and the entrepreneurial spirit forms an integral part of IE’s day-to-day fabric – from the
teaching methods we use in our classrooms and the manner in which we develop new programs for the next
generation of students, to how we engage with the external community of investors, government agencies
and start-ups.
Our mission is to promote the development and consolidation of business start-ups proposed and launched
by IE students and alumni, both in Spain and worldwide, and to foster an ecosystem aimed at facilitating the
funding of past, present, and future business projects as an engine for growth and social welfare.
We know that the best way to manage change is to lead it, which is why our practical vision of training in
entrepreneurial skills is based on teamwork and aimed at giving our students a broader perspective, to make
it easier for them to be proactive and willing to assume risks while staying in touch with reality.
As a direct result of the emphasis we place on entrepreneurial spirit, more than 10% of our students set up a
business immediately after they graduate from IE.
Internationally recognized in the academic arena as a leader in innovation, IE’s success is unquestionably
rooted in its entrepreneurial vision.
www.ie.edu/entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurial spirit is made visible in the way our students tackle their work,
lead through example and ?nd new ways of reaching common objectives.
Entrepreneurship IE
Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Center at IE
Entrepreneurial activity at IE is carried out through the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center, which has made our school an international
reference in the ?eld of entrepreneurship, placing it at the forefront of management education. We work from a dual perspective of
academic excellence and support for entrepreneurial initiatives aimed at generating growth and social wellbeing.
More than 1,500 of our students study entrepreneurship as a core course of all our Master programs each year. Students learn how to
identify business opportunities, develop business plans and access the resources they need to launch the plan. Optional specialized
courses are offered to complement this training.
Additionally, the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Center has its own Venture Lab, an initiative that affords a unique opportunity for
those students interested in setting up their own business, by enabling them to develop a business plan under personalized tutorship
provided by IE alumni with experience in entrepreneurship or investment.
In terms of corporate initiatives, IE is a leader in the ?eld of entrepreneurship with projects like Pasion>ie and Spain Startup and
Investor Summit, as well as training and guidance programs launched in agreement with different institutions and aimed at fostering
entrepreneurial development in society and within business organizations, from top multinational companies to SMEs.
IE’s passion for entrepreneurship has materialized in Area 31, an inspiring space that hosts the entrepreneurship and innovation
ecosystem gravitating around IE Business School. Entrepreneurs are at the core of this ecosystem, which is also integrated by investors,
programmers, public administrations, corporate partners and anyone enthusiastic about promoting entrepreneurship. Area 31 can
accommodate for up to 100 startup teams per annum. It hosts teams of IE students as they make their business ideas real in Venture
Lab (IE’s Startup accelerator) or the Knowledge Incubator. There are also IE Alumni teams that are incubating their own startups in
Area 31. All of them are invited to present in front of investors at our weekly pitching slam, the Venture Network, and at our grand
international demodays: The Venture Days.
25% of our students go on to set up their own company at some point in their career.
ie / 7
Entrepreneurship IE
The Entrepreneurial Studies Area of IE was founded in 1983. This key area in the IE Curriculum instills students with a fundamental
entrepreneurial culture to help them gain a better understanding of the environment and leverage opportunities that arise, aimed
at ensuring that business initiatives achieve the right bottom line results.
The world economy is currently undergoing unprecedented changes, which call for all of us to be capable of devising new strategies
and approaches that, in time, can transform these challenges into growth opportunities. Our research strives to provide managers
with the necessary tools to accomplish such a task, and this is why every student at IE must study entrepreneurship as part of their
program.
Faculty
The faculty at IE consists of both professors with PhDs from top international business schools and entrepreneurs with extensive
experience in the creation of start-ups. These professors lend their students guidance and support, which leads to a high number of
IE graduates who are currently running their own businesses.
Faculty in the Entrepreneurial Studies Area
• 12 full-time professors
• 10 part-time professors
• 30% of the full-time faculty is female
• Over 80% is international
Our part-time faculty has extensive experience running and starting companies, both in Spain and globally, and includes former
venture capitalists and entrepreneurs with global experience. In addition, the department has a network of more than 100 BP Tutors
who supervise over 250 business projects each year.
Courses and Programs
In addition to the mandatory entrepreneurship courses, which all IE students are required to take, the department provides a
great variety of courses related to the entrepreneurial context and experience. These include courses on individual and corporate
entrepreneurship, family business and social entrepreneurship, as well as multiple courses on venture ?nancing, managing growth
and creativity and innovation.
In addition, the Venture Lab is a highly selective process in which the best business plans can enter to polish and accelerate their
entrepreneurial projects.
The academic offerings are complemented by activities both academically and student driven, such as business plan competitions,
the Entrepreneurs Club, Venture Day @ IE and Angel Network meetings, that are designed to round up the entrepreneurial experience
of students at IE.
Academic Area
ie / 9
My passion for entrepreneurial management
grew throughout my career in the airline,
banking, consulting and venture capital
industries, and especially during the years
when I managed the commercialization of
new technologies through the creation of
start-up companies. Working closely with
entrepreneurs and investors also stimulated
my intellectual passions, and led me to
become a professor. I began my new career in
Sydney, Australia. Now at IE, I’m excited by the
opportunity to support the next generation
of entrepreneurial managers and leaders. I
?rmly believe that all organizations – whether
young or old, small or large – need these
capabilities in order to compete and grow.
Peter Bryant Ph.D.
IE Business School
Entrepreneurship IE
One of the most important initiatives developed by the Entrepreneurhsip & Innovation Center is the Venture Lab, which provides a
unique opportunity for entrepreneurial students and alumni.
The aim of the Venture Lab is to incubate the development and consolidation of business start-ups, providing high-quality “deal
?ow” within a global network of investors. The Venture Lab isn’t only a business plan competition or a chance for students to
entertain interesting business ideas; it is a unique opportunity for students with entrepreneurial spirit and disruptive ideas to
begin the process of transforming those concepts into investment-worthy companies. It is open to all students of all programs at IE,
although its admissions process is highly selective.
The Venture Lab, which is open both to students and alumni, has its culmination in the Venture Day, a biannual event during which
the ?ve most promising projects are presented to investors with the mission of opening the doors to the relationships that might
eventually lead to successful funding. Venture Days are held bi-annualy in Madrid as well as internationally.
The Venture Day creates a setting in which all stakeholders in the national and international entrepreneurial ecosystem are brought
together: entrepreneurs, investors, service suppliers, consultants, analysts and academics. The event consists of several panels and
keynote speeches by renowned entrepreneurs, investors, analysts and academics.
That being said, it’s important to mention that IE’s commitment to supporting entrepreneurs extends beyond the Venture Lab;
students can also choose the shorter elective known as the Knowledge Incubator to develop their projects. They also have the
opportunity to engage the support of mentors while working on their projects independently of the Venture Lab or Knowledge
Incubator.
All projects in the Knowledge Incubator receive the support of a professor and a mentor, which implies that the overall educational
experience is very similar to that of the Venture Lab.
Venture Lab
ie / 11
The Spain Startup & Investor
Summit is an initiative that
brings together all of the
key Spanish players in the
business ecosystem such as
entrepreneurs, companies,
investors, institutions and
government. The goal: To
support entrepreneurship,
job creation and the
promotion of Spain’s image
in the world.
The 2-day event which took
place in 2012 served as a
meeting-point for the 30
best startups in Spain, 185
investors, 1500 attendees,
1200 entrepreneurs and
over 10.000 followers via
streaming. The event is an
ideal platform to connect
Spanish startups with great
potential to the international
investor ecosystem.
Wayra is a program for
technological startups
promoted by Telefónica,
aimed at supporting the
creation of ICTs in Europe
and Latin America, making it
the leading global platform
for identifying technological
talent in the ICT world. IE
Business School has been
involved with Wayra in the
development of training
programs, which are taught
by its expert faculty in the
Academies in Madrid and
Barcelona, and by nourishing
the pool of mentors offered
to start ups throughout the
different acceleration phases.
IE Business School and
Accenture continue with
Pasion>ie Project, an initiative
that links the innovative and
entrepreneurial community
with corporations in order
to contribute to social and
economic development.
The training program,
designed and conducted by
IE Business School, offers
speci?c training courses for
startups, along with a period
of mentoring offered by IE
mentors and the innovation
heads of collaborating ?rms.
These projects are found
in the Smartcities, eHealth
and future commercial
distribution sectors.
Pasion>ie already holds claim
to very successful editions
that have led to agreements
between large companies
and startups, allowing for
the development of the
entrepreneurial ecosystem
and improving corporate
competition.
www.pasionie.com
Spain Startup & Investor Summit Wayra Startups Training Pasion>ie
Entrepreneurial talent
connected to corporate
innovation
Renowned event for
entrepreneurs in southern
Europe
Collaboration with the most
important techonological
incubators
www.spain-startup.com
IE Entrepreneurship
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center is strongly committed towards achieving sustainable economic development at a
global level, while remaining open to the entrepreneurial ecosystem that surrounds it. The Center’s activities go beyond the
classroom and directed to all agents who interact on a day to day basis within our economic reality.
A number of initiatives are launched with the sole purpose of improving the results and conditions needed in order to create a more
entrepreneurial and competitive society. IE Business School’s doors are open to all entrepreneurial activities, and for this reason it is
has become a world-wide reference.
Wide Open
Main force in the development of a global entrepreneurial ecosystem
ie / 13
Entrepreneurship
IE Venture Network is an
opportunity for the open
entrepreneurial community
to share and pitch their own
startups while expanding
their network with helpful
contacts in an informal
setting. During this weekly
event (Madrid), three
innovative start-ups pitch to
a panel of investors to receive
feedback, learn from each
other and gain insights into
the business angels’ market
– an invaluable resource for
early stage entrepreneurs.
This is a forum for engaging
the entrepreneurial
community as well as an
opportunity to promote
your start-up, and at best
securing an investment from
investors. IE Venture Network
is already present in other
locations like Barcelona, Tel
Aviv, Bilbao, Canary Islands
with more to come…
#ieventurenetwork
The purpose of this initiative
is to stimulate the early
stage investment industry in
Spain through the creation of
a € 40 million co-investment
fund. The co-investment
fund is made up of equal
contributions from ENISA,
Spain´s leading government
agency for the development
of innovation-based high
growth potential companies,
and an international group
of specialised private sector
investors. The Spain Startup
Co-investment Fund (SSCF) is
not only an instrument that
supports the development
of the Venture Capital
industry in Spain, but it is
also an initiative to promote
entrepreneurial talent,
bringing it to the attention
of some of the most
internationally active early
stage investors.
IE Venture Network Spain Startup Co-investment Fund
Startup pitches and
networking
Business Angels and Venture
Capital investment stimulus
IE Business School and
Fundación Canal launched
Comprometi2.0 in order
to transform business
ideas into real, innovative
and sustainable projects
which would help economic
development and generate
employment. IE Business
School selected 30 young
entrepreneurs, created teams
and helped them develop
their ideas. Finalists were
also mentored until their
?nal presentation given
before of an expert panel,
and the members of the
winning team received a
100% scholarship for IE
Business School’s Master
in Management. The latest
team teaching methods,
as well as Design Thinking
and Lean Startup were used
throughout this initiative,
which proved to be an
incomparable experience for
all entrepreneurs.
www.fundacioncanal.com/comprometi2
Comprometi2.0
Innovative methodologies for
the development of young
entrepreneurial talent
The Immersion Program for Business
Angels (BA) has been speci?cally
designed for private investors and people
interested in exploring different options
on how to invest their assets, but also for
entrepreneurs to acquire the necessary
skills to search capital for their start-ups.
The objective of this program is to facilitate
serious BA training, following the experience
of the national market’s best. Even if the
program does place a special emphasis on
internet-bases start-ups and emerging tech
companies, it does guide investors through
the whole process, which can be applied to
all new companies in all sectors.
Immersion Program for Business Angels
Training the investment
ecosystem
IE
ie / 15
Entrepreneurship
Respiro Car Sharing
Claus Biernoth, Ian Paterson & Philippe
Remise
Global Executive MBA
Germany, UK, France
“Respiro Car Sharing was born in the
Venture Lab. During our MBA, we became increasingly interested in
the commercialization of green technologies as an ingenious way of
‘doing well by doing good’. Respiro is the ?rst car-sharing company
in the center of Madrid. We offer an all-inclusive, e-based, pay-as-
you-go service for € 0,15 per minute. Respiro empowers people to
make smart economical and ecological transportation choices, and
gives access without ownership, wheels when you want them. We
are part of a global phenomenon of transforming modern cities into
more sustainable environments.”
www.respiromadrid.es
IMASTE
Miguel Arias
MBA Part-Time
Spain
“I founded IMASTE in 2004 while still a part-time MBA candidate.
Although IMASTE’s initial focus was on organizing live career fairs
to bridge the gap between companies seeking talented employees
and university graduates, we are now the European leader in the
organization of virtual events and fairs, with more than 100 successful
events delivered in more than 10 countries. I am a civil engineer by
training, so before coming to IE, I knew very little about marketing,
human resources, strategy, etc. But my MBA experience prepared
me to overcome the problems and challenges of a start-up’s initial
phases by strengthening my ability to analyze, execute and adapt
the original business idea. Sharing ideas with other entrepreneurial
students, teachers and mentors was essential to my evolution.
IE’s powerful investor and entrepreneur network also provided us
with invaluable early feedback that both enhanced our company’s
chances of early survival and eventually laid the groundwork for
our successful expansion into Europe and the United States. As an
active member of IE’s entrepreneurial community, I also currently
serve as a member of the Venture Lab’s Selection Committee and as
a mentor to student entrepreneurs in the Venture Lab.”
www.imaste-ips.com
Prexus Consultoría
Nicolás Restrepo Abad
MBA
Colombia
“PREXUS is the ?rst consultancy ?rm in Latin America to lend
prices the importance they deserve in companies’ marketing and
competitive strategy. We’re fully convinced that you achieve better
results when you work on making a positive and sustainable impact
on the ?nal result of the income statement, and the effect of
modifying prices is ?ve times that of cutting ?xed costs. PREXUS ?lls
the gap between operational consultancy, aimed at reducing costs,
and strategic consultancy, that fails when it comes to making the
means for increasing income tangible.”
www.prexus.co
IE
RenewEn
Drury Elisabeth McKenzie
International MBA
USA
“I came to IE because of the Venture Lab. My company, RenewEn, is
a smart energy solutions provider, committed to providing everyone
everywhere with cost-effective and technology-appropriate
clean energy systems. At IE Business School, I was enveloped in
an unbeatable entrepreneurial ecosystem formed by diverse and
globally minded professors and students who helped me transform
my idea into a company. Without the support of my classmates
(Kannan, Vitaliy Bubka, Ashutosh, Agrawal, Carlos Morodo, Ajibade
Ogunbiyi and Andre Franciss), RenewEn might never have been born.
My ?nance professor and Venture Lab mentor helped me develop
a partnership with one of the world’s largest renewable energy
companies, and we are also about to engage two customers in Haiti
for small-scale renewable energy systems and water-puri?cation
systems. IE has helped me to make my dream – RenewEn – a reality.”
www.renewenusa.com
IE takes an active interest in the outcome of our students’ business ventures. In the following pages, we share a few of the many
success stories submitted by students and alumni.
Success Stories
ie / 17
Entrepreneurship
BUSUU
Adrian Hilti & Bernhard Niesner
International MBA
Liechtenstein, Austria
Adrian Hilti and Bernhard Niesner, co-founders, came up with the
idea for busuu.com as their ?nal project for their International MBA
program. They founded the company in Madrid in January 2008,
and, in only three years, it has become the world’s most active
language-learning online community, with more than 5 million
online users and over 5 million mobile application users. 15,000
new users register daily to access the 9 online language courses.
Registration is free, although users can pay a small fee to gain access
to premium contents. The courses combine more than 150 lessons
with interaction with other users in the community (native speakers
of the language they are learning), through an integrated video-
chat, with text and voice correction. busuu.com has won several
prestigious awards, such as the CEBIT Innovation Award and The
European Commission Language Training Innovation Award, and
was chosen best education start-up in the TechCrunch Europas
Awards 2011. IE students who wish to learn languages are given a
free premium account through the Student Of?ce.
www.busuu.com
DEVENALSA,
Deshidratadora
Venezolana de Alimentos, S.A.
Johnny Dao
International MBA
Venezuela
“The company specializes in fruit, vegetable and herb dehydration for
sale both to other companies and, through its trademark, as snacks
to retail stores. The training I received from the International MBA
program at IE complemented my skills and knowledge and allowed
me to start my entrepreneurial journey and launch a company in my
country. I’m currently managing the implementation of the macro
project and its initial phase operations. Everything I learned during
the program gave me the necessary skills to coordinate all the
aspects involved in the development and operation of a business
and, more importantly, the relationship between both. This global
managerial vision is absolutely necessary and essential to coordinate
the creation of a company and select the person best suited to each
task. The satisfaction I gain from doing something for my country
and creating new jobs, apart from the usefulness of our products,
is invaluable.”
www.devenalsa.com
BIT&BRAIN
María López
MBA Part-Time
Spain
Bit&Brain specializes in the development of Brain-Computer
Interface (BCI) technology, focusing initially on the areas of medicine,
academia and research.
Achievements: Winning project in the 8
th
edition of the Banespyme-
Orange competition held by IE. Awarded the Spin-Off seal by the
University of Zaragoza, the 1
st
prize in the IDEA competition of
Aragón, the CEEI Company seal and the I+E Company seal. Bit&Brain
was founded in September 2010.
www.bitbrain.es
Foundation for African
Leadership in Business
Marino Giocondi, Suzanne O’Brien,
Henry Okafor & Fabio Pisi Vitagliano
International MBA
Italy, USA, Nigeria, Italy
“While we were students at IE Business School, we established the
Foundation for African Leadership in Business, which creates MBA
scholarships for African students, partnering with universities,
corporations and other NGOs for funding. At IE, entrepreneurial
spirit is infused in every interaction among students, professors,
staff and alumni, and that spirit inspired us to create our foundation.
Our economics professor not only helped us develop the idea, but
also put us in touch with world-famous foundations. The personnel
at the bookstore helped us ?nd a printer. Student Of?ces introduced
us to key alumni, and Dean Santiago Iñiguez invited us a very
private dinner with an important leader in the world of foundations.
Thanks in large part to this continuing support, we have established
partnerships with several organizations, including IE, and have
already created two scholarships for African citizens.”
www.albfoundation.org
IE
CityDeal S.L.U
Gonzalo Castellano Benlloch & Philipp Hasskamp
International MBA
Spain, Germany
“We are co-founders of CityDeal S.L.U., currently the fastest-growing
company in the Internet space. Our friendship and partnership started
after we studied in the same program section. In February 2010, shortly
after ?nishing the International MBA, the Samwer brothers (German
serial entrepreneurs) offered us the chance to found the Spanish
branch of CityDeal. A few months later, Groupon acquired CityDeal
to form the world’s leading social commerce site, offering one great
deal, every day, in more than 170 cities across Europe, the US and Latin
America. Our MBAs not only provided us with many concepts and
experiences that we later used while starting up our company, but
also allowed us to nourish ourselves within a strong entrepreneurial
environment ?ourishing with innovative ideas. Moreover, it allowed
us to establish ties with other students and teachers who then have
supported us in our journey. Since graduating from IE, we have also
gotten to know the larger entrepreneurial community thanks, in part,
to networking events and speaker series sponsored by the Venture Lab.
In our fast expansion, we count and will count on the support of many
people that we met at IE and that are now, in some way or another,
part of our organization.”
www.groupon.es
SCHMOOZY FOX
Olga Slavkina
International MBA
Latvia
“Back in 2006, I had a well-paid job at a multinational in Brussels, a safe and steady career ahead of me, a highly ranked Master’s degree in
International Relations under my belt, and a daughter who had just turned 1: perhaps not the most common combination of life circumstances
that would prompt one to pursue a full-time MBA. And yet, to me it made perfect sense to come to IE and develop my interests in branding,
entrepreneurship and the web. After IE, I moved back to Brussels where I founded SCHMOOZY FOX, a brand and marketing strategy consultancy
that is based on my concept of Funky Brands™: products and services which owe their success to astonishing design and smart brand strategies.
I work both with large companies and start-ups, to help them position, launch and promote their products in real life and on the Internet.
Besides consulting, I write about branding and marketing, and publish a Funky Brand Interviews series on my blog. The Funky Brands™ concept
was nominated for the 2011 Accenture Innovation Award, and Funky Brand Interviews will soon launch in flm format.”
www.schmoozyfox.com
Ambiox Biotech
Teresa Gonzalo
Master in Biotechnology Management
Spain
“My passion for medicine and my desire to continue learning led
me to become a student at IE, with the vision of founding a biotech
company with colleagues at my research lab. Our product aims to
help prevent the spread of HIV. IE’s entrepreneurial spirit, combined
with the Master in Biotechnology Management’s integrative vision,
helped transform our scienti?c discoveries into a successful biotech
venture; Ambiox Biotech. The Master in Biotechnology Management
helped me develop my leadership, marketing and business
management skills. This dual training is essential, given that biotech
entrepreneurs must be ?uent in the different languages of science
and business. In addition, because biotech start-ups need investors
to survive, the training in ?nance and managing venture capital that
I obtained during the program was key, as are the introductions and
opportunities to present to biotech venture capitalists that we have
received thanks to the Venture Lab.”
www.ambiox.com
ie / 19
Entrepreneurship
Financiera Dimex
Juan Eugenio Clariond
International MBA
Mexico
“Dimex currently has 42,500 customers and three fnancial products:
Dimex Pay Roll, Dimex Consumer and Dimex Direct. It has 625
employees and is present in 25 Mexican states through 83 offces.
After working for four years in investment banking at Citigroup,
I decided to enroll in the International MBA at IE Business School.
Some months before I left for Madrid, a relative and I bought a small
?nancial ?rm that ?nanced electronic and white-line consumer
goods through a series of agreements with department and
furniture stores. Back then, the company trademark was Camernova,
and it had 3 offces and 42 employees. When we started, it was losing
money, but we saw that it could be an opportunity. My partner
and I realized that there were several bottlenecks throughout the
operation, and we thought a new focus and an adequate strategy
could help us turn the company around. We focused on our
customers: understanding them, spending time in the ?eld, and
starting to think like them. We modi?ed and restructured our services
based on their needs, as, with every passing day, it was easier for us
to see that our business wasn’t about ?nance, but about people. For
2017 we want to be a leading, diversifed and international frm, that
offers multiple ?nancial services to meet our customers’ needs and
that makes a positive and sustainable impact on our communities
and environment. Buy what you want, where and when you want it!”
www.dimex.mx
Tractis
David Blanco & Leandro Caldora
MBA
Argentina
Tractis was founded by David Blanco and Leandro Caldora, and it was
born as their ?nal project for their MBA program. Today, Tractis offers a
wide range of products, such as Tractis Identity, to verify client identity
online, Tractis Signatures, to create, negotiate and sign contracts
online, Tractis Webservices, to allow anyone to build applications
using their identity veri?cation, validation, timestamping and
evidence preservation infrastructures, and Tractis Hardware, to help
companies equip their customers with the necessary eID readers.
www.tractis.com
Beyond The Marketing
Marketing Consultants
Nelson Labrador Castro
Executive MBA 2011
Venezuela
Beyond The Marketing, with an innovative business vision and
the use of state-of-the-arts technology, designs, develops and
implements integrated marketing plans for customers who need to
communicate and commercialize their brands/products successfully
among consumers.
“The reason why I chose to study my Executive MBA at IE, more
than the school’s excellent ranking, was its extraordinary level of
global recognition as an elite school with a highly entrepreneurial
philosophy. You can see this for yourself from day one through the
Venture Lab, which introduced me to high-level tools and initiatives
in a business platform that allowed me to consolidate my position
in business, expanding my global vision to make me a successful
integral entrepreneur.”
www.beyond-themarketing.com
IE
Zinkia
Jose María Castillejo
MBA
Spain
“My entrepreneurial journey began when I was a kid watching my
grandfather’s example of the daily life of an entrepreneur. By the
time I ?nished my MBA, I already had my ?rst company running. It
was a great success during its ?rst two years, but it went bankrupt
in its third year! It was a good frst lesson. Over the last 25 years,
I’ve started and sold companies in different sectors: distribution,
agricultural process and biotech, fashion and design, construction
and energy, and now I’m extremely happy with Zinkia, the company
we founded in 2001 that created Pocoyo and many other animated
characters for kids and preschoolers. We created a global company
from scratch, which means that we are competing on a global stage
against the “big guys” in the entertainment industry. Nonetheless,
we have won many important awards, and we ?ght every day for
the quality of our creations, for the smile of our clients, and of course,
for growth. Within the next two years, 90% of our income will come
from outside of Spain, and we will have two more great properties
supporting Pocoyo, as we continue our expansion into becoming a
global entertainment company.”
www.zinkia.com
ie / 21
Entrepreneurship
IE wants to extend its deepest
thanks to all the students,
alumni, faculty members and
others who appear in this
brochure.
IE
Contact us!
Admissions Department
Maria de Molina, 11
Madrid, Spain
T: +34 915 689 610
[email protected]
Find us on:
ie / 23
Your future starts here
www.ie.edu
doc_457184755.pdf