The teams of SKEMA Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and SKEMA Ventures joined forces to organise the first Startup Kafé of the new academic year in Belo Horizonte. As usual, the event was a hotbed of innovation that was reflected in the location chosen, the art museum MMGerdau - Museu das Minas e do Metal.
(Photo: Geneviève Poulingue and Philippe Chéreau with participating students.)
Every year more and more students want to create their own company while they are at SKEMA. To help them on the journey from idea to creation and finally to launching their company, SKEMA created SKEMA Ventures, a global accelerator-incubator for SKEMA’s student entrepreneurs. The Startup Kafés enable students who have an idea to come and test it out on the school’s campuses in France, China, the USA or Brazil. They pitch their idea in two minutes flat, in English or in French.
Geneviève Poulingue, director of the SKEMA Belo Horizonte campus, presented the idea underlining SKEMA’s strong involvement in the local entrepreneurial ecosystem. Then Philippe Chéreau, director of SKEMA Ventures, explained the incredible unique value chain offered by the facility. He also presented several startups already made in SKEMA Ventures, such as Père & Fish, Bieropolis, Wibes, Time & Joy or Le Rendez-Vous… that bear witness to the reality of SKEMA Ventures’ “GloCal Entrepreneurship”. The example of these successful student entrepreneurs was inspirational for the eight projects and teams present as well as for our local partner, SEED Accelerator.
The projects ranged from intelligent educational installations to cryptocurrencies integrated into smartphones, B2B markets, online gaming and clean technologies.
The project teams benefitted from the numerous interactions and questions from other students and entrepreneurial experts. As usual at the Startup Kafés, the friendly atmosphere was key to the event’s success and many discussions took place during the happy hour after the pitch session.