This seminar will take place twice a year on different SKEMA campuses. Over the three days, students get one-to-one guidance with expert coaches and plenty of time to explore and develop their ideas, get the experts’ feedback and hone their business plans.
This first bootcamp took place on the Lille campus and was held in partnership with Euratechnologies, a 150 000-square-metre entrepreneurial and research technopark located in Lille. EuraTechnologies guides companies during every stage of their development, from inception to international expansion.
In May, SKEMA signed a partnership deal with EuraTechnologies.
Twenty students, presenting 14 projects, took part at the bootcamp where they were able to network with some of SKEMA’s entrepreneur alumni.
The bootcamp itself is just the beginning of these student-entrepreneurs’ projects and their relationships with the coaches. Now the coaches and students are in regular contact as their business projects develop.
Jeremie Lahmi, one of the participating students, explained afterwards: “It was a great way to push us on the development of our projects and it was a real adventure.” Jeremie’s project is to set up a platform to sell young and upcoming global luxury brands.
"Valentin Lerat, another attending student, said afterwards, “What I appreciated was the time and availability of the coaches for one to one feedback on our projects.” Valentin’s project is to create a web-marketplace for limited edition art photography. He along with his partner Coline Mouny have been admitted in to the EuraTechnologies incubator."
This boot camp was launched as part of the "Global Entrepreneurship Initiative" initiated by SKEMA with the aim of significantly developing entrepreneurship and innovation in the school. This mission, entrusted to Professor Michel Bernasconi, has two main facets: firstly, to develop courses so that all SKEMA graduates have received training in entrepreneurship and innovation, and secondly, to encourage and accompany students and graduates in the creation of their companies.