India, “one of the most important countries” for IE Business School
The Leaders analysed the resources available to entrepreneurs at the prestigious business school.
On the second day of the programme, the Leaders visited IE Business School, a patron of the Spain-India Council Foundation. IE is among the world’s best business schools, with thousands of students in more than 100 countries and from 165 nationalities on their campus, as well as 29 international offices around the world.
Antonio Montes, Head of Strategic Relations at IE, and Paris de l’Etraz, Director of the IE Venture Lab, told the Leaders about the history of IE University and its firm support for entrepreneurs.
The Leaders also met with some students at IE Business School currently developing their business projects through the Venture Lab: Calum Hedigan (LegoLex), Antonio Cantalapiedra (Woonivers) and Irene Hernández (Gataca).
“We are the only business school in the world with this level of support for entrepreneurs,” stated Paris de l’Etraz, who also emphasised that Indian culture is particularly conducive to the development of innovative ideas.
India is, in fact, “one of the most important countries” for IE Business School, which welcomes around 170 Indian students every year, according to Antonio Montes. In order to support the entrepreneurial spirit possessed not only by Indian students, but also by the majority of the school’s students, IE Business School runs the Venture Lab programme, which “helps students with business projects and introduces them to investors.”
The entrepreneurs invited by IE helped the Leaders gain a different perspective of the Spanish innovation sector. Irene Hernández, for instance, pointed out that Spain “lacked an entrepreneurial mindset until a few years ago. When I returned from the US, I was surprised to see how much this had changed in only three years.”
The participants also analysed the opportunities for collaboration between Spanish and Indian educational institutions with the same entrepreneurial vocation. Paris de l’Etraz said: “It might be worth identifying Indian entrepreneurs with ideas we could match with our students. I would not advise Spanish students to go to India (or vice versa) without a local partner.”
