MBA "First Thursday" Networking Initiative

Voted 2nd in the world for Potential to Network by the Economist, EDHEC's Alumni Association is highly active. In continuous efforts to bring alumni together, the EDHEC Alumni Association, directed by alumnus Marina Roberts along with regional Alumni heads, organizes networking events throughout the year across the world. One of those events is "First Thursday" which takes place on first Thursday of every month in a bar or café. This time it was held on the EDHEC campus to bring together as many of the new MBA class as possible and the Alumni in the region.  This event provided the current MBA class a unique opportunity to constantly be in touch with those who are already out there implementing what they have learnt without spending time and money to travel elsewhere.

The First Thursday event for the new MBA class took place in EDHEC's main auditorium on 1st of October. EDHEC MBA Alumni on the panel were James Babineu, Tistan Poinard and Jaime Pinto - all three entrepreneurs.  The panel was moderated by Professor Charles Lumbers & Marina Roberts.

Prof. Lumbers began the talk with short yet hard hitting lines from a Kawasakis new book on entrepreneurship: Who has your money &  How to get it into your pocket?

The whole idea was to discuss entrepreneurial experiences of the three Alumni on the panel. Jaime Pinto explained his communication platform business and told that his company's customer value proposition is "increase your clients by constantly updating customers through using our product". He ended his talk answering that his money was in pockets of super malls! Then the baton was passed to James and Tristan, co-founders of VigiLink. They talked about their company which sells an automatic-alerting machine. The main purpose of that product is to alert the family members/guardians/caretakers of sudden problems faced by the elderly.  Precisely speaking, when caretakers are away from them and these are in trouble or need some urgent attention, this machine sends alerts automatically sensing the situation.

Explanations opened up a very active dialogue between the MBA participants and the new entrepreneurs (Alumni). The presentations ended with a friendly cocktail and chance to socialise and start networking. The participants left the venue already looking forward to November's First Thursdays.