Fostering Creativity: CEMS Start-Up Challenge Unveils Entrepreneurial Excellence at the Annual CEMS Career Forum"

The CEMS Start-Up Challenge is one of the main annual event organized by CEMS Entrepreneurs. It is held in November during the CEMS Career Forum. Building on the success of the previous numerous editions, this event offers students and fresh alumni the opportunity to showcase their startups in front of the CEMS community of alumni & students interested in entrepreneurship.
CEMS Start up challenge 2023

The program started during the summer with the selection of six teams out of more than 30 applicants, followed by mentoring sessions to get together many CEMSies working in entrepreneurship (investors, entrepreneurs, professors, corporate partners). The mentoring was centered on a match between the startup and our mentors based on the stage and needs of the startup. This allowed mentors and participants to receive appropriate feedback, with elevated discussions.

Following these mentoring sessions, the startups were invited to come on the ESADE Sant Cugat campus to participate in the pitching contest on November 11th, during the CEMS Career Forum. During this event, CEMS founders of Luxor, Snap Kitchen, Pack, ClicktheRoad, Perski and Amoeba pitched their projects in front of a jury, a panel of possible investors, corporate partners, and an audience of +120 fellow CEMSies.

For this occasion, the jury was composed of a heterogeneous group of 4 people with diverse backgrounds but with a common passion for startups. The team was composed of Helena Naya Sagristà (Entrepreneurship & ESADE BAN Senior Manager at ESADE Alumni), Alexander Pinter (Innovation Strategy and Growth Lead at Accenture), Manuel Nunes (Consulting Director - Transformation & Strategy at Roboyo ), and Henrik Beckmann (Co-Founder & CEO of Momentum Data ).

CEMS Start-Up Challenge 2023 Jury

Participants had the opportunity to hear from a short roundtable with all the jurors, showing how entrepreneurship works within the boundaries of different type of companies: multinational, SMEs, scale-ups and universities. Furthermore, CEMSies had the chance to learn more about the story of Gallo Coffee, a fresh startup born from 2 fellow CEMSies who is bringing Honduran coffee to Spain.

CEMS Start up challenge 2023

Towards the event of the event, the jury awarded Snap Kitchen as the winner of the pitching competition, while the audience had the chance to vote its favourite, thus appointing a second winning team, Luxor.

Snap Kitchen, founded in Milan in Jan 2023 by Nicolò Ronchi (UB/ESADE 21) and 3 other cofounders, is enabling world’s best food brands to reach every house through a delivery only light franchising model, leveraging existing brick and mortar restaurants unused capacity.

Luxor, founded by Matteo Roberto Carta (HEC/NUS 24) and 2 other cofounders from Yale and MIT, is a blockchain-based authenticity verification app that pairs an NFC chip embedded in the item with a digital wallet in a smartphone app, enabling customers to purchase with confidence as to whether an item is real or not.

CEMS Start up challenge 2023

The winning teams will receive prizes, such as additional mentoring and coaching sessions, and access to discounted services. The CEMS Entrepreneurs would like to thank ESADE BAN, Momentum Data, Roboyo and Accenture for the prizes provided and their support throughout the entire process.

Moreover, the team would like to thank all the applicants, the mentors and jurors, the audience, and, last but not least, the CEMS Global Alliance for their invaluable help.

If you want to learn more about the event and the opportunity within CEMS Entrepreneurs, feel free to visit https://cemsentrepreneurs.webflow.io/ and send inquiries.

 

 

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Published on 12.06.2023