The opportunity to connect theory with practice is a key component of undergraduate education, particularly for students pursuing a Bachelor in Business Administration (BBA) degree. IE University students in Professor Rachida Justo’s “Social Entrepreneurship” class have benefitted from this hands-on experience through a course focused on pro-bono consulting work. The objective is that students end up having a well-rounded knowledge of the issues faced by social entrepreneurs.
For three months, more than 20 BBA students have been working in small teams with clients of a Madrid-based incubator called UEIA: The first European accelerator for technology-based social projects. This initiative has arisen from the need of what the third sector is facing, which is currently in a time of change and requires reinvention towards future sustainability.
The IE University course includes both related classroom work and frequent communication (via email, conferencing and onsite visits) to shape a viable consulting project addressing a specific area of organizational need.
“For an undergraduate student studying business, the opportunity to work with a social enterprise for three months can be quite eye-opening,” said Rachida Justo, who also teaches entrepreneurship in IE’s MBA and Executive Education programs. “And not only have these students gained valuable experience but they’ve made real impact. In fact, the social enterprises have responded as enthusiastically as the students and many have already begun to implement ideas generated by the students. It shows how beneficial a diverse working environment can be for entrepreneurship activity.”
Last Monday, in the final session of the course, each team of BBA students presented the culmination of the work to their clients at the UEIA headquarters
During this particular program, the BBA students are working with the following five social enterprises associated with UEIA:
Chat with one of our students to hear about their experiences firsthand.
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