Thanks to the entrepreneurial ecosystem at IE University, students in every program are not only alert to business ideas and opportunities, they’re supported and guided in launching new ventures. Even in the midst of a global pandemic, two students of the Bachelor in Business Administration have taken the initiative to launch a startup and help their peers at the same time.
Alvaro Bermejo Morcillo and Wenyang Chen leveraged their own entrepreneurial instincts, the feedback of their peers and the guidance and support of IE University’s startup incubator Area 31. Together they came up with an agile solution to an immediate and costly problem.
THE PROJECT STRUCTURE
Area31 Segovia was launched by Leticia Ponce, a passionate entrepreneur, founder of the Start-Up Lab and a teacher at IE University since its foundation, as a way for students at the Segovia campus to maintain contact with Madrid’s hub of entrepreneurial activity.
As the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold, Area31 Segovia evolved from intensive mentoring to open discussion. Entrepreneurial students would gather online every Wednesday evening to bounce ideas, exchange feedback on their ventures and bring their startups to life.
The dynamic atmosphere of innovation and enthusiasm created by a highly engaged community of like-minded students meant that Area31 Segovia flourished, producing a mindset among its participants that has spawned a number of creative projects. Álvaro Bermejo Morcillo and Wenyan Chen —“Willy” as he is known to his friends—started one of them.
THEIR SERVICES
OPPORTUNITY IN ASSISTING
Many students living in Spain found themselves going home in a hurry to avoid being stranded abroad as the pandemic took hold. The two friends heard from some of their peers who were living in the RESA residence in Madrid that they had been forced to leave their possessions in their accommodation, and were still paying costly rent as a result. Some of them were on the verge of having their belongings thrown away, losing their deposits in the process.
The Moving Company was born in response. Honesty, enthusiasm and a desire to help their fellow students, coupled with their natural entrepreneurial mindset, motivated the business idea. Existing solutions to store possessions were expensive and often required lengthy administrative processes to sign up. Moreover, many existing storage companies will not collect the items. With students now abroad, how could they get their items to storage?
Using Chen’s family truck and renting a space of just four square meters, the two young entrepreneurs expected to help around four or five students. They ended up assisting more than 50, including students from beyond Madrid and outside the IE community. They collected belongings, stored them and did so without extensive bureaucracy, at a considerable cost saving to their peers.
NEXT STEP: IE VENTURE LAB
Álvaro and Chen plan to scale the business, and IE University offers plenty of initiatives to spur the community’s entrepreneurial drive. They’ll be moving across from Area31 Segovia to the Venture Lab, IE University’s initiative for students and alumni to accelerate their businesses and explore market opportunities.
The Moving Company is the latest example of the success of IE University’s ecosystem in promoting entrepreneurship. Initiatives like Area31, Startup Lab and Venture Lab offer our students forums for ideas, mentorship, expert advice and even access to potential investors. Álvaro sums up the mindset that the IE University ecosystem engenders and encourages in its community. “Don’t listen to people who will bring your idea down,” he says. “Pursue it and if it doesn’t work, well, you will still have learned a lot. Just try it.”