Malta MBA students pitch business concepts at GEW event
Executive MBA final year students taking the Entrepreneurship and Innovation elective, co-ordinated by Dr Nathaniel Massa, at the University of Malta’s Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy, recently presented their business start-up...
Executive MBA final year students taking the Entrepreneurship and Innovation elective, co-ordinated by Dr Nathaniel Massa, at the University of Malta’s Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy, recently presented their business start-up concepts to a panel of seasoned professionals in the entrepreneurship scene at a Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2020 pitching event. The event is hosted nationally by the University’s Edward de Bono Institute at the same university.
The event was aligned with the MBA participants’ semester-long business start-up idea and feasibility analysis project, which forms an integral part of their elective.
The international MBA cohort teams presented their business concepts, which ranged from convenience and lifestyle services, and tech-based business and security solutions, to healthcare concepts, and ‘sharing economy’ app-based ideas – to a panel of professionals involved in the start-up scene, hailing from areas associated with early-stage mentoring, foresight and creativity, knowledge management and IP, crowdfunding, and business consulting.
The MBA pitch review panel consisted of Edward Debono, Institute director Leonie Baldacchino, Corporate Research and Knowledge Transfer director Anton Bartolo, Capital Advisory founding partner Etienne Borg Cardona, ZAAR Crowdfunding manager Matthew Caruana and entrepreneurship scholar and lean start-up advocate Dr Jana Hojnik from the University of Primorska, Slovenia.
The opportunity provided the cohort of practising professionals on the Executive MBA programme with useful insight and stress-testing to validate the feasibility and further pursuit of their business start-up ideas.
This year, Virgin Group founder Richard Branson, a long-standing GEW supporter and participant, offered his personal message of hope, motivation and encouragement to all GEW 2020 participants and entrepreneurs facing up to current COVID-19 challenges. About 10 million people took part in Global Entrepreneurship Week in some 40,000 different events in over 180 countries around the world that involved stimulating and inspiring entrepreneurial activity.
Sir Richard Branson’s video message can be seen at https://youtu.be/zP4NuyNFaZI.
After they eventually complete their entrepreneurship elective, several of the Executive MBA participants will in due course be possibly looking into the prospects of taking their idea further.
University of Malta Executive MBA programme
Participants on the University of Malta’s Executive MBA programme are mostly professionals engaged in industry and various other sectors, generally in management and executive positions. Their exposure and diverse experiential knowledge contributes to the applied learning environment fostered on this part-time evening master’s programme.
The programme is tailored for practising professionals, managers, and others aspiring to higher positions of responsibility within their organisations – or those seeking a sound foundation and insight towards effectively running their own business in increasingly competitive environments.
For a programme overview, visit the site below. For further enquiries, call Vanessa Debattista on 2340 3787 or e-mail vanessa.debattista@um.edu.mt.
www.um.edu.mt/courses/overview/pmbapet0-2018-9-o